Julia and Billy's SE Asia Travel Adventure: Into the Jungle...

After spending a few days in Kota Kinabalu, we decided that our fist excursion would be to a jungle lodge. We spent 2 days and a night at a jungle lodge in the forest near Kota Kinabatagan.

The adventure started in Kota Kinabalu, where we hopped on a bus and suffered through a hellish 5 hour ride to Kota Kinabatagan. This was one ride for the books. First off, we barely caught the bus after initially being ushered onto the wrong bus. Julia had the stroke of genius to ask where the bus was going... After a little chaos, we stopped the other bus that was pulling out and got the last seats available, in the back, next to the toilet. We soon found that the a/c vent above our seats was broken and Billy managed to put some engineering skills to use and block the vent with his sock. Since we were in the back, we couldn't see or hear the movie, which was on too low to hear anyway. To make matters worse, the toilet started overflowing...and yes, we were right next to it, which made for an unpleasant smell and several damp items.

From Kota Kinabatabgan, the jungle lodge people picked us up and took us on a dusty bumpy ride to the lodge.

At the lodge, we put Billy's new guitar to work singing Ghost Riders in the Sky returning us to childhood memories of car trips with the family. Billy entertained our fellow travelers and guides with some Johnny Cash and Beatles songs late into the night. We took evening and morning boat trips up the river in search of wildlife, and participated in a night hike. On the boat trips we saw tons of birds, monkeys (including the long-nosed proboscus monkey), lizards and even a crocodile. The night hike was an interesting opportunity to check out all of the micro life in the jungle. We saw lots of brightly colored frogs and insects with the help of our Australian friend, Steve, who became our own personal tour guide. To Julia's great relief, we didn't have any personal encounters with leeches.

-Julia and Billy