Malaysia

We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (via Brunei for two hours) late in the evening and crashed out in our hotel. Awoke early the next morning and looked out the window to expansive (though somewhat hazy) views across the South China to the Bornean islands. Stir-fry for breakfast, then off to explore the town.

View across the South China Sea

Kota Kinabalu is easily seen on foot and we legged it to the State Mosque, the Sabah Museum and the Heritage Centre (collection of stilt houses), as well as to the tourist bureau to book a hire car for a trip to Poring Hot Springs for the end of the week. Glenn bought some corn juice from a local market (Bec gags and races to nearest garden bed on tasting) and insisted on drinking the entire thing on principle. Dinner the first night was at a food market along the edge of the South China Sea. A very spicy crab curry for Glenn put paid to any plans Bec had for an extended shopping night.

Up early the following day for a day of white-water rafting. We drove for an hour or two through the rainforest, our driver successfully avoiding random water buffallo and mangey dogs along the way. Arrived at our drop off point and got in a boat with three young Japanese girls. The river was pretty tame and Glenn was a bit disappointed that it wasn't more hard-core, although we did manage to tip out one of the Japanese girls. Glenn was careful to buy the 'Ride the Waves, then the Babes!' t-shirt, rather than the 'Surf the Waves, then the Dudes!' version.

Did a bit of shopping. Note to self: Twisties in Borneo are not the same as Twisties in Australia and Green Pea flavoured crisps are passable if desperate.

Set off reasonably late the following day to check out one of the neighbouring islands. Walked to the ferry terminal and chartered a boat with another Japanese couple out to Sapi Island. Hired snorkel gear at a grossly over-inflated price ('You hire snorkel from me. No snorkel on beach') and arrived at the island where snorkel hire stores abound and the park entrance fee left us destitute. No lunch for us. Walked around the island but the mud and mozzies made it more arduous than pleasant so we headed back to the beach for a spot of snorkelling and a game of 'spot the worst swimwear'. The beach was soon evacuated though as a huge wind sprang up and the clouds rolled in. Found our Japanese friends and left the island early, never having used the over-priced snorkel gear. The boat ride back was harrowing. Glenn spent the trip assessing the structural integrity of the boat while Bec mentally listed the pros and cons of staying with the boat versus swimming to the nearest island in the event of capsize. Made it back to the boat terminal fairly saturated. Back to the hotel for a quick tidy up and then out again in search of a head-hunter statue.

Sapi Island

Up early the next day, more stir-fry for breakfast, then legged it down to pick up our rental car for a trip to Poring Hot Springs. In true Malaysian style, no one seemed to know what was going on when we arrived and we had to wait 45 minutes for our car to arrive (45minutes for them to find someone willing to lend their car to a pair of foreigners for the day for a fee). Finally our car arrived and we found ourselves the proud temporary owners of an ageing Proton, complete with broken tacko and back-of-dashboard noises. Drove out of town along the same route we took rafting so at least we were familiar with how to get out of town. It took us about two hours to drive the 100km to Poring to find the outdoor thermal pools were closed. Probably a good thing given Bec's last experience with sulphur thermal pools in Bolivia and the ensuing allergic reaction. Hired an indoor thermal pool (read big bath tub) and soaked in there for a while and congratulated ourselves on surviving the death-defying, OH&S-defying tree-top canopy walk. Made our way back to KK, all the while on the lookout for the elusive Rafflesia flower but to no avail. Likewise no luck in finding and random water buffallo to photograph, though we did find a few picturesque rice paddies. Dinner for Glenn that night was the most enormous whole fish obviously just dragged fresh from the ocean. Note to self: always choose your own fish.

Rice Paddies