Kota Kinabalu

Selamat Tengah Hari! Or good afternoon brothers and sisters.

Before I head of for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow for a quick stop-over and then to Cambodia the day after, a few final words from the state of Sabah in Borneo.

The capital, Kota Kinabalu (KK), is a pleasant little city by the sea, with idyllic islands just outside with lovely beaches and rather mediocre snorkeling (yes, I burnt my back, of course I did!). There is a fish market with fish, that make you regret the one you ate yesterday! Coming from a country of boringly silvery-grey fish, you can't help feeling these babies should be admired through a snorkel, not eaten for dinner.

Judging by this week, the people in the whole of Sabah are good. They're just really good people! Smiling, helpful, kind, unpretentious... all kinds of good adjectives can fit in here.

One of the good people of Sabah is in fact not a native Sabahene (Sabahian, Sabahese??), but Victoria, an American friend of Tim's, who has lived here for many a year. She took me in, showed me around, let me get cuddle her two cats, told me to run down Mount Kinabalu and amuzed me with many an amazing true tale of this state.

One place she took me to was a lovely local village outside KK, which housed the most bizarre Chinese temple. The compound was was surrounded by a row of monks doing different activities. There were the heroic Lion Taming Monk and Dragon Taming Monk, the traditional Meditating Monk, the surprising Long Eyebrows Monk and also the Ear Picking Monk below. Alltogether an interesting insight into the life of monks.

So tomorrow I leave the good people of Sabah and head on towards new adventures! Let's see how often I get a chance to blog, but keep the faith, I shall return!