Kota Kinabalu

Selamat malam (good evening) from Kota Kinabalu!

“Where is Kota Kinabalu?” I hear you ask. Many people did when I told them I was coming here. Kota Kinabalu is the capital city of the Malaysian state of Sabah. It is in East Malaysia, on the island referred to as Borneo. Borneo is also home to Brunei and part of Indonesia.

So why here? Originally I was meant to travel to Sri Lanka these school holidays. After what happened in April, I had the opportunity to switch my Intrepid tour for free. I had to choose a tour that had similar dates and duration, and wasn’t too far away distance wise. At that stage the situation was uncertain and I had to act quickly before flights sky rocketed even more or became unavailable. Mum decided to come too, so here we are!! We are up for going just about anywhere, so it was exciting booking somewhere fairly unknown to us, and off the beaten trail.

The flights over were pretty good. It was my first time flying Malaysia Airlines, and aside from thinking negative thoughts regarding their recent history while I watched the safety briefing, I was all good!! After an hour long wait in a queue for people who had already checked in (school holidays = very busy) I didn’t have to wait at the gate very long. I boarded my flight and was seated next to another teacher. It seemed that every second person on the flight was a teacher!!

I slept for six out of the eight hours despite a screaming child being near me (earplugs for the win), and watched part of ‘Me Before You’ at the end. Then I had three hours in Kuala Lumpur airport, which was far less stressful than my last experience here in 2010. We came as a family (coincidentally we left on the 28th June that year too!), a storm delayed our flight from Langkawi and we had to literally run - cases in hand - through the airport like we were on ‘The Amazing Race’. It was very stressful!! I do enjoy comparing myself and my life between visits to countries though. Back then Mum and Dad chose our holiday destinations, and I’m super grateful for that. It was them and Nan and Pa taking me places and showing me places that inspired my passion for travel. I can remember Dad getting me to ask around in Indonesian if anyone spoke English, and wanting me to find the right bus to Batu Caves. As a 17 year old who had never visited a country without English as its main language, that was pretty daunting at the time. 70 countries later and here I am, much more confident, independent and better for it. Thanks Mum and Dad! And thanks Nan and Pa too xoxo

The second flight was 2-3 hours, and then I arrived in Kota Kinabalu. While queuing for a taxi voucher I overheard the lady in front of me say she was going to the same hotel as me, so we shared and it turns out she’s on my tour. Her name is Justine, she’s from Melbourne and she’s a ..... teacher! I think half our tour will be teachers. Once we arrived I met mum at reception. She had arrived 12 hours prior to me because it was $300 cheaper to fly earlier in the day.

Mum had been on a walking tour so took me on a walk to some of the places she had visited. She told me Kota Kinabalu was first established as a town in 1899, but was originally called Jesselton after the vice chairman of the North Borneo Rail Company.

First we went to the Atkinson Clock Tower. Built in 1905, it was named in honour of the first district officer of the city from 1899; Francis George Atkinson. At one stage it was a lighthouse, but it couldn’t be today! Compared to some of the huge buildings here nowadays the tower is tiny. I doubt you would see it from the water today sadly. 

Our next stop was the Signal Point Observatory platform. We walked up some very steep, dodgy looking stairs through some rainforest. It is so hot here! Today was very sunny unexpectedly so we got hot very quickly. This does not bode well for me in a few days’ time when we hike up Mt Kinabalu, but more on that later. The view up the top was really interesting as we could see small, older buildings next to huge modern ones. You could also see the South China Sea and beautiful islands in the background. 

We enjoyed an ice cream at the top before heading back down, but a monkey stood in our path. And not a cute monkey, but one of the rabid, vicious ones that we came across last time in Malaysia. We quickly walked past and it left us alone. 

We stopped at the Tourist Information Centre, which was one of only two original buildings here to survive the Second World War. The other was the clock tower. Around the corner, Mum showed me some artwork her tour guide had brought the walking tour to visit. There were 30 beams or columns I suppose you would call them, and each of them had a painting of an endangered Bornean animal on them. The artwork was beautiful but it made me very sad to read about all the horrible goings on with these animals. Humans really are awful. Poachers along with those seeking palm oil here have decimated the populations of many beautiful animals such as rhinos, binturongs, tarsiers and more in Borneo. I am sure that sadly I will have more to report on this front as our trip progresses. Something else that has bothered me so far is that everyone here wants to give you a plastic bag. We say no thanks and put our purchases in our day bag. 

By this stage we were pretty hot and bothered, but we had a quick look in the handicraft market. Apparently it has 800 stalls, they all seemed to be selling the same thing! We found a cute handicraft store and mum bought some earrings. 

Upon exiting the market, we were treated to the smells of chicken/meat in the sun, cigarette smoke, bins and finally some durian. It seemed that the further we walked the worse the smell was! Just as I thought I was going to be sick, a juice bar appeared in front of us. Mum had been saying she wanted a fresh juice all day, so she had a mango and I a dragonfruit one. Much needed! Thankfully we were out of the smelly part after that as well. 

After a quick walk along a boardwalk area, we headed back to the hotel. We are now resting before listening to some of the footy and then going to our tour meeting. 

Please note that many days on this tour we are unlikely to have wifi. So if I don’t post, we are ok! And I will post again as soon as I can. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox