Returning from the holidays

What an excruciating feeling to return from Sabah, Malaysia. That is where I was from before returning to Singapore. This time, the trip was a meaningful experience as I have learnt a lot on life itself and also on another country's culture. Sabah is located on the eastern side of Malaysia and its people are mostly indigenous as compared to the mainland Malaysians who are mostly Malays.

The intriguing part of this trip is mostly made up of my understanding of how Sabah and Sarawak and Brunei are joined together. I have not known this until I am actually there to witness it. I used to think that Brunei is an island off Sabah but the truth is, it is in the middle between Sabah and Sarawak. Sabahans or Sarawakians have to drive through Brunei in order to reach Sarawak and they have to bring along their passports even though they are not travelling abroad. Aha..That is another interesting thing. Since I came from Singapore, a very tiny weeny small island at the edge of the Malay Archipelago, travelling inter states never existed at all for me. The only way to experience that is to go overseas such as in Malaysia. Therefore, Malaysians and other bigger nations have the experience to go inter states without using passports. I find it weird as when we took a domestic flight from Kuala Lumpur(KL) to Sabah, my KL friends did not have to bring their passport as they are locals but as for me, I have to, as I am a foreigner.

Isn't that great? Anyway, let me summarize the trip in brief here. I travelled upwards to KL via a bus and it took me around 6 hours to reach KL. Usually it will take shorter than that but due to the traffic jams that occured, the journey was extended to another hour. Once I reached KL, I rang my friends up. One of them happened to work in Exonmobil which is actually just across KLCC Twin Towers, Malaysia Tallest building and shopping centre. I will say that this one of Malaysia's prominent landmarks. I waited for him to finish work at 5.30pm and off we go for a dinner in one of the shops to eat noodles. This is the best thing about Malaysia. I can eat almost anything there without a worry. It is all Halal though I normally will not bother much about it while I am in Singapore. To me, as long as it there is no pork, the food is edible.

After our sumptious meal, I head on to my friend's place for a night before we fly to Sabah via a budget airline in the newest Low Cost Carrier Terminal, next to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. As with all budget airlines, the service is budgeted too. We have to queue up for almost an hour to check in. The seats in the plane are not catered for big size people like me. The food has to be bought and it is expensive and not worth it. The plane is undeniably scary at times especially when it hits a couple of turbulences on air - well this is normal for all planes when it comes to turbulence. Well, I shall not complain further as it is a budget airline.

We touched down in Kota Kinabalu and I booked reservations for a three day stay in Hyatt Regency which is situated right in front of the sea. I manage to get upgraded to a King Size bed due to lack or rooms at the time of my hotel check in. The room is perfect with a balcony, big living room and great facilities for me to choose if I decide to stay indoors. However, I stayed the firt two days in my friend's place which is in Tuaran, 30 minute drive from Kota Kinabalu. What an astounding experience when I came across a town which is very relaxed and stress-free. Imagine that there are no big shopping centres in Tuaran, just old shophouses. Flora and Fauna is abundant there. Practically, the entire Tuaran is covered with many trees and undeveloped lands. Cattles and many farm animals can be seen wildly roaming around the villages. My friend told me that the cows managed to outwit the farmers by opening up the fence and it decides to roam around freely by the road side. Imagine this, sometimes when we drive we have to wait a cow to move along to the other side of the road. This is funny. I will make funny sounds to the cow with my friend horning it with his van and the cow will slowly take his time mooing and moving across the road. The best part it will leave behind its fertilizer in the middle of the road. I told myself, this is back to nature for me. :-)

I met my friend's mother who was an ex-teacher and we chat about everything. The two days in Tuaran was so comfortable and stress-free that time passes so slow. We went to all the resorts to take pictures and I manage to take a picture of Mount. Kinabalu from the road. I decided to have a return trip with a couple of friends in future to trek the mountain as the trip up to the mountain will require at least four people and plus, it is a four day trip. Well, I shall take a pass for now thinking of the stamina, courage, persistence and patience I need to have before I make my move up. That requires planning and simply not on an abrupt manner indeed.

In fact, if I want to talk about wanting to be close to nature, I am already surrounded by them. My friend brought me to view the countryside of Sabah, and mind you, the humidity level was extremely hot. I was perspiring constantly while I was in the van. The air-conditioning in the van was spoilt. Imagine that. No complaints still as it was a free ride. Oh yeah, the food in Sabah was delightful and fulfilling. The sabahan tradition is that all food there must be tag along with soups. Well, you can imagine all the different soups that I tasted when I ate my lunch and dinner there. I have also learnt that my friend is a Kadazan, a Sabahan native tribe and I noticed that most local natives in Sabahan has disctinctive features almost similar to any other natives found in South America and so forth. They are indeed good looking people. There is something in their face that glitters away when we look at them. Isn't that interesting?

Shopping in Sabah was exciting. Imagine the costs of items in Kota Kinabalu is half lesser than the price in Kuala Lumpur. Being a Singaporean, I go beserk with the idea. I ended up shopping like a crazy maniac. that is our dollar currency is 2.33 times as compared to one ringgit. Hmm..that is a good feeling to shop. Everything else in Sabah is cheap. The entire trip was so relaxed that I don really bother about my next plan or destination when I finally checked in the hotel two days later. I went swimming by the pool, sun tanning, walking around Kota Kinabalu to try various foods and deserts, shopping little things in the Filipino Market( An arts and crafts market filled with Fillipinos from Mindanao, drinking and watching cable. I've met a couple of beautiful Sabahans ladies and we chat and do many things. :-)

That is life. I almost forget that I have school to attend to when I return home. Hey, that will only be by 10th January 2006. I still have more than a month to enjoy at home. I am practically so in peace now, that I can do anything. Perhaps I should go and travel further next week. Let me see my budget anyway.

Well, we returned to KL on the 4th December and the next day, I make my way back to Singapore by bus. The whole trip was awesome. My friends in KL brought me to best dining places which are so cheap when I returned from Sabah to KL. I almost feel like staying there for a couple of days but I remembered on my commitments back home. It was indeed a mind soothing trip for me which I wanted. I managed to get it at last.