KOTA KINABALU
Upon our return to KK from Brisbane we spent a couple of weeks getting to know KK. The marina here is situated in a resort complex, as many are in SE Asia. The boaties are allowed to use the facilities of the resort, swimming pools, reading rooms, this one even has a cinema, bowling alley, tennis courts, badminton, gym……..etc. So we took advantage of the entertainment.
Morg and I were on our own for a week while Warren carried onto NZ for work but were joined by Joleen, who if you’ve read the blogs from years ago has sailed with us from time to time on MS.
The town of KK is spread along the coastline and is a contrast of Malay subsistence fishing villages to high rise apartments and lavish shopping malls hosting all the high end labels.
There is a different history here in Sabah, the Malaysian region which we will spend the majority of our time in Borneo. Sabahs history is entwined with that of Malaysia and Brunei. However, the earliest record of organised civilisation in Sabah is that from the Sultanate of Brunei and dates back to the 15th century. The Sultan of Brunei also ceded a great potion of the state to the Sulu Sutan. Prior to the establishment of the sultanate, tribal societies existed. Though they reduced in numbers and size, they thrived even in early 20th century. British infiltration in the region started in late 19th century, when both Sultans granted their territories to the foreign syndicate. It did not take long for Sabah to become a protectorate of the UK in 1888.
It merged with Singapore, Sarawak and Malaya to form Federation of Malaysia.
Self-government was established in North Borneo in 1963, but there are still claims over Sabah from various ‘Sulu Sultans’ which believe hey still have rights to the land.
Overall there is a more relaxed feeling in the towns, more akin to Penang, and not as predominantly Muslim as on Peninsular Malaysia.
History lesson over, we headed up to Mt Kinabalu for a night staying at the famous Poring Hot Springs, a UNESCO listed national park. We hired a car for the 4 hr drive to the mountain, enjoying the beautiful scenery on the way. The car was a small Proton that struggled to get the 4 of us up the mountainous roads and required ear plugs on the way down with squealing, graunching brakes due to, I’m guessing the absence of brake pads. Just glad the roads were dry.
We were treated to a beautiful chalet stay by Warren at the springs and indulged in the luxury of big beds and massive rain showers. Bliss.
The next day we bathed in the thermal baths, just what you need in 30 degree heat!, and had a great canopy tree walk. This was great but not for the feint hearted. The look of fear on Joleen’s face said it all. I guess we were 50m up, equivalent to an 8 story building holding on to a narrow suspension boardwalk. I tend to approach all these sorts of things in Malaysia with trepidation as the word ‘maintenance’ does not feature in the Malay dictionary. It’ll be fine………………………….. Oh OK then. The views were great but not an abundance of wildlife except for a measly squirrel.
On the way back down to KK that day we stopped for the Rally dinner at Tuaran. The rally boats were anchored in an inlet in Tuaran , the entrance to which was a narrow pass with a shallow bar. As Kanaloa has the deepest draught of all the rally boats (2.4m) and there would be marginal water under us, we opted to stay at KK and forgo this anchorage. This turned out to be a prudent decision as the inlet had a 40kt squall that night with a few boats dragging and one hitting the bridge with its mast.
The next few days in KK were spent doing boat chores and installing a new washing machine. A washing machine you say? Yes, on a boat, pure luxury. A large part of shore time can be spent trying to find laundromats and carting hefty loads of suppurating washing around. I even have an iron, but no intention of ever using that.
While doing this, Morgan came down to the boat from the air conditioned chart room at the resort where he had been doing his school work to ask us if he had a cousin called Todd. ‘Yes’ we replied. ‘Well this guy up in the chart room reckons hes my cousin.’ Dodgy, I though to myself. I doubt if its really your cousin here, probably some………
But yes, it turned out to be Morgans cousin here on holiday with his wife Claire and children, Nico and Lila and another family. Morgan knows Nico as they have surfed together and Nico has stayed with us at home, but hadn’t seen Todd for a few years so didn’t recognise him.
So we had a great few days with them, leaving all the kids on the boat one night while the adults hit the bars of KK and spilled a lot of Mojitos. Lots of fun playing 10 pin bowling, badminton and para sailing. Was a really neat catch up.
Joleen, Morgan and I also participated in a clean up dive at one of the small islands off KK, an initiative of Dive & Build, a non government org trying to clean up the seas. We dove along a pretty decimated reef collecting mainly plastic bottles and other rubbish from the sea floor. This was followed to a trip to a local fishing village where they had a plastic shredder which produced coarse plastic particles which were made into bricks with sand and water. Watch Joleens video of this.
The village is built on stilts over the water and underneath the houses is a sea of plastic which had all been washed in by the tides. Its very depressing and just looking at the amount of rubbish around you can’t help but feeling any clean up efforts are quite futile. Theres a huge media emphasis on global warming, however I feel the sea and its animals is being consumed by plastic and needs equal attention. Its everywhere.