Sabah 2004

Who Are We?

The Berg Sells family are me, David, my wife Merrill  and our three children, Dylan, 13, Aidan 11 and Tara 8. This was our second overseas trip as a family. In 2001 we had a wonderful trip to Thailand, staying in Bangkok and Phuket. When not traveling OS we live in Canterbury, Sydney, a multicultural, historical suburb in the Inner West of Sydney. We also travel a lot to Port Macquarie and Melbourne, so the kids are no strangers to traveling about.

Booking

6 months ago I hadn’t even known people had holidays in Sabah. All I knew was that it was in Borneo, full of headhunters and was once British North Borneo with the capital of Jesselton. We’d been thinking about going to India, where Merrill and I have traveled extensively and where we got together, but we still had doubts that the kids would enjoy it and cope with the overwhelming experience that India is. We then thought about Fiji. Then a few articles appeared about Sabah and it was the perfect compromise, offbeat enough to feel like an adventure, but with the comforts and fun of beaches and buffet breakfasts! With a bit of shopping around we got a really good price from Sam at Ashfield Flight Centre. It averaged out to about $1400 per person for 14 nights. There was no visas to worry about. We took a while to decide about malaria tablets , finally deciding that there was a risk, and the area has a history of chloroquine resistant falciparium  malaria. If we were just going to the resort we wouldn’t have worried, but because we were going into jungle areas on the east coast. If we’d only be going to the resorts we wouldn’t have bothered. Everyone though should get their Hepatitis A shots (though they are expensive, it’s a high risk area). We took Larium malaria tablets. Luckily no one had the bizarre side effects, though it is true it gives you weird dreams.

The flight

We flew on 22^nd June on Australian Airlines, QANTAS’s budget airline, described by someone as a domestic airline that flies overseas and that’s about right. They ran out of vegetarian meals, which we had requested when we booked but no, we were told by the irritating flight attendant in charge, you can’t book ahead for veg meals, they carry half of each and if we wanted them we should have told them when we got on (we did this on the return flight only to be told that you are near the front so it won’t be a problem – I doubt they would have got some especially); apart from this the movies were shit, they had no children’s entertainment for Tara (well we weren’t offered any) and they ran out of Malaysian arrival cards which led to Day 1 trauma number 2. I can’t stand flying, it’s a pity there's no other quick alternative to going anywhere! As usual I hardly slept. The kids were great, all had a sleep and Dylan and Aidan were good together for a change. We finally landed at KK airport in the late afternoon, stepping out to that joyous stuffy humidity that most people hate but I love. We had a rather amusing walk through to baggage and `customs, straight through the departure lounge, down some stairs, so slack you could probably have entered Sabah without anyone knowing! However the amusement soon dropped as we spent over an hour filling out 5 entry cards, then choosing the wrong queue at passport control and being the last passengers off our flight to get out. As a result our transfer people had buggered off already, and after another hour wait and a few phone calls (thanks to the people from Wildlife Expeditions who made some calls for us) we finally got picked up, but wait, there's more to our disastrous first day. But in some ways perhaps its good to get all the stuff ups over on the first day, because from then on it was fab!

Tanjung Aru

It’s a real dilemma staying in resorts such as this. Merrill and I feel like we deserve it after numerous trips in the 1980s staying in hovels as backpackers. And they are relaxing, and luxurious and have beautiful gardens…. but there's always something missing. Usually it’s the total lack of locals and sometimes it’s the lack of character, and the ridiculous prices of everything that can be bought for a hundredth at the stall down the road. And of course the annoying people that never leave the resort (more on them later at the Rasa Ria). But that doesn’t apply to the Shangrila Tanjung Aru resort (well apart from the prices).  What it does have is really friendly people. There's Rohan, the resident comic with his breakfast antics and dress-ups during the day (love the wedding gown, Rohan). The friendly staff at the recreation centre who trained my children to kill with blowpipes of their own Murut tribe. Victoria at the Inno tours office, everyone seems to be allowed  to show their personality and when they say good morning they really mean it.

