Air Asia. Aka: "flying coffins" as Michel calls them. The Ryanair, Easyjet of Asia. Any traveler on a budget cannot ignore this company. Yes, the spacing is crap, in-flight food ridiculously expensive, souvenir-sales abundant and to top it off before take-off some bug-repellent is sprayed all around the cabin. Might be drugs though. At least there were no animals allowed on the plane. The 2-hour flight from KL to KK, as Kota Kinabalu is called was pretty much uneventful.

So, I am in Sabah province, on the island of Borneo. I never really thought of coming here, were it not for Gunung Kinabalu, the fourth highest mountain in Asia, rising to 4095m above sea level. Unfortunately it does not seem I will be visiting this place. Firstly, bookings to the national park must be made in advance... 2 months at least. I do not plan that much ahead. The only upside is that the place has become horrendously expensive. Reading up on travel guides as recent as 2006, dorms there are only RM25*. Looking at prices now, even the most basic unheated (at 3272m!) dorm is priced around RM300. Capitalism rears its ugly head :) Well, at least I won't spend so much money then, but then why did I come here? There's plenty to do in Western Malaysia still. At least I did get another stamp in my passport, and Brunei is just a short hop away (another stamp); this is what this trip is all about! :)

Borneo is a beautiful island with lush rainforests, pristine beaches; the ones you can only dream of. On this day I had my first encounter with both the Asian toilet and the "showlet"; a shower and toilet in the same 1.5m2 room. It's like having a toilet in your shower, very, very handy. I guess...
I am still loving the food. Anything but Indian. Although I do get the occasional surprised look when I ask for chopsticks. It seems that not even the Chinese-Malay use these, everybody eats with fork and spoon. I will not yield! This is Asia, there must be chopsticks. My stomach is holding up really well, just the occasional morning queasiness that is usually solved by a visit to the showlet. Apparently one of the biggest experiences of KK is the fish market. The daily catch is served there, so fresh some fish seem to jump off the table. I dared a savagely looking Red Snapper with teeth as big as a longsword it is obviously of predator. Well, he isn't that tough now after devouring its delicious meat. The guy next to me had some squid, where on the other side, the girls (Julia and Alice) had something that must've been a beautiful tropical fish. Can't believe girls have the heart to eat something that has such beautiful blue fins. On the opposite Lee cracked a crab quite expertly. This is something that cannot be left out of a trip to KK! Anyways, back on track.

I just got friendly with the idea of not visiting Mt. Kinabalu when at the hostel I was told there are also daytrips. Meaning, get there early, go up, come down, and leave, not leisurely with the usual night spent near the top. Well, fine, I think I can do this, so I asked the girl at reception to call if there was any space left due to cancellations as there are only 5 climbers allowed to do this per day.


As the previous days have been pretty hectic I decided to visit one of the lovely islands off of the coast. Pulau Mamutik, being the smallest of them all caught my fancy. Some hard work getting a tan, some snorkeling, should be a great day. So I trot down to the jetty in search of a water-taxi. It should be about RM 15 to get there and back I read in the travel guide and they leave as soon as the boat is filled with about 8 people. I call out "Pulau Mamutik!" and a shabby little motorboat slides up its captain waving wildly. I get in ready to wait for the other passengers to fill my vessel, but not so. Mine starts up immediately; racing towards the island, its front wildly crashing through the waves. This doesn't seem right, so I shout out to him "Mamutik, there back, 20 ringgit?". All smiles, nods, yes, yes.

Ok, good, a bit more expensive than with 8 people, but still acceptable. Along the way the captain starts pointing with his fingers, naming all the islands, "Mamutik, Madukan, Sapi, Gaya", and something "100 ringgit" to go all around. I tell him constantly, that, no, just Mamutik is fine, and 20 ringgit. About halfway the f***er stops the boat and declares 100 ringgit to just the island and back. WTF? I finally bargain down to RM 60 and we continue. His smile still big, naming the islands every few minutes... and starts pointing at his tank that it's getting empty. I make an agreement for to him to get pick me up at 18:00 for the return journey, but I don't really trust him anymore.

The island itself is great - after paying a 10 RM entrance fee #W$%R!@#$ - I lie on the beach all day, sunning, wading into the lukewarm waters, snorkeling for hours at an end. The coral cannot be compared to that of the Great Barrier reef, but the water is really calm, teaming with fish, and very curious ones at that. I have no trouble spotting Mr. and Mrs. Nemo, little sea-horses and god knows what. A lovely day.

On my way back the "captain" is nowhere to be seen as I have expected so I take one of the normal water taxis back to the mainland. But I have to buy a ticket for the return-trip, RM 15. As it turns out later I went to the wrong jetty... well, something to remember for my next trip here.

Back at the hostel somebody cancelled their reservation for the 1-day climb, so I get to go. Yaay! The four other people I met at the hostel, Julia, Alice, Lee and Denis - who has a very, very funny Irish accent - have a reservation for staying a night up on the mountain. So climbing up on Friday I will meet them coming down and then spend the night together traveling somewhere else. I will not tell any of my plans in advance as it's constantly changing. But that's good, no? :)