Return to Sabah — Telipok

Most people don’t spend much time in Kota Kinabalu, unless they live or work there. The city is a gateway to other parts of Sabah. It was highly unusual for us to have spent 3 whole days there, but now, it was time for us to venture to other places. Our first destination was to […]

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 […]