Kota Kinabalu: First Taste of Shariah

Kota Kinabalu (K.K) is billed as the eco-tourist gateway to Sabah, Malaysia, in northeast Borneo. What we discovered, however, is that unless you can pay upwards of 100 bux/US a day to some shyster tour guide, the only wildlife you will see are rats and cockroaches. Unfortunately, we missed our photo op with a cat-sized rat that is reminiscent of the rodents of Market Street, San Francisco. Since we couldn’t pay the price of admission to the eco-tours, we were city bums for a few days, enjoying our wet-market/seafood-restaurant view and cooling off in undersized shopping malls. The local food is good, with true magic being done with chili peppers, coconut milk, and curry pastes. Fruit smoothies are everywhere, served fresh in huge tumblers. Ever try an avocado shake? However, a local scam is to place peanuts and napkins on your table without apprising you that you will be charged for these “extras”. So the trick is to bring your own napkins (which you should do anywhere in Asia, BTW), and to send back the stale peanuts no matter how starved you might be. Also, since K.K. is predominantly sexist, ie. Muslim, we had to get used to me being served food well before my wife, even in our “international” hostel and fast-food restaurants. See our photos of our frequent waiting for our plates to land on tables simultaneously; I almost fell asleep in a Kentucky Fried Chicken one night. On our last night, we cooled down in a karaoke lounge and flew to Kuching early the next morning.

June 18, 2007