It was a cold, cloudy, and rainy day. We woke up early, before the rain came, and decided to use the dustbin of the hotel room as a makeshift pail. Our car had gone through a lot the previous 6 days, so we decided to give it a wash.
After its shower, we set off with Baby Crab behind the wheel. Baby Tilapia felt that driving downhill in wet weather was beyond his skill for the day as he wasn’t really up to it. And also because he would rather navigate than drive, since he was too tired the night before to plan the route.
There’s two ways from Kundasang to the Tip of Borneo. One route would take us through Ranau where we had dinner the previous night. The other route would take us through Kota Belud. We opted for Kota Belud.
The drive there was largely uneventful. Lots of clouds and rain, and no sign of Mount Kinabalu which was obscured by the thick clouds. We passed by some parts of the road which had been damaged by landslides, but fortunately met none.
A landslide damaged this road some time back.
Just prior to Kota Belud, we passed by a lovely river which has its source in Mount Kinabalu. We wasted an hour going off road to find a good viewpoint of the river. But it’s not really a waste of time, because we had time to waste. Going off road or on detours is the fun part about road trips. What we did waste was the time we spent washing the car in the morning, because when we came back to the road, the car was muddier than before!
A panaroma shot of Sungei Wariu, the river that flows from Mount Kinabalu past Kota Belud.
After taking a few photos of the river, it was back to the road to Kota Belud. At the petrol station, at the sole dispenser for Petron 97, a line of cars formed up behind a BMW. The driver, oblivious to the line of cars waiting behind him, chatted up the parking attendant and spent a long time filling up. Only to halt his car a few metres away to pick up his wife.
Baby Crab remarked about how inconsiderate this driver was, but Baby Tilapia was of the view that, hey, it’s a small town. No one’s in a rush. Everyone is patient. And it’s true. If this happened in Singapore, cars behind would have started blaring their horns. But in Malaysia, you hardly hear drivers in Malaysia use their horns. Perhaps life is slower here.
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Adventures of Baby Crab and Tilapia 