Leaving Borneo

Well, it turns out that three weeks in Sabah is too much. It's not that it's not a great place to be, but it ended up being way more expensive than we planned. Besides Uncle Tan's, there's no other affordable way to get to wildlife. Malaysia knew it had some natural treasures on its hands and let in big eco-resorts to their national parks and ex-logging areas, so that the wilderness here is for high end travelers. I should have known that if my old company did trips here, we wouldn't be able to afford it. But it was two weeks very well spent. After the Kinabatangas River, we headed to the fishing village of Semporna, which is the setting off point for trips to Sipidan Island--Borneo's premier diving spot. While not too far of shore, Sipidan is not connected to the same continental plate as Borneo, and the 900 meter trench that separates it from its island neighbors is home to a lot of marine life. Unfortunately Peter was recovering from a head cold (after food poisoning and a cough) and only was able to make one short dive before he thought his head might explode. I went on two snorkels without him on Sipidan and saw a huge school of jacks like a glittering brick wall, six or seven green sea turtles, and my first shark--a white-tipped reef shark. It really was an amazing place. Now we're in Kota Kinabalu--the big city--where we celebrated Peter's birthday by enjoying a lot of air conditioning and splurging on a nice Japanese dinner. We're headed back to the Philippines tomorrow morning and will explore the Cordillera region of North Luzon before making our way back to Siargao Island to retrieve our stuff and catch a few last waves. We'll be back in the States in exactly three weeks, which is incredibly hard to imagine. Finally, I'd like to thank the President for his gracious stimulus package. I received mine yesterday, and it has officially financed our trip to Borneo. Consider the Malaysian economy sufficiently stimulated.