Kota Kinabalu

On Monday we made the 6hr bus ride from Sepilok to Kota Kinabalu. I'm really glad that I wasn't sitting next to us on the bus as we must have absolutely stunk after 3 days of heat, humidity and trekking in the jungle with only washes in the river water to clean us. When we handed our laundry in for cleaning in KK we actually pre-warned them about the state of the contents. The 6 hour bus journey had ripened them somewhat and it smelt like we had brought half the swamp back with us!

Kota Kinabalu is the state capital of Sabah and the largest city in the province. It's not a particularly pretty city but in a strange way we kind of like it. There's a certain feeling of 1960's town planning gone wrong which reminds me of Birmingham before the recent redevelopment. All the shopping malls are just like the old Bull Ring, massive dark depressing soul-less concrete megaliths, lit with fluorescent strip lighting. I think this is the reason why we like it. Either that or the jungle has sent us a bit funny.

We're using it as a base for a week so that we can explore some of the sights in the surrounding area. The biggie for me is the two day climb up the 4km high Mount Kinabalu. Before you ask, no, Liz isn't joining me on this one. She's being sensible and staying back in Kota Kinabalu.


I'm currently in the process of feverishly trying to break in some new climbing boots that I bought yesterday. Things are being hampered somewhat by a wellington boot induced blister that was sustained during a calf deep mud/swamp trek at Uncle Tan's.