Hitchhiking in Borneo

In February 2011 I took the kids to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.  Kota Kinabalu is part of Malaysian Borneo and I'll let Wiki explain the island a little further:
"Borneo (Indonesian: Kalimantan) is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia.
The island is divided among three countries: Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory."

Let me begin our February 2011 adventure at the beginning.  The kids and I arrived at the airport in Kota Kinabalu and quickly hailed the taxi that we hoped would deliver us to the Shangri La Rasa Ria resort.  Friends and tripadvisor alike had sworn the Rasa Ria was heaven on earth and we were due for a successful holiday after failing the Philippines the previous month.  The resort is about a 45 minute drive from the airport but after about 20 minutes our taxi pulled off the road and stopped.  By this time we were too far outside of the city to walk back and I had no idea where we were. The driver spoke very little english but I gathered that the taxi had broken down.  I asked/demanded that the driver arrange for another taxi take us the rest of the way.  At that moment it was excruciatingly hot, the kids were in bad moods from being woken up at the crack of dawn to catch our flight, and the driver's cell phone died.  Great.

After standing on the side of the road for about 15 minutes with the kids and our luggage a car pulled over and the driver started talking to our taxi driver.  Both men were speaking Bahasa Malaysia so I had no clue what was going on but it seemed like they were arguing.  Without saying a word to me, the taxi driver took our luggage and put it in the back of this stranger's car and motioned for us to get in the backseat.  Keep in mind the car in question was not a taxi and every travel guide published warns of the dangers of hitchhiking or accepting rides from strangers.  To say I was uneasy with this arrangement would be an understatement.  I asked the taxi driver if he knew this other person and he said no.  I asked if there was a payphone somewhere within walking distance and he said no.  I felt like I was in a nightmare.  I was alone in a foreign country with my kids, stranded, and with no way to call anyone for help.  Once again my decision to purchase a cheap phone that's useless anywhere but Singapore had come back to haunt me.  Great.

I didn't really have any better option than to hope and pray that this stranger was not a terrorist/lunatic/Islamic fanatic/etc. He looked like a normal guy but so do a lot of serial killers.  He also had a plethora of stuffed animals on his dash board which I hoped meant he had an innocent heart.  What if this guy was a criminal?  What on earth was I going to do?  Use my purse strap as a garrote?  No one that knew me had any idea where I was or who I was with and the United States government had recently upgraded it's warnings to Americans traveling in this part of Asia.  Great.

Thankfully this person DID take us to our resort and I've never been so glad to be out of a car in my life.  The staff at the hotel told me that he had been on his way to pick up his daughter from school when he saw us on the side of the road and had stopped to help.  Thank God for good samaritans and, yes, I'm immensely ashamed that all those other thoughts crossed my mind.  I'm not going to waste time raving about the Shangri La Rasa Ria because anyone who has ever been there already has.  This resort is one of the most kid friendly I've found.  The rooms accommodate families, the kid's club is amazing, the prices are reasonable, the beach is clean, the pool is safe for a variety of swim abilities, and there are a myriad of activities for all ages.  We spent some time with orangutans, the kids rode horses on the beach, Baby Girl Castello and I enjoyed the spa, Miniman and I both won blow dart competitions, and we spent hours in the pool and on the beach.  It didn't hurt that the food and staff were amazing.  I went back to the Rasa Ria for a romantic getaway in June 2011 with The Man and we both agreed that it was one of our best vacations.  We left Kota Kinabalu completely satisfied and with memories I think we'll cherish forever.  Great.