It was an excellent vacation and we enjoyed many activities in Kota Kinabalu, a community on the South China Sea. First, we took a day trip to the islands and got to enjoy snorkeling near the coast – where we got to see beautiful fish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and so much amazing coral.
The reefs there are excellent and right off the beach – so it made snorkeling so accessible – even for those of us who do not really swim much! Alex and Chika also got to try scuba diving at another island - which they really enjoyed! Another highlight for them was the “Krazy Ken’s Adventure Park”. We were the only ones there for most of the day (guess it was off-season?) and this place had the flying squirrel, bungee trampolines, and quad bikes (for the boys), beach buggies (for Flora and Henry) a high ropes course (for Henry) and a beach full of sand dollars (for Tamari). Something for everyone. The boys definitely had the time of their lives there. They had their quad bikes and were the only ones on the beach. Their “package deal” included three rides through muddy trails and ‘round and ‘round the beach, followed by a shower and clean towel to clean up afterward. Needless to say they got their money’s worth and ended up so dirty and so exhilarated. 
We also met a couple of Nigerian guys – one man named Andy at church, and another one named Daniel through the first. We ended up going out to dinner with their families a couple times and spent some time getting to know them. Both of them are married to Malaysian women and have sons as well. So the dinners were quite lively as we all got to know one another.
The last full day in Malaysia the boys and Flora came over to the resort that the conference was being held at – to enjoy the pool while we finished off the conference. This is definitely a place worth visiting again – if only for the beautiful coral reefs and the friendly people.
