World Adventure

Hi All,

We got off the plane in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. Flight was pretty bumpy at times and probably the roughest fight we have been on since flying from Chang Mai to Mae Hong Son. It was stunning at times looking down on the islands about halfway along the way with postcard aqua blue water, white beaches and coral. There was even a small sand island in the middle of the ocean. Amazing.

We actually got stamped into Sabah on arrival at Borneo. It is a semi autonomous state in Malaysia and treats it as an international arrival.

All pretty straightforward and we were out and ready to catch transport into town about 7km away. The information desk was closed and it seemed that the only way out was to catch a taxi which was tightly controlled by what I call the 'airport taxi Mafia'. We had found out that there was a public bus we could catch at the entrance to the airport so headed off. It was really hot and humid and we found the bus stop about 400m away and waited. The bus turned up about 30 mins later and was so full that we couldn't get on however the bus driver told us that there was a mini bus station at the next village. Where was the next village? We walked about 1km further but no mini bus station. It was no good. I gave up and hailed a taxi. It cost us 12 Ringgits to get to our hotel which save us 18 Ringits. A victory against the airport taxi Mafia but it was a shallow victory.

Got to the hotel and the reception was a little coy. Even though we had a booking they had either forgotten or ignored it. My temper was rapidly rising but luckily we got upgraded to a more expensive room for the same price. It was what is considered a cheap hotel by Sabah standards so we expected a dump but it wasn't too bad apart from the weak flushing toilet but one can't have everything in life. Actually I cracked it about the toilet. Having a hard time dropping from the relative luxury living of the flashpacker back into almost backpacker again.        

I like the weather at the moment. So predictable. Rains in the morning, hot and humid during the day, Rains late afternoon for a couple of hours with electrical storms as well then stops and perhaps rains a little overnight.

Went for a wander last night and found a seafood market which sold the biggest prawns I have ever seen for about AUD30 per kilogram. There was plenty of fresh seafood but the idea of eating something that was alive in a tank minutes before was not appealing so we went and had some mango chicken. No problem finding a huge  variety of food in Kota Kinabalu.  

Next day.

We have been having trouble setting ourselves a travel plan for Sabah. Our research on the internet had found tour prices were really high and we felt we could get better quality by making the arrangements for ourselves. So we decided to look around town for tours to see the going rates. Checked out a couple of hostels and travel agents and found that the prices are quite high. The travel industry has a virtual monopoly on tourism in Sabah which makes independent travel difficult. Luckily there is a scooter hire company who also will store luggage for us. We hired a scooter for tomorrow and will go for a ride to get a feel for the area. Perhaps there is a 700km ride around Sabah on a scooter in the future for us...

Bye,
David and Vanessa