Eliza in Singapore with her parents (February, 2014)

Eliza met her parents in Singapore for 2 days on their way to visit us in Perth.

They went to Clarke Quay; Lockdown and did "Bail Out;" stayed at the Marina Bay Sands and went to the infinity pool on the 57th floor and were able to see the Super Trees, WonderFull Water and Light show, Helix Bridge and Marina Bay area; and take a bus tour of the city.

 Eliza's parents, Kim and Toni hanging out in the infinity pool.

Kim, checking out the gardens.

Night in Kuala Lumpur Airport (February, 2014)

We slept 17 people in a suite at the Sama Sama hotel at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.  We had to beg them to give us rooms, since they say they don't allow kids in the rooms.  They would only give us 1 room.  We charmed him into upgrading it to a suite for free and bringing in 2 single beds alongside the king bed in the room.  Most of us slept on the floor, but it was an unforgettable experience.  We got to the room around 1am and checked out around 6am.

Sandakan, Kinabatangan River, Gomantong Caves, Malaysian Borneo (February, 2014)

We stayed 3 nights at the Four Points by Sheraton Sandakan.  We originally redeemed 3,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points per night for basic rooms, but upon arrival we requested to upgrade to Club rooms which cost an additional 1,500 points per night.  So, we ended up getting Club rooms for 3 nights each for 4,500 points per night or 13,500 points total.  We spent the next day relaxing at the pool in the hotel.  We enjoyed a free buffet breakfast for everybody, free lounge appetizers (mediocre) and virgin pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris on 2 of the nights we were there.

The next day we rented a big bus to take us to the Gomantong Caves (smelly, hundreds of feet deep of guano and cockroaches crawling all over the platform and the bat poo).  We saw an orangutan on the way to the caves.  Eliza was too squeamish to enter the caves, but she did walk to the entrance.  After we returned from the caves, we went on a 2.5 hour river boat tour on the Kinabatangan River ($15 per adult and $10 for kids) where we saw a huge crocodile, orangutans, hundreds of monkeys, a monitor lizard, an eagle and tons of other birds.  The river cruise was awesome for kids and packed with wildlife since this rainforest has been mostly obliterated by the palm oil plantations that surround it and all that is left is a narrow strip of rainforest where all the animals are packed into one place.

 Entering the Gomantong Caves…the smell was pretty powerful by this point.

 Piles of guano a few meters deep and cockroaches crawling all over the place.

 Zander had a good ride through the caves, and Nash was a bit freaked out by it with all the bugs and cockroaches.

 Inside of the cave with some light penetrating through a hole in the top.

 A monitor lizard that we came across on the boat tour on the Kinabatangan River.

 We saw thousands of monkeys at very close range on the boat tour.

 Huge crocodile lurking in the murky water.

 Our group filled the whole boat…we wouldn't have it any other way.

 More monkeys.

 This monkey was just about to jump into our boat.

 The boys on the boat.

Crocodile crawling out of the water of the Kinabatangan River.

We gave a bunch of the local children candy and got back on the bus to head back to the hotel in Sandakan.

The next day we hung around the hotel, wandered out into the streets and bought some souvenirs and went shopping like the locals.  We rushed to the airport at night for our flight to Kuala Lumpur and back to Perth (after one quick night in Kuala Lumpur).

Lahad Datu, Danum Valley Rainforest, and Borneo Rainforest Lodge (February, 2014)

We flew Malaysian Airlines from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu and were picked up in Lahad Datu by Borneo Nature Tours to be driven 2.5 hours on mostly dirt roads to the Borneo Rainforest Lodge deep in the heart of the Danum Valley Rainforest.

We had booked the last 3 rooms at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge and the booking included all of our meals, guides for any hikes we wanted to go on while we were there, and transportation to and from Lahad Datu.  It was pretty expensive by Malaysian standards, but quite reasonable considering what we got out of the deal.  It was about $1,500 for 2 nights (all inclusive including treks and guides) per room.

When we arrived, they gave us refreshing cold towels that had a fresh, fruity smell.  They would give us these towels at the end of all of our hikes thru the rainforest as well.

We stayed at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge, which is the only place to stay in the Danum Valley Rainforest.  We booked through Borneo Nature Tours, which is the only booking agent for the lodge.

After lunch, our guides, Mike and Jenny took us on a walk on the nature trail to familiarize us with our surroundings and show us some of the bugs and other wildlife around the lodge (and alleviate some of the girls' fears about spiders and snakes...didn't work).  The kids loved it.  We found giant "rollie pollies" and saw some wild monkeys on the bank of the river.  Later that afternoon, we saw a wild orangutan just outside the lodge and found a few monkeys in the treetops.

 Ryder showing off the giant "rolly polly" that he found along the trail near the lodge.

 Our first orangutan sighting.

View from our balcony outside the room which had its own hot tub.

