21

I turned 21 a little over two months ago. I promised details, so here they are.

For the longest time, I've been telling my mother I don't want to do the whole have-the-whole-world-over-and-parade-around thing. That's not really my sorta thing, and partying would have to wait till people were actually around. I said that I don't want to be here, and I wasn't :D

I had my suspicions a few months before, but even when you know something is up, you don't really believe something is going on until you know for sure. It bugs you for a while, then something else comes along and it gets chucked to the back of your mind. Anyway, when I got home on Wednesday, I was told that we would be leaving the next evening. I wasn't told where, which made packing a bit of a bitch. It shouldn't have, really, cuz I knew we weren't leaving the country, but still. I was only told to take "something nice for dinner", so other than that, I just took random things out of my closet and tossed them all over my bed, then tried to figure out what to put into my bag.

The next evening, I chose not to find out where we were going until the last minute possible, which was pretty much at the gate when they called for the flight - we were going to Kota Kinabalu. I still didn't have any details.

A two-hour flight later, we were picked up by my cousin (who lives there), and we went back to his apartment. Dinner was at this cool waterfront place just across the street from where he lives, and I was told that we would be "going to the real place" the next day.

from cousin's apartment. waterfront place is on the right.

After breakfast, we got into a cab and set off. I didn't know where we were going until we got there - Shangri La's Rasa Ria Resort, and holy mother of god let me tell you that they don't call the place the Shangri La for no reason. I still didn't know what we were doing there (no complaints, though...) until my mother told me that two years or so before, I had read about this place and told her I wanted to go there cuz they have a nature reserve with orang utans you can adopt!

the view from the lobby

I swear, the whole hotel knew it was my birthday. We were greeted with a bang on the gong, then as you walk in the musicians start to play music. It's the coolest thing. They just sit around until someone arrives or walks past, then they start playing.

musician fellow

The manager person was there, too. They gave us cold towels and iced peach tea while they were checking us in, then showed us around the place. We went to the Activities Desk to plan what we wanted to do, and after that we went to check the rooms out. Gorgeous. Completely gorgeous.

Then we went exploring. The pool was gorgeous, and the grounds are completely massive.


On one end are the stables (more on this later), the wedding pavilion and a very cool restaurant. Then it's the pool, an outdoorsy food place, the bar (more on this later, too), and further down is the nature reserve. We went to have lunch at the outdoorsy place, and while waiting for the food to arrive, my brother and I went to check the playground out, and we found one of the most amazing things - a trampoline! A few hundred bounces later...


...we went back to have lunch.

my lunch - fish and chips with ketchup in a little jar...so cute!

After lunch, we walked to the stables to get our horses for a ride on the beach. Each person gets a guide, but they let you ride your horse by yourself. You're totally in charge...or it's between you and your horse, rather. I walked mine right by the edge of the ocean, and it was completely beautiful. Oooh and on the way to the stables, we saw a little snake! I named him Steven.

For half an hour in the evening, you can have whatever you want from the gorgeous outdoorsy bar and not pay anything for it. I had a margarita while we played petanque, and then we hit the pool.


We watched the sunset from there, and later went down to the beach. It was unreal. Saying it was beautiful doesn't even come close to describing it.




After that, we went over to the gym place cuz in the locker rooms, they have a jacuzzi and steam room. It was the perfect finish. Then it was back to our rooms for showers, and then it was time for dinner at the hotel's North Indian restaurant, Naan. The chef came out to talk to us, and the food was excellent. Then, we went for a walk by the pool and just chilled. We went for a walk to check out the other gorgeous restaurant, and the place is crazy cool! It's got all these cool light things.


We went back to the room after that, and I had a gorgeous bubble bath. The water was really, really hot and there was heaps of lavender-scented bubbly foam. I settled in with a book and it was bliss :)

When it was 12, I was in the little garden outside our rooms. My family thought I was quite mad, but it felt so good to be outside and underneath the stars. My brother and I went back to the pool area and lay around on deck chairs. We had the most random conversation while I was looking up at the stars.

The next morning after breakfast, we headed to the Nature Reserve. My brother and I volunteered to do this ranger thing, where you help cut fruits and make milk for the orang utans, and you get to see them before everyone else does. We walked up into the jungle and at this clearing, there they were!

About six of them, and they were so cute! Swinging and playing and rolling down the hill :)

It was quite impossible to tell them apart, which I needed to do to chose who I wanted to adopt for a year, but right at the end of the tour, I chose one of the really cheeky fellows named Alan. A few hundred photographs later, we headed back down, and when we reached the Nature Reserve place, I (and a whole bunch of tourists) was surprised (again) with a cake and the hotel staff singing Happy Birthday, with a guitar player too!

After that, we went for a traditional boat ride on a nearby river that leads to the open sea.

part of a golf course

On the way back, we passed mussel farms and the like, and there was this little boy on a little boat, who was just paddling along and checking his traps for crabs. It was the coolest thing to watch. We had lunch at the outdoorsy place again, then we went to chill on the beach.

lunch - shirley temple and pizza

Chill, actually, might not be the best verb to use - it was intensely hot. The hotel staff came around with pieces of fruit on a skewer and to sell ice-cream. I went to the edge of the water for a bit, and cuz the sand was HOT, I couldn't take my flip flops off. The result? A flip flop tan :) But the water was sooo clear. I was in the evening before, and I saw a little fish and lots of seaweed things.

We left later that afternoon, and on the way to the airport we stopped at a craft market.

So that was my 21st.