Borneo ends and Bali begins

Hey all,

I am on the last leg of my 5 month trip away from home. I am now in Bali, Indonesia after one week in Malaysian Borneo. After Sipidan diving, which was spectacular, we spent one night two days in the Central Eastern seaboard area near Sandakan going to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary and then to the Kinbangtan River where we saw wild elephants, macaques (pig tailed and long tailed), a snake, and Probiscus Monkeys (really cool looking, long nosed and big bellied). We then returned to Semporna where we spent one day diving at Sibuan-where you can see Mandarin fish (really small, really colorful fish that hang out in the sea urchins), and then John dived again at Sipidan while I had to opt out due to a cold and snorkelled instead. John got to see a HUGE school of Barracuda swimming in a circular pattern as if to protect themselves even though they really are so large that they are only second to sharks in the area. He also got some cool pictures of himself right next to reef sharks and huge turtles. I saw a black tipped reef shark and many turtles snorkelling along with some beautiful neon colored fish.

We arrived in Bali on August 2nd. I think Kuta could rival most touristy places as one of the most touristy areas I have ever seen. The streets are fairly narrow and completely taken up with touristy restaurants, shops, and hotels. I am getting a little sick of how touristy it is so we will be heading off to a more cultural area tomorrow. We got to experience Kuta nightlife last night when we headed to a club that was having a foam party-interesting, though I ended up with bruises all over my legs since people decide that they can tackle you NFL style since there are so many suds to block your fall-ouch. The club was just past a monument to the 200+ people killed in a bombing at a club in 2002 close by to the one we attended. Very scary but I think we cannot let terrorists ruin our fun or we'd be staying inside and even then would we really be safe? Before travelling to Bali, I got nervous about the bombings that had occurred in 2002 and 2005....but then I realized that for some reason despite the issues that have been occurring in London-there are no travel warnings for London-interesting...and there were never travel warnings for NYC...interesting as well....just some words for thought. For anyone who this causes concern, we are now headed out of the area where they had problems in the past...but not recently...and off to discover different parts of the island.

Ciao,
Brittany