As for the resort itself, the facilities are good, with a nice pool (though why the resorts close there pools around sunset I don’t know), nice and varied food, a pitch and putt course (watch the biting ants though). For garden lovers theres some lovely shrubberies and lots of birdlife, including the  cute chestnut munias and 3 different types of bulbul and vivid green metallic starlings. It’s a pity they got our room buggered up on arrival, or it would have been near perfect. Why they would put a family in non-adjoining rooms I don’t know, but at least they tried to fix it quickly. More on the food further down. Avoid the beach though – they have their own little beach which isn’t too bad, but the main beach is a bit icky. Not too happy about $5 for little cans of beer that the supermarket sells for 80c though – you can guess where we bought our alcohol.

One thing that was good was the activities program, there was always something interesting for the kids to do, such as crafts, beach volleyball, soccer, competitions, bike rides. Surprisingly these weren’t always that well partronized and we cleaned up all the prizes in the blowpipe competition as we were the only ones there.

KK

Our first excursion out of the resort was to the town of KK for a look around. At first KK’s town centre seems pretty functional and well a typical town, but in fact it’s a happy, buzzy sought of place, with some interesting shopping, restaurants and attractions. Its got all the comforts of home for those that miss them, such as cinemas, supermarkets (even an “Australian” grocery near the Sabah tourism office), bowling, food halls. But the people are really nice, there’s lots of odd things for sale in the shops and you can easily amuse yourself for a day potting about. We caught the ripoff shuttle bus from the resort (why do resorts feel the need to extort more money from their guests – I mean $20 for a family for a 10 minute bus ride; but wait until you see the Rasa Ria one) and hopped off at Centrepoint shopping centre. The shuttle from Tanjung Aru also stops at Wawasan and Merdeka centres at either end of KK CBD.  We ended up spending ages in Centrepoint checking out the shops, changing money (good rates at the money exchange on the basement level, also ATMs), the food hall looked good, they have buffet style restaurants where you pay by how much you take, as well as noodle, Chinese and Islamic stalls. Centrepoint looked good for shoes, sports equipment, CDs and VCDs, games, clothes etc In between Centrepoint and the other main centres there are smaller shopping areas as well. Unfortunately KK isn’t blessed with many historic buildings due to WW2. The Jesselton Hotel is pretty boring, theres the cute clock tower and that’s about it. There are some nice buildings further out, with 2 lovely mosques and the impressive new university of Malaysia buildings which are massive and unique. There's also still some interesting water villages on the roads in and out of the CBD, but one driver told us that the people are being resettled and the land reclaimed, so see them while you can. At low tide you could see the residents of these out on the mudflats digging for something, I presume clams. Anyway, after much walking and grazing on yummy local cakes and the kids favourite local drinks, we ended up having Italian of all things at the very nice Little Italy restaurant. Ion other visits we covered moe of the town. The Merdeka centre isn’t much, though it has a great food hall on the top floor, especially the vegetarian stall. Best was probably Wawasan, as it seemed more for locals but had some cheap souvenir places, excellent food, a good supermarket, bookshop and some interesting shops. The Sabah building is the place for booking tours and car rentals, and is the home of Inno tours, our favourite tour people. One must do is the Sunday market in Jalan Gaya. Thought this might be touristy but it wasn’t and was lots of fun. They sell everything from foam mattresses to baby tortoises here and it really is a locals market. Didn’t see many tourists at all, I suppose its hard to leave that pool! Fruit was yummy and cheap, there’s lots of local and Malay jelly cakes and biscuits, and cheap souvenirs (much cheaper than the Phillipino market, which is dingy and disappointing, though did have the odd treasure). Worth seeing and quite different from the Tamu (Sunday market) at Kota Belud.

