Babysitting

Rick, Katy and I loved being on babysitting duty while Uncle Bert and Auntie Pinky went snorkelling or had a massage.  (TV is such a great babysitter!)

We had to stagger our meals in the evening so we could babysit Gabriel and Raphaella while Bert and Pinky ate, since adult meals weren't available until after the little kids had to go to bed.

Jungle Trek with Justin and Jamie

On Thursday morning, we booked a jungle walk to explore the old growth tropical jungle right behind the resort.  It's also part of the National Park that comprises the Marine Park in which we were staying.  We decided we should take a before picture with our guides, Conservationist Justin and his assistant Jamie.

We spotted a huge water monitor that we'd seen a few times from our balcony, and it was a good opportunity to practice using our binoculars.

Katy looked very professional heading out into the jungle with her binoculars!

As did Gabriel
 
 It was wonderful to see all the old growth and to have Justin there to explain everything to us.  These old vines were absolutely amazing and around 100 years old.

Katy and Gabriel were impressed with the millipede, although nobody really wanted to hold it!

We found a huge lingzi, which would be worth many thousands of dollars in a Hong Kong Chinese Medicine shop!

It was much cooler in the jungle, which made the walk much more enjoyable.  We say unusual butterflies...

...and rattan vines, which start off as shoots with very sharp spines.

After a while, it became a bit too much for Katy, so Jamie took Mama and Katy back home, while Gabriel and Uncle Bert forged on ahead with Justin and Dada.  We were lucky though to see two little green snakes called calamaria on our way back home.  They were brilliantly coloured a light jewel green with gorgeous black markings. 

Gabriel had a little jungle nap before too long though.

 
The highlight of their trek was a beautiful green viper, which was also the highlight of Mama's trek when she did it again a few days later.

I loved the beautiful ferns, which were enormous.

We also saw lots of different kinds of lizards, and it was really fun trying to spot them while they were camouflaged on trees.

Barfly

We loved hanging out at the bar.  It was the coolest place to eat in the minimally air conditioned eco-resort!  Also, they had a great happy hour that started early and ended late whenever Rick was there!  And the staff were wonderful, including the "mixologists",  They loved making creative and yummy mocktails for Katy!

Asfan was our favourite mixologist.  He made a mean mojito with extra rum and mint leaves!

Joseo is the Assistant F&B Manager.

Since Happy Hour coincided with kiddie feeding time, we would also order dinner there.  The kids were addicted to the macaroni and cheese, which was very delicious!

The dinner buffet also had an amazing dessert station.  Katy loved these macaroons.

We loved the brother-sister duo who played at the bar, Daniel and Gina.   Gina asked for requests, and Katy asked for "yue liang daibiao wode xin", which Gina unfortunately did not know.  But Daniel knew it on guitar, so they asked Katy to sing it!  Katy was thrilled!  All that Rhyme Recital practice is paying dividends as she did a very professional job of introducing herself and her song, which she calls "The moon represents my heart" in English.

Afterwards, Katy insisted on sharing some Halloween treats with Daniel and Gina.

Storytelling with Michale

 

What Katy DID really love, were the kids activities.  The resort had a beautiful kids activity centre, BUT it was only opening that very day, so was not really properly stocked or manned, and it was up a super steep hill quite a ways from the resort if you have little legs.  Unlike other resorts, you had to pay for babysitting. 

In any case, we convinced Michale to move storytelling time up to the air conditioned comfort of the kids centre, and Katy settled into a colourful beanbag to listen to a native tale.  She loved it!

After story time, Michale taught her some native dances.  And yes, that is Mama passed out asleep on the beanbag behind.  They are comfortable!  And something about being in the tropics just makes you fall asleep after lunch!

Snorkelling with Paul

Our first morning at the resort, we joined Paul's group for a snorkelling trip on the house reef.  It was our second time trying to get Katy interested in snorkelling.  We got off to a good start as Katy loved trying on all the new gear.

Paul is studying marine biology and is the Assistant Marine Biologist at the resort.  His family is originally from Ireland, but he grew up in Malaysia.  His Dad is an engineer who works for YTL Resorts.  Paul was very patient with Katy and very encouraging, which was very helpful.  It turns out that it's quite hard to snorkel, which is a zen kind of activity, while trying to take care of an energetic five year old who doesn't want to stick her face in the water!

Full moon over KK

Fei Fei Fei

Windblown!

Going to Gaya

 After a 90 minute flight from Kuching to KK, we caught a taxi to The Sutera Harbour Marina, where we enjoyed delicious lime sorbets at the Gaya Island Resort room while we waited for our speedboat transfer.  On our way to the speedboat, we saw lots and lots of little fish and sea urchins in the clear water.  Later, Scott Mayback, the resort's marine biologist, would say that this is the cleanest marina water he's ever seen.

 On the speedboat, we all donned our life jackets ready for the 10 minute ride over.

 Katy had to look after Raphaella and Stripey Baby while Mama put on her life jacket.

The resort looked very inviting  as we approached.  We thought "oh, lucky we didn't book one of the more expensive two-bedroom villas or seaview villas as they are very high up the hill, which would be very inconvenient with all the kids in tow..."

 It was very hot and very bright.  Uncle Bert presciently said "oh, we must make sure we put on lots of sunscreen and make sure we don't get sunburnt on the first day of our holiday.  There's nothing worse..."

 We all relaxed in the lobby with our welcome drinks as we waited to be checked in.