Enjoying the quiet...

We're now staying in a little village (Kampung Kolopis) near Kota Kinabalu. At night just the sounds of the insects and the frogs.... it's peaceful here and Fe has a wonderful garden - full of european houseplants! Their outdoor plants that grow like weeds are the plants we pay a fortune for back home, to put in our homes!

We're hoping to put together our round the world tour from here as we have the time and the space to spread out our maps.

Today we have been at Jane and Peters where we have made apple pies and a roast dinner. I've left Rene in the kitchen with a bevvy of local ladies as he teaches them all about roast lamb and mint sauce! I should get back now, before I'm missed, just needed to check the emails and add a few words here! The people we've met here in Sabah are generous, kind and warmhearted, they've taken us into their homes and their hearts. We are so fortunate and count our blessings every day!

Moving on again..

Today, we leave the Borneo Beachouse, to stay a week with Fe, a friend of Janes, in a little village (Kampung) just outside the city. She has a lovely garden, (with bananas and pineapples) and I'm hoping to do some painting as well as finish the ditty bag I started on the boat. We are both looking forward to doing some walking locally. The village has no restaurants, bars or shops and no internet connection!!

I know, i'm way behind with the blog - there are so many distractions here and I've run out of time. Will try to catch you up when we come into the city and find an internet cafe!

Jumped Ship!

As dawn broke, we sailed through the channel leading into Kota Kinabalu. Made our way to Sutera Harbour Marina. http://www.suteraharbour.com/marina.php Very nice marina - very clean, in fact the water looks like an aquarium - many tropical fish. This harbour will only allow boats in that have black water tanks for toilet waste. Shame more don't demand them - even the marinas that are tidal and get washed through daily can't flush out all the rubbish. The facilities here are very good - staff are attentive and very well trained, nothing is too much trouble.

We're hoping that we can have a break from cooking and washing up whilst we're here.

My question to Jon - "Can I presume rene and I are off the hook as far as the cooking is concerned whilst we're in the marina" did not meet with a 'yes' so to cut a long story short, we'll be leaving. We've learned a lot from Drew who has been so generous with his knowledge, but it's just not a lot of fun too much of the time. We're too old to be walking around on eggshells wondering what sort of mood Jon's in today. It turns out that we are not the first (or second) crew to jump ship. Says it all.

Now that the decision is made we are relieved and looking forward to spending a couple of weeks exploring locally and then return early.

Had a big clear out of our clothes and stuff - filled a bin bag! Our bags don't appear to be that mush lighter though!

Tomorrow we'll go with Jon to sort out the immigration/passport stuff and then we're off!!