We started off in Kota Kinabalu, located in the Sarawak region of Borneo (Malaysia). Our first day we spent exploring the city and getting an idea of how we should spend the rest of our time there. We went through some markets (handicraft, dry, and wet). The handicraft market had a bunch of, wait, oh yeah, pretty obvious... handicrafts. And nothing all that different from Thailand. The dry market had a bunch of dry spices, fish, etc, and the wet market was basically a butcher shop. Intense, strange smells, constantly, but interesting to look at for sure.
After we looked through those markets we somehow ended up stumbling upon the fish market. It was right on the water in an open warehouse. We were intrigued and thought that we could get some good pictures of the fresh seafood so we ventured in. Immediately upon entering the pavilion we had a Malaysia man enthusiastically shove a live crab in our faces and say "Weeeecome tuu my keeeedum! Would youuu rike (like) tuuu see a CAB?!?!" I mean, terrified does not begin to describe how I felt at this point or would feel in the next few moments. We were screamed and hooted at more intensely than anything I have ever heard of or experienced in my life. It was deafening. Obviously, these old men had never seen girls before. It was insane. We got through it as quickly as possible without any photo opportunities (however, we did, bravely or stupidly, make a trip back there another day while in KK when there were a lot less fishermen and got some great pictures then, sooo, yeah, it all worked out). As we scurried out of the fishermen arena a little boy shouts "Sing a song sing a songggg!!! Do you understan??" Sooo cute. Made me miss my kids in Chonburi a lot.
Afterwards we went through the Muslim district to check out the snack selection then headed towards Atkinson Clock Tower and the observatory. The clock tower was constructed in memory of Francis George Atkinson who was the popular first District Officer of Jesselton when the British controlled Borneo. We got lost trying to find the observatory and decided to call off the search around 5pm and went back to the lodge. For dinner we went to the waterfront and had Indian food (again), Guiness, and hookah. Not too shabby.
The next day we woke up late then walked to the Jetty to go to Manutik island off the coast of Borneo. Yup, an island off of an island. It was really peaceful and pretty with very few other tourists but A LOT of dead coral. Ouch! That night we walked along the cobblestones of Gaya Street looking for a bar or something entertaining but ended up calling it an early night after our second ice creams of the day... yum!! I made progress on my book on Buddhism. I figured if all the Thais are buddhist it would be in my best interest to learn more about their beliefs. There is no 'self' and we are not corks floating along in a river but rather the river itself... no corks involved. We only exist in reference to one another. Hmm, I like it.
On the third day we got up very early to do what most people come to KK to do.. climb Mt. Kinabalu!! We shared a taxi with other people to get there then went off on our own and hiked the Silau Silau trail before heading into the Botanical Gardens. We saw a lot of really cool flowers including the spider orchid, rabbit orchid, and lipstick orchid as well as the smallest and largest types of pitcher plants in the world! I was pretty confused but it was very pretty. Sarah was excited because she likes plants more than animals, hahaha.
That night we went to the Loft at the waterfront for Ladies Night (even though the bartender screwed us over and we ended up paying for all of our drinks anyway). Rickey, the bartender, looked like a magical creature and so did some of the US Navy sailors that we met. They had just pulled in that day and were very interested in, uh, talking to new people. There were definitely some propositions made but overall they were pretty tame, I was surprised. Next, we headed to the club Bed and danced our little hearts out until Rickey came and pulled us away from our fun. Lame. I was a little more than inebriated so we made our way back and said bye to KK!!
To finish off our adventures we made a 20 hour stop in one of the smallest countries in the world, Brunei. It has a population of only 300,000 and is such a small dot, even on the island of Borneo. Despite all that the Sultan is one of the richest men in the world and the country thrives off of its oil. Getting there was fine except that the KK security man took my contact solution and Sarah's eye makeup remover! Damnit Malaysia! I traveled for 3 weeks and 7 flights to have no one take it and then YOU had to ruin it all. Grrr. Typical.
