Shopping malls and shanty towns

Kota Kinabalu - An exotic name for a western city. 

Malaysia is a very developed nation to nearly-Western standards (sightly more emphasis on Health and Safety issues and it would be just like home, with a better climate). Which is why it finds itself home to many migrants from it's poorer neighbours. In east Malaysia, or Borneo particularly, there are many Filipinos filling in the jobs that are undesirable to the well-educated Malays, such as labouring on the constant new developments. As a result of these poorly paid, illegal workers with no rights, slums spring up close, or on, the building site to house the workers for cheap.


I can hardly criticise this system, as I have well and truly been reinforcing it, willingly or not. We've been moored at the beautiful Sutera Harbour Marina, (2 private beaches, four pools, separate saunas for men and women and all the other conveniences of a 5* resort).  Although it's been a luxurious holiday, the proximity to the nearest slum is astounding. In fact, it's only a very short stretch of water that separates the brightly lit 'Sutera Harbour Resort' sign from the nearest village on stilts which doesn't have electricity - and plumbing? Why would that be necessary when the houses are built over stagnant water? 

After spending 6 weeks almost exclusively in the city of Kota Kinabalu, I think I've got a good feel for the place now. If this is coming across as slightly bitter, please excuse me. I'm not. I understand the system exists because it works. The Filipinos come here because they are earning more than they ever could at home, even if their current living standards are lower. Maybe it's a temporary thing, or the fact that they can support their entire family easily. I also know that just because somebody lives in a hut on stilts doesn't mean they're not happy. In fact, many of the happiest people I've met on my travels live in similar circumstances, with barely enough money to rub two coins together, but the love and support of their immediate family, and an unchanging job that supports them through the wet and dry season is enough. However, the Malaysian government should be aware that these people are the backbone of the economy and certain rights, such as giving them legal citizenship, or at least the right to a temporary work visa would benefit everyone. 

Kota Kinabalu is a walkable city (unusual in Asia) with a population of some 600,000. I think of KK as one big shopping mall with some roads to negotiate in the middle. The rich here seem to be incredibly rich - in the marina there is a  brand spanking new US$5million boat, which is just a floating party venue to the owner. He has no idea how to drive the thing, and doesn't even own a pair of swim shorts! What a tragic waste! 

There is also a bit of a nightlife scene here - 'The Bed' is a large and popular nightclub right on the waterfront, with an entry fee of 20RM (even for girls, despite the fact that it can easily be described as a sausage fest). It was a good night out anyway although I wouldn't recommend going unless with a large group. The other fantastic night out I had in Kota Kinabalu was at the white room, which was epic just because it was so unexpected: we made friends with a large group of Indians who were dancing their Bollywood hearts out. This location seemed to have a slightly more gay crowd. I managed to get a completely unironic high five for my dancing (a first); Siem held the end of my hair out and the surrounding group of people used it to shimmy under as a limbo pole. 

The other, slightly random, night out I had was with Petrina. We were at Shamrock, enjoying the live music and embarrassing ourselves at pool, when a group of mostly Australians arrived, presumably already drunk (one of them wasted no time in stripping off his clothing and dirty dancing with the owner, who was turning 60). We took a stroll outside to explore the other options and drink cheap beer outside 7/11. When we came back, most of the mostly-Aussies were in a SUV, apparantly waiting for us. We were hustled into the car, en route to Sutera Harbour (the parents of some/all of these guys had a beautiful house on the edge of the golf course). What a crazy party it was. Everyone went swimming in the pool as soon as we arrived, (we regretted it straight away because it was freezing) and one of the mostly-Aussies sprayed champagne over everything. We spent a few hours partying with the nutters, had breakfast and got back on the boat seconds before Brian woke up (to this day, he doesn't know how late we got back). 

