The Adventures of Shawn & Andy: October 2008

How's this for a vacation orientation: "you might notice you have a big red button in your bungalow. Don't push it, or only push it in the case of an emergency (like someone is in your room) because it will bring the entire military. Also, if you see men riding around on boats with guns, don't worry, it's just the military." Ah Borneo, they weren't just guns, they were assault rifles.

Well, as you can surmise, it was truly an adventure.

Andy and I had a great time, but certainly it was tempered for me with the constant fear that we might actually be kidnapped or killed. That is the start of a relaxing vacation, right?!?

So, the itinerary was this: Tokyo, Japan for 2 days, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (Borneo) for 3 days, 5 days in Kapali (the resort), 1 day in Kuala Lumpur, 1 day in Seoul, Korea and then alot of flights (9 total) to fill the rest of 14 days. Oh man, we were worn out, so it is a good thing we did it now instead of waiting for retirement.

What did we do? Walked and walked and walked around, ate ALOT, shopped in markets, snorkeled and scuba dived until our ears were sore to the touch, got ripped off by taxi drivers, got sick of eating weird food, missed our baby, actually got some sleep, and enjoyed one another's company. Muy Bueno, I hope you enjoy the pics.

Japan

Compare and contrast: two Tokyo temples

Malaysian Borneo-Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Snorkeling on Sulug, a deserted island. I was a little worried they would forget to come pick us back up.

Sapi

I told my mom that I would use good judgment...

Locals at Poring, a rainforest, hotsprings waterpark.

Why they call it a "rain" forest

Mmmm, lunch. Warning, you can only eat so many fried noodles, for so many days in a row.

Kapali:

This place is scuba diving heaven. We went on 16 dives-each! Amazing.

A sea cave called "turtle tomb." I left when it occurred to me that both of Evan's parents weren't just scuba diving half-way around the world from her, but that both were at that moment in an underwater cave. Geniuses!

This barracuda was hanging out at the steps one night as we finished our night dive. I was really afraid to get out of the water for fear that it might get me. Look at those teeth.

I'm not kidding, this eel was as big around as my leg and at least as long.

Not a fish you would want to tango with.

A squid (cuttlefish) or as I like to call them "cuddlefish." I just want to squeeze one, but that would probably not be advisable. Did you know that they change colors to camouflage themselves?

Can you see this fish in this pick? We were constantly warned to control our buoyancy and stay off the bottom because there are tons of stone and scorpion fish hidden on the bottom.