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My fondest travel memory to date stemmed from a disaster, plans falling apart and losing lots of money. I ended up in Borneo after car troubles in Australia. It was cheaper to fly up into Asia than to find a new vehicle to finish our planned trip. We can now laugh about our loss of Elton John CR-V (the car, we had just seen Rocketman before we bought it), as if it was not for this tragic death we would not have had the amazing adventure or met the locals and travellers who are now friends for life. We arrived in Kota Kinabalu with no idea of what to see or do we collected leaflets from the airport and hostel. Exhausted from travelling and the rushed organisation of the trip we were lucky there free walking tour the next morning, the best way to get to know any new city. The tour is where we met Rodger our guide, Malaysian born and from studying the diverse fauna and foliage of Kota Kinabalu National Park he gained his doctorate. We walked around for 3-4 hours discussing the city’s history, local food hotspots, the markets and Malaysian traditions. Rodger was a very funny and entertaining guide. He talked about Borneo's future developments and the impact of climate change and pollution on Borneo’s unique environment and ecosystems. A surprise was the positive opinion on palm oil farms, claiming that they are not as negative on the environment as us westerns believe. However, Rodger mainly discussed the palm trees CO₂ absorption and not the destruction of animal’s habitats. Although we had differing opinions on some topics Rodger was a genuine and kind person easy to talk to about any thing. He is incredibly knowledgeable and clearly loves his home. Our group ended up going for lunch together for amazing laksa. We took the opportunity to talk to everyone, wanting to find out as much as we could from locals and other travellers to help plan our trip. Rodger noticed our interest and offered to take us around the National Park free of charge on his day off. The opportunity of having such a knowledgeable guide was too good to miss. We had an amazing day; starting with traditional Malaysian breakfasts at the local’s spot on the way to the national park. Then we drove to the base of Mount Kinabalu to explore around the National park where we were educated about the wildlife and fauna. I learnt there are over 1,500 species of orchid in Borneo, around 70 of which are endemic to Kinabalu. Rodger was an avid bird watcher, and taught us local uses for the plants as remedies and in everyday life. I am relatively new to photography I was spoilt for choice and got to experiment using my camera capturing it all. Rodger drove us to the starting point of the mountain hike, the natural hot springs inside the park, to a see rafflesia (a very smelly flower) managed by locals and the floating mosque outside Kota Kinabalu. Rodger has lived an amazing life; living all over the world including Brunei and Vietnam. However it was clear that Borneo would always be home and he was proud to be from such a beautiful part of the world. We discovered what a varied life he has lived, researching, being a tour guide as well as appearing in numerous Malaysian films! Rodger attempted to teach us basic Malaysian phrases, which is always important to try when travelling. I lack strong linguistic skills so stick to hello, please and thank you. We each received a personalised poem he wrote and a crystal which he believed matched our souls. I feel very fortunate to have met Rodger and develop the friendship that we did. Meeting Rodger meant that we were able to see and learn about areas of Kota Kinabalu that on our own we would have missed. He was an incredibly kind and interesting person who kept us entertained and spend his time off showing us his home. Gaining a locals perspective is really beneficial and helps avoid the heavily tourist populate areas allowing a more beautiful and intimate relationship with the local community.