Deciding to start our trip to Borneo in Sabah, we boarded an Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur bound for Kota Kinabalu (the state capital). The intention was to spend a few days in Sabah while I climbed Mt Kinabalu (at 4095.2m the highest mountain in SE Asia), have a brief look around and then head to the larger state of Sarawak. Having already booked some accommodation, we were met at the airport by our guesthouse staff and taken to ‘Borneo Global Backpackers’ in Kota Kinabalu.
As time was limited and having already heard that booking accommodation for the mountain climb could be a bit hit and miss, I decided to try and book a package climb. While more expensive than doing it myself, it offered me the best chance of being able to climb. As luck would have it, the staff from the guesthouse discovered there had been a cancellation and that I would be able to climb on the 17th May, only 2 days away. With the trip booked we decided to walk into the city centre for a look around and to find something to eat. From first impressions there isn’t very much to Kota Kinabalu, its sights are quite limited and coming from KL the shops are certainly not on the same scale. We did stumble upon a chiropractor who was able to realign Debs’ back and enjoyed a very good meal and cultural show at Sedco Square evening food hall. I can’t personally say I am much of a fan of cultural shows; they all seem a little fake. This one however was quite entertaining and the finale involving one of the dancers jumping between rapidly moving bamboo poles whilst blindfolded was extremely impressive.
The next day we headed into town to have a look around the traditional craft market. Like craft markets everywhere this one was a bit like passing a continuous conveyor belt, where every five stalls the goods repeat themselves. Not finding anything that we wanted to buy, we crossed the road to a nearby shopping mall just in time to miss the onset of torrential rain. Deciding that the change of weather was a good cue to get something to eat, we had a nice lunch in a pleasant coffee shop and then hailed a taxi for the return to the guesthouse. In typical fashion the rain eased just as we got back!
Later that evening we took the guesthouse shuttle bus into town, decided to have dinner in Pizza Hut (seemed like a safe option with my climb starting tomorrow), stocked up on energy giving food and then caught the shuttle bus back for an early night.
As time was limited and having already heard that booking accommodation for the mountain climb could be a bit hit and miss, I decided to try and book a package climb. While more expensive than doing it myself, it offered me the best chance of being able to climb. As luck would have it, the staff from the guesthouse discovered there had been a cancellation and that I would be able to climb on the 17th May, only 2 days away. With the trip booked we decided to walk into the city centre for a look around and to find something to eat. From first impressions there isn’t very much to Kota Kinabalu, its sights are quite limited and coming from KL the shops are certainly not on the same scale. We did stumble upon a chiropractor who was able to realign Debs’ back and enjoyed a very good meal and cultural show at Sedco Square evening food hall. I can’t personally say I am much of a fan of cultural shows; they all seem a little fake. This one however was quite entertaining and the finale involving one of the dancers jumping between rapidly moving bamboo poles whilst blindfolded was extremely impressive.
The next day we headed into town to have a look around the traditional craft market. Like craft markets everywhere this one was a bit like passing a continuous conveyor belt, where every five stalls the goods repeat themselves. Not finding anything that we wanted to buy, we crossed the road to a nearby shopping mall just in time to miss the onset of torrential rain. Deciding that the change of weather was a good cue to get something to eat, we had a nice lunch in a pleasant coffee shop and then hailed a taxi for the return to the guesthouse. In typical fashion the rain eased just as we got back!
Later that evening we took the guesthouse shuttle bus into town, decided to have dinner in Pizza Hut (seemed like a safe option with my climb starting tomorrow), stocked up on energy giving food and then caught the shuttle bus back for an early night.
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