Last Day in Borneo

We took a six-hour bus from Sandhakan to KK the day we had to fly out. It worked really well because we got back to the city in the morning time and our plane back to Korea left very late. It was perfect. We dropped our bags off at the hostel and then went and did what everyone wants to do to KK! Shop! We bought so many pearls, coffees, spices, and coin purses made out of frogs. Before we could go to crazy shopping we had a ferry to catch. We were heading out to some of the outlaying islands for a day of beach relaxation before the long journey back to the cold. We went to the jetty and had no difficulty getting a boat and scuba gear. There were three islands we could have gone to, we chose the one with the best snorkeling. This island was the best idea ever. It was so nice to just chill out in the hot sand. The island was pretty quieter and clean. I spent most of the time snorkeling. There were many eels and clown fish and other bright, fantastic things I don’t know the names of. We had to leave the island at five to head back to KK. We went to the hostel, showered up and finished our shopping. I actually got pretty good at bargaining. We went to the Pilipino market and had an amazing meal. We ate stingray, giant prawns, chicken, squid and anything and everything else. It was delicious. I loved Borneo and was sad to leave. It is a very warm inviting island.



The island we were heading to.




The beach was wonderful. Itr was not crowed at all.



We saw some strange sucker like fish on the rocks.





Post snorkeling. I got so suinburned. It was wonderful.



Judy and Rob on the Beach.



Th beach


This is the island we went to.


back to KK







We had to drink some tiger before getting to the airport.

Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu aka KK is the capital city of Sabah. It was a city. It was dirty, crowed, and definitely had its own character. It was very laid back. We passed many people lounging around on the coast playing guitars and such things. People in Borneo all had a laid back look. There was crazy hair, tattoos and body piercing. It was a nice change from Korea. There were all kinds of restaurants, a lot of good seafood and bars. The worst park of KK was the garbage. The city lays on the East China Sea and garbage is constantly getting washed up and trapped in the harbor. It’s really gross. There are also huge rats here. They are not afraid of anything. They are the size of cats and freely roam the streets. KK has a large expert population so everything is very foreign friendly. It was a nice city.



KK has many islands just off the shore.




Sign on the way to KK from the airport. Thought it was silly.



Dirty KK








A view from our hostel at 5 AM. The streets were surprisingly busy. There were street sweepers, rats, and the erie sound of the ,mornings calls to prayer that were played very loudly on loud speakers throughout the city. I actually liked the call to prayer. It seemed like a nice way to start the day. It was very relaxing and sounded just lovely.




That is how mice are caught in Borneo. Ha Ha!



Yeah, grass jelly. Who knows?

Miri

Miri was a really nice town. We only stayed here one night while we were changing planes to go to Mulu. We weren't sure what to expect it was an oil town. Some canadian drilling company built the first well in SE Asia here. It seemed profitable, but longer is. It was great, beyond what we expected. The hotel was nice and even had it's own room for Rob so he wouldn't have to share with us. We also had English CNN. This was fancy. There were also two beautiful mosques and some nice parks. We spent our time looking through the stilt houses and the local beach. Our first day there, there was a festival of some sorts taking place in the market area. We herad some live music and also saw a strange magic snake man. I'm not sure what he was selling but it had something to do with rubbing snake venom or blood on your skin. People bought it up lie crazy. I tried some of it and it kind of burned. I think it was so sore muscles. After that we looked for the beach, which was great. Then, we found a great street bar to drink at and a good seafood resturant. The bar was great. I wish I had a photo to show you how swell it was. There was oldies music playing, good spring rolls and a friendly staff.


Here are some fishing nets hanging from one of the stilt houses.





This was the veiw from our hotel room. It was nice.





We took a short cut around town. This path took us by some3 crazy local kids. They wanted presents from us. We said no and then I'm pretty sure they were going to throw cats at us.



ONe of the docks.




This was the bridge we had to take to get to the local beach.






The beach was sp peaceful. There was a store that sold frozen cans of tiger. It was good.





On the beach.



Always drinking somewhere warm and peaceful.











Stilt houses.


To the Beach



The vegie market in Miri was good.

FOOD!

The food is Borneo was awesome. There were so many fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and seafood. We tried as much as we could. I don’t think I have ever gone on a vacation where I have eaten so much! We sampled all of the fruits that we have never seen before at the markets. Our dinners and lunches were huge; we ordered a few things of each. We didn’t stick only to restaurants; we also ate from street vendors and food stalls.



MMMM... Market food is amazing.




We had a huge tuna steak and more sting ray. It was good. We also ordered some tiger prawns that were the size of our arms, but I forgot to get a photo of those.



The Philippino market in KK was an adventure. Anything and everything you would want to eat made to order. It was always very smokey from grills and there were always tons of people.


This was our favorite coffee shop in Sandhakan.



Borneo is divided between Muslim countries. A lot of restaurants wouldn't serve pork or beer.



We found a dim sum restaurant in Miri. I was soo happy!



MMMM... I love greens and sauces. Cabbage and oyster sauce it really tasty.



We ate at a market in Miri. It was kind of like a buffet, we tried little bits of everything. The chicken heart was recommended.




WE ate a huge seafood house in Miri. It was delicious. We had huge tiger prawns, red snapper, and crab.



This was our favorite coffee shop in Sandhakan. It was run by some Chinese people and was one of the view places that allowed drinking in town.




We got to go and pick out our own fish. We weren't sure which fish to get or how to order them, so we had some help.





We had to get our fish weighed out. Fish was not that cheap for a coastal city.




We got our fish grilled.





At last, all of our fish we ordered in KK. It was very good.






We drank lots of Tiger beer.




One day at our favorite coffee shop in Sandhakan the table next to us had sting ray. We thought it looked very good and decided to have a try. It was so good. There were lots of bones, but the meat came right off. It's not one of me favorite fish.





ONe night e were wandering around KK looking for a water village and a mosque. We didn't find either, but we found an eatery at the local bus/taxi stand. We decided to have a taste. It was quite delicous. We had chicken satay and sweet and sour chicken. Yum.





The durian is so pokey. We kept seeing signs in hotels saying that durians were banned. My idea was that they could be used as weapons, so that was the reason why they were banned. We finally got to communicate our question to the hotel owner in Sandhakan. We were informed that it was the smell that kept them out of hotels. Some people love the smell, some people hate the small. I like it.





King of the Fruit. Yum. There are some local beliefs that you are not supposed to drink and eat durian at the same time because you get very ill. We were drinking with ours and actually got yelled at. No, we did not get sick. I looked it up when we got home and no studies have confirmed that.