Easter Trip to Malaysia part dos

Ok, so where were we? Ow yeah at the top of mt. Kota Kinabalu. Here are some more pictures to give an impression:


And to top it of I tried to make a panorama shot, but I'm not to sure if the result is everything I hoped for. Well, anyway:

As can be seen on the panorama shot, the summit was completely located above all clouds. It was advised to start the hike back as soon as possible because the sun gets really strong at that point. At around half past 6 I started to notice that, and we started to hike back. The hike back to the base camp only took an hour and a half, but already took al lot from me, since there is constant pressure on my legs. We stayed for about 45 minutes at the camp, packing our stuff and resting for a bit, before making the last hike back down. The hike down was supposed to take half the time of going up, so this would mean it should take us 2.5 hours. For some reason I had more trouble going down than going up and after 3 hours we reached the starting point again. My legs were hurting, and I had trouble just to walk normally. Lonely planet describes this to be one of the easiest hikes... well I think I really have some work out to do to be able to climb some of the thougher ones!

That afternoon we came back in Kota Kinabalu at around 2pm and we checked in the hostel again. I guess the owner was happy to see us again because he gave us a private room instead of the dormitory this time, for the same rate. Unfortunately the room didn't have AC and I'm still not sure what would have been better, the dorm which had AC or the room. I didn't have trouble sleeping so I guess it doesn't matter much.
That day we just took it easy and we wanted to end the day mellow at the same bar that we went before to drink a few beers. I guess fate decided differently, because we met the Americans again at that place and ended up partying untill four in the morning (this might have been a different time, but my guess is around four). That night one of the girls convinced me to take a diving course with her, and since guys are weak (and I wanted to do the course for a long time already) I said yes. The next day (saturday already) I woke up reasonably early to go sign up for the diving course. I also received a book which could be used for self study in order to make the dives easier. However, it's quite hard to learn when you are on a holiday.
That same day we went with the same group to a swamp, which took a two hour drive to reach. Since Olli and me made a last minute decision to join the van was really crowded. Upon arrival, a lot of people were sore from the trip... well for what it's worth, sorry bout that!
The trip through the swamp was both fun and in my opinion showed some good scenery. We were basically taken on a boat and made a trip over small rivers that led through the jungle. On the way we saw monkeys, water buffalos and some birds and stuff. Especially the sundown was beautiful. I tried to make a good picture of that:


That evening we enjoyed a good dinner at a restaurant at the starting/end point of the tour. After that the guide brought us to a place where we could see fireflies. It was already dark and one of the trees was filled with those flies, it seemed like the tree was decorated for christmas or something. No pictures of that unfortunately...
After returning to KK we decided to go to bed early, since i had to start the diving course quite early. This was probably the first saturday in Asia where I got to bed early, it's like a completely different world out there! well anyway...


The next day I went to Ming's hostel (the girl that I was taking the diving course with) to be picked up by Rueben, our diving instructor. We went to the harbour and took a small boat that would bring us to one of the islands for our first dive. We were joined by a group chinese people who were dropped of before we made our dive. We had our course with a guy from Singapore called Jason. The first day consisted of two dives, and we had to perform some skills like removing the mask and putting it back on under water and that kind of stuff. Every dive ended with a fun part which was basically a half hour swing in the surroundings of the boat. We swam near coral reefs, which at first didn't look so good since fisherman blown up a part of it to catch fish. However, during the second dive we saw a sea turtle swimming very near us. This was quite cool and we tried to follow it. Unfortunately it went too deep (or were we too slow??).
That evening we went out with Rueben and some of his friends. Ming's friends all rented a car to go to Brunei and wouldn't return untill late the next day. It was a really good evening and we had a lot of fun, especially in a certain questionable karaoke bar.
The next day we had to go diving again and this time we went to our maximum depth which is 18 metres. Again we had to perform some skills and had the fun dive after that. At this spot the coral was way better and the scenery was more colourful. Ming brought an underwater cam and I wonder how those pics will turn out to be. I really enjoyed the whole diving course and I am happy Ming convinced me to do it. Can't wait to go diving 'for real' now.


That evening was the last evening in Malaysia and we took it easy by sitting on a terrace and having a few beers. At around two o'clock at night Ming's friends came back from there trip. Appearantly they had an amazing roadtrip and the story (as far as I could make up a story from everything I heard from them) was truly hilarious. The next day most of them had to get up early to catch a flight to Thailand, where Olli and me had to back to Macau. Our flight was at 1pm and it took 3 hours again. Coming back to Macau wasn't too great since it was very cloudy, and the temperature was low. This fact, together with the memory of a good holiday made me quite bummed out to be back, especially because I had three exams in the following two days (I'm still hoping for a miracle)...

Well this finishes my report about Malaysia. I highly recommend everybody to go to Malaysia, especially since appearantly there are way more beautiful in the country. This makes me want to go back in the future, and if I have a chance I certainly will.

But for now; thank you, bye bye!