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