Kota Kinabalu and Mount Kinabalu

Sunset from Kota Kinabalu

I never thought I’d visit Borneo. Who goes to Borneo? My cousin visited Borneo once as part of a National Geographic expedition mapping out caves or something like that, and it just seems like the kind of exotic place you see in documentaries but would never actually go visit. Well, here we are. Kota Kinabalu, or KK as it is called, is the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah. The island of Borneo is actually pretty massive - the third largest non-continental island in the world behind Greenland and New Guinea - and it is split into three countries. Indonesia has the largest slice, followed by Malaysia with it’s two states Sabah and Sarawek, followed by tiny Brunei. I’m not really sure why we chose Malaysia, probably because Sabah contains an amazing amount of things to do in a relatively small area. You’d expect Borneo to be all jungle and backwater towns, but KK is surprisingly large and modern. We were a bit more in our element in KK than in Singapore - it is cheaper, a bit grungier, and it has amazing sunsets. For our one day in KK we decided to visit the nearby island of Sapi, part of a group of islands composing the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. All of these islands are pretty touristy, as they are only about 15 minutes by speedboat from the KK pier, though they still maintain their rainforest interior and the reefs surrounding them aren’t in too bad of shape all things considered. We did a bit of snorkeling (word to the wise - don’t try to play with clownfish, I was bitten by Nemo!), laid on the beach, and did a short walk around the island. A nice day in the sun and we particularly enjoyed watching the Asian tourists try to swim.

Snorkeling area - notice all the PFD's

Nemo attack wounds

The Borneo Lonely Planet raves about the Filipino restaurants serving up BBQ seafood during the night markets in KK. We are not into seafood, especially Steph, though I enjoy a shrimp or two every now and then. It all looked pretty cool - each little open-air “restaurant” had a bunch of fresh seafood sitting out front. You basically point at what you want and they go grill it up for you. We were basically “just looking” until one eager salesman started talking to us and telling us what everything was. I thought the lobsters looked cool, and when he told me I could get a small one for only 10 ringgits (about $3.30), I was sold. I added another 200 grams of shrimp for another 10 ringgits and we had a seat. Luckily these restaurants also sell non-seafood so Steph ordered up a plate of a Malaysian staple - Nasi Goreng Ayam (nasi = rice, goreng = fried, ayam = chicken), so chicken fried rice, and only 4 ringgit ($1.30). The chicken fried rice was actually really good (best I have ever had), but my seafood turned out to be amazing. Everything was cooked perfectly, nice and buttery, and they had some sort of seasoning on top that added just the right amount of saltiness. I don’t love seafood, but this was one of my favorite meals that I’ve ever had. Pick out what you want, have a seat, and this delicious meal is served up for less than 7 bucks. Can’t beat that. My only regret is that I didn’t discover this until our last night in KK. For dessert there’s Pisang Goreng - thin slices of banana dipped in batter and deep fried. I literally couldn't believe it when the lady told me 5 pieces for 1 ringgit (33 cents). I was sure there was something lost in translation, but that's actually the tourist price - other places gave me 7 pieces for 1 ringgit. If you can find fresh ones, it is absolutely divine.

Seafood feast

open-air "restaurants" in the night market

From KK we headed up into the mountains for a much-needed respite from the heat. Mount Kinabalu is less than a couple hours from KK and is the highest mountain in Southeast Asia at 13,436 feet above sea level. You can climb to the top of the mountain, but it is both very popular and very expensive so we opted out. Once we saw a short glimpse of the peak I was regretting not climbing it, but they pretty much make you do it in two days, with an overnight stay in a hut that you have to reserve months in advance. The trail to the top is only about 6 miles, so we looked into doing it in one day, but they make this pretty hard to do and the clouds envelop the peak every day at about 9 am, so you’d have to start very early. We saved ourselves the hassle and just did a long day hike through the jungle and hung out at our hostel, officially named Kinabalu Mountain Lodge but unofficially the Moth Capital of the World. This place was overrun with moths. We knew this coming in, as it mentioned it online, but we were not expecting this. Literally thousands of them covering the walls at all times of the day, but of course mostly active at night. There were all shapes and sizes, with a few being solidly bird-sized. Let’s just stay Steph was not a fan. I thought they were pretty cool when they just sat there, but some of them would go frantic and flap around in your ear. Why do bugs do that?

Mount Kinabalu in the background

Some of the many, many moths

One day we were having lunch outside the park when a group came up to the restaurant with a big banner. Apparently they were protesting against something and it didn't take much convincing to get Steph's support behind their campaign, even though she had no idea what they were campaigning for. They could have been protesting women's right to vote for all she knew, but Steph jumped in there for the photo op. Turns out they were fighting an Australian company's mining plans in Borneo, so probably a good cause. Stop Lynas!

Mount Kinabalu was a pretty cool area, but there just wasn’t that much to do if you weren’t doing the summit hike. We really enjoyed the cool mountain weather, but were looking forward to seeing more than just rainforest - we wanted wildlife! So we booked a room at Osman’s homestay on the Kinabatangan River in eastern Sabah - the best place to see orangutan, monkeys, and pygmy elephants in the wild!

Cool flowers

more cool flowers