At night, Mike and Jenny took us on our "jungle safari," driving us in the back of a truck on some dirt roads around the lodge.  We saw a flying squirrel fly from one tree to another about 200 yards away, which was amazing.  We also saw (and caught) a rare frog (saw his red eyes glowing as we passed it in the truck).  We were able to see some night birds as well.

 Grandma Toni with the frog on her shoulder.

The next morning, a small group of us (Cody, Eliza, Sawyer, Ryder, Nash, Zander, Toni, and Scott) left before breakfast for the canopy walk, so we could go on a big trek to the waterfalls and burial ground after breakfast.  We walked on the rope bridges high up in the trees, right in the mist and listened to all the jungle sounds.  We saw a monkey climbing around in the treetops and were able to see some of the birds as well.  We headed back to have breakfast with the rest of the group before our big hike, which was the highlight of our trip.

 Our crew on the canopy walk above the rainforest.

 Checking out the wildlife on the canopy walk in the early morning.

 Ryder, Sawyer, and Nash with their binoculars on the canopy walk.

 Daddy, with Zander on his back on the canopy walk.

The food at the lodge was great…probably the best food we had on our trip.  The fruit was amazingly flavorful, especially the pineapple and mango.  They had western selections as well as Asian food. It was restaurant quality food and very filling.

After breakfast we begun our long trek from the lodge to the Aboriginal burial ground and lookout at the top of the mountain, then on to Fairy falls and then to Serpentine falls, and ultimately to the Jacuzzi pool.  This was the highlight of the trip, but it was (by far) the most difficult, exhausting thing we did.  Cody had to carry Zander on his back the entire way in an infant pack, which was much more than he anticipated and left him totally wiped out after the journey.  Also, the leeches were relentless on the trek.  At one point, we felt that there was a full-on leech attack.  Nash had a complete meltdown as he had multiple leeches on his body and every time we pulled one off it seemed another one attached.  It was never ending. Just as Nash was screaming for his life, every person in the party was trying to deal with their own leech problems.  We didn't spend much time at Serpentine falls because we had to high-tail it out of there to get away from the leeches.

Nash was a trooper the whole way.  The hike wasn't easy by any means.  A lot of the way, Nash was having to climb straight up the mountain and some of the steps were shoulder high for him.  He never complained and toughed it out.  We even passed a large group of people on the way up the steep part of the hike.  Ryder and Sawer were also brave and tough, not complaining about the difficulty of the path and just taking it one step at a time.  We learned that Nash is our little strong man on this hike.

 2nd orangutan sighting at the beginning of our long trek.

 The trees were enormous.  There were so many cool things to see along the way.

 Nash, hiking up one of the steep parts of the trail.

 Walking through the jungle.

 Fairy Falls at the top end of the hike.

 Ryder and Nash, enjoying the hike.

 Zander, looking through the binoculars.

 The girls, Eliza, Sawyer, and grandma Toni in front of the Fairy Falls.

We saw a lot of wildlife on our hike (2 sets of orangutans, a bunch of monkeys, birds, spiders, leeches, etc.)

Fairy falls was beautiful and was a good break from the hiking.

The Aboriginal burial ground was interesting…bones sitting on ledges on the edge of a cliff.

Serpentine falls was pretty, but too many leeches, so we had to get out of there.

We met the other group (who did the canopy walk and a shorter hike to the jacuzzi pool after breakfast) at the jacuzzi pool.  The jacuzzi pool was AMAZING!  It was full of fish 6-8 inches long that would nibble on your dead skin on your legs and feet once you entered the water.  It was a lot like the fish spas that you see throughout southeast Asia, but the fish were 10 times the size and it didn't actually tickle like the fish spas, it felt like prickly needles since the fish were gently biting you.  Cody and Scott spent a lot of time in the pool letting the fish nibble on them.  Ryder got brave and let the fish nibble him for a minute, then couldn't take it any more.

 Uncle Ian, enjoying the jacuzzi pool.

Cody and Ryder, getting ready to let the fish nibble their feet in the jacuzzi pool.

Ryder, not loving the fish nibbling at his feet.

We got rained out of our tubing expedition down the river…a serious downpour.  Cody, Ian, Scott, and Kyle went walking down the river and Kyle and Scott ran back to the lodge when it started to rain.  Cody and Ian crossed the river and saw a huge monitor lizard (about 8 feet in length) and another, smaller monitor lizard (at very close range as it jumped out in front of us when we walked past the bushes).  We ended up going on the tubing expedition the next morning.  Everybody hiked about 20 minutes up the river with tubes and we floated down the river to the lodge.  It was a very mild river, but was a lot of fun, especially for the little kids.

 Everyone tubing down the river back towards the lodge.

Three boys stuck in their tubes.

Cody, Ryder, Kyle, Whitney, Ryder, Ian, and Scott did the night walk and found owls, spiders, a lot of frogs, a couple large rainforest deer, and a lizard before getting back to the lodge late.

A giant spider that we saw on the night walk.