Manukan

We had lovely day out at this island off KK, in the group of islands known as the Tunku Abdul Rahman National park (TAR Park). Whatever you do, don’t use the ferry from the resort, its much cheaper and more fun going in the local ferry service which leaves from the KK terminal at the north end of town (beware, some maps of the town still have it next to the wet market) past the Hyatt Regency on Jalan Fuad Stephens. You choose your island, buy a ticket (14 ringgits for adults to Manukan) and wait until a boat has enough people to take you. You also have to nominate your pickup time. We had a fun boat trip out, bouncing on the little waves past the much bigger Gaya island with its water village. Manukan has a pier in the middle (lots of great fish right there!), with a beach at one end and a jungle walk to the other end (pretty steep in parts). We’d brought our own snorkels but you can hire them there. Of course this is all me and the kids wanted to do there and that’s what we did! Lots of great fish, the kids found it amusing hearing other kids saying “wheres Nemo?” all the time (we found him!) and saw some interesting things, like big blue starfish, wrasses, pipefish etc Unfortunately as the day went on the water got cloudier and dirtier, and we gave up with the invasion of the plastic bags and unidentified brown bits – perhaps the currents had changed. I suggest going early. We explored the island which has great facilities, even a soccer field, and even found some good surf on the seaward side. Some big lizards and crabs around too. Make sure you visit the little museum, some great exhibits, including a dolphin skeleton, photos of rarities to the islands such as whales, and say hello to QP, the museum curator, he is a great bloke and very informative – I don’t think too many people visit the center so please have a look. Had a walk up the jungle track where there is nice forest, some native pigeons and lots of mozzies. A lovely place, we’ll have to check out the other islands next time.

Likas wetlands

Another great excursion we made was to the Likas Wetlands, to the south-east of KK. We were picked up in the afternoon by the tour leader from the Tnjung Aru, and went through some large towns and farm land (and past many large furniture stores with “palm tree” lights!). Also passed many palm oil plantations, with the huge nuts awaiting collection in piles at the gates. Palm oil is the reason forests are being bulldozed across Malaysia, and the local papers claim that it will one day replace petrol. Arrived at a quaint restaurant by the Likas river, where we had a “local” afternoon tea of crispy biscuits with a four circle pattern poked out, and some glutinous cakes filled with sweet coconut. Boarded our boat and luckily just the five of us got a boat to share with our guide, while the rest of the group were jammed into the other boat!  Whizzed off down the river through wide mangrove lined waterways, and luckily the weather was pleasantly overcast so it wasn’t too hot. Saw a macaque monkey from a distance, but our guide considered this too ordinary to stop for, but not long after sighted our first proboscis monkeys. This was to be the first of 5 groups that we saw (then again, it may have been the same 5 times and we were going round and round an island!!!). Sometimes we got quite clear sightings but usually they buggered off very quickly when the boats pulled in. However, it was very exciting and good to know there are some healthy populations so close to civilization. It started getting dark and this was the time to look for crocodiles, which are spotted by flashing a light along the shore. Their eyes reflect the light and you know they are there. Didn’t get a good sighting of any but there was one flicker of light that may have been one. On the seemingly endless return in the dark (a bit spooky, what if the boat tipped over….?) we stopped to look at a tree full of fireflies, and cute they are. We returned to the restaurant for a very nice dinner, with some very interesting dishes and lots of good veggie stuff, including chili eggs, tofu in a sweet sambal style sauce, noodles, curry etc. The kids all got to play in a gamelan orchestra that was playing there (including a rendition of the Ketchup song!) and after a good pig-out we headed back. A fun trip well worth doing.

Sandakan/Sepilok

We headed off to Sandakan in a Fokker, the view of KK was great and we had a good view of Mount Kinabalu (but an even better one coming back – get the boeing flight if you can). The airport was about a 15 munite drive and our hotel, the Sabah, was a surprise, very cute, with a lovely garden, pool and nature reserve, unfortunately a bit of a walk from town, but a pleasant one. The pool was closed for cleaning so we headed into town to get a bus to the Sepilok orangutan sanctuary. We found the bus station after a few snacks from the supermarket and hopped on the Buka 14 bus to Sepilok, which cost a huge 60c per ticket. Why people do the organized trips to these I don’t know. After an interesting trip we arrived at Sepilok, a pretty spot with a shop, rangers headquarters etc and lots of big butterflies. There was a little talk by the ranger and then we went into the park to the orangutan feeding platform. It was bloody hot there but nice in the forest, surrounded by the bizarre cicada noises that sounded like power tools. Although the feeding started at 3pm, we were glad we went earlier because you get to see the orangutans arriving along their rope bridge (though one at least arrived the natural way via the trees). They are gorgeous things, amazing climbers and seemed to play for the crowd but they probably weren’t – they are just naturally playful. Look at the photos! Dylan meanwhile got attacked by an evil biting thing that dropped out a tree, we’ve got no idea what it was but he felt better when the ranger assured him it wasn’t poisonous. Unfortunately he left with Merrill and Tara. Aidan and I wandered back later and a German tourist had spotted a pit viper, very pretty but dangerous. Luckily it was asleep. The German said there was a cobra there too but we couldn’t see it. We found Mez and Dylan and took them back to see the snake. Dylan and I stayed on the bus back into town (amazing amount of traffic for a small town around 5pm!) while the others hopped off at the hotel. We got some shopping, bought a Spurs away shirt of all things, scouted out some restaurants then headed  back. Luckily the pool was open so the kids went for a swim, and we had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Turtle Island

Early the next morning we were picked up for our Turtle Island (Selingan) tour by Johnny from Sabah Holidays. If you want to do this trip it is important to book ahead as there are limited places each night. Unfortunatelt they only let you take photos without a flash, which wasn’t much good for our crappy camera that had stopped working, and video was banned for some ridiculous reason about people selling the footage (to who???), but it is so memorable you don’t mind, though video of the kids holding the baby turtles would have been beautiful. Anyway, we were driven to a wharf near the modernish Sandakan mosque, and whizzed off in a very speedy little boat out to the island, which lies off thec east coast of Sabah. Its near the Filipino border, so there has been more security since a kidnapping in 2001. This is the reason the Aussie governement still has a security warning for Sabah, but given the soldiers with machine guns, helicopters etc on Selingan I don’t think theres too much concern. Theres only been 1 kidnapping since and that was of Indonesian sailors, which seems a bit weird given they are muslims anyway. Interestingly, you can see the Filipino islands just off the beach on Selingan. When we got there we were shown our cute little cabins, and the 5 of us were given 3! They were spotlessly clean and very cosy, with a lovely verandah. We had a nice lunch, with lots of veggie food, and then spent the afternoon snorkelling on the large reef off the eastern beach. You asren’t supposed to go to some parts of the island, I won’t surmise why but other things I’ve read indicate its nothing to do with security. The reefs were great, huge variety of fish and the further out you went the better it got. Oddly, very few of the tourists there even went snorkelling, many european ones seemed to prefer chain smoking on their balconies. Tara is becoming quite accomplished and by this stage was not worried at all venturing out from shore, given that only a few months before she wouldn’t leave the shallows at Little Bay and Camp Cove. Saw all sorts of interesting things, Aidan loved the giant clams with their iridescent lips, and we all loved possibly the ugliest reef fish, which was a big fat green Goby that lived in a very neat, sqaure hole in the sand. There were schools of parrot fish, wrasses, too many to remember or identify. Some people even found a couple of baby turtles swimming in the shallows. Finally we dragged ourselves away, pity we didn’t get time the next morning for more snorkelling as we were leaving at 7am!! (not very happy with this, next time we’ll see if this can be negotiated). Had more delicious food before waiting out for the turtles to arrive. They advise you to stay in the dining area until you are called, so be prepared with food, drinks, books, games for the kids. Luckily the turtles appeared early and we all rushed off to see a 1.5 metre long female laying her eggs right near the boat trailers. The eggs are collected, counted and reburied. They look like ping pong balls but are actually quite hard and heavy. After burial we got to see the latest hatchlings and hold them, They are sort of fuzzy and amazingly strong, but easily fit into your palm. They were then let loose into the sea, following a torchlight. Hope our ones are doing well!! It was a bloody good trip, the highlight of our time there and well worth the expense. Thanks to Victoria of Inno tours for getting us a good price!

Back in Sandakan

Got back early into Sandakan following a very bumpy ride in the boat. Johnny organized our luggage to be looked after at a hotel which was very nice of them. Changed our flight to an earlier one, then went to the Sandakan city markets on the waterfront. These were really enjoyable and the people there made a real fuss over the kids. I don’t think many tourists ever go here, as they are always on packages that fly you in and out of Sandakan, but they should. Lots of interesting things to see and buy in a town with far more character than KK. Unfortunately the old market is destined to go to make way for a proposed new market and office block, so go now before its too late. After a bit of time browsing about we had lunch at the Penang Curry House on Jalan Satu (?). Excellent rotis and other Indian specialities and really friendly people – hi! Caught a taxi out to the airport and on the way back in the plane got spectacular and cloud free views of Kinabalu. Make sure you get a seat on the right of the plane. Picked up at the airport for the transfer to our next resort, the Rasa Ria.

Rasa Ria

Keeping up the tradition we started our time there with a dispute over the room. This time we had paid for a seaview room but we couldn’t see the sea! Perhaps once we could have but the trees completely blocked the view. At first we didn’t mind but the kids encouraged us to complain so we did, and got moved up to the 4^th floor. Remember that up to level 2 you can’t see it, even though they are advertised as Sea View rooms!  Luckily for us we also discovered that our original room was directly opposite the lounge bar. Anyway, we settled into our sumptuous room, probably bigger and nicer than the Tanjung. Had buffet dinner in the restaurant, food very nice and a good variety, but already had the impression the staff were more aloof than at Tanjung. But then again, when we saw the behaviour of the Aussies at the Rasa Ria perhaps there's a reason. The pool was nice, but closed at 7! There was a good poolside bar/café, and the special feature of theis resort is its nature reserve. In keeping with resorts, you had to pay to go into it, especially to see their orangutans. But of course we’d been to Sepilok so there was no need. One morning Dylan and I did the nature walk which was informative but didn’t see many animals or birds. The best part is the  nocturnal animal spotting. Its free and we got to see ratty things, a crab(!!) and a long tailed porcupine. But you never know what may turn up. The kids enjoyed the water sports shop, which we think you had to pay for but we never actually did. They took out kayaks a few times. Tara’s highlight was definitely the horse riding along the beach. I enjoyed it too but it was bloody hot. My horse was very slow and wouldn’t even get a placing at Donald. It was fun and the horses were well looked after. There's also a riding centre at Kindawan near Tanjung Aru, but we didn’t go, but it looked good. Merrill had a traditional massage which she enjoyed. The beach was nice, and we even found lots of mudskippers on the rocks at the north end. There was even enough surf to body surf the first day due to a typhoon in the South China Sea. So we had some nice lazy times at the resort. Its nice to relax, but I always feel like I’m missing something.

Proton Saga

One of the best ideas we had was hiring a car. This is the ideal way to cope with the isolation of staying at the Rasa Ria. It meant we weren’t tied to the shuttle bus with its ripoff prices and ridiculous timetable, we could eat where we liked and go where we liked. We got a Proton Saga through Alex, a contact of inno tours for 130 ringgits a day. I’ve since seen cheaper cars, but this one was in excellent condition and not that old according to its rego plate. It was also cute in its own way.  It was also very roomy and the three kids were very comfortable in the back. Alex even brought it out to the Rasa Ria for no charge, unlike the other companies. Anyway, our first excursion was up to Mount Kinabalu, the very impressive, huge mountain that dominates the skyline of Sabah when it isn’t covered by clouds. It really is impressive and reminded me of Kilimanjaro. The roads were good, especially when we found the right one, and the drivers are on the whole safe, friendly and courteous, unlike in Sydney. We had our dictionary to help translate the road signs too. The road up was windy and there are lots of great views. Not far from MK we had to stop for a while as they were clearing a landslide, and would hold up traffic to load up the trucks. These are a major problem on Sabah roads. We got to the park, paid our entry which was pretty cheap, I think about 30 ringgits, and had no problem finding a parking spot. There are several tracks that you can do if you don’t want to climb up the mountains. It is all very reminiscent of Katoomba, or any old colonial hill station I guess. We chose a short track, about 3km as we wanted to do the Garden tour later. It then began to piss down, and of course we’d forgotten our wet weather gear despite knowing its always wet there. So we walked in the rain which was nice. The forest is the way you imagine jungle, with ferns, vines, etc and often looked like the indoor plant section of a nursery there were so many familiar plants growing wild there. Sadly though we saw few birds or bugs, but did see some orchids and huge butterflies. As is usual, saw more things back near the road including some great birds (see list below) and a huge beetle that was like a helicopter! The garden tour was disappointing, the plants were great but the tour guide was a bit dreary and looked bored shitless. If you go later, the cashiers and guides have all buggered off and you can wander about free. All the significant plants are labelled anyway. Did get to see the giant pitcher plants and some amazing orchids. After a photo shoot when MK appeared through the mist we headed back down, stopping at Nabalu village on the way, which had a cheap little market, the yummiest bananas in Sabah and a great observation tower where you could see 360 degree views of all the mountain ranges. Drove back late in the afternoon and got some great views of the mountain from someones’ garden. Drove into the town of Tuaran to find something for dinner. There was a little night market going with some great looking food, but nowhere to eat it, so we chanced upon Ady’s restaurant.

 I was a bit dubious at first as the place was empty and the other restaurants around were busy, but the lady was so friendly and so willing to accommodate our vegetarian preferences that Mez and I decided to stay. And we were glad we did as it turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip. After our pig out we headed off, but just had to try one of the delicious rotis from the stalls, which by this stage were closing up. They were too hot to eat so we took it back with us. Had a nice cool evening drive back to our hotel and parked our luxurious little Saga in the copious Resort car park (and it was even free!)

Kota Belud

The next day was Sunday, so we hopped into the Saga and headed north to Kota Belud along a very nice road. It was also the hottest day that we’d had.

Home again/customs

Well eventually it was time to go back. Our flight was late evening so we could spend most of the time around our resort, which we did. Hung out by the pool, the kids went exploring along the beach and canoeing, checked out the mudskippers that live on the rocks, ate a lot and watched the sunset from the bar before sadly leaving. Bought some duty free, including a great bargain of Bowmores single malt for only $30 and Aidan charmed a lady in the souvenir shop to get a cute little turtle (only place in Sabah we’d seen these charming souvenirs of a turtle emerging from an egg). After much security we boarded and after an uneventful flight arrived in Sydney. Now I have a real problem with our customs service. Just about every time I return home they find something to annoy me with and this time was no different. I don’t know who I upset, but they’ve searched my bags for no reason on several returns home. Maybe I just look undesirable. Anyway, on this occasion they surpassed themselves with total nastiness. Being honest, upright citizens aware of the risks of bringing dodgy insects into Australia we declared all our wooden souvenirs (of ocurse I’d only chosen wooden objects that looked clean in the first place). The quarantine guy happily looked through most things but then we made the mistake of being too honest and showed him the toy blowpipe Aidan had bought. Now, you’d think most officers would have just ignored such a trivial thing, after all its just a 40cm holow piece of wood, but no, Mr Quarantine just has to immediately call over fat bitch customs officer who immediately impounds it like it was the best thing to happen to her all day. Despite our pleas that it was a toy, it didn’t work etc the witch writes out a form and informs us we can appeal and we’ve got buckleys of getting it back anyway. By this stage Aidan and Tara are in tears, but no, Mrs Witch has to rub it in about it being a prohibited import blah blah. In fact the only crime was not having a permit for it, you can bring in all sorts of dangerous shit if you get a permit first. When I rang Customs the woman said, just buy another or make your own! So you can see how much they are actually concerned about “safety”.

Food

Despite having some terrific meals in Sabah I suppose after places like India and Thailand this was one part of the trip that overall was disappointing. There does seem to be a Sabah style of food but it is very plain and straightforward in comparison to the Nyonya/ Penang style of food that you usually associate with Malaysia. Dishes tend to be sweetish and more stewed than stirfried. Curries aren’t all that common and surprisingly chillies are not used all that much either and when they are they are very mild. Don’t go here then expecting a culinary paradise, but just expect tasty, simple home cooking. There seemed to be two styles of restaurants, or “coffee shops”. Islamic style featured grilled meats and often buffet style restaurants where you pay by what you choose. Other coffee shops were Chinese style and featured noodle and rice dishes and BBQ meats. There were also roti (bread) based restaurants, night markets featuring satay and noodle dishes, soup restaurants, Indian, Thai and Pizza Hut (who even have a laksa pizza!) but very few street stall type snack foods you see in Thailand and India.

