After dinner, Kevin, myself and Steven went to Cornie and Petro's home for some coffee. We talked and laughed a lot and exchanged goodbye's. Thanks to Cornie and Petro for your love and for looking out for us.
So we took the night train and slept in our beautiful hotel, Aquabella, thank you Nada and Dave. Then to the airport we went. We took a bus and watched the scenery pass us by and wondered what the future had in store for us and if we would return to Taiwan. But know we can only look ahead, the views in the bus window pass and all that we can see is what is ahead.
When we arrived at the airport, the baggage clerk warned us that since we did not have a ticket that conformed a flight outside of Malaysia we may be rejected at the airport. It made me so nervous, but Kevin said it would be fine. The time passed fast and slow as it does when you are nervous. Next thing we knew we were on a plane. Though just before it made ready for take off, it breaked so fast that I was convinced that something was worng with the plane, or that the pilot was inexperienced. But we are in Malaysia, so I guess he knew what he was doing. Though it did scare me ghost pale, Kevin was completely calm.
On the plane, we saw the clouds white and puffy like cotton mountains. We thought of the carebears and of living on clouds. We also saw a sunset sinking into rosy colored sky and little islands scattered about the sea, so small and green.
At the border, we were greated by a smiling man who took our finger prints and stamped our passport, 90 days visitor visa (Malays like Canadians because we were part of the British Commonwealth, I guess it still pays off to have once been an extension of the Motherland). We collected our bagagge, put them through a sensory machine and that was that. It was so easy.
Then we were in a cab, the man driving on the left side of the road. We noticed sidewalks, open space, women in head scarves, children, men in shorts and t-shirts. Everyone dark skinned. Unlike many city people in Taiwan, people here live in the sun and under the sky, especially the men. Our hostel was also different. It was part of an appartment complex. Peoples doors are barred, many windows have no screens, some people only have blinds that open and close withough glass windows. We ascended the stairs, booked our room and tried to sleep in our bunk bed "single room". We could hear music playing, clearly prayer music. After seeing a giant cockroack and chasing it out of our room we went downstairs for dinner. It cost us only about 3 dollars for amazing noodles and a drink. The women there served us, but we had to pay the man. There were not many woman around, mostly men, and some really do stare hard at you sometimes. We also saw some children running around, boys and girls. Some look wild, almost like out of a Charles Dickens novel.
That night we slept, and were awaken to prayer music around 6 am or so. People were out and about, sitting in front of shops, women with children, young men talking loudly in small groups. We walked with our bags and headed to the dock to board a boat that would take us to the island called Tunkun Abdul Raman . An island that seemed very commercial and famous with Chinese and Japanese tourists. It was very crowded even though it was not a weekend, or the peak season. We were headstrong on camping. When we arrived at the ticketing area, people stood behind little stalls yelling out their prices for ferry rides. It was very funny seeing them all react at the same time as we walked into the room, waving their hands in the air to get our attention. We took the one closest to the door and made our way to the boat. We talked to a Malaysian family who lived on Peninsular Malaysia, they said they spoke Mandarine, English and Malay. They were very friendly and quiet.
The island, Pulau Mamutik, was a tiny little rock with a green little forest growing in the middle. The water was blue and clear with the occasional big and small fish that would swim by. I don't think much coral survived around this area due to extensive fishing and the huge inflow of tourists. So we pitched our tent, our only neighbors were taking down their camp, so that meant we had the island to ourselves that night. I was a bit weary because the island next to us, Pulau Gaya, housed a small community that looked much like a ghetto. I think a lot of them were Philippino immigrants, I tried asking, but not many people seemed to know. It seemed to be very cramped and the houses were on stilts, like many of the homes here.
So we camped that night, the staff there also slept on the island, so we were not completely alone. We sat near our tent and watched small and big crabs come out of their little homes in the sand and scuttle about. They moved like little shells with wiry feet and big eyes stuck up from their bodies. They were very cute, in a crabby sort of way. We slept, if you could call it that: we were so hot and humid in our tent, but we managed a few hours and awoke with the dawn. The sea was calm and the birds were chirping. One man woke up and slowly walked up to the sand and started raking it clean of any litter that made its way to the shore that night.
After swimming and with the wind threatening to blow out tent up into the sky, we decided to pack our tent up early and sleep in the Step In Lodge in Kota Kinabalu again. While waiting for the boat we talked to a man who had been working at this dock for about five years. His English was very good. He said his mom was Malay and his father was Philippino. He was very friendly and loved to talk. He said this beach got really busy sometimes, so busy that you could not see sand, only people. Most of the tourist he said were Chinese. I guess it is because this area is so close to Mainland China and Taiwan. Just before we boarded the boat we ran into Sara and Pete, they were in our training group in Taiwan. We thought of how funny it is how people cross paths in the most random of places.
Now, we boarded a boat, a narrow speed boat. It was Kevin and I, and two other girls. The man powered the boat to full speed, it seemed, and with the waves being big, it seemed we were going to tip or fly right out of the water. At points, when he turned, the boat was almost vertical. We stopped to pick up a family at another island. The two girls got out of the boat and "good luck". There were lots of babies and I really hoped he would not drive like that with them in the boat, and luckly he did slow down a little. As we were motoring along suddenly he stood up, and said loudly "oh shit!". He ran under the boat deck and did something under there. We were near the ghetto community on Gaya, and for a moment I thought we were going to be hijacked or something. But then he came out and said the boat had no more power. Well that was defently better than being hijacked. Thank god we were close to the dock in KK. I did not want to have to drift to shore with Kevin myself and this family and their babies. With a little bit of power left in the boat we made it safely to shore. We walked with our bags, looking like real backpackers, dirty, crazy hair, sweaty stuff hanging form our bags. One man told Kevin as we passed. "Sir, you climb Mount Kinabalu?"
We made it to our dorm, took a wonderful cold shower, ate some amazing Indian food and sat down in front of the TV at the Step In Lodge.
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