Return to Sabah — Kota Kinabalu, Part 7: Cafe Hopping

On our last day in Sabah, we had dinner at Bao Jian Tang, an affordable coffee shop in an area called Damai in Kota Kinabalu. We wanted a proper meal before going cafe hopping, because we didn’t intend to spend much at the cafes. Cafe culture has come upon Malaysia, and Kota Kinabalu is no […]

Return to Sabah — Kota Kinabalu, Part 6: Island Hopping

Never have we spent so many days in Kota Kinabalu. The city is usually a gateway to the rest of Sabah. Most people arrive in KK, stay one night, then leave to go to wherever it is that they are going to in Sabah. However, following our day with Serrene, who recommended that we go […]

Return to Sabah — Kota Kinabalu, Part 5: Entertainment

Following our detour to quickly visit a stateless village in Kota Kinabalu, Serrene drove us to her place at Taman Sri Gaya, a residential estate between the two Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in Kota Kinabalu. Upon arrival, she gave us a tour of the lovely house she and her family have stayed at for the last […]

Return to Sabah — Kota Kinabalu, Part 4: Making Friends and Talking Trash

In an earlier post, we wrote about how we didn’t enjoy visiting the touristy or famous parts of Kota Kinabalu. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a good experience here. On our first day, after collecting our borrowed car, we went to a place called Lorong Rainfield, to an eatery called Mom Mom Grill, […]

Return to Sabah — Kota Kinabalu, Part 3: The Plight of the Stateless

In our previous trip to Sabah, we visited a stateless village in Semporna. There are many stateless living in Sabah. Some of them come from the Philippines or Indonesia. Some have always lived here, but never registered themselves as citizens of Malaysia. As a result, they, their children, and the generations that follow do not […]

Return to Sabah — Kota Kinabalu, Part 2: Meeting Serrene

Our original plan was to drive up to Kota Belud on our second day in Sabah. However, this was just a back-up plan. Our travel style involves 缘分 , which means ‘fate’. In the words of Greg, our travel companion, “May we meet the people we’re supposed to meet, and go to the places that […]

Return to Sabah — Kota Kinabalu, Part 1: The State Capital

Exactly 3 years ago, we took a 9-day road trip to Sabah, East Malaysia. We did a round trip to the various cities and towns. We liked it so much that we decided we would come back here again. But this time, we would go slower and spend more time in each town before moving […]

Sabah Road Trip Reflections, Part 2 – Driving

Taking a road tripA long, lonely roadA metaphor for life Go at your own paceLet others overtakeNo need to keep pace They are on their own journeyYou are on your own journeyYou are not going to their destinationThey are not going to yours Go at your own paceAccording to your own capability The journey is […]

Sabah Road Trip Reflections, Part 1 – Food

While we drove to Sandakan, we kept seeing advertisements for KFC’s Sawadee Crunch. Baby Crab insisted that at some point during our trip, we had to go eat it. So that night, we decided that we would eat the Sawadee Crunch. It’s basically your usual KFC chicken with a very spicy batter. It’s so spicy […]

Sabah Road Trip Day 8 – Eating with the Hakka

We left the Tip of Borneo on Day 7 after getting throughly drenched in the rain. Our next stop was supposed to have been Kudat, which was half an hour drive away, but we never made it there. Baby Crab was hungry, so Baby Tilapia took to Google Maps to find a place in Kudat […]