Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

When I get to a new place one of my favourite things to do is walk around and just see what I can see without any particular goal or destination. Though we did have the Kota Kinabalu night market in mind as we set off on our first afternoon in Sabah, it was some time before we actually stumbled on it. First we were rekindled with the feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb, wanting to take a shower every ten seconds, the usual cocktail of nice and putrid street smells, as well as a lot of welcoming smiles and greetings. Yep, travel smacked us in the face and we (mostly) loved it!

KK Night Markets

Kota Kinabalu night market has a great atmosphere and lots of interesting, tasty, food and drinks on offer. Our first trip dinner consisted of a range of market snacks, many of them turning out to be desserts. We enjoyed the people-watching and community and decided to return the following night. Rob was especially thrilled with something on a skewer that we suspected wasn’t chicken but something more like a cross between squid, a baby octopus and an alien. We were the tourists that scampered away from the market stall to the sounds of laughter at the discovery of what was left on our plate.

"Chicken" and unidentified things on sticks

Rob making a purchase

Market juice

 I like to think that the first day we wrote off to illness was more to do with acclimatisation than anything we ate or drank at our market outings. However, if that was the cause, it was well worth it. Our third day in KK was spent almost entirely at our very comfortable hostel (Masada Backpackers) recuperating from our different illnesses and ailments. 

Something fishy is going on

Boulu Kukus - a steamed sponge cake

Perhaps we had jumped into our adventurous state all a bit too quickly in terms of walking, eating and breathing the local life. Prior to falling can’t-face-the-outside-world-ill, our second day in KK started early with a somewhat planned, somewhat accidental 10km walk around town and up to Signal Hill. It was interesting to see some different neighbourhood and I love to get a birds-eye view of a town. There was not much of a view of the harbour but it was good nonetheless. On our walk we also visited the Atkinson clock tower, a very out-of-place reminder of the British influence on North Borneo. During breaks I introduced Rob to Malaysian fruits I have enjoyed on previous visits, my favourite being mangosteen.

Initially we had planned on 2 full days in KK but it was extended to 3 when our trip to Sapi island became a daytrip. We decided to visit the Museum of Islamic Civilisation and Sabah Museum despite the less than promising reviews on both. The first really needs a new title because it was rather less about Islamic Civilisation as a whole, predominately narrowing in on Islamic dress and betel boxes. That said, we definitely found it thought provoking and I mostly find tourist experiences like books: you can usually find something to take from it even if you would not rate it highly.

We had quite the discussion about how dress customs are influenced by different religions and how important they can be to one’s identity and beliefs.

The Sabah Museum was broken into different sections, some better than others. The History section was the most fascinating for me and I would recommend it for that alone.

KK was a great starting point for our trip to ease us into things. Locals are friendly, helpful and English is wide-spread. Many tourists use it purely as a launching pad for beach trips and trekking, but due to its multicultural community and people I think it deserves a look-in for at least a day or two.