The second half of our Borneo adventure we spent in a week in the Sabah region. Instead of being based in one place we move around this part of the island in order to get some unique experiences. We started our time in Sabah in the capital Kota Kinabalu, spending just a night, as we had heard mixed things about whether it was worth spending any time there so gave ourselves the afternoon before moving to a different part of Sabah the following day.
We flew from Kuching to Kota Kinabula and had some relatively tasty food (that we had added on due to flying over mealtimes) on the flight (chicken with black pepper rice, veg with coffee and juice. On arriving we made our way to the airport bus, very straight forward and got off on the street just outside the main backpacker/hostel area Jalan Gaya.
Airport photos Kuching to KK and airport bus
We made our way to our hostel called The Bunk. This had a good vibe to it with a small communal area with a bar open to the street. Upstairs the hostel beds were in an open room with a lot of beds but several layers with more of a capsule design- curtained bunks with areas for bags. Kind of like a chic prison feel. We went out fairly quickly in order to see a bit of the city, exploring the mall and supermarket and then going for coffee and cake at the October House nearby, which unfortunate was a bit meh. The area itself was ok, but not much to see just walking around, although admittedly we didn’t go too far.
On returning to the hostel we got speaking to some people in the communal area and ended up tagging along with them to go and see the floating mosque. A full gang of us ended up going made up of all different nationalities, we followed someone that seemed to know where they were going and crammed onto a local bus for 2 (MYR) that took us just outside the mosque. We arrived just before dusk and the light was incredibly on the beautiful mosque. It was stunning with a gorgeous mirror image of the mosque in the water surrounding it. We stood around admiring it and taking pictures for a while, watching the sun set on the mosque.
When it got dark we got a couple of grab taxis and went with the group to the night market which was brimming with food. We ended up trying some satay chicken skewers, sausages and murtabak (fried pancake/bread filled with veg/meat- like roti) before walking back with the others through the streets of Kota Kinabula to the hostel where we chilled out briefly before heading to bed. These were unexpected adventures for the day, but ended up being totally worth saying ‘yes’ to joining.
Alex
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