Advertisement
Published: March 24th 2011
After our detour to Koh Lipe, we'd left ourselves with five nights in Sabah's capital, Kota Kinabalu. When we arrived and were commenting on the humidity, one of the airport marshals smiled and said to us, 'We have two types of weather here, very very hot and rain'. Ain't that the truth welcome to Borneo!
One of the main things we'd hoped to do in Borneo was climb Mount Kinabalu, the 4095m peak of Kinabalu National Park. This is usually a 2-3 day trek and is meant to provide you with stunning sunrise views from one of South East Asia's highest points. Dave had spent months trying to book it online with Sutera Sanctuary Lodges, and after no success we decided to just book it when we got there... Or not! Unfortunately, due to the monopoly that this one company has over the mountain accommodation, it's pretty hit and miss as to whether you'll be able to go when you want to. We were told by SSL we'd have to wait ten days, which we couldn't fit into our schedule. Major trough! I also tried to book some horse riding along a nearby beach that was meant to be really
good, but they didn't get back to me in time. Second trough!!
To make up for this disappointment, we decided to book a luxury hotel for a few nights. It was last minute so we got a really good price! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in a beautiful room that had amazing views over the China Sea, a 42" plasma TV, and the best shower in the world! What a good call! A couple of times when the rain came in the afternoons, we just sat in the room and watched films, making the most of the creature comforts.
We ate mainly in the local 'Kedai Kopi's (coffee shops). These sold all sorts of weird and wonderful buffet curries and homemade rotis. We're both hooked on the ice coffees they do with condensed milk. Hmmm! Two meals, a couple of coca colas, and some water would usually come to about 17RM (£3.50) which is an absolute bargain. Another favourite was the Filipino night market BBQs where you picked your fish, they grilled it, then you ate it and the rice with your hands! Messy but tasty! There are only a couple of bars in KK which are
mainly near the river and markets. We went to a dodgy American themed one that sold the worse margarita cocktails, but did have free computer terminals and sold cans of beer in multiples of four (called Sets), for a disgustingly cheap price! Might of ended up getting a bit drunk there... We also had a couple of massages, one relaxing, and one so hard I thought she was trying to separate my muscles and tendons from the bone! I also got my hair trimmed for £4. It's wonky but you can't moan for £4, at least I can get a brush through it again.
Kota Kinabalu has got a real ethnic mix which makes it an interesting little city. Everyone we came across was really friendly and helpful. As Sabah is part of Malaysia they're still predominantly Muslim, so get used to beef bacon and chicken sausages. For women it's wise to dress a little more conservatively than you would in say Thailand. I didn't feel as comfortable here as I have in other parts of Asia. I'm not sure if it's because I'm blonde that people seemed to stare a bit more, or if I just look funny!!
To be honest, that's probably more the case! :-)
Even though we couldn't climb Mount Kinabalu, we did do a day trip to the National Park and Poring Hot Springs. This turned out to be a 12hr day as the park is about 2hrs from KK centre. We did some jungle trekking, visited waterfalls, canopy walkways, and a stunning butterfly farm. We didn't go in the hot springs as it was half term and I'd of been horribly underdressed in a bikini!
Diving blog and underwater pics for Mabul to follow shortly!
Love Emma & Dave xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 16; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0369s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
bill
non-member comment
nice photo
ah Emma you show off! what a great photo, me want to take one.