However, as I said, we did have some great meals. Probably the nicest was Ady’s restaurant in Tuaran, especially the sambal eggplant. Some of the best food was actually on the organized tours we did, especially the Likas trip. Our resorts had consistently good food, Tanjung Aru was probably better quality but the Rasa Ria had the better variety, especially the breakfasts. Our favourite place was Jyotis Banana leaf in KK, between Centrepoint and Wawasan. The Wawasan food hall and the upstairs food hall at Merdeka were both good. The Penang Curry House in Sandakan was really yummy too. One dish that is worth a try is their own indigenous veggie, known as “Sabah vegetable”. This was usually braised in sweet soy and garlic and is like a mild asparagus or very young bok choy in flavour. Garlic is a very popular ingredient. In the markets there were lots of yummy snacks such as frilly green pancakes and fried plantain.

Fruit in season while we were there included bananas, the most common variety being little finger ones which were probably the yummiest we’d had anywhere; jackfruit (our favourite), rambutan, pineapple, papaya, pomelo, durian. Dylan took a liking to the local cakes, of which there are all sorts based on coconut, mung bean and agar. You can pick these up for around 30c for 5. Theres also lots of Chinese/western style bakeries selling all sorts of nice sweet or savoury buns and they are very cheap.

The kids loved all the drinks and they are cheap and refreshing. The green coconuts are everywhere and only about 50c each outside of the resort, but a bit more sourer than the Thai ones. In the shops you could get soya milks, instant coffees, iced teas, juices in all sorts of packages. A big favourite was the fizzy grape drink. All of course are high in sugar but really nice when you are constantly hot and thirsty. For adults there the nice local coffee with condensed milk known as kopi peng served in a glass. Best beer is probably Carlsberg, but Tiger and Anchor are both OK. Avoid Breda though and there was another local one that wasn’t much. Beer is real;ly cheap, once again outside of the resorts, about 80c a can. The Rasa Ria did some nice cocktails so hang out until their very reasonable happy hour.

Up the road from the Tanjung Aru is a night market which was very popular with the locals. Its only about a 15 minute walk and its nice eating with the locals. Theres even a vegetarian stall that makes nice noodles, and Merrill found some good satay. It’s a good escape from resort food (and prices!). If you desire western food, the Little Italy restaurant in KK was very good, but avoid Pizza Hut.

What we bought

Dylan’s main aim was to buy cheap Cds and video games. Unfortunately the games he bought won’t work on our system, but at about $1.50 each we can’t complain. We did however buy lots of cheap CDs for only $1-3. T shirts are really cheap and theres some lovely designs, from about $1-8 depending on quality. Theres a souvenir shop in Centrepoint towards the back of the centre on ground level that was so cheap you don’t even need to haggle. Other bargains in the centres and markets included sarongs, football boots (regretting we didn’t buy some), black rock band T-shirts, runners, surf gear. Aidan bought a nice kris, a traditional knife at Kota Belud, of which customs have no problem as long as it is blunt and only single bladed (don’t ask me who decides on these things). Merrill didn’t see much in clothes, but we heard other Aussies going on about bargains in handbags and that sort of shit. Wood carvings are cheap and all have lovely and interesting designs, not sure how traditional they are but are around $* upwards depenging on size. The masks look great and so are the statues. Theres also lovely pottery and jewellry. We actually preferred the Jalan Gaya Sunday market to the Filipino market as it was cheaper, friendlier and had more unusual items. Got some nice picture frames there and theres lots of cute beadwork. Just don’t bring home a blowpipe!

Highlights

Wildlife: most people probably like the orangutans, but Turtle Island was really unique and different.

Nature: can’t beat a 4095m mountain like Kinabalu!

Food: Adys restaurant, Jyotis “vegetarian meal”

Hotel: Shangrila Tanjung Aru

Best beach: Manukan

Best snorkeling: Turtle Island

Funniest moment: Driving around in our Proton Saga; Rohan at the Tanjung Aru

Weirdest moments: Dylan getting attacked by weird bug; the “ghost” racecourse near Tuaran

Most annoying moments: everything on our first day!

Nicest people: everyone in Sabah, but especially Victoria and Rohan at Tanjung Aru; QB at the museum on Manukan Island; the people at Penang Coffee House, Sandakan.

Birds and animals we saw

Long tailed porcupine

Orangutan

Macaque monkey

Proboscis monkey

Tree squirrel

Black squirrel

Ground squirrel

Tree mouse

Green turtle

Waglers Pit viper

Mudskippers

Birds

Unusual Cars of Malaysia

Perodua

Proton

Mitsuoka