Same deal as always this morning. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time. Our reward system for good airport behavior is still going strong and Millie always gets to choose a gum when we get to the gate. She LOVES gum.

I spent the time waiting at the gate on my phone going on a deep dive of the Malaysian Airlines flight 370 disappearance and subsequent crash. Why am I like this?

We boarded our somewhat small airplane. It felt like we were flying private because there were only 5 other passengers.

The flight was quick and easy and I looked out of the window as we landed in dense jungle.

The first thing I said when I got off the plane was “wow, we are in the middle of nowhere.” Nick is our chief itinerary planner and wanted to come here to visit Gulung Mulu National Park. I haven’t done much reading about it (too busy feeding my fear of flying) so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

This is probably the smallest airport I’ve ever been to. Baggage claim was a 6 foot section of metal rollers into the open air terminal.

Our hotel (one of the only in the park) picked us up in their open air van and drove us 10 minutes down the road to check in. We crossed the river we saw flying in.

Saw this sign outside of the hotel. Will investigate tomorrow.

We checked in and unexpectedly got upgraded to a suite. It feels very luxurious considering we’re in the middle of the jungle, hovering above swamp land.

Nick took Millie to the pool while I had some quiet time. I went to meet them and read my book while watching them play in the water. Today’s new swimming trick is diving down to get things from the deep end.

They had a long contest of seeing who could walk the farthest on the surface of the water. It was as futile as it sounds.

Millie tried to make friends with some other kids there but they weren’t very interested, so instead she just struck up a conversation with their dad. We eavesdropped. “Where are you from?” “New Zealand” “I’m from Texas. You know, where cowboys are from.”

We came back to the room and she danced around to Taylor Swift for literally 90 minutes. Kid energy is something else.

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant. I think there are only two other cafes in Mulu, so we’ll be eating there a lot.