Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Back to Malaysia - Borneo

KOTA KINABALU, SABAH, BORNEO
Anna's entry:
We did it again! Even though we insisted nine months in Asia was more than enough for us last year, we are back to South East Asia. Bad Asia, stole our travel souls, and we must be haunted by it. So, we packed our backpacks, and decided to face it - again. :)
I am writing this entry from Kota Kinabalu (Malaysian Borneo). We landed in Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) a couple of days ago, from where I am writing this blog entry now . All is well so far - locals (mostly Muslims in this part of the country) are very helpful and welcoming - lots of smiles, hello's, welcome gestures, AND no rip offs yet - YES, we are actually getting a local price, not the Vietnam-like-reap-off-foreigners-in-touristy-places attitude (if you read our previous travel entries you might remember what it was like). Anyway, after landing in the Kota Kinabalu international airport, walked about 200 meters to the highway, got the true local price from the airport to town $1, changed to a local bus .50 cents, got a room right in the city center $12. And, food - oh my, that deserves a special entry at some point! We could see - it is going to be hard to loose weight - Indian, Malay, Chinese food, all freshly cooked AND cheap! I personally, have been missing Indian food, so keep indulging for about $1.70 a meal - yes, it is a splurge, I know - we are accustomed to pay only $1, but what can I say, we are in the Borneo capital! :)
Kota Kinabalu offers a great variety of food options; walking around the town we stumbled upon an Islamic establishment that served a nice variety of Indian food (it seems like Islamic restaurants are all somehow catering towards Indian dishes, and the notion doesn't really have anything to do with the religion). We came to find out that the eatery was run by two gentlemen from Kerala (a region in South India) - after they found out that we had traveled through their region, we got a red carpet treatment, and quickly became their favorite customers. We were very happy to catch up on the great Indian food and hospitality.
Speaking about hospitality, Kota Kinabalu spoilt us with the warm welcome and honest pricing, which is unusual for the developing world mentality. As you would see from our future entries, that was due to change, and would eventually go back to the "norm'' - two-tired pricing mentality.
On another note... It is HOT-HOT-HOT here - consuming about 1/2 litre of water every hour; shirts, pants, backpack all wet from sweating profusely in the high tropical humidity (hope it's OK to share such personal details). For Rob it is already starting to feel cozy again. In some ways it feels like we never left fifteen months ago. We do have to re-adjust though back to the traveling mode and natural challenges it comes with (for me personally it normally takes about 3-4 weeks to re-adjust). Hope that the rest of the trip continues smoothly, we'd be happy.
We had to say good-bye to KK; our last nigh there we climbed the hill and watched the sunset over the city. The next morning after another hospitable Indian breakfast, we took off for Mt. Kinabalu National Park to explore some trails.

STRIPPING FOR 10 Ringets

I was really hoping that Rob will write this entry in his usual witty way, until he does, I need to add something to the Kota Kinabalu blog below. On one of our walks, Rob's pants came apart - he just bowed down to pick something from the ground, and pow - both seams fell apart. One thing is when he has only one day to walk "exposed", but the other is when the entire trip can be ruined. And, yes, trust me, a pair of good practical pants is a top notch priority in our travel lives - think about it - you need reliable pants to climb, hike, ride, sleep and swim in, and occasionally go to in-pronto wedding invitations in, AND pants have be able to dry quickly in this intolerable humidity. So, we started our quest of finding Rob some pants to fit the challenge. Most of the markets and shops we went to did not have any fittings rooms, so Rob had no choice but try the pants on right in front of the selling ladies - keep in mind that most of them are shy Muslim ladies, that don't see men strip in front of them often. But, once the shock was over, they and us were laughing and giggling, and to add to the fun, Rob even gestured ladies to put a couple of Ringets (local currency notes) behind his belt. That created even more laughs, and neighboring stall selling ladies gathered in to join the laughing scene. Eventually, we found Rob a suitable pair for 10 Ringets, around 3 USD. The newly acquired pants will be put to the test quickly - we are on the way to explore Mt. Kinabalu trails.

posted by Rob and Anna @ 1:09 AM