We pre-booked a 7.30am bus from Semporna to Kota Kinabalu and unfortunately while walking to the bus stop Dave slipped on a curb an twisted his ankle. We then spent the next 10 hours on the bus watching his ankle grow from Skelator to Kankle. Unable to walk once we got off, I carried our bags and hailed the cab while Dave hobbled and hung onto my hiking stick. As usual the bus station was at least 10kms from town but we enjoyed the ride as Kota Kinabalu is a lovely little city (capital of Sabah).
Dave's Kankle
Arrived to the Lavender Lodge, lucky for Dave we had a room on the 3rd floor which was also lucky for me as I got to carry all our bags up too. Dave spent the next 2 days in bed with a bag of frozen peas and I enjoyed some quiet time. Once Dave could limp we started to explore and found the gem of KK, the market. This market is the home of the most fresh, cheap and delicious food. It sits on the waterfront, where most nights there is a beautiful sunset. The market boasts fresh grilled seafood as you wait, grilled chicken, rows of yummy deserts like pancakes, sesame balls, doughnuts and our favourite fried bananas! You can get 6 banana’s, 2 pancakes, 2 sesames balls and a custard for 80c. With so many treats at such crazy prices it’s hard not to stock up after eating a delicious Mee Goreng for $1.50...and we all know eating 27 deserts before bed is a great way to keep in shape. Luckily KK has many a mall and we walked to I think all of them over the 10 days we resided there. I bought a new pair of shorts and a T-shirt as 1 of the 3 I wear has gone see-through, not so great for Asia. Borneo is also in the middle of Monsoon season which means the rain turns on like a tap, instantly and very heavy. The amount of times Dave and I walked back into our guesthouse as drained rats because he refused to buy an umbrella (no room to pack one) was quite funny.
Dave selecting some seafood from the market
Satay Chicken anyone?
Fresh seafood on offer, including giant lobsters and groper
One of the other activities is white water rafting on the Padas River, we booked a tour and took a bus with many happy to be alive asian tourists …after 2 hours on a bus and 40 mins on a really old train we arrived. There were 7 major rapids, all of which were large and scary enough to make people scream, except Dave of course. It was usually a decision for me as to whether to hold onto the boat or to hold onto the paddle. The most hilarious event was seeing one of the rafts capsized with it’s contents rolling around in their life jackets…recommended.
Sexy outfit..
Our rafts on the way up to the rapids
Rafting down the Padas with Riverbug (courtesy SMH)
Kota Kinabalu is close to a cluster of small islands which are part of the national park, you can visit one or more of these in one day for snorkelling, relaxing or walking. There are several companies that offer speed boat services to, from and in between them so it was really well set up. The first day we decided to visit Sapi and Mumutik. Unfortunately when we arrived at Sapi it was covered in tourists, mostly Japanese holiday-makers who are undyingly happy to be alive. So Dave and I decided we would walk a trail (grade IV trek more like it) around the island to find a more secluded spot. Disappointingly we were unable to find a beach that wasn’t covered in broken TV’s. However we were able to spy was amazing creatures that could only be described as croc bodied, dinosaur headed Monitors…only problem was that we had forgotten to put the SD card in the camera so we had no proof. We were then taken to the next island which had more sand real estate and less life-vested snorkel clad day-trippers. Here is where I was slaughtered by sand flies.
The trail around Mamutik
A monster on the track
Wild Pineapple!!
Dave by a huge tree that's been taken over by vines
A Mamutik monitor
An oldie from Sapi Island
Due to the regrettable camera incident we decided to return to the islands 2 days later to capture what we had seen the first day in which the sun was shining and monsters were present. The only difference this time was the sun wasn’t shining and the Monsoon was angry. The first half of the day we were able to get some lovely pics and went for a nice walk around Mamutik. During our scheduled boat to Sapi the swell was hilariously large showering the old ducks with huge gushes of sea water and lifting stern of the boat well into the air. After arriving alive and photographing the Monitors at Sapi we took the a boat back. It was light little speedboat with one extremely camp man, 2 extra screaming girls and 3 old ducks. This was one of the most hilarious and terrifying rides home I’ve ever had. The first half was rather funny as the boat slammed against the huge swell. The second half was mostly terrifying as the perfect storm moved through and drenched us with skin stinging rain and huge waves… everyone screamed (except Dave of course) all the way home.
Blocking out the sun, down the KK main road
Boats on the waterside of KK
Having a break...Dave also realised at this point he had found his calling
The board walk...on a lovely June day...
Inside the fruit market
The next day we had to leave our little home away from home and make our way to Manila. Again it was sad to leave…we look forward to returning to Borneo after the Philippines.
