Borneo

KK
I recommend North Borneo Cabins on Jalan Gaya. You can get a double here, there is free breakfast, free tea and coffee, free internet, sky tv, lovely staff, hot water, nice and clean.

Climbing Mt Kinabalu takes two days, with the option of staying an extra day before or after the climb. I must admit it's rather expensive but I guess that's fine as long as the charges goes toward the upkeep of the park. Also, it might be a good idea to book for the accomodation at Laban Rata (rest stop on the mountain) at least 4 weeks in advance or you might not be able to get the day you want, or worse, there may not be any accomodation left.

With two weeks, you can probably fit in a 3 day jungle trek in the Kinabatangan basin which I heard from travellers that it is the best place to see plants and animal. I would've taken a tour there if I had more time in Sabah.

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The Kinabatangan river was the real highlight of our trip to Sabah. i went with Uncle Tans (www.uncletan.com) - they were really good, they have a basic camp near the river, the guys were really friendly and enthusiastic and we stayed there for 3 days, 2 nights. We saw lots of amazing wildlife. Trip started from Uncle Tan's basic guesthouse, a few km from Sandakan. In the morning they also took us to Sepilok.

There are some nice islands to visit just off Kota Kinabalu, such as Manukan and Sapi Island. Air Asia fly from various places in Sabah back to KL - www.airasia.com, Paul
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TURTLES;
If you want to see Turtles ask at the Sarawak Tourist Board about going to Pulau Satang. It's an island with basic accomodation and with a small group of people you can overnight there and see the turtles laying eggs and the young hatching. It's far less expensive than the Turtle Island off Sandakan in Sabah.


DIVING

www.divetheworldmalaysia.com/sipadan-scuba-diving.htm

I heard Sipidan is a very nice diving spot. Other places you might want to consider include the turtle island marine park near Sandakan, the marine park near Kota Kinabalu, Porings hot spring and the rafflessia centre near KK.

If you want to dive you have to get to Sipidan island! You can get there by overnight bus from Kota Kinabalu (10 hours, 58rm or so) or fly to Tawau then get a minibus to Semporna. The dive shops are based in Semporna, you cannot stay on Sipidan island. I recommend diving with Scuba Junkie, daily trips out to various dive locations and the staff are really nice. if you dive with them you can stay in their hostel for half price. A double with air con and en suite is only 40RM, shared bathroom 30RM! That is a proper bargain. You don't need to book the diving in advance I don't think, but you may need to email them and book the double room because I'm not sure how many they have, they do fill up. www.scuba-junkie.com Oooh they have hot water as well, it's really great there trust me.

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- Sepilok to see the Orangs - and while others may find it a bit touristy - we had a great time, and it was a highlight. Stayed at the Sepilok Jungle Reserve (much cheaper than the Sepilok Nature Reserve across the road) and had a great time. We did cross the road for a couple meals (much better food for the same price, unlike the rooms).

- The Sepilok Orang Utan rehab centre is a world reown conservation centre so it's a good place to learn about the conservation of the orang utan. You can see the orang utans during the schedule feeding times but the experience is so artificial and there's an abundance of tourist as well. There's a number of walking trails in the area (which I didn't do) - maybe you can spot some semi-wild ones roaming around? In Sandakan, there's also a Australian war memorial park which commemorate Australian (and English) POW soldiers during world war 2 - it's quite an interesting place.

In Sepilok (this is where the orangutan rehab centre is) I recommend staying at Sepilok B&B, which is about halfway down Jalan Sepilok


If in the area I would reccomend a side trip to Labuk Bay to see the Probiscus Monkey Sanctuary. Much fewer visitors, and a very interesting look at some bizarre creatures.