Christmas in Malaysia

We enjoyed a wonderful time in Borneo over Christmas.

Here are some of the things we did....

Took an evening city/riverboat tour in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei while on a 6 hour layover to Sabah

-Saw a city on stilts in the river complete with school, store, police station

- Had a lovely "steamboat" dinner where you cook everything in a broth fondue style

-Saw the most elaborate Muslim temples ever built and the palace of the Sultan of Brunei

Stayed at the Shangri-la Rasa Ria Resort in Sabah, East Malaysia for a week

-Had lots of good pool time but had to protect the skin from intense sun so close to the equator

-Went jungle trekking in the nature preserve with a ranger so as not to get lost

-Saw young orphan orangutans in their natural habitat in the sanctuary as well as monkeys

-Went to a great Christmas worship service with english speaking locals in Kota Kinabalu

-Rich, Sue, Stacia and Lucas went on an ATV safari in the muddy jungle and on the beach

-Rich, Lucas, Lance and Elise took a banana boat trip

-Took a boat cruise out to an island where the kids had their first snorkeling experience and it was a great one with warm, calm water and lots of coral and colorful fish

-Went boogie boarding in the South China Sea

-Had wonderful family walks along the 3 km long beach

-Ate wonderful international food and decided the Indian was best!

-Took a day trip to Mount Kinabalu Park to hike. Stopped at a hot springs park where locals were having the time of their lives in these little baths where the sanitation was interesting

-Took a lot of pictures of our friend Flat Stanley enjoying Sabah

It was a great experience on our first Asian adventure outside of China. The next trip is in the planning stage and will take place the first week of February for Chinese New Year. It is looking to be either Vietnam or somewhere in the Phlippines. We'll keep you posted!