Since we had such a short time in Borneo we decided to take a tour through a company so that we could have transportation and see as much as possible. Fazlin was a very tiny Bruneian man (23 like us, but he looked about 12) who showed us around. We went to the National Mosque, Royal Regatta Museum, another mosque, the Brunei National Museum, the water village (30,000 people in Brunei live in this stilt village.. it has its own schools, fire department, police office, everything), and the Empire Hotel. My favorite part was the Royal Regatta Museum because of the adorable pictures of the Sultan when he was young and how they tried to portray him as being athletic. So cute. There were also a ton of presents on display that nations around the world had given to Brunei over the years. Some were lame (The UK gave a green cup with Queen Elizabeth's initials on it), some were scary (Guana's weird looking African man made out of wood and banging on a drum), and some were very elaborate (the mini version of Dubai). We got back dropped off at the hotel at 12, had lunch, then headed to the airport! We flew to KL, then Bangkok arriving at 10:30 at night. We stayed at my home away from home, Lub D, of course.
Great vacation overall and now it's time to start working at Joseph Upatam!! Yeahhh!!
The next day we woke up late then walked to the Jetty to go to Manutik island off the coast of Borneo. Yup, an island off of an island. It was really peaceful and pretty with very few other tourists but A LOT of dead coral. Ouch! That night we walked along the cobblestones of Gaya Street looking for a bar or something entertaining but ended up calling it an early night after our second ice creams of the day... yum!! I made progress on my book on Buddhism. I figured if all the Thais are buddhist it would be in my best interest to learn more about their beliefs. There is no 'self' and we are not corks floating along in a river but rather the river itself... no corks involved. We only exist in reference to one another. Hmm, I like it.
On the third day we got up very early to do what most people come to KK to do.. climb Mt. Kinabalu!! We shared a taxi with other people to get there then went off on our own and hiked the Silau Silau trail before heading into the Botanical Gardens. We saw a lot of really cool flowers including the spider orchid, rabbit orchid, and lipstick orchid as well as the smallest and largest types of pitcher plants in the world! I was pretty confused but it was very pretty. Sarah was excited because she likes plants more than animals, hahaha.
That night we went to the Loft at the waterfront for Ladies Night (even though the bartender screwed us over and we ended up paying for all of our drinks anyway). Rickey, the bartender, looked like a magical creature and so did some of the US Navy sailors that we met. They had just pulled in that day and were very interested in, uh, talking to new people. There were definitely some propositions made but overall they were pretty tame, I was surprised. Next, we headed to the club Bed and danced our little hearts out until Rickey came and pulled us away from our fun. Lame. I was a little more than inebriated so we made our way back and said bye to KK!!
To finish off our adventures we made a 20 hour stop in one of the smallest countries in the world, Brunei. It has a population of only 300,000 and is such a small dot, even on the island of Borneo. Despite all that the Sultan is one of the richest men in the world and the country thrives off of its oil. Getting there was fine except that the KK security man took my contact solution and Sarah's eye makeup remover! Damnit Malaysia! I traveled for 3 weeks and 7 flights to have no one take it and then YOU had to ruin it all. Grrr. Typical.
Since we had such a short time in Borneo we decided to take a tour through a company so that we could have transportation and see as much as possible. Fazlin was a very tiny Bruneian man (23 like us, but he looked about 12) who showed us around. We went to the National Mosque, Royal Regatta Museum, another mosque, the Brunei National Museum, the water village (30,000 people in Brunei live in this stilt village.. it has its own schools, fire department, police office, everything), and the Empire Hotel. My favorite part was the Royal Regatta Museum because of the adorable pictures of the Sultan when he was young and how they tried to portray him as being athletic. So cute. There were also a ton of presents on display that nations around the world had given to Brunei over the years. Some were lame (The UK gave a green cup with Queen Elizabeth's initials on it), some were scary (Guana's weird looking African man made out of wood and banging on a drum), and some were very elaborate (the mini version of Dubai). We got back dropped off at the hotel at 12, had lunch, then headed to the airport! We flew to KL, then Bangkok arriving at 10:30 at night. We stayed at my home away from home, Lub D, of course.
Great vacation overall and now it's time to start working at Joseph Upatam!! Yeahhh!!
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