Advertisement
Published: February 20th 2007
Edit Blog Post
The 'North Borneo Cabin' was to be our home for the remainder of our Malaysia trip; having decided to halt our plans for exploring Sarawak due to the bad weather, we settled into city life for five days in Kota Kinabalu. The guesthouse really was a home-from-home, with make-your-own tea and coffee, self-service breakfast, a DVD player with a choice of movies, and internet all provided, and for free! Having no place to get to, we decided to catch up on a few jobs, including writing our blog which had fallen rather behind (as it has again, sadly).
Our first morning came, and with a lie-in planned, we were unexpectedly woken bright and early by tacky, repetitive keyboard riffs accompanying wailing, tuneless vocals at maximum fortitude. Even Louise couldn't sleep through this. It was the sunday bazaar, and it just happened to be right on our street. Louise and Amanda rushed down to join the hubbub, returning sometime later with tales of the amazing market, with terrapins, bunny rabbits, souvenirs and all manner of tacky detritus.
David and Michael soon managed to re-establish their daily football routine, at the local indoor 5-a-side centre. It was a little difficult at
first to get a game, although the climate soon changed when they offered to pay for the pitch.
During our time at the North Borneo cabin, we met a 'distinguished man of mystery', who would prefer to be known as mister X. Mister X liked to wear brightly coloured bermuda shorts, with one of a range of white tourist t-shirts, picturing the local attractions. This breezy exterior, however, masked his razor-sharp business acumen, and an impressive network of contacts. This was not just another tourist. He was a long-term resident who had expert local knowledge, and an extremely warm personality. We all became friends very quickly.
Mister X insisted on taking us sightseeing while we were in the city, and this resulted in a truly memorable day. We piled into his comfortable vehicle, and began the day with a quick coffee at his friend's bar (he had important business to sort out), where we met an architect with a mad passion for karaoke who invited us to join him that night to watch his friend perform; she was a Malaysian pop-star!
We made our way to Kokol, where we to see an amazing view of the city
and harbour. We were lucky to be accompanied by such a knowledgable guide, as most tourists don't even know this place exists. We watched an aeroplane landing in the far distance, and picked rambutans for the next leg.
Our new friend then treated us to a fabulous lunch of duck and pork with rice, which we ate before our visit to the waterfall. We felt unsure about swimming at first, as there were more than enough curious locals in the pool, but of course mister X knew the perfect spot, and he led us on a tricky course over the rocks to a secluded spot in which to spash about. The waterfall was powerful, and we all had a go at getting a free massage by standing bravely underneath the aqueous torrent. This was an exhilirating experience, and great fun. We dried off, and headed back for dinner before getting ready for our big night out!
The evening started with a low key drink, with the architect, his friends and two malaysian pop-singing sisters at a restaurant in town. Beer flowed freely, and people practised their English as we recounted stories of our jungle disasters! The singers were
very quiet within the chattering group and it was hard to imagine that they could have the courage to perform to an audience.
We then moved on to the Karaoke club, where later, one of the pop singers was due to perform. Ushered into a private room and given beer and nuts, we had full control of the karaoke equipment and I'm sure that those of you who know us well can imagine the rest! Before long, we were singing, dancing and being joined by some very talented locals, who outshone our talents with Malaysian and western favourites.
Then, it was time for the main attraction. In the bar area, people gathered and awaited the star, drinks in hand. Every time a sip was taken from a glass, the omnipresent staff topped it up for you from the bottle, and before long we were all feeling quite smashed. Then, out she came! A vision of glitter in a shimmering gold boob-tube and mini-skirt. We were surprised to hear classic titles by artists such as Shakira and Jamelia, and then, best of all, one of our absolute favourites, the song 'Dragosta din tei'! The girls were given brightly coloured
garlands which we were to throw around her neck as a sign of her incredible talents, but we couldn't help thinking, 'isn't this just karaoke?' No, it was truly entertaining, and with 3 outfit changes, and some very original dance routines, we were having a great time. Before long, we had been invited to dance on stage with the singer, and we didn't decline the offer. All we can say, is that it's probably a blessing that we left our camera in the hotel that night!
Just when we thought things couldn't get any stranger, we were introduced to a member of 'the KK Mafia' (apparently) a dark, moody character, watching the proceedings carefully from the corner of the bar.
As the exciting day drew to a close, we realised that, thanks to our new friend, we had not spent one penny that whole day or night. He had insisted on paying each time, telling us "when I come to London, you can buy me dinner." We hope that one day we will be able to honour that deal.
Unfortunately, the next day we had lots of jobs to do. We bought Mister X a t-shirt and
an England zippo lighter to say thank you, and planned the next part of our trip in more detail, and what city break wouldn't be complete without a trip to the dentist for David. Mr X gave us a lift to his dentist and this time it was just a temporary filling (but there is news of more root canals on the horizon). We then planned a farewell dinner for that night at one of his favourite indian restaurants.
Our last night was super, we enjoyed our fish-head curry with Mister X and exchanged logic ands insight puzzles with the shrewd Indian restaurant proprietor. Maybe you can solve his puzzle, we managed to:
You have 9 indentical balls. One of them is heavier than the rest. Using a pair of balance scales, how can you find out which is the heaviest by weighing any number of the balls, but only 3 times?
The next day, guess who gave us a lift to the airport? We were sad to wave goodbye, and we would always have fond memories of our Kota Kinabalu city-break.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.05s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0239s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 10;
; mem: 1.1mb
george
non-member comment
frogs
i want a frog wallet!!!!