Day 117
It's our last full day here and it's going to be so hard to leave it :( We wake up and have the best poached egg on toast as its on normal, non sweet bread and Sue makes it, nom. We want to have a photoshoot with Julian today as he's pretty sad to leave the place too. He goes everywhere and decides he's going to become a travel reporter and uses this shoot as his interview, have a look here to see how well he did.
We spend about an hour taking snaps before it gets too hot and we strip off and dip in the pool, practising our diving. We want to grab some rum to take back and it was our plan to do so after the dip but one of the staff is going into town and grabs some for us which is really lovely.
We back our bags now, sad as it reminds us we are leaving. It's a bit of a logistical nightmare as well as we try and fit the rum in but after dumping a few bits we manage to squeeze it all in. At 2pm, I head over to Sue's as I'm going to get a manicure and pedicure as a pre birthday treat curtsey of Ben. Oh it's amazing, I have a foot spa, a leg massage and I picture some bright red nail varnish to top it off, I feel so good. After this 2 hour beauty session we cash up our bill and head over to Phil and Sue's again for our leaving dinner. The food, as always, is incredible which makes me want to leave even less :( Today we have an aubergine salad, okra with Spanish sardines which is amazing and Ben has refried pulled pork and I think he's in love. We are eating early as we are going to a little opening of the Nightscape project tonight which is going to be a camp where you go up and spend the night learning about the stars you can see from the mountain with a trained astrologer which sounds so cool!
We bundle into Goldie and head up the steep volcanoe, stopping every so often to grab some shots of the sunset. Once we arrive, we meet up with the Spanish team organising it and wait for the local teachers who will be using it for their students and the dignitaries to arrive. Once everyone has (about 40 people) and taken the obligatory selfies, we all grab torches and head up to where the camp will be, it looks amazing to look back and see the trail of lights weaving through the forest. Nothing has been set up yet but we see the space it will be and have a look at the very clear skies.
It clouds over and the speeches have started so we sneak off and head back, seeing fireflies for the first time as we do. So so cool!! We drive back with a detour for me to get some marshmallows and a farewell drink at Linus's where we meet his really cool diva dog :D
Day 118
We are up nice and early as our flight leaves at 7. Phil and Sue are being there usual lovely selves and taking us to the airport and its so hard to say goodbye as they made us feel so at home, luckily they leave quickly so I don't get chance to dwell on it and cry. The airport also distracts us as the bag scanner isn't working so they are checking every bag manually, which is fine if you have a small bag or a suitcase but a tightly packed rucksack? No way, luckily they just had a quick peak inside and don't take out half the contents like I thought they would. We check in and sit in the tiny airport where you can see all parts of it, arrivals, check in, security, the gate and the runway from our seat. Our plane is on time yay and we wave as sad goodbye as the plane takes off.
We both feel like we are heading home and not off to the next part of our adventure and this plane ride is a little glum until I remember it's 2 days till my birthday :D woohoo! The flight is quick and we land in Cebu ready for our next long wait. First things first though is a snack and I fall head over heels for a tuna sandwich, I haven't had a good one in ages and I'm in love. Seriously I could have eaten another two straight away. Whether it's today with leaving our little bit of paradise or the long wait we are both a bit fractious with each other and this wait doesn't go so fast. Once we are in the plan though and had a little chat we are back to being our silly selves again, with Ben pretending to be deaf as his ears block up and I pretend I'm taking when I'm actually just mouthing. We carry on with that for about half hour when we hit a bit of turbulence which is easily the worse I have ever experienced, luckily we are both strapped and no one was walking aisle. It started off like a little bounce on the roller-coaster then suddenly the plane drops (probably not even a few cm in reality) and the whole plane bounces out of their seats, the guy in the row opposite didn't have his seat belt on and he hit his head on the ready lights. The pilot comes over the speaker system to apologise and seat belts are suddenly fractionally put on but luckily we have a smooth flight after that.
We land in Kota Kinabula and grab a quick snack before checking in. Another long wait here but we do have a try out the massage machines which are 50p for 15 minutes and very good. We aren't sitting together on this next flight but my guy isn't too bad who I'm next to and I get some bits done. The plane lands and I'm so happy our day of travelling is over. We grab a taxi and head off to Borneo Life Home Stay, the nicest home stay and hostel we have stayed in all trip.
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