Chill

When I woke, after a good long sleep, I decided to have a shower with the screen open to the forest…oh if only I could always have showers with such a backdrop! V was out on the deck and saw the lesser fish eagle on a tree nearby, so grabbed the camera and took a few great shots as it ate a fish and then looked around for more prey (extra). We packed a bit then went over for breakfast (omelette, fruit, usual stuff but also a roti cannai which I love). We sat for a while then took photos of the amazing wall of forest across the river that we look out on each day here, but it was so hard to capture the scale. In the end V went down to near the river just at the edge of the garden and I took the shot in the extra which I think gives a better sense of the scale!
We finished packing then headed over to soak up the atmosphere one last time with an iced coffee and a Sprite, feeling very sad we’re leaving here. When it came to be time to leave V was in tears, which set me off, and even several of the staff we’d come to know quite well -Eric and Sherina and of course Nick. We hugged, talked about it being our favourite place ever, and cried some more! Heavens it was strange but it’s been so lovely here and the staff have been fabulous, managing impeccable service with such grace and genuine warmth.
We had a 2.5 hour drive to the airport at Lahad Datu, reminiscing about our stay and chatting to the driver about learning English, visiting Scotland and Las Vegas and favourite foods.
The airport is tiny…basically one room where to x-ray machine operatives were very laid back, chatting to us about if we were sisters rather than looking at the screen, and then the conveyor belt for luggage at the check in was about a metre long before being picked up by a bloke to put on a trolley! We went through to boarding and waited while the plane emptied then a wheelchair user and baby carrying mother were escorted across the tarmac to board by someone holding an umbrella above their head to shield them from the sun which was fierce.
We’d chosen front row seats then found it only boards from the rear…but we didn’t have to wait long as there were only about 20 people on board!
The lodge had given us a packed lunch but we didn’t really fancy fried rice and chicken wings, but we had a couple of tasty pastries and an orange, then before we had time to think we were coming in to land at Kota Kinabalu! Bigger airport (this is the capital of Sabah province) and nice to be met by a driver taking us in a very fancy and beautifully cooled car with reclining seats to the office of the next resort on Gaya Island. We had to wait just over an hour for the boat but decided to just sit in their cool office once we’d done the registrations and write journals and also had a FaceTime call with A who was having a beautiful sunny morning in her garden with gorgeous blue skies.
We got the six o clock boat from a harbour absolutely covered with plastic rubbish-shocking to see after we’ve been away from human stuff for so long but also given we’re close to so much marine wildlife. The sunset on the way over was gorgeous… heralding a few days of rest, sun, snorkelling and general relaxation.
B&J met us as promised on the pier with G&Ts…perfect! We had lots to catch up on and gossip about as they came here yesterday and know all the stuff to do. We were shown our room (up a steep hill but with a stunning view across the water to more forest, and just next to the spa centre). It’s huge, with a bath the size of a plunge pool, two balconies, a dressing room and study area. Fabulous! We got changed and went down to meet them and D&S who we’d met at the River lodge what seems like weeks ago. Lot of nonstop talk over drinks and dinner. Because we’re only on a B&B package here we could order dinner a la carte and both had a small fresh tuna nicoise salad…realise we’ve just been eating too much recently!
D talked a lot about their travels since we last saw them (didn’t sound like a patch on Tabinn or Danum) and complained about the noise and children here. The restaurant is certainly not as lovely as at Danum… a bit more cafeteria style, but the rest all seems very luxurious and lots of lovely places to chill out as well as a fabulous swimming pool all along the side of the beach. I’m sure we’ll have fun!
A bit later to bed as we were chatting …all of them seem to have had colds recently and I hope I don’t get it …but at least I had flu drugs and cough sweets and strepsila etc I ran back to our villa to get them for J who’s currently suffering.