Malaysia...Singapore to Pulu Sibu

After the excess of Oz (it was hard just chillin out) we flew 13hrs into steamy Singapore. Our plans in Malaysia was to use Singapore as the gateway into Malaysia and Borneo. We've spent a day in Singapore just basically walking and sweating. Took the boys' into Chinatown and visited a temple and then ate some tasty food at a hawker stand...street food under cover. Humidity is in the 90s and the temp is 35 degrees. Nice. Marie has fallen for the Singapore Sling - not the famous drink you can get at Raffles Hotel but the air-conditioned shops which tempt you with supposed bargains. Already, we've had the "But I really need a new handbag" routine.
You either love Singapore or you don't. The contrasts are everywhere. Modern business district filled with ex-pat rich kids next to typical Malay hawker stalls and sari shops. We're in the "love it" camp. From Singapore you can get to Malaysia, Indonesia, Borneo, China, Thailand all within an hour or so. The place is clean, efficient, crime-free (allegedly) and a big melting pot of cultures.
But, we were on our way to an island off the southern coast of Malaysia called Pulau Sibu. We were collected by car and driven across the border into Malaysia. Only less than 5miles from Singapore, the border crossing takes you into typical Asian settings. Dense jungles, massive palm-tree plantations, noisy, colourful Malay towns. A 4hr drive and we arrive at a run-down jetty to be speed-boated over to the island on a 30min boat trip. Seba and Oscar hung on for real life as we sped over waves beginning to rise as a tropical down-pour begins.
Pulau Sibu is your run-of-the-mill tropical island! Golden beaches, crystal clear waters, lush jungle and equatorial climate. We arrive at the thatched-roof, open planned bar area to be shown to our hut. The Sea Gypsy Village has about 30 huts. Each hut is a wooden, thatched building with cold water shower, fan and....that's it. Beach at the front, jungle at the back. Everywhere, coconut trees. Still, what was there to complain about. Within minutes, we kicked off our shoes and hit the beach. The place was deserted as we looked along a mile of golden sand and out to a horizon of blue water and half-a-dozen other islands.
We spent the next 14 days on the beach, in the water, dodging falling coconuts, listening to tress falling down in the jungle and avoiding sand-flies. But, we were royally looked after!! The team of young Oz/UK/Danish workers made our stay truly unforgettable. Obviously, Seba and Oscar charmed everyone but the place was dream like. The boys' did some snorkeling - wearing life jackets and snorkel kits (even Marie had a go for the 1st time and fell in love with watching coral and fish), took them fishing on a boat (Seba caught 2 and Oscar got bored - but they both drove a speedboat), Ian completed his diving course (and ran out of air after an 18m dive and had to complete some emergency air sharing), boys' collected shells and painted t-shirts.
We met some great people. A lot of ex-pats who told us all about life in Singapore, some families with small children, a lovely Danish girl called Louisa (our new young friend), a Norwegian family living in Denmark (Ian's new football/drinking/music buddy).
We had the island mostly to ourselves. At most, one weekend had a few ex-pat families turn up for 2/3 days but we were never more than 10 people. We got to know the staff, the boys' fascinated the Malaysian boat boy's (in Asia, blond, blue eyed children are a good luck symbols so they created quite a storm). At the end of our time, both of them were going up to the bar to order an apple juice or some water and generally having the time of their lives. We left yesterday, which was sad but we've made some great new friends.
Tomorrow we fly over to Borneo to stay at the north-east tip of Borneo in a "splash-out" 5 star resort before heading back to Europe at the end of the month.