We flew to Sandakan on a short hop flight (1 hour 10 minutes) from Kota Kinabalu. It is a city of over 500,000, the former capital of Sabah, and the gateway to many of Sabah’s wildlife attractions. We stayed at the Elopura Hotel, centrally located and somewhat threadbare. The prevalence of Islam was quite strong, […]
Author: Steve
Bilit Adventure Lodge
An eco-tour up the Kinabatangan River in Borneo had become a bucket item for us on this trip. It was finally here! We walked up to our pickup point at Wisma Ku, about 6 blocks from our hotel. We drove a bit and stopped for lunch at the Sepilok Jungle Resort, a luxury spot, not […]
Postcard from Ellen
Hello all who are following us! Wow it’s been over 4 months! We are trying to wrap our heads around Malaysia, but we are getting decision fatigue. I’m also getting food fatigue. Noodles and or rice with every dish!!!!!! I thought I’d list some things I think about and have learned. Malaysia was an add-on […]
KK
In Malaysia there are “KK” and “KL.” “KL” is short for “Kuala Lumpur.” “KK is “Kota Kinabalu,” the capital of ( try saying that fast 3 times)the Sabah Province in Borneo. KK is known for nature and sunsets, although it is a bustling growing town. It is close to China, and there is a large […]
Georgetown, Penang
We are enjoying Malaysia. As we’ve mentioned, it is Ramadan, so we get to hear the muezzin go on long extensive riffs in the evenings. The other night he went on for over 30 minutes. That takes some serious effort. We flew to Kota Kinabalu yesterday, and I’ve finally got internet, so we’d talk about our […]
Langkawi – Near Disaster
So we left Vietnam looking for some downtime. We decided to checkout Langkawi, Malaysia, an island in the Andaman Sea near the border between Malaysia and Thailand. We knew it would be a tourist spot, what with it being an island, with beaches, and all of that, but Ellen was still recovering from her sinus […]
Good Night Vietnam
I am writing this from Langkawi, Malaysia. It is the first sun and heat that we’ve had since Cambodia. And yet, we find ourselves grieving our departure from Vietnam. It really got under our skin. It is a beautiful and diverse country. It is creating its own destiny. Here’s a few random things: Sapa Back […]
Hanoi Museums – Ethnology, Ho Chi Min, Women’s
Museum of Ethnology The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is a museum in Hanoi, Vietnam, which focuses on the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam. It also covers the 5 major language groups, and there is, (at least while we were there) a water puppet show. We found it to be one of the most […]
Continue reading Hanoi Museums – Ethnology, Ho Chi Min, Women’s
Sapa – Ethnic Villages
Y Lin Ho, Lao Chai, and Sapa Market Thursday morning arrived and it was a beautiful sunny day. At 9:00 Sece (sp?) showed up for our tour. The driver was none other than Tommy’s brother. Sece is “White” Hmong, and was born and raised in Y Lin Ho. Sapa is the largest city she’s been […]
Fansipan
We woke up Wednesday morning, looked out the window, and saw something we hadn’t seen in it seems like weeks – blue sky. Shocking as it was, we decided to seize the day and check out Fansipan. Fansipan is the highest mountain in Southeast Asia. Hundreds of years ago, monks built a series of pagodas […]