After tubing, we got back to the lodge, had lunch, packed up and left, drove the 2.5 hours back to Lahad Datu and got on a couple of vans from Lahad Datu to Sandakan which was another 2.5 hour journey.  We arrived late to the Four Points Sheraton in Sandakan, where we would stay for the next 3 nights.

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo (February, 2014)

We arrived pretty late to our hotel in Kota Kinabalu (Hyatt Regency Kinabalu) which we booked using 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points per room (regular rooms) that we got by transferring points at 1:1 from Chase Ultimate Rewards.  We had 3 rooms booked (one for each family) and they were a steal for 5,000 points per night.  The Hyatt was right on the water and in the main part of the city.

Once we got off the plane in Kota Kinabalu, Loni was very sick.  It took us a while to get out of the airport because we hadn't exchanged money to get any Malaysian Ringitt, and there was only 1 working ATM in the whole airport.  She headed to bed once we got to the hotel.  Fortunately, her sickness didn't last too long.

From what we saw in Kota Kinabalu, it was definitely a place we could spend some time. It was beautiful.  Unfortunately, we hadn't scheduled any time for Kota Kinabalu (we will have to return someday) as it was just our entry point into Borneo and we were spending the bulk of our time in Borneo in the Danum Valley rainforest and around Sandakan.

We hit up a late dinner at Burger King and then put the kids down for bed since we had a very early flight to Lahad Datu to catch in the morning.  Cody, Scott, Kyle, Whitney, Ezra, and Jovi went out to wander the boardwalk outside the hotel until about midnight  There was an array of seafood and other interesting things, almost like some kind of food festival.  Tons of people were seated at picnic tables and were feasting while others cooked the fresh seafood on barbecues a few feet away.

We didn't stay out long as we needed some rest for our early morning flight to Lahad Datu and subsequent drive into the Danum Valley Rainforest.

Bali, Indonesia (February, 2014)

We got a pretty good deal for our 3.5 hour flights from Perth to Bali on Jetstar.  Since there were 19 of us traveling (Cody, Eliza, Sawyer, Ryder, Nash, Zander, Toni, Scott, Kyle, Whitney, Ezra, Jovi, Ian, Loni, Mac, Eily, Teig, Emily, and Cy), it was pretty important to get a good deal on the flights.

We stayed 4 nights at the Grand Hyatt Bali in Nusa Dua.  We redeemed 72,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points total (18,000 points/night) transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards for Executive Suites in the South Village of the Hotel (1,269 square foot rooms) which normally cost ~$650/night plus taxes (~$2,600 per room for the 4 nights).  We did this across 4 rooms and had plenty of space and lots of luxury.  The hotel is right across (within walking distance) from Bali Collection, which is nice to be able to get outside of the hotel for restaurants and shopping.

 Nash and Ryder, playing around at the pool.

 Cody, getting a pedicure at the fish spa at Bali Collection while our nephew, Mac tests the waters.

Nash's onderwater photo.

Whitney, Cody's brother Kyle's wife, had less than 6 months remaining on her US passport and was not allowed to board the flight from Perth to Bali with the rest of the group.  Luckily, she got the passport sorted and joined us about 24 hours later.  Whitney had to buy a last minute airline ticket from Perth to Bali which ended up costing her about $195.

We stayed in the hotel the first day and played in the pools and on the waterside.

The next day (Thursday) we rented a bus with a driver all day (8am to 8pm) and he drove us to Ubud.  Our first stop and where we stayed most of the day was the Bali Safari and Marine Park.  At the park we were able to go to a piranha feeding, watch an animal show, watch an elephant show, go on a safari and get close to all kinds of animals, ride elephants, hold orangutans, and pet baby lions.

 Eliza and the kids, holding an orangutan at the Bali Safari Park.

 Sawyer, petting a baby lion at the Bali Safari Park.

 Eliza, with Zander, riding elephants at the Bali Safari Park.

Sawyer, riding elephants with grandpa Scott at the Bali Safari Park.

The crew, petting the elephants at the Bali Safari Park.

After we left the park, we drove to the monkey forest in Ubud and walked down to the temple.  We fed the monkeys some bananas along the way and posed for some pictures with them as they climbed all over us.  The kids loved being close to the monkeys.

 A monkey, going after Cody and Zander's banana.

 Beautiful scenery at the temple in the middle of the monkey forest.  Huge moss covered trees with vines are all around.

 Grandma Toni and Grandpa Scott at the temple in monkey forest.

 Zander didn't really like the monkey climbing on his head.

 Nash, giggling as the monkey pulls his hair.

 Ryder, enjoying the monkey on his lap.

And on his head.

We ended up getting back to the hotel pretty late after an adventurous day and we were pretty exhausted.

The next day we lounged at the hotel most of the day except for an afternoon excursion to Kuta for some massages and shopping for trinkets.

Saturday morning Emily and Cy headed back to Auckland thru Perth and the rest of us packed up and made our way to the airport to continue our journey.  Next stop: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo.