Short Trip to Kota Kinabalu - The Last Day

Kota Kinabalu, capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah

Saturday 27th -Tuesday 30th September, 2014

For breakfast on Tuesday 30th I tried "Nasi Le Mak" - that's how the paper pyramid was labelled.  It wasn't some anonymous repackaged French delicacy, but "Nasi lemak", one of the national dishes of Malaysia.   Inside the paper and banana leaf wrapper is fragrant rice which has been cooked in coconut milk with an added "pandan" leaf for flavour and a hint of colour.  Also in the package was a small amount of dried fish (anchovies or similar) and some peanuts (the small rounded type, not those normally found in Australia).  The Nasi Lemak and the local egg tart (a custard style) were washed down with a cold coffee milk drink. Not only did i enjoy a delicious breakfast but I had sampled one of the iconic Malaysian dishes without knowing it until later.

Breakfast

 After breakfast I returned to my room and read until checkout time, then left my bags at Reception and caught a taxi to the Sabah State Museum.  On the way I detoured via the Sabah State Mosque (Masjid Negeri Sabah).  This impressive building, completed in 1974, has a stately decorated dome and a single minaret.  Not far away id the Sabah State Mausoleum for state burials.

Sabah State Mosque, Kota Kinabalu
(sadly there's not much contrast between
the grey of the dome and the grey of the sky)

The Dome of the Sabah State Mosque

The Sabah State Museum is just a short distance from the Mosque.  Along the side of the museum are displayed a number of motor vehicles significant to Sabah's history.  They are in very poor condition but inside it's a different story. 

In the museum is an interesting and well-presented outline of Sabah's history from earliest known days, and a very comprehensive but easy to follow explanation of the political processes leading to Malaysia's independence.  The artifacts and especially the regional folk instruments are well displayed, and an explanation is given of the head-hunting practices common to the area.

The approach and entrance of the Sabah State Museum
(no photographs permitted inside)

 After a couple of hours at the museum, and outside watching a number of bird-lovers setting up their cameras (I couldn't see what they were preparing for) I returned to the hotel to get my bags and then set off for the airport. 

The road to the airport took me past a number of new commercial developments of diverse and interesting styles.  It was a different world from Bali.  As my window in the taxi wouldn't go down the next two photos are a little hazy due to the dust flim on the window.

The Muslim Bank, Kota Kinabalu
(seen through a hazy taxi window)

The BSN (Sabah Bank) building

Kota Kinabalu has the 2nd busiest airport in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur is the busiest).  A new terminal building was built in 2008 and then an additional wing was opened in about 2010.

The new KK airport entrance

Unfortunately the new airport building is not the one I used.  Air Asia, Cebu Air and other budget carriers use the rather less comfortable terminal 2 (aka "the old terminal").

Terminal 2 main hall
This Wiki picture looks better than the real thing!
The concourse is now crowded with small shop stands
replacing the seating on the right of the picture.

The simple boarding facilities at Terminal 2.
Fortunately it wasn't raining.  Note that this Airbus
A320-216 is sporting Boeing style "shark fin" winglets
rather than the traditional style of Airbus winglet.

The flight back to Bali took 2.5 hours.  After passing through Immigration with my required Visa on Arrival I was met by Santo, the Secretary of the Dhyana Pura Foundation (my hosting orgnisation) and driven north to Dalung.  It had been an interesting and enjoyable weekend away.

Paul in Bali
6/10/14

Short Trip to Kota Kinabalu - The Next Day

Kota Kinabalu, capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah

Saturday 27th -Tuesday 30th September, 2014

It's not essential, but why not read the account of Saturday and Sunday in KK before reading this section.

After Sunday's long outing I was in no hurry to get up too early.  Outside the day was already hot and humid as I checked local options for breakfast.  After a light meal of noodles I set off on a lap of the large block fronting the wharf, and then headed up the hill to the lookout.

View northwards from the pedestrian
overpass into part of the dispersed CBD
(the not-so-Central Business District?)

A small part of the large fishing fleet operating from KK

Not far from the moorings is this "'the one that got away"?
The Big Marlin (Swordfish)

The impressive street frontage of a mall and restaurant complex.

I walked up the steps running through the forest to the roadway leading to Signal Hill Lookout.  Beneath the trees it was even more humid than out in the open.  Despite the heat haze and a little smoke haze there was a reasonable view along the coast and out to the islands.  You can see that KK has a modern appearance.  Although the city was founded as a trading colony in 1882 very little remains of the early days.  Intensive bombing in 1945 destroyed all but 3 of the significant pre-war buildings, so the city is really from the late 20th century, with building works continuing.  The CBD is not really a "central" location as many building normally found there are located outside of that zone because of the limited space between the Signal Hill and the sea.  The city population is about 650,000 and another 150,000 live in surrounding areas.

Looking south.  The vertical white object on the left (in line
with the crane) is the Atkinson Clock Tower.

View to the north-west

From Signal Hill I walked several hundred metres down the roadway to the Atkinson Clock Tower.  This small white structure with two clock faces was built in 1902 to commemorate Francis George Atkinson, the first district officer of Jesselton (the original colonial name). He died aged 28 from a tropical disease.

Looking uphill to the Atkinson Clock Tower
which still chimes away each hour.

I don't know the name of this building.
Suffice to say it has an "unusual shape and design".

The present-day Tourism and Visitor Centre
is one of the few buildings from old Jesselton.

Old pedal operated sewing machines are still being
sold here in KK and also in Denpasar, Bali.

After my walk of a couple of kilometres it was time for another shower (this was to be a 3 shower and  3 shirt day) before travelling north to the Shangri-La luxury beach resort.  On the edge of the resort is the Rasa Ria Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, operated by the Sabah conservation and wildlife protection agency, with sponsorship of the resort.  Young abandoned or orphaned apes are brought here for the first stage of a lengthy process which will see them restored to health and develop "life skills" before they are taken to a larger centre on the east of Borneo where they will be prepared for completely independent life and re-introduction into the forest.  So far over 30 orang utan have been returned to the forest. The name "orang utan" means "forest people".

One of many attractive buildings along the highway running north from KK

Shangri-La Beach Resort - I suspect the rates are a bit high for my budget

After a short talk by a Wildlife Ranger and a video describing the recovery of an ill young orang utan, and her subsequent, rehabilitation and release we set off up a fairly steep path to a viewing area. 

Although there were 3 apes in the area we only saw 2, and it was a real treat to see them playing in the trees, sometimes just above our heads.  Zoologists say they are the animal most closely related to humans, and leaving aside the antics possible due to their build and flexibility, it was easy to see many instances of human-like play as the 2 young males swung about and wrestled with each other.

Young orang utan at Ria Rasa Sanctuary

A game of "catch me if you can"

Young ape looking down at me - perhaps checking if I got the picture?

Swinging quickly and effortlessly through the canopy

Red fur back-lit by sunlight shining into the forest

They were quite amazing and fascinating.  It was a pleasure and privilege to observe them, even just for a short time.  On the return journey to KK there was time for a couple of slight detours to see a couple of mosques I'd spotted on the trip north.  As we swung off the main road towards the big KK City Mosque (Masjid Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu)  I saw the attractive pink dome of another mosque nestled amongst the trees.

Pink dome and minaret of a mosque to the north of KK

A small section of the "Borneo1 Hypermall"

KK City Mosque, beside Likas Bay

The dome and one of the 4 minarets, KK City Mosque.

The spectacular front entrance (from Wikipedia).  
I only saw the building from the southern side.  I could not
enter the surrounds as I was still wearing shorts after my
excursion into the forest and was thus  "immodestly dressed".

After returning from the trip it was time for my third shower of the day before heading down to the seafront fish restaurants.  Although KK is "renowned" for its colourful sunsets, tonight's showing was rather disappointing as a weak sun slipped from one section of cloudy sky to another until it finally disappeared from view with hardly a trace of colour in the sky.

This is hardly a good example of the
"spectacular sunsets" of the tourist brochures.

Hotels and commercial buildings along the
waterfront are bathed in the soft light of sunset

At the fishermen's wharf there were 3 rows of
shops offering many kinds of freshly cooked seafood.

Prawns, crabs, something like the "Moreton Bay Bug", and more...

Large prawns on skewers are slowly cooked above coals

Fresh fish, many still flapping.

There were many places offering much the same sort of seafood, so there was no need to agonise over where to go.  Just pick one.  I did, and my meal of large prawns in a pepper sauce was delicious.

And so ended day 3 in KK.

Paul in Bali

5/10/14

Short Trip to Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (Malaysia)    

Saturday 27/9 - Tuesday 30/9/14

Sabah state (red)  in Borneo

Last Saturday I flew to Kota Kinabalu ("KK"), capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah. I had to leave Bali - for anywhere outside of Indonesia - just so I could return and re-enter with a new VOA (visa on arrival) as my initial visa had almost expired.  


I considered my options for places within about 2 hours flying time.  Dili in East Timor is actually the closest non-Indonesian city but is inconvenient to get to, and was not an attractive or affordable choice.  Darwin?  The shortest flight, but also expensive and not many seats at times which suited me. Singapore?  No, we were there in July. Malaysia? Why not?  The island of Borneo has always had an air of mystery about it, and as Air Asia was having a sale for a few days with very cheap fares to some nearby cities, I chose to travel to Kota Kinabalu.  Later I had second thoughts about my choice, but I couldn't change the destination, or get a refund on the promotional ticket.  Now, having been there, I'm glad I couldn't change to somewhere else as I quite enjoyed by three days there.

I arrived in KK on Saturday evening.  Although KK has a fairly new terminal building the budget carriers (Air Asia mainly) use Terminal 2, the "old" terminal. Still, there wasn't really a problem arriving. I changed some money to purchase a ticket for the transit bus to the city which stopped just metres from my hotel. Since leaving home late in June I've used Pounds Sterling, Euros, Singapore Dollars, Thai Baht, Indonesian Rupiah, and now Malaysian Ringgit.  As the money changers only deal in banknotes I now have quite a collection of coinage to add to the leftovers from previous trips.  Should take up numismatics? 

My welcome to KK.  This illuminated arch
was close to the bus stop for my hotel.

The Welcome Arch by my hotel.  I don't know
if the flags are always flown in such numbers,
or remain from  Malaysia Day on Sept. 19th.

KK City Hall - more flags.

KK city is quite a change from Denpasar, capital of Bali, even though the cities have about the same population.  Sabah state has a population of about 3.5 million, roughly the same as the island of Bali.  There the similarity ends (except perhaps for the weather).  Central KK looks very modern with many modern, attractive high rise buildings, good multi-lane roads with overpasses and interchanges, pedestrian actuated crossings, designated parking areas, and more.  The main roads leading north and were well maintained and were not congested.  There are many fewer motor cycles on the roads, and the roads were well edged, with good footpaths.  It was all quite different to Bali, even in the recognised "upmarket" tourist areas.  

KK now attracts many foreign visitors. They tend not to come to stay in KK but to use the city as a gateway to places out of the city or as base from which they visit nature reserves, go diving, go trekking up Mt Kinabalu and so on. These travellers are quite different to those who are most prevalent in the tourist-choked beach areas of Denpasar, many of whom don't stray far from the Kuta - Legian - Seminyak strip and who don't really see "Bali", just a tourist dominated precinct.  There was a completely different "feel" to the place.  

The revenue stream from petroleum royalties helps KK to develop as a small, expanding city with many modern facilities.  It's not really evident in central KK but you don't have to go too far away from "uptown" to find the water village and many squatters' shanties.  Sabah is the "poorest" state in Malaysia, and the "border" with The Philippines is "porous" so there are many illegal immigrants.

On Sunday morning I was up fairly early to walk the short distance (but quite far enough in the already thick humidity) to the All Saints Anglican Cathedral for the 7:30 service in English.  Services are held in English and Bahasa Malay for the congregation which comprises Malays, English and other expats, Chinese, Filipinos and various others.  It is quite a mix.

Ministers, choir and leaders are led out of the church after the service.

All Saints Anglican Cathedral, KK

After the service I joined Dr Frank Gee (from Sydney; visiting lecturer at the Sabah Seminary), and some of the ministers and leaders for a delicious Malay-style breakfast.

