Kota Kinabalu

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For the last couple of nights I've been staying in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the eastern state of Sabah. The city itself is really quite small, but, incredibly busy. Upon arrival here, I had about 20 minutes to sort out what I needed to go on a tour of a city with a guide for a couple of hours.

We started off by going across the road from my hotel to what looked like derelict land with a few pillars on it, my guide explained that this was one of the oldest buildings in Kota Kinabalu, but it burnt down in the 1990's, it previously housed all the historical maps of the area (thankfully kept in the vault and they weren't destroyed in the fire). Developers have tried the buy the land, but the local people want to keep it as its a part of history. Now the pillars have been painted black and allow local artists to graffiti the remaining wall and pillars with chalk. Every 3-4 months it's all repainted and they can start with a fresh canvas. My guide spoke about the earthquake in June which claimed the lives of some of his close friends on Mount Kinabalu and a vigil held at this site to honour those killed. There are still pictures of the mountains on some of the pillars. It clearly meant a lot to him that this had been done.

Next we went to the 'zero km' spot - the point used to measure all distances within the state of Sabah. It's located outside the tourism building which is one of only 3 buildings in the city that still remain after WWII. It was previously a postoffice and actually it really looks like one! we walked a little further down the street to view the Atkinson clock tower, on Austrailian Place - this street was where Austrailian prisoners of war were housed after being freed following the end of Japanese occupation.

We then went by the Malaysia Monument, built to mark the independence of Sabah and its joining of the federation of Malaysia in 1963, a few metres away was the North Borneo Memorial, built to remember the British, Malaysia and Austrailian soldiers that fell during both World Wars.

The next stop was the waterfront and the local markets, selling a whole host of fresh seafood, fruit, vegetables and handicrafts. We grabbed a seat at one of the food stalls and I was encouraged to try a local ABC drink of coconut milk, bits of jelly and ice. It was really sweet, looked a bit weird, but was nice and I'm glad I tried it.

As the time was approaching 6pm and close to sun set, we walked down the waterfront to get a view of the sun setting over the sea, unfortunately it was really cloudy and not spectacular as you might imagine it would be. Once it'd gone dark, my guide took me back to my hotel and I crashed out in my room for an earlyish night.

The following day, as I had free time to myself I decided a bit of a chill out was needed after a very hectic couple of weeks so I had breakfast and then went to wander round the shopping mall (1 of 7 in the city) next to my hotel and went off in the hunt for a new pair of trainers... Both pairs of shoes I brought with me stink of rainforest so I really needed to get some new ones or risk travelling back to the UK at the end of October in flip flops which I'm sure is not advisable!

Mission accomplished and I chilled out on the roof next to the pool and took in the view for a while. Around 6:30pm I took a walk to the night market to see if I could find any gifts to take home, it was so tiny and compact and boiling hot, I didn't last very long and headed back.

This morning I wandered down to a couple of shops I'd spotted on my way back the previous evening and picked up a few bits and bobs. I then decided I'd do as I'd planned to do and go on a boat to Sapi to do the Coral Flyer - the longest zip line in the World between 2 islands (given my family history and success rates on slide type things, I have to admit I had second thoughts!). I went to Jessleton Point to sort out my return trip on the boat. The ticket office is a bit manic with all of the dozen or so operators wanting your money. I chose one of the desks and arranged my return boat journey and waited a little while for the boat. The ride over to Sapi took around 25 minutes and once there I had to pay a conservation fee to enter the park, it equates to about £3-£4 so no biggie and then booked myself in for zip lining. I took a short boat ride over to another island, walked up a pathway where I put on a harness and helmet and then proceeded to climb the steep steps up to the platform from where I would start my zip lining. As I got towards the top of the steps there were quite a few people around and it turns out they were filming a promo for the website. They asked if I minded them filming me, I didn't have a problem with it, so you never know, I might just end up on their website! I waited for the film crew to get ready and sat back, clung on for dear life and off I went. Whilst going down the zip line, yo can see the beautiful water and coral beneath you as well as a terrific view of the city, although it was over pretty quickly, it was awesome! The problem being on your own is that it's not really possible to take photos which I'm a little disappointed about, but, I guess you can't have everything!

A short boat ride back and a quick walk back to the hotel and I was done in! I decided to end my last afternoon in Borneo in the bar on the roof catching the last of the sun and watching the sunset with a couple of beers. All in all, not a bad way to spend my last day.

Tomorrow morning, I head off to Kota Kinabalu airport for my flight to Singapore and I'll be homeward bound, after a super fast tour of Singapore that is! I'll probably update what will be my final blog for this holiday on the plane to London.

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