Water bungalow spa
Today, 23 May, Andy and I celebrate our 1 year anniversary of dating! And what better way to celebrate, than on a quaint little island in Malaysia. After breakfast this morning we went for a relaxing dive at a nearby reef. We then treated ourselves to a couple’s massage at a water bungalow spa, overlooking the tropical waters. (A fancy wooden house on stilts.) And we are currently lazing next to the pool, before sunset drinks and a romantic dinner later. It will be hard for future anniversaries to live up to this!
Happy in paradise
With tour days dwindeling, I am acutely aware of how precious these moments are, for me personally, and for us as a couple. Though there will be future travels, and future holidays, there will only be one ‘World Tour of 2011’. And I couldn’t have imagined doing this with anyone else.
Our exact location is the island of Mabul, just off the coast of Borneo, Malaysia. The attraction: neighbouring Sipadan island. It is labeled as one of the top dive spots in the world. Jacques Cousteau came across this place in the late 80’s, and rated the diving like no other. Today the island and surrounding reef is a protected marine, with only 120 divers allowed to dive there per day. We had a fantastic day there yesterday. The diving is really spectacular, with reef sharks and turtles in abundance. As permits are limited and thus sought after, we are grateful for every day’s diving. And we get to go there again tomorrow. Yay!
Sipadan, Malaysia
And this isn’t the easiest place to get to. To give you an idea of our 24 hours’ travel to get here from our previous stop, this was our transportation itinerary for the segment:
1. Hotel van (Hotel to island jetty)
2. Ferry boat (Island jetty to mainland jetty)
3. Motorised tricycle (Mainland Jetty to Caticlan airport)
4. Flight #1 (Caticlan to Manila, Philippines)
5. Flight #2 (Manila to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia)
6. Flight #3 (Kota Kinabalu to Tawau)
7. Van transfer (Tawau City to Sempornan Village)
8. Overnight in Semporna Motel
9. Boat trip (Seporna to Mabul island)
All in 24 hours! The joys of travelling.
happy anniversary May there be lots of them to come …….Looking at the photo of you two …….I do miss you guys and I wish we had a longer visit together….enjoy the rest of your tour and thank you for the updates so that we can enjoy the tour with you …….(and it give me something to say in conversations.hahaha)
Congratulations and happy anniversary to you both!! What a great way to celebrate it!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
I’m sooooooo happy for both of you!
Wow, time sure flies 😉
One year together! Wonderful.
Future anniversaries ……………… no matter where you are or what you do ……….. most important is to enjoy the moments together.
BTW – where does the saying come from “Wild man from Borneo”
Have you seen any???
The Wild Men of Borneo, Waino and Plutano, were a pair of exceptionally strong dwarf brothers who were most famously associated with P. T. Barnum and his freak show exhibitions.
Interesting.
Happy Anniversary! Enjoy all the special moments together. I wish you love and happiness.
Thanks for all the congratulatory messages!
actually the wild man of Borneo referred to the orangutans.
Oh. Someone should update Wikipedia!
“And I couldn’t have imagined doing this with anyone else.” Denise, you’re simply not trying hard enough. http://wetmen.provocateuse.com/show/james_marsden?PHPSESSID=930f06ad12ba2a54b03f0b7dcd83944d (Sorry Andy)
A very Merry … no wait … um … Happy! Anniversary:)
I think it’s rather an auspicious portent that it happened on your whirl wind world tour, see the idea even causes alliteration;)
It’s been an amazing journey for me, reading your posts, and I hope the rest of your tour has plenty more to surprise and awe you 🙂