A warm welcome to Borneo
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2006
1
103
155
Trip End
May 27, 2008
Kota Kinabalu,
Malaysia
Saturday, December 22, 2007
season.
I'd organised to stay with a local doctor, Chew, courtesy of the couchsurfing website. He'd mentioned on his profile that he was interested in mountains, diving and jungles so seemed like the perfect person to get some travel tips from and a good introduction to Malaysia. That evening I met with him and was given my own room in his apartment in the city suburbs. He told me about his job, asked me about my travels and loaded me with info on Sabah, the region of Borneo I was about to explore. He works at the local hospital in infection control and has also worked for a short time in the UK and hence seen quite a lot of Europe not to mention his travels around Asia.
After a good night's sleep I woke early yesterday to catch a lift with Chew into the city to try and work out where I would head next. As it was only 8am, breakfast choices were slim pickings so i decided to risk the food court in the local wet market. Luckily someone spoke English and explained that i could choose some meat, veg and noodles and they would cook it up for me. I'm still alive so it was OK (although Chew later couldn't believe I ate in there and told me that he would never set foot in there!). By the end of the day (and several cakes and ice-cream later) I still couldn't work out what to do and hadn't booked anything. I pottered around a local xmas night market which was weird as I assumed it was largely Muslim here and it was more curry and juice than german stollen and mulled wine. I bought a curry for my dinner which was rather spicy (unsuprisingly!) and met Chew to get my lift home. He assumed I hadn't eaten and planned to meet with his friend Chu for some food so we headed to the jetty and I tried some strange concoction of savoury sauce over fruit and vegetables and a drink of coconut milk straight from the coconut. Must admit it didn't take my fancy but it was fun to try something different and the guys were kind enough to pay my share. Chu was also working in the hospital and had some time off to organise his upcoming wedding so he offered to take me around the city the following day and help me book some trips.
This morning we all went for breakfast at a local diner where meat and noodles is the standard breakfast fair; something I'm starting to get used to although I still crave ceral and fresh milk! Chew then went to work and Chu took me into Kinabalu and we pottered around the shops. He bought me a pearl bubble tea which is tea made with condensed milk (as every drink is) but also contains these weird jelly balls at the bottom. Quite nice but not something I would choose to quench my thirst as it's pretty heavy on the stomach! I decided to book accommodation at a place called the Nature Lodge in Kinabatangan (www.nasalislarvatustours.com) and Chu took me to the bus station to book my ticket for the following morning. He wanted me to see the beach so took me to the local Shangri-La posh resort where we wandered through to get to the nice beach. Typically by this point it started to chuck it down with rain so we couldn't do anything and then it was time to go and meet Chew at the Hyatt hotel in the city for our late lunch at the ice-cream buffet there. After 9 scoops I was pretty content and even though I'd spent 3 times what I usually would on lunch it was still less than 3 quid!
The original plan for tonight was for the guys to take me to a cafe where I could try the local cuisine of porridge with meat and vegetables (they thought I was weird for wanting to eat it with honey and raisins?) however they'd forgotten they were supposed to be attending a medical talk that evening, presented by a world renowned researcher in the field of infectious diseases. They asked if I would like to attend especially as it was being held in a 5 star hotel and followed by a free dinner. What could I say but of course! I just had to pretend I was a visiting medical student and not fall asleep, however the talk was actually very well presented and I enjoyed it. I can't remember the specific name of the topic but it was about a hospital spread disease (similar to MRSA) that is resistant to most antibiotics and discussed the epidemiology and proposed treatment. The dinner after was amazing - a buffet of local cuisine and I ate so much I almost threw up (especially as it was not long after the ice-cream buffet, but you only live once and when in Rome....).
Tonight I packed and Chew loaded me up with a bag of antihistamine tablets and booked me a taxi for the bus station tomorrow morning. I'm off to hopefully see some amazing wildlife for xmas and after that I should be going scuba diving before climbing Mount Kinabalu in a week-so busy!.
Xmas choir
