A Small Taste of Sabah

I flew from Bangkok to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, Malaysian-Borneo.

I don't really have all that much to write about for here unfortunately. After arriving in KK my cold from earlier in Bangkok started to re-emerge and I was feeling pretty shit.

I spent three nights on a beach resort, a one and a half hour drive from KK. I spent most of that time in bed sleeping, instead of out in the water diving like I would have liked!

Still, the place and view was nice. (When the generator was on and there was electricity...)

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From here I went back to KK for one night before making the journey across the state to Sandakan, home of the Sepilok Orang-utan rehabilitation centre for drug addict apes orphaned orang-utans. This was a good opportunity to see orang-utans in a semi-natural environment. They are awesome animals, leisurely swinging around and forward-rolling along the ground.

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After Sandakan I headed back to KK to finally do some diving! I was taken out to an island off the coast near KK, where the majority of the dive shops operate from. Unfortunately my GoPro needs repair and I couldn't get any footage of the dives.

I did my first beach dive, wading in from the beach and making our way out to deeper waters. I saw what is up there with the coolest thing I'd seen diving; stingrays would bury themselves in the sand, upon swimming near them they would rustle off the sand and start swimming away. I'd never seen so many stingrays out in the open before!

The second dive was off a small boat, very different to what I'm used to diving off in Koh Tao. Once more, my first backward seated entry into the water. From here we swam around a man-made pontoon surrounded by corals. I didn't really see all that much on this dive unfortunately.

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My last day in Sabah was spent in my hostel... getting a tattoo!

I finally decided to get what I had wanted since I started riding the bike through Vietnam - a Honda Win tattoo! It was a little painful at times, but for $50aud I'm happy with it!

Selamat Tinggal Malaysia!

I write this sitting at the KLIA2 airport, waiting for the next flight to the next country - Japan.

My time in Malaysia has been great. Initially I thought that spending almost a week in KL was going to be impossible, but I am now a little bit sad to leave because of the amazing people I met!

Saturday night was much like Friday night - buckets, beers and dancing at the Reggae Mansions hostel, followed by a long sleep in. The party hostel staff are very encouraging.

Sunday I think I had my first small taste of travellers blues. I had had enough with rice and noodles - Burger King for lunch and pizza for dinner. I spent most of the day writing to friends back home and listening to music in bed. I went up to the rooftop bar for a drink and to watch the tennis, sitting alone. Some pommie guy came up and sat next to me, trying to talk and I just could not be bothered at all! After a few games I said "I'm going to try to find my mate" and left.

I have met so many great people from all different walks of life already in my first week, and some times you just need to be alone and unwind - it can get a bit much.

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Monday was a full on day, but one I wont forget for a while.

I had Nasi Lemak for lunch - a popular Malaysian dish consisting of crispy fried chicken, rice and other spices and sauce. I tend not to know exactly what I'm eating in these countries, but most of the time its incredible! Unfortunately I didnt get a photo of this one.

I then checked out a little shopping complex and had a few drinks at a cute little bar.

The next stop was somewhere with a view - something I had been wanting since I got to KL. The view was from an awesome bar on top of a building called Helipad bar - it was an old helipad on the 36th floor of a building and the view was incredible! I could not have asked for a better place to see the lights and sunset.

I followed up the visit to Helipad bar with dinner on Alor Street, a popular area for street food with many different little restaurants and vendors dotted along the street. I tried grilled stingray for the first time and it was another amazing meal - twice in one day!

Further down from Alor Street was Changkit Street - a popular nightlife area where I had another drink before calling it a night.

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The next day, a local girl that we met was kind enough to drive Fitzey and I to Melaka, a town in the south of Malaysia about two hours from KL, to go explore more of the country.

Melaka is one of the oldest towns in Malaysia and had some very cool old buildings, with a river running through. 

We ate a dish that is popularly served in Melaka - rice balls. Our meal consisted of these tasty sticky rice balls and a serve of chicken and pork belly to mix it with - more great food!

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Today was the last day in KL and the last chance we'd have to go see one of the top attractions.. the Batu Caves.

A quick train journey lead us up to an area of KL containing a massive old cave with steps running up to it. The cave is said to be the most popular Hindu shrine outside of those in India, with a big festival on there only days earlier. 

The area is covered in wild monkeys running up and down the walls, scavenging whatever food they can find. I tried to get a closer photo of the one in the photo above, but it flared up and hissed at me which made me take a very quick step back!

It's a Party in KL

Wow.

Every Friday and Saturday night the hostel hosts a party on their rooftop bar... didn't have to think much about going along last night!

Everything here is ridiculously cheap compared to Singapore and back home. The Carlsburg beer tower pictured above was 110 ringgit (~$40AUD). Buckets of spirits run for 25 ringgit; mine had over 5 shots in it.

Fitzey and I partied into the early hours of the morning until we got kicked out at 4am. Needless to say we spent most of the day sleeping...

The view from the rooftop bar is incredible. The photo below was just before a huge thunderstorm started, and the light is actually coming from the Patronas Twin Towers which are in plain sight usually. 

We wandered out to get lunch today in Chinatown, and bought a Xiaomi portable charging battery (read great things about these) and Tiger beer singlet which makes walking in this heat bearable!