I might be jumping around a bit... I haven't actually finished talking about Tibet but I thought that I might as well describe Malaysia while it's still fresh in my mind! So for Chinese New Year, I went to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and let me tell you it was a TRIP!
Apparently someone called in and said that there was a bomb on the plane. So when we arrived they had us get out at the tarmac. Then, after about 10 minutes of milling around, we were finally told to move 10 feet more. Then, after another 10 minutes they finally started sending transport in the form of very small pick-up trucks. After about 20 minutes of shuttling people back and forth whilst avoiding the landing planes, they took us to a terminal where they proceeded to keep us for about two and a half hours.
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| These kids were completely unfazed by the whole ordeal |
First they tried to body and bag search us. Before they got through everyone, they changed their minds and had us get into groups of 10 so that an officer could take down our information.
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| Yup, same kids being unfazed! |
Then they changed their minds again and had us move to one side until they called our names whereupon we were supposed to move to the opposite side. Finally, they brought everyone's baggage after having re-checked everything. By the way, I didn't even check any luggage. After all of this, they had us go through immigration and then right before we exited, they had us rescan our baggage.....
This was all the more frustrating since they didn't tell us anything that was happening or when it would all be over. When I asked to leave, since I hadn't checked any bags, they said everyone had to leave together to avoid suspicion. What made this entire ordeal all the worse was that I had had only about two hours of sleep. To add more insult to injury, the police and the staff kept taking photos of the whole ordeal and they were smiling and laughing and acting as if it wasn't a big deal. Finally I made it to the hostel (after dealing with the chaos that was the taxi system in KK) and got a nice big room with an AC and private bathroom.
Throughout that entire nightmare, I kept telling myself that since it was such a horrible beginning of the trip, the rest had to be wonderful. And it was! KK is beautiful and the island hopping is a blast. I stayed and X-plorer Backpackers and it's about a 10-15 minute walk to the Jesselton Ferry Port.
We actually went through our hostel which had an agreement with Aparu Travel Agency (Counter 8). Basically you pay up front for everything and they arrange pickup times, etc for the travelers. It was 26rm just to go to one island and for two it was 46rm. It was 250rm for a sea walk (where you wear a metal helmet that pumps oxygen so that you get a pseudo-diving experience), 90rm for para-sailing for 15 minutes, and 165rm to rent a jet-ski.
The beaches were lovely, albeit filled with Chinese tourists celebrating their new year. It was a constant mix of Mandarin and Cantonese.
There is also an awesome night market around the streets near my hostel. There were tons of people wandering about, looking at the wares. The only issue I had was that after about five stalls, they all seemed to sell the exact same stuff! It was all wallets and sun glasses and produce. One guy was selling cotton candy and he was awesome enough to pose for a photo:
Here are some other pictures from the night market:
KK is clearly a growing tourist attraction and currently, there is a new fancy mall with stores like Mango and Esprit. Across from this mall, right in front of the HSBC, is a cool space that people use to flaunt their artistic expression in the face of a government that is against graffiti. Here are some shots from the area, including one of a couple that were in the process of creating a tribute to the guy's grandfather:
Finally, there is an awesome boardwalk overlooking the sea. It was gorgeous at night, with the sun setting:
Thus concludes a hopefully not overwhelming overview of my stay in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia!
