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Published: February 2nd 2008
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Downtown KK
Busy little city street My trip to Sabah will be presented in 3 parts - the Coast (Kota Kinabalu and Kinarut), the Jungle (a night in the jungle and Malay village home stay, the orangutans at Sepilok, and the Probiscus monkeys) and the Mountain - Mt Kinabalu.
So here starts part 1.....
I arrived in Kota Kinabalu on 21 December 2007 having managed to start and finish packing only a few hours earlier. It was the least prepared I have ever been for an overseas holiday, such a last minute thing.
My accommodation was initially a cheap hostel right in the heart of KK but I upgraded after 2 nights to a 3 star hotel.
My first few days on my own were interesting - Carols by Candlelight at the local Catholic cathedral (in English, Bahasa and Mandarin) white water rafting, a Sunday market, Christmas day lunch on an island, 2 hour full body massages, a couple of trips to the cinema and some reconnaissance for a later shopping spree.
Christmas night, I met my tour group. There were 10 of us on the tour plus our English tour leader, Richard. My room mate for the duration was Roslyn from
Gaya St Market
KK Sunday market NZ, there was a lovely family from Melbourne, Rick and Clare and their daughters Alice and Lucy, a long term traveler from the UK in Scott, a cycling-mad young man from Melbourne, Alex, and newlyweds from Wales, Jonathon and Hannah. It turned out to be the best group I have ever been on tour with.
Christmas night dinner was at the Banana Leaf where we were served food on banana leaves and got to practice eating with our hands and carefully avoiding use of the left hand (always hard for me), as is the traditional Muslim way.
The next morning we headed inland, the subject of my second blog entry......
Later......We arrived back on the coast on New Year's day. We were staying at the Seaside Traveller's Inn in Kinarut about 20km from KK. It was a great place to relax and reflect on the very busy tour. Whilst the majority of the group spent the afternoon at the pool, Roslyn, Alex and I visited Lok Kawi wildlife park. I was unimpressed for the most part as it reminded me of the Melbourne zoo in the late 70's - too many cages and not enough room. However,
Malay Heritage Village
Malay Heritage Village, KK the aviary was good as was the orangutan exhibit. Our special treat was spending over an hour with an orangutan named Mowgli thanks to the cancellation of the 'animal show'. We got to touch him and I even had his foot wrapped around my hand at one stage. Very special.
And my day was completed with a 1 hour full body massage - I love holidays!
The next day Richard, Alex and I went diving. Richard and I buddied up for the first 2 dives while Alex learned the ropes (he hadn't been diving before). The second dive was great as we saw a turtle - very cool. Our third dive required us to descend through several metres of jellyfish - thankfully, non-stingers! Visibility was not fantastic but good enough to see plenty of fish and plant life.
It was Alice's birthday so we had a cake that evening to celebrate and I even managed to find a bottle of NZ sauvignon blanc at a store in KK (alcohol was not a feature of this trip so this was a big highlight).
I spent the next few days at the Seaside Travellers Inn, relaxing mostly, including
Water lily
Water lily at Malay Heritage Village, KK kayaking across to the closest island with Clare, having a seafood feast with most of the group in KK, watching DVDs and getting in some long awaited shopping.
Unfortunately, my stay in Kinarut marked the end of my trip. I take away some great memories, good friendships and plenty of ideas for future trips to Borneo!
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mary
non-member comment
Hey
Super to hear from you! On the road again I see. Photographs are terrific. I would so love to get up close and personal with an orangatan. I thought at one time of volunteering 3 months in borneo at an orang rescue group parenting baby orangs whose mother had been killed by poachers. The stories of bird-sized mosquitoes dampened by enthusiasm. Will email shortly to catch up. Two days from now we're having dinner with friends on their way to OZ, specifically to Perth. and then a train to sydney?! I certainly thought The Great Ocean Road(which they are NOT doing) would trump a train trip on the west coast - but what do I know. Best tip on Perth? More Later Hugs, Mary