Sabah Trip - Part One

A month later, here I sit recollecting my wonderful experiences during my trip to Sabah with Kwong Hann. What was conceived upon knowledge of cheap air tickets to Kota Kinabalu ended as an experience worth infinitely more..

We arrived at Kota Kinabalu late in the evening and checked in at the Borneo Backpackers Lodge, a relatively cheap hostel for backpackers like us. The place is neat, and the people at the desk are very helpful. Now we had already drafted out a rough plan of what our itinerary for the trip would be, and our first stop was a restaurant in Taman Foh Sang for Seafood Porridge.

The next morning the car we had rented arrived at the hostel, and I figure this is when the trip really kicked into gear. After a short stop for breakfast and grabbing my Adidas Kampung at KK Central Market (more on these shoes later), we began our drive up north to Usukan Cove for snorkeling. Expectedly, it was a bumpy ride with potholes and landslide areas. Now I'm not much of a swimmer, and the thought of jumping into the open sea with no protection messed with my mind for quite some time; up till the point the people at Usukan Cove Resort told us it's COMPULSORY to wear life-jackets while snorkeling. *Relief*

After a few hours in sea sprawling around the surface belly-down, we drove away from the cove and headed further north - all the way to Borneo's northern-most point at Tanjung Mengayau! Thanks to the GPS, the final section of road to the tip was a gravel track of incessant bumps.

It was drizzling for most of the afternoon, even as we arrived at the Tip of Borneo against the dying sunlight. Nevertheless, we got our cameras out and worked with whatever light remained on that cloudy day.

After that came the long, long drive all the way down to KK; we had to jet down the way for fear the restaurant would close, but at the same time the wet, bumpy roads coupled with the lack of streetlights raised a serious safety concern. Thankfully we made it to the restaurant just in time and feasted through the night (note we didn't take lunch for the day.. lol). I can simply say - this was the BEST seafood I had in recent memory, and perhaps even my entire life. The prawns, fish and crabs had freshness oozing out from every bite.

With our stomachs pushed to the limit, we slowly made our way back to the hostel for some much-needed sleep - what's more, the climb up Mt. Kinabalu was lined up the very next morning! Good fun.

*To be continued*