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Published: April 18th 2009
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Day 8 Tuesday, January 20, 2009
We had another traveling day ahead of us, so nothing fun was planned for the day. We slept in a bit before going out for our last seaside lunch in Sandakan. It was raining torrentially when we left the hostel with all our gear to catch a taxi to the airport. The airport in Sandakan is tiny and within ten or fifteen minutes of arriving we were checked in and waiting at our gate. After the short flight back to Kota Kinabalu we checked into the Lavender Lodge again, dropped some ripe clothing off at the local laundry, and made a b line for Little Italy. *sigh* Oh, how we wish we could bring that restaurant to Shenzhen! We dodged some more raindrops back to the hostel and, with the help of the sweet woman who works there, we booked a day trip for the next day. We hired a van and driver that would take us to see Mt. Kinabalu, an exhibition center and botanical garden at the park, and Poring Springs, a natural hot springs resort. That night, I taught Kim and Cara how to play Onze. It was awesome. I hadn’t
played that game in a million years!
Day 9 Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The lady of the house startled me awake just before 7 a.m. I jumped out of bed before I was ready to walk and nearly fell over. Apparently she was afraid we’d be late for our van. After a quick breakfast we hopped aboard the hired van for our day tour. It was an hour to our first stop: a souvenir market alongside the lookout for Mount Kinabalu. We had the overlook to ourselves for precisely two minutes before a flock of Koreans took it over. Fortunately we had already taken our pictures. We only spent about twenty minutes there looking at the mountain and shopping for souvenirs before heading off to the park. We went to the exhibition center first. Like the marine life exhibition center on Manukan, this one, though larger, was just as lame. My advice to travelers: avoid exhibition centers in Malaysia. Everything else is so cool that the exhibition centers feel like a waste of time. Our driver then took us over to another section of the park so that we could see the botanical garden. It wasn’t like botanical
gardens that I’m used to and perhaps we were there at the wrong time of year. It just wasn’t as impressive as I expected it to be. But the air was fresh and the flowers that were blooming were beautiful. Knowing that I’d be returning to Shenzhen after the trip made me want to absorb as much nature as I could.
When we finished there it was another hour to our next stop: Poring Springs. We were starving so we ate first before going on the canopy walk, a series of suspended bridges in the canopy of the forest. Perhaps stuffing our gullets wasn’t the smartest idea. It was really hot and humid AND (I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me) we had to actually climb to the height of the canopy before going on the canopy walk. DUH! By the time I got to the top I was drenched, muddy, and I could feel my heart beating in my face. But it was definitely worth it. The bridges were a little scary and were only made worse by the Chinese woman who thought it was the most hilarious thing ever to jump up and down on
Post-Korean Invasion
we got out of the way them while others were trying to walk. The guides told her to stop several times to no avail. Towards the end of the walk I lost it and screamed at her to stop. Kim and Cara thought it was funny. I did not. I’m not afraid of heights, per se. I’m afraid of heights I believe I can fall from. And trying to walk on a narrow wobbly bridge that is 135 feet above the ground while someone is jumping on it is not my idea of safe. Naturally, I survived. Sadly, we did not have time to jump into the natural springs. We really could have used it too!
It was a three hour drive back to Kota Kinabalu. Cara was not well, so she turned in early. Kim and I grabbed some tasty grilled chicken from a café next door and hung out in the common room of our hostel.
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