Thursday, September 15 - Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu.  It was a relief to arrive at the Hong Kong airport at about 4:30am.  We easily made our way through the airport and 2 security checkpoints only to find that our gate was in an outlying terminal building and the buses weren’t running yet.  We were too weary to make out way back to the main concourse, so didn’t get coffee until about 7:15.  The rest of the Intrepids trickled in and we all boarded the Dragon Air plane for Kota Kinabalu.  It was about a 2 ½ hour flight and we had another breakfast.  At the airport in K.K. there was a very long line-up for immigration.  After about an hour everyone but Janet and Barry had appeared.  When they still hadn’t appeared after another 15 minutes, the search party was sent out.  Seemed there’d been an error on one of their forms and they were sent to the back of the line!  Eventually they got through, we all found our luggage, our guide and our bus and were on our way.  We checked into the Hyatt Regency and immediately slept for 2 hours or more.

The Intrepids gathered near the pool for drinks and a view of the sunset or the harbor.  Then we took the bus to a floating restaurant for a seafood dinner and some lively traditional dancing displays from various Borneo tribes.  Some of our group joined in the dancing and the blow pipe demo.  E-M was celebrating her 65^th birthday so got to wear a sparkly tiara for the evening.  Finally back to the hotel and time for bed.

Photos 15 Sep