One Final Chinese New Year Trip

Can't believe this will be our last Chinese New Year break. We decided to make it a relaxing one and since the boys have been asking to see the Petronas Towers, we headed back to Malaysia. Last time we vacationed on the Malaysian island of Borneo, this time we checked out Kuala Lumpur and then flew north to the island of Langkawi. It was a night flight from Beijing to KL followed by a full day tour, up early to go up in the Petronas Towers and then back to the airport for a flight to Langkawi. And what a great way to top off a great trip with the Broncos winning Super Bowl 50!

But before heading to the airport we celebrated Luc turning 13! Amazing how fast those 13 years have gone.

The Petronas Towers did not disappoint. Stunning day and night and well worth going up to the observation tower.

First stop was a temple and bat cave.

Loved the shaved heads and paint on both young and old at this temple. Our guide said it was to give thanks for something good happening.

On to a mangrove tour

Monkeys everywhere!

Natural hot springs and they were HOT!

Awesome lunch where it downpoured so loudly that we couldn't hear each other. We also did a firefly tour this night which was pretty cool. Bushes and trees FULL of flashing fireflies, but photos don't work unfortunately.

Exhausted after a night flight from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur and day of touring. Add onto the exhaustion a tour guide who likes to tailgate and brake on a dime and that equals a boy sleeping half on the seat and head on the floor. 

On to Langkawi where the Broncos fulfilled our wish! Such a fun game and way to start the day as the game began at 6:30am.

Very cool kayak tour in the mangroves

I learned more about bats than I ever wanted to know

Borneo...who knew?

We certainly didn't. In fact, we didn't even know that's where we were going until we landed there. I had made our reservations for a trip to a resort in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia a few months ago and had put it out of my mind until we were leaving. Then we had a trip from heck to Malaysia and ended up getting stuck over night in Hong Kong, so I really didn't have time for my normal guide book research/reading. The overnight in Hong Kong turned out fine after Kenny scored a 5 star hotel and tickets to Disney out of the deal, but it cut into a day relaxing in what turned out to be paradise. The resort was gorgeous and was attached to a rehabilitation center for orphaned orangutans. We learned that Borneo is home to almost 90% of the world's orangutans. The beach, jungles, mountains and sunsets were some of the most gorgeous we've ever seen. We also found out that Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is divided into three countries - Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei (again, couldn't have found that country on a map if my life depended on it). Other than the Amazon, Borneo is the oldest rainforest in the world.

After the awful trek to Borneo, we figured it couldn't get worse for the trip home.....wrong. We made it back to Hong Kong with no problem, took off for Beijing and thought we were about half way home when the captain came on and said we'd actually just been flying in circles for the last 30 minutes due to thunderstorms in Beijing which had closed the airport. We were turning around and heading back to Hong Kong. After much confusion and a complete lack of organization on the airline's and hotel's part, we ended up at a hotel around 12:30 in the morning and then had to be back at the airport around 10am. Anyway, 36 hours after beginning our journey we were safely home and we had made some new friends along the way including a Russian woman with her two daughters who had been stranded for two days and had very limited English. They made our trip home seem like a breeze.

Unexpected trip to Disney

Elvis has entered Borneo

The sunsets were amazing

We found out Dominic loved chicken satay

We already knew that Luc loved dessert

Katie - one of the orphaned orangutans at the rehabilitation center attached to our hotel

Warming up to the beach

All in

First teppanyaki experience for the boys

Treated to a view of Mount Kinabalu on the way to the airport

Future pilots

New friend, Sophia. Thank goodness for new friends who helped pass our time stranded at the airport.

FINALLY he gave up