We spent some time exploring health care options in KK - Madara has a badly bruised ankle from a classic accident: motorbikes in Thailand. One day we borrowed a wheelchair from the marina and spent the day in town finding out just how disability unfriendly Asia really is. For one thing, all the local people are looking at us like we're strange. There are enough white people hanging out in KK that it's not just because we're differently coloured. I felt they wanted  to say, 'well, she's clearly broken, so what are you doing taking her through shopping malls and getting in the way of those of us who aren't crippled?'. Finding pavements that had a slope into the road rather than a step was insanely difficult. Also any ramps we found tended to be either too steep or slippery to push up/down a wheelchair without loosing control/getting squashed on the main road. Foreigners should note that if you manage to get to a hospital or government-run clinic you pay a flat rate of 15RM ($5US) for: access to a Doctor, any X-rays or treatment you might need and whatever medication they prescribe you. Unfortunately we weren't aware of this - we went to a private clinic at the beginning which charged extra for X-rays and meds.
 
 We also found a dentist (eventually) and got a check-up. Petrina and I wasted quiet a bit of time initially - we were recommended a local dentist and booked an appointment by phone. On the date and time of the appointment, we arrived at the location (directions from the friend who'd recommended the dentist). Strangely, the place appeared to be shut. We walked around the block, looking for a different door in or another dentist with the same name. Tidak ada. We called up and got directions from the receptionist whose level of English consisted of, 'go to 7/11', which was on a parallel street. When we drew level we realised the store was actually shut down although the signs were still up. No sign of another dentist though. The saga continued for at least another 30mins - we listed all the hotels, banks and restaurants we could see. They directed us towards something they recognised. We requested they send someone out onto the street to find us. No luck there. Eventually when we were thinking on giving up on the quest and indulging in ice-cream instead, I passed the phone to a local lady walking by. After a very short conversation, she informed us: 'You need to take a taxi. This dentist is 100km away.' We had much more luck with our second attempt.

I've also met some brilliant local friends in KK. I had a bout of tonsillitis and was fortunate enough to be picked up by Sim whilst en route to the nearest farmasi on foot. He was kind enough to take me to get my drugs AND waited to give me a ride back too. When I was feeling more sociable, he introduced us to some of his friends who took turns in escorting us to various local attractions. We particularly loved the Sabah museum (I suck at walking on stilts) and the best laksa restaurant in town.

Day trip for Dirty Girls

Recently we took a trip out to explore the natural beauty of the Kota Kinabalu area - we sailed out to Pulau Tige, the location of the first Survivor series. One of the attractions of this beautiful island is of course, the volcanic mud baths. Sorry if you were expecting something a bit more exciting based on the title...

 After walking along the excessively long dock where we'd left the dingy we met a group of Chinese who seemed to be heading in the same direction, with the help of a couple of local guides. We bravely entered the jungle first, and began the slightly uphill hike. Plenty of monkeys were jumping from tree to tree ahead of us. The Chinese were laughing and squealing at the monkey antics, or the bugs in the air. Wanda (on the boat just for two days) froze as a loud rustle came from the bushes.
'What was that?!'
Everyone stopped to listen and scan the area around us. The Chinese girls edged slightly closer. Everyone was thinking of all the scary animals hiding out in the jungles of Borneo.

Of course it was only a huge monitor lizard slowly ambling out from the bush and across the path. No reason to panic, then.

When we got there, the guide from the other group showed everyone how easy it was to slip into the mud  - and managed to make it look very graceful.

Our resident geologist identified the mud as 'clay with bits in'. The crewbie, Petrina, comes from the States (the part where they eat road kill for Christmas dinner - Minnesota).

Sitting in the mud was a peculiar sensation  - I've floated in the Dead Sea, but this was different. The mud is so dense that it's really hard to get your feet to touch the bottom (it was only a metre deep). Also the mud was so thick it didn't move much - you could lie back and be completely supported and have a nap if you wanted - you wouldn't move unless you intended to. Who needs memory foam?

While we were sitting there enjoying the very faint smell of sulphur we all had another scare as a large bubble of gas rose to the surface. There was a bit of a 'whodunnit' moment, until we figured out it was a natural part of the volcanic baths.

The only downside was the amount of stuff floating around in the mud - something would be touching your arm and you'd freak out that it was a leech/worm/creepy bug and then realize it was only a leaf! Eek. Mosquitoes were the only insect around (that I found!). We hung out there for a while - one of the guides kindly gave me a nice back massage and helped me rub the mud onto my face.

We made a less graceful exit, as the mud was incredibly slippery. It was safer to risk the unknown creepy crawlies on the ground rather than attempting to wear shoes for the walk back. It became slightly harder to maneuver as the mud began to dry and crack on our bodies. I felt like my face was frozen in a smile from laughing so much.

Me, Wanda and Petrina

At the beach we jumped into the sea and washed off the mud from our soft skin - an excellent spa day in a much more natural and beautiful environment!

Celebrating Halloween in Asia

Halloween in Asia does not even vaguely resemble it's origins in the West. I've only found one fancy dress shop in the whole of Kota Kinabalu (a decent sized city) where you can buy outfits, but for some reason it's all in pre-teen sizes. Asian pre-teen sizes - that's pretty small. Deciding we would have to celebrate this annual excuse for mugging strangers for chocolate in other ways, we bought a pumpkin.

A previous pumpkin

Can I just mention that my pumpkin carving skills are pretty damn good. I mean I've done some fairly intricate vegetable carving work before. Because it turns out those brightly coloured (do they inject E-numbers at birth?) supermarket pumpkins are bred for you to decapitate with a sharp knife. The pumpkin I found was not so well genetically modified - it had walls three inches thick! Which meant cutting it was really hard. Which meant that the elaborate fanged mouth I would normally do was going to be really tricky. I suspect the reason it was such a fleshy vegetable is because no Asian person in their right mind would waste a whole meal for their family of 12 on a goopy mess that's going to be covered in bugs approximately five seconds after you put it outside - so pumpkins here are actually for eating.

A prunken Drumpkin

Also, this dock I'm on right now has at least THREE kids on it and none of them have been trick-or-treating; they're probably inside killing old grannies on the streets of GTA, or whatever it is kids are playing these days.

Despite the lack of children dressed in scary masks based on cartoons that I'm too old to recognize, there are benefits to Halloween in Asia. Here are some of them: 


Today the weather was 30-something degrees.
Right now it's around 26.
I haven't seen a drop of rain, or a cloud in the sky.
I went diving this morning at around 10am wearing a thin dive skin.
...I went diving.
No one here has any idea what a good pumpkin should look like, so they think mine's great!
If none of the kids gets their act together and realize they can come and beg for candy, I get to eat all of it myself. Mwa-ha-HA-haaaaaaaaa

Also the nightlife is probably the sole exception to people who don't care about our pagan festival - most clubs have a prize for the best costume on the night. Hopefully we'll have a good chance of winning, as we've had a lot more experience creating fancy dress from scratch than I think they have!

The next adventure

The next adventure came sooner than we would have liked – sailing from Kudat towards Kota Kinabalu around the northernmost tip of Borneo in the South China Sea.

A small problem of the engine completely stopping, whilst in rough waters…also with a squall, giving us 45knots of wind to go against. And to make things even more interesting, we were drifting uncontrollably whilst perilously close to a pinnacle that jutted out of the water, some 50metres away. 

Honestly, I don’t make this stuff up. 

An image of the squall on the radar which we were right in the middle of. Everything yellow is lots of wind, rain and big waves. Plus the rocks to the left, of course.

Luckily for us, Furthur is installed with a ‘Get Home’ system – or APU which allows the propeller to be run by power from the generator, rather than the engine in situations like ours. In flat, calm waters it should manage around 4knots – or about half of what we’d normally cruise at.

In this mess, we found the system worked, although a bit slower than promised given the conditions. We quickly devised a system – as soon as the engine ignition switch light went off, the engine would stall, (despite our threats and pleas) which meant Brian would run down to the engine room to turn on the get-home while I waited to steer the boat as soon as we had power. Emily watched the small engine ignition switch light like a hawk, and would shout out the second the light came back on - the engine would run again. This happened somewhere between 15 and 20 times throughout the rest of our 70 mile journey to Kota Kinabalu. Every time the light came back on, we’d be back to battle stations – Brian in the engine room, turning off the get home (you can't run both systems simultaneously), and me at the helm, trying to avoid the worst of the 3-4m swells and re-starting the engine.

Emily decided that bed was the safest place to be in the rough stuff!

Some 14 hours later, we limped into the most beautiful marina I’ve ever seen – Sutera Harbour Resort, which is just what we need for a month of well-earned R&R. 

A spectacular sunset from the marina

If you need me, I’ll be at the pool.