So the second stop on our honeymoon was Sabah in Borneo and I cannot explain to you how amazing this place was.
When we arrived at the hotel, they struck a gong and a group of musicians started playing a little native tune - we felt like royalty! (until we realised that they do this every time new guests arrive!ha ha). The hotel itself is quite open plan and the reception is more like a huge, beautiful wooden beach hut. Above is the view of part of the hotel from the beach.
It only took about 3 and a half hours to fly there from Kuala Lumpur so we weren't too tired to have a walk along the perfect beach before dinner. It was a private beach and pretty secluded so there weren't too many people around. We decided to sit and watch the sunset before going for dinner (this pic looks a bit like a sunglasses advert!)...
On our first day, I was sooooo excited to go and see the Orangutans in the sanctuary next to the hotel. I have always wanted to see Orangutans for real and I was glad to see that they have a fantastic sanctuary for orphaned Orangutans. You aren't allowed to touch, hold or provoke them which is good because that means they can be released back into the wild without becoming too used to human contact. The biggest threat to Orangutans in Malaysia is Palm Oil plantations that ravage the landscape and leave less and less forested areas for the Orangutans to live. Sadly, alot of Orangutans are killed by Palm oil plantation workers when they are found looking for food on the land. This leaves poor little Orangutan babies alone and vulnerable and alot of the time, locals would take them home and keep them as pets either chained up or in a cage. Thankfully people in the area are becoming more educated about why this cannot continue to happen and why it's so important to keep these amazing animals wild. This guy is called Reg and he is 5 years old....
Although he is 5, he was like a little baby. Although they try and keep human contact to a minimum, he had to be bottle fed when he was younger as he refused to eat on his own accord. So he seems to think that one of the sanctuary rangers, Bedley, was his 'papa'. It was amazing to see how much they act like humans and the expressions on their faces. In this pic, he was begging Bedley for a hug, but obviously this kind of thing isn't encouraged. He eventually gave up trying to get a hug off his papa and moved on to get a cuddle from his Orangutan pal instead.
We spent quite alot of time chilling out at the beach-side bar and every night, there was a peacock who decided he wanted some attention!
The sunsets at this place were something else and I never got bored of watching them, there's something kind of magica about that time of day when the sun bathes everything in an orangey, pinky glow (photographs NEVER do these things justice)...
I must admit that for alot of our time at Sabah, I had to get over any ideas of looking glamourous and don some cargo trousers and trainers. We wanted to do some horse trekking along the beach and this was the first time Chris had done it (how nerdy do we look!ha ha)...
We messed around on the beach alot and this was my attempt to catch some air...
Once again, glamour out of the window as we were told to cover our legs and wear 'sensible' shoes whilst we did a canopy walk through the jungle...
We also went on a nocturnal animal watch where you sit in a hide in the jungle and watch all the different animals walking around. That was really cool! After a hot day in the sun, there was nothing better than an ice cold cocktail. We discovered an amazing one called the 'Ocean Mojito'...delicious!
There were 4 individual pergolas on the beach and you could book to have a meal on one of them with your own personal butler to serve you all night. We tried to book this but we were told that they were fully booked for the next few days. However, we got a phonecall on our second last night to say that there had been a cancellation. We couldn't believe our luck! We even did a nerdy little victory dance...yes we're THAT uncool!ha ha
It was such a special night and having the chance to have dinner alone and be waited on hand and foot made the night even more memorable. Our butler was called Shardy and he was the most lovely guy who made us so comfortable. He spent all night running back and forth and was genuinely interested in us as people. Excuse the blurry quality of the photo below, just wanted to give you guys an idea of what the pergola looked like...
Shardy surprised us at the end of the meal with this dessert for us to share and Chris is such a chocoholic that he scooped up all the chocolate sauce writing!...
On our last day we took a boat trip out to one of the islands to go snorkelling...although I chickened out because I have a real fear of the open sea and the creatures that are lurking around. If something brushes past my legs then I just freak out! Chris had a great time in the water while I soaked up some rays. The island we went to was beautiful...
We were sad to leave Borneo but I definitely wasn't sad to leave the mosquitos! That was the only bad thing that happened. Not only did I get eaten alive but I found out pretty quickly that I'm actually allergic to Mosquito bites. Luckily they only got my legs but I had at least 20 bites on each leg, they were swollen and VERY red. It got to the stage where people were staring at my legs when I walked past. It got me down a bit at first and then I just thought "don't be so stupid Laura, you're in an amazing place, just enjoy it and get over it". I ended up having to go to the doctor when I got to Hong Kong to get anti-biotics and anti-histamines because a couple of the bites got infected...nice! Even now, I can still see the marks on my legs but I guess you have to expect these things if you go trekking around in the jungle! Me and Chris have never been into spending a whole holiday lying on the beach. We enjoy doing different activites especially if it involves nature...that of course comes with it's pitfalls but it doesn't change the fact that we had a fantastic time!
