Tonight I arrived in Borneo. I'm on the Northern part of the island which means I'm in Malaysia in a city called Kota Kinabalu (KK). KK is everything you don't think of when you think of Borneo, at least when I think of Borneo--Actually, all I've done since I got here is sleep on account of the fact that I spent last night (not) sleeping in the airport--but from what I HAVE seen of the city it seems very nice, very modern, very clean. I'm honestly impressed. I guess Malaysia is a wealthier country so that would make sense.
This is my first time being to a mainly Islamic country so I'm pretty excited about that. I love seeing how religion has an impact on the culture and all that sort of stuff.
I was sad to leave the Philippines, I really did enjoy my time there. After my birthday I spent a couple of days hanging out with the members in Iloilo. They were all super nice and hospitable. Turns out they have quite a few members there; in a town of maybe a few hundred thousand they had two stakes and eight chapels. That's a lot! It was nice to go to church with them on Sunday. There's just something about when your traveling and you get to go to church, or even when you just see a chapel in passing...it's like seeing a little piece of home even though you are on the other side of the world. It brings great happiness to my heart. Speaking of, I looked it up online and it looks like there are a few branches here in KK so hopefully I can find one to attend on Sunday--If I can resist the Sunday market which is supposed to be amazing--I can do it, church is better anyways.
After spending a couple of days in Iloilo I decided to just head back to Boracay and spend the rest of my time there. What can I say, I just couldn't get enough of the place :) That, and the fact that I couldn't find a cheap place to stay at any of the other places I might want to go. It was a good way to spend the rest of my time in the Philippines.
As for my time here in Borneo...I don't really know what I'm going to be doing. I know I want to go to this field center out in the jungle where the scientists go to do the field studies. I guess it's a good way to get out and see the jungle without having to do the whole touristy package tour thing. I've heard you can see lots of really cool animals include the Orangutans which Borneo is famous for. Other than that, I don't know what I'll do, there are supposed to be some of the best diving sites in the world around here so maybe I'll bite the bullet and fork out the money to go scuba diving for a day. I don't know, that this point I'm just playing it by ear. I'll be sure to keep you posted :)
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