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Published: June 29th 2009
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After another afternoon in KL where we succeeded in acquiring at no charge the missing memory card for our camera, and eating, we flew out to KK (Kota Kinabalu). One of the inevitable attractions of travel is the people you come across. On the coach back from the rainforest it was a very military looking German guy who we were put off because he was smoking and looked like a neo fascist. First impressions are so erroneous. Two hours of the most fascinating conversation ensued, it turned out he was doing a PhD on conflict resolution in the civil war in Aceh Indonesia. He had worked in Afghanistan as a translator for the military (hence the garb) and also visited Iraq. We particularly loved his story of being congratulated as a German for killing millions of Jews by someone in the Middle East and told he should be proud. His response was to point out that if it had not been for the Germans attempts to exterminate the Jews, they would not now be in Israel, a response that was met with silence. We discussed Sri Lanka, Af-Pak, colonialism, empires, national guilt, Europe, globalisation and local autonomy, the environment and prospects
for conflict resolution and world peace. He was informative, open minded and his English so sophisticated and fluent that I was put to shame. He learns 10 new words a day in every country he visits, and speaks 6 languages passably (as he described his English after pausing a moment to select the word coercion to describe voting in Indonesia!)
In KK airport we met a privileged young girl of 18 on a gap year. She had dropped out of Uni at the last moment having panicked that she was not ready. She described how acquaintances of hers regularly blew over a thousand pounds on a night out at a table in a club in London, and her desire to break away from this. She was volunteering and clearly learning a lot. Travelling on her own between pre arranged projects she was nervous, but we admired her desire and spirit, and had no doubts that she has gained some of the perspective on life she craved. She will be more than ready for Uni come September.
The guide books on KK barely mention the city itself focussing instead on two facts: that not only does it have a
beautiful tropical island paradise in the bay, but 5 of them, with some of the world’s best snorkelling; describing the night market as one of the places to eat. Having arrived and looked around we understood why. KK itself has very little going for it. This was particularly true of our first hotel and after one night there we moved out, 5 doors down the road to Rainforest Lodge, part of a bustling complex but where we got a lovely spacious family room, with a large comfortable balcony and breakfast, for less than the price of our 2 shabby cramped double rooms. The architecture is drab concrete utilitarian and could be anywhere, but the setting is breathtaking. We flew in over coral reefs and islands in a turquoise/emerald sea. We miss the Indian Ocean a lot less now we are in the South China Sea! Mountains at the back lead down to the sea, and as we walked back from the jetty in heavy rain Jake commented it was just like Porthmadog - dodgy architecture in a spectacular setting under grey skies, he had a point.
The first night we wandered out for dinner, and then proceeded to the
Night Market where we were amazed. Jaws dropped at the sight of more seafood than we could name, vegetables and fruit. We bought banana fritters, and fruit for the next day and vowed to return hungry and with our cameras! The next day we moved hotels after breakfast and then wandered off to the jetty to catch a boat to the largest of the aforementioned islands. Racing out over the sea in a speed boat we were so excited we could not believe that we were really doing this - it felt like a film set. The island’s beach shone white from the sea, and as we dismounted at the jetty we saw amazing fish beneath us.
We rapidly staked a place on the beach, changed and headed off with our snorkels. If was like being an extra in Finding Nemo - and yes Clown Fish are found here. We saw hundreds of varieties of fish, of all colours and sizes, and fear the boys will only ever be disappointed with snorkelling henceforth. Suddenly the heavens opened and we abandoned the warm sea for shelter, then a café before queuing for the boat home.
We returned to the
hotel, set up clothes to dry, and chatted on our new thankfully covered balcony. We had not really lunched so as we set off for the Night Market, we had empty stomachs and new camera as intended. We had a pair of trousers tacked up to be stitched by a street tailor, and having left him entered the market. Sadly our evening now began to hover between farce and tragedy. Our mouths were watering by now as we walked past stalls of roti, stir fries and a third of the ocean available to barbecue, but sadly we found nothing the boys would try. Reluctantly we headed out and to KFC, about 10 minutes walk away. By the time we had left having fed the boys we were ravenous. We took the most direct route back by a back alley, which was empty most of the way down, however as we reached the end of it, a car turned in and we had to head for the side. Elliot slipped on a muddy gutter and fell in it spoiling his last clean t-shirt and covered in pretty foul slimy mud. As we resignedly headed back to the hotel Jake and Elliot
said they were really sorry we would not get the tea we wanted - they knew how we were looking forward to it. Their concern did make up for it a bit. We ended up eating in a café outside the hotel, with a Malaysian trio doing Billy Connelly Lounge singer covers. As a bonus we could also hear them clearly from our room as the boys settled off to sleep! Perhaps we will manage to eat in the Night Market tomorrow? We know there are roti, fritters, rice and Phillipino barbecued fish (and just about every other type of seafood you can imagine) just waiting for us!
PS 2 of these images were with the new camera........any idea which 2?
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