Travel galore

When we moved to Asia three year ago (wow where has the time gone!), the thing I was looking forward to the most was the ample opportunity to travel. Covid stole a few years of that, but this year we have been living my dream - my suitcases have not had much rest!

Over the kids Easter break, we visited Kota Kinabalu in Borneo, Malaysia. We stayed at the Shangri-la Rasa Ria about an hour from the main Kota Kinabalu city and it was a fantastic resort. A lovely beach a stone's throw away from the hotel, ample pools, a games area for kids and a free kids club. Its also the only place in the world to see Orangutans in their natural habitat. Unfortunately, we did not manage to do this as it wasn't very close to the resort (we would have had to take a flight to reach the conservation area for Orangutans), but its definitely on my list for next time.

There are ample opportunities for nature lovers. While we couldn’t explore everything as poor V fell sick, we did get to do a boat ride to spot proboscis monkeys and a night time firefly tour. You may be asking what on earth is a proboscis monkey (I definitely was!) - it’s a monkey with a really funny nose. I couldn't get a very close photo as they were high up in the trees, but its nose is definitely very distinctive. V was definitely tempted to use a word he's not allowed to use to refer to its nose!

Watching the fireflies at night was incredible - it was like watching the trees around us light up like a twinkling Christmas tree, except it was fireflies lighting it up. V even managed to get one on his hand! You take a boat through the mangroves with trees on either side filled with fireflies (and monkeys!).

The girls got their hearts desire of water play, both in the pool and at the beach which was right on the resort - a truly lovely place.

When you look up Kota Kinabalu, one of the things people rave the most about is the sunset, and it did not disappoint. Sitting on the cabana watching the sky change a myriad of colors over the span of an hour was truly incredible.

As an added bonus, I got to celebrate my birthday doing what I love best - travelling! Thanks to my in laws joining us on the trip, I got to start my birthday off with a beautiful sunrise hike (I know waking up at the crack of dawn is not most people's idea of a great birthday, but I loved it!) While resort holidays are not my first choice as someone that likes to see things when I go somewhere, Rasa Ria was a great resort and we had a fabulous trip!

Stay tuned for my update on Beijing and Hangzhou! I wasn't kidding when I said the suitcases have had no rest!