July 28, 2005

Kota Kinabalu

Lately there has not been too much to say because I've been in transport on many buses, taxis and a plane the last few days. Now I'm in Borneo! The amazing view from the short flight over looked like a painted map. The small islands were solid green with a sand coloured border outlining each shape. I'm in the capital, but still tiny city of Kota Kinabalu. I've already seen all the markets (lots of dried sea cucumbers that I have seen snorkling), museum (beautiful costumes of Sabah's tribes), art gallery (a bit uninspiring) and the clock tower. It is so refreshing to be back in Malaysia, the people are so friendly, they talk to me for no reason. I was crossing the street and a young guy passed and said "Have a good day mame". The waiter at the restaurant offered to show me around the handicraft market during his break between 2 shifts. A couple of the girls on a school trip at the museum saw me sketching a costume and said "HI!" When I replied with my hi, the rest of the class individually said hi to me and I ended up repeating the word as many times as there were children in the group. They were so excited and ended up doing the same thing when I approached the stairs to go down and was followed with a chorus of bye, bye, bye!!! That really made my day actually!

And more wildlife to report. I was a bit annoyed to be stuck on a top bunk, but was completely grateful this morning when I woke up to the entire bed trembling. I asked the girl down below if she was ok, and she said that a mouse just ran across her. On closer inspection there was a huge rat running amongst our stuff on the floor! He ran away once the door was opened, but hopefully will not return. Oh, and I still feel a mild guilt for the cleaner who will discover those 2 cockroaches under the pail in Koh Phangnan! P

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:32 pm

    I wonder why it's always a snake cockroach or rat thatmakes its way into bed with people. It's never a warm fuzzy kitten. I'm researching places for my next journey. It's the possibilities that excite me. Borneo sounds really great. Your description of it is greatI mean. i should some Thai friends here in LA your pix of the tsunami drawings made by the children in Krabi. They were here during and wondered what it would have been like. So I showed them the drawings. They were really moved.
    Hector

    ReplyDelete