Malaysia - Sabah, 20 March 2011

This looked and sounded a bit like a bonang, but it says Kulintangan at the front. Lovely sound.

Alarm set for five o'clock! The adventure was about to begin. The mysterious rumours about our luggage had started before, however. Question was, were we going to be allowed to take our suitcases with us into the jungle? Some knew for certain that this was not the case. They were going to be put into lockers at the airport and we would only be allowed hand luggage. Some doubted this, but thought there might be some truth in it. I belonged to the latter group. But I did not go as far as E., who bought a really unnecessary backpack in one of the hotel shops. I don´t think she even liked it.

Don't be shy now, admit it, you didn´t know that Borneo is divided between three different countries, Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia, did you now? If you did, just keep that annoying bit of information to yourself, old cleverclogs. Sabah is Malaysia's second largest state and sits on the northeastern tip of Borneo. This is where we were heading to this Sunday morning. The flight was about two hours, so it must have been a little distance. We landed at Kota Kinabalu and then transferred by bus to our hotel, the Sutera Harbour Resort. My large red suitcase was still with me. This resort is vast, by the sea; my room had a distinct colonial flavour to it - all dark woods and crisp white bedspread, a fantastic view over the sea; but we were only allowed ten minutes, for an excursion to Manukan Island was next on the programme. From the harbour it was only a short boat-ride to this rather unimposing island where we were served lunch, barbecue style, with several kinds of grilled local fish. We had been promised an afternoon of snorkeling round the island, but in fact swimming/snorkeling was restricted to a little area by the beach where we had lunch. S. from California donned the gear and efficiently snorkeled away - only to come back and tell us there was nothing interesting down there. Taking her word for it, I just swam for ages. Very relaxing. Ah well, then it started raining. Really pouring down. I think we were all a little surprised. The guide said, when asked if such downpours were normal: "Yes, this happens at least four times a week!" The boat was not covered and it felt like having a shower of thumbtacks thrown at my face. For some reason the transfer back from the harbour to the resort did not turn up to collect everybody, so we walked. It was not far and the rain had nearly stopped. Such a lovely hotel. I love it when there are unexpected little corners, a water feature here, a magnificent flowerbed - Hibiscus in particular -  there.

There was a wonderful spa, too. Several of my friends had the same idea as I had and had booked themselves in for treatments; mine was "Fancy Fotwork", a cross between reflexology and foot massage. The atmosphere in the Spa was beautifully relaxed, one was given ginger tea and treated like royalty. It's fun doing these things when your friends are there, too - it's the "what did you have? Wasn't it great? Are you going to buy that tangerine body lotion - yes so am I" -kind of talk which is strangely reassuring. All your troubles seem far away, there and then. And yet, there we were in the midst of foreign lands, not really knowing what was happening next. To us or the luggage. Walking back to the lobby I found a Jim Thompson shop which was still open at this late hour. I bought a lovely little blue silk toilet bag, to complement the one J. gave me for Christmas one year. "The girls" were all in the lobby bar; perhaps not as loud as normal - we had been up since five, after all. The sisters, M & N, had ordered too much food. They gave me their leftovers, some very tasty chicken-nuggety-type of thing. I had a G&T. Lordy how good that was! We did not stay long - an even earlier morning call was booked for the next day.