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Published: November 18th 2010
After the craziness of KL, we went to Kota Kinabalu in East Borneo (Sabah) looking forward to the gorgeous islands, which are situated off the coast. We weren’t disappointed with the clear waters and the sandy beaches. After a near miss with an illegally-run jetty, we found Jessleton Pier and got a speedboat over to Sapi (the furthest of the four islands) and spent the day snorkeling. We saw lots of tropical fish including clown fish, swordfish and blue starfish. On our second day we went to Manukan Island, which is popular with locals for day trips on weekends. The snorkeling was great and we saw beautiful coral. However, we went pretty far out and saw a group of jellyfish, which sent us swimming back to the shore.
Kota Kinabalu is the capital of Sabah but first impressions may leave you not appreciating this city. It is very newly built but this is because it was bombed twice during the war. In fact, only three buildings remained standing after the dust settled. Its charm comes from the people and their easy-going nature. We found that it was a good insight into the local way of life as it’s not so
touristy.
There is a local food market by the sea each night, where farmers come to sell fruit and veg. It was great to look at all the different colours on display (who knew that cucumbers could be purple?) and witness locals haggling for wholesale food. Another part of the market consisted of the meat section, where we saw countless chickens strung up and slabs of meat on tables. Our favorite part was the fish-market where huge fish were on sale. It was funny thinking a few hours earlier we had unknowingly been swimming alongside these monsters! Next to the food market, there was a Filipino craft market. The Philippines is very close by so lots of Filipinos have settled in Sabah.
We had our dinner at the best location since our trip began. It was at a food court set up at the paved sea-front of the city. We had the ocean to one side of us swaying gently, while the old fishing tug-boats and the forested islands lay on the horizon. This was coupled with the sounds of the food court stalls frying and steaming fresh ingredients and the babble of people socialising in the warm
air. It was approaching sunset as we tucked into our flavour-infused rice and noodles so we watched the evening's wispy clouded sky turn into hues of yellow, orange and red as the sea turned from light blue to dark blue to deep purple. It's strange how some places can really impress you without any effort at all.
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Ash W
non-member comment
Gettin' with the wicked
Been catching up on the blog guys - sounds amazing, and the views look stunning. Also, you have no idea how jealous I am looking at pictures of you in the bright sunshine - it's been about 5-10 degrees here every day this week! P.s. I bet the fish stank like bum.