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Published: July 10th 2008
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Hey everyone,
So now we're both on our own little adventures and here's my blog for Borneo, enjoy!
I left K.L Wednesday morning for my flight to Kota Kinabalu, in Sabah. The flight was brilliant. Air Asia were a much posher airline than I expected, there were reclining leather seats and the plane was huge. Malaysians don't know how to queue though (I've definitely realised a queue is a very British thing lol!) and as no-one had seat numbers on the plane there was a mad scramble and people were literally running to the plane to get the best seats! I joined in the scrum and managed to get a window seat. As we were coming into land at Kota Kinabalu the scenery was amazing, jungle everywhere and it was so exciting to be in a new place again. Got a dorm room in a place called 'Summer Lodge', directly above a Pizza Hut (very good location) and went out for pizza with 2 Canadians that night who were in the dorm.
First day I had a big explore of the city. Walked to Signal Hill, where there's a good observation platform and you can look right over the
city. The view was great and the sun was shining! Also went to the State Mosque, Sacred Heart Cathedral and All Saints Cathedral. Found a huge shopping centre, which had every kind of shop possible, including some of the good oldies like McDonalds, KFC and Starbucks! I walked along the waterfront in the afternoon and went to the famous markets (Handicraft market, Fish Market and the Central Market- this seemed to be a combination of everything including lots of dried squid!). To complete the day I went to the night market in the evening, where the locals all get their fake Man U and Liverpool tops. You either have a fake footie shirt or a Borneo tourist t-shirt if you're living in Kota Kinabalu. I have yet to see a man in anything else.
Friday I went to Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. There are 5 islands that make up the national park, but I didn't have the time or the money to go to them all so I chose the best and went to Manukan Island. It was honestly one of the best places Ive ever been to and it really was a little paradise. It was a
20min speedboat ride from the harbour and we all had to wear lifejackets as people frequently fly off the boat apparently! Im not surprised the boat driver was a maniac and wanted to hear people scream when we hit the waves! It reminded me of a Nepali bus journey. Although no-one was sick. Had a few hours on the island, there's a marine conservation centre there which was really interesting and had lots of information on all the marine life in the park (turtles, whales, fish etc). The rest of the time I spent on the beach. I really can't describe what a wonderful place it was. Later on I went to the City Mosque in Likas Bay, which reminded me of a mini Taj Mahal. It was really peaceful and looked really serene sitting in the middle of a lake in the city.
At the weekend I caught a bus to Tuaran, where there's supposed to be a really good beach, but I never found it. I honestly don't think there's a beach in Tuaran! I searched and walked around in every direction for ages and asked loads of people who all looked puzzled and didn't seem to
understand the word 'beach'. Suspicious. So I decided to escape Tuaran, it was quite a weird place, and I got a pick up truck ride to Mengkabong Water Village. This is a gypsy stilt village, where people live and work. I've never seen anything like it before, houses were built on the water and there were just hundreds of wooden planks like roads linking everything together. Half the time you couldn't get to where you wanted as the planks had collapsed into the water or else you had to jump a huge distance across and hope you made it! It was made even more spectacular by having Mount Kinabalu as a backdrop, which looked pretty amazing. (Phil, you would have loved this sight!). This was my first view of Mount Kinabalu. Although it was covered in cloud it was a pretty impressive sight. I went to watch the sunset at the waterfront back in Kota Kinabalu in the evening, very nice.
Sunday is the day of the famous Gaya Street Market. Conveniently this is the street I'm staying on, and the main backpacker area. It starts at 6.30am. I didn't make it for then but when I awoke I
could already here crowds of people outside and music pounding. It was a brilliant atmosphere and definitely worth going to. There were stalls selling everything.. souveniers, jewellery, fruit, veg, baskets, handicrafts, pots and pans, animals (to eat and for pets!), sunglasses and they even had a candyfloss stall! After the market I caught the bus to Tanjung Aru beach, which is only 10mins from the centre and a great place to go for the weekend. It was boiling hot again and I lay on the beach soaking up the sun and reading. Had my first real coconut at the beach cafe- all the time we've been travelling we've seen people drinking straight out of huge coconuts but never got around to trying it, until now!
I took a tour to Kinabalu National Park and Poring Hot Springs on Monday. We had a small group of 6 of us which was really nice and met Susanne a girl from Scotland. On the way to the park we stopped at Nabalu Market and next to the market was an observatory tower, with a great view of Mount Kinabalu. Reaching the National Park we went to the Mountain Garden, which has lots
of the different species of plants found on the mountain. The Park has some of the best wildlife and plant life around and we saw the world's smallest orchid and lots of really funny plants/flowers (inc the 'mickey mouse flower' and 'baby's shoes orchid'). I took pictures so you'll understand when you see them! We had a huge Malaysian Chinese lunch, which was great then drove 45mins to Pouring. We had a tour of the place and then went to the jungle canopy walkway. This was brilliant- you hike up in the jungle for 40mins then reach the walkway and you walk in mid air bouncing up and down on the walkway, getting to see the jungle from a bird's eye view. After getting really hot and sweaty up there we then went to the rock pool to cool down. Pouring is famous for its hot sulpur baths but we were so hot we had to go in the cool pool instead. On the way back everyone bought Durian (!) which stank out the minivan.
Tomorrow I'm leaving Kota Kinabalu and heading to Sandakan, on the east coast. Seem to have rambled on quite a lot already so thought
I'd better publish this first. Still can't get photos working so will have to put some on when I'm home or whenever I find a decent computer!
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Rachel
non-member comment
Awesome!
This all sounds absolutely amazing, you seem to be cramming lots into your final weeks and having lots of fun which is great...i can't wait to see the pics!! Lots of love x