KOTA KINABALU - MALAYSIA

I had visions of getting of getting some amazing pictures out the plane window of Borneo until the flight was delayed by over 3 hours. The owner of the hostel was waiting at the airport which was great as I hate arriving in unknown places when it's dark. For less than the cost of 2 beers back home per night I got a 6 bed dorm room to myself in a modern, clean and social place. The airport pickup was free!!!!



First night I met a middle aged man from London who had a bottle of rum from the Philippines and he needed help to drink it. Later we went to explore Kota Kinabalu.



The seafood (which I am a big fan of) was amazing and very cheap by western standards. The town had that typical rundown look and the sea had a fair amount of rubbish floating in it. The first full day there I got a great picture of the sunset.




After a couple of days exploring the town and getting a feel of the place I went on a boat trip into the mangroves with the aim of spotting Proboscis monkeys. We went for ages without seeing any but got to see how the locals live.




In the last half hour we suddenly seen loads of them, this however was the best picture I got of them.



I did however get a fairly good video clip of them!!!!!!!!



Within 10 minutes of arriving back from that trip I had booked another one. This time to go to the tip of Borneo on the way we stopped at a longhouse.



What we seen was a far more touristy version of the real thing. It was still an interesting place to visit and the locals fed us and put on a bit of a show.


Finally we reached the tip of Borneo where you take the kind of pictures that make you the envy of your friends back home. Before I moved on to Sepilok I asked about climbing mount Kinabalu. You needed a guide and there was a 7 month waiting list it was one of the few things I missed doing.