I'm not sure why, but I just didn't feel like this
for breakfast.  Too much pepper perhaps? 

Along the streets around my hotel scores of tents appeared
overnight ready for the regular "Sunday Markets".  

More flags and more vendors' tents.

The market in the space at the rear of the hotel.  I had a room
"with a view" (that is a "window" as opposed to an inside room).
  Most of the time it wasn't much of a "view".  Check the back
of the building at the right of the picture.  Very interesting?

Vendors selling vegetables and fruit at the market.  Some
were there on other days as well as "Sunday Markets".

My small hotel ("The Mandarin Hotel") had a small desk provided by a tour operator so after considering the options I booked for a minibus trip which took me to a river and wetlands system about 90 minutes travel north of KK.  

I didn't catch the commentary, but I think this modern
building is part of the University of Malaysia, Sabah campus.

 At the wetlands our group donned life jackets and boarded a small boat for an enjoyable cruise along about a kilometre of river.  We saw bathing buffalo, birds, dogs lolling about on a suspension bridge, big lizards, macaque monkeys - and eventually proboscis monkeys up in the trees, nearly hidden behind the foliage they were eating.  Unfortunately the males were not visible, only females.  We were told that the males were not as active as the females and rested for much of the day.  It's possible that the activity involved in managing up to 20 "wives" wears them out.

In case you are not familiar with the Proboscis Monkey, here's the start of Wikipedia's article on them.

Conservation status:  Endangered (IUCN 3.1)Scientific classification:  Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: MammaliaOrder: PrimatesFamily: CercopithecidaeSubfamily: ColobinaeGenus: Nasalis Species: N. larvatus 

The proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) or long-nosed monkey, known as the bekantan in Malay, is a reddish-brown arboreal Old World monkey that is endemic to the south-east Asian island of Borneo, this species co-exists with the Bornean Orang-utan. It belongs in the monotypic genus Nasalis, although the pig-tailed langur has traditionally also been included in this genus.[3]
The monkey also goes by the Malay name monyet belanda ("Dutch monkey"), or even orang belanda ("Dutchman"), as Indonesians remarked that the Dutch colonisers often had similarly large bellies and noses.  This species of monkey is easily identifiable because of its unusually large nose.

An adult male Proboscis Monkey (Source: Wikipedia)

A water buffalo and one of the ever-present birds which eat insects
 from the buffalo's hide or which are disturb by the hooves when on land.

Washing day at the riverside house.

Macaque monkeys leap between the trees.  Occasionally one
would miss its grip and tumble down through the canopy
before successfully catching hold of a palm frond.

Local dogs loll about on a wire swinging suspension bridge.

A female Proboscis Monkey eating the leaves
which partly hide her from our view.

A female Proboscis monkey - one of
about a dozen we caught glimpses of.

After our brief views of the monkeys we returned to the landing station and had a light meal before setting off for another part of the wetlands river system.  We arrived just after sunset and again kitted up in life jackets (hot but important) to board our boats.  On this part of the trip cameras were forbidden because we were going a short distance upstream to trees packed with fireflies.  

As we slowly and quietly cruised past the trees we saw a scattering of pinpoint white lights indicating the presence of fireflies.  Our boatman then switched on a small torch concealed in his hand and moved his hand rapidly back and forth across the torch, as if sending a morse code signal.  This stimulated the fireflies who "switched on" by the hundreds and many swarmed across the river towards our small light.  They drifted through the boat and into us.  It was an amazing sight - like a mass of tiny Christmas lights on the move.  
As we motored along and the boatman continued to send his pulsating light signals and trees would light up, as if switched on electrically.  Our boat had a slow moving trail of fireflies strung out in the air behind us.

Fireflies in trees along the river.  I went with TYH Borneo Tours
(photo from their website - the real thing was much better than this)

After the boat trip we made the return journey back to KK.  Most passengers slept.  I didn't get to see the big-nosed "Dutchman" monkey, but otherwise it had been a very interesting afternoon and evening.

Still to come .. orang utan

Paul in Bali
4/10/2014