It was near the end of the trip when a traveler made an interesting comment about our group of 7 (steve,amie,aya,jodi,steve,lisa,aimee). 'Honestly, are you guys doing some sort of group parenting?'. This was quite a fair question as our group tended to travel, eat together and often share giant rooms. Even after we (steve+amie) had gone to bed, there were still comments about whether or not Aya would sleep well or if she had enough to eat. These comments are completely relevant when there are many sharing a room with a baby. To be honest, there was indeed some group parenting going on.
Aside from hiking Mt. Kinabalu and diving at Sipadan, our group spent most of the time visiting sites around eastern Sabah. The most unforgettable portion involved a homestay on the Kinabatangan River. The area around the river has been deforested in favour of palm oil plantations. This forces scores of animals (orangutans, pygmy elephants etc…) to live near the riverbank. Tourism has capitalised on this and now it is very popular to boat down the river and animal watch.
Our particular choice of homestay had everything to do with the guide (Osman)