Borneo/Sabah

For many years we subscribed to the National Geographic magazine and the Canadian Geographic reading about far away places, always dreaming about visiting some of them. One of the places which always held my attention was far off Borneo. Many times, my thoughts dwelt on this country fascinated by it's early history of deep jungle, primitive tribes, blow guns, poison darts, head hunters and cannibals. I wondered how primidive would we still find these people.  What precautions should we be taking before our arrival in this country? Would we find them still aggressive? How difficult  would it be to travel with their poor infrastructure? Borneo is now three countries--Malaysia comprising  of Sabah and Sarawak, the Principality of  Brunei, and Indonesia comprising of Kalimantan.  Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,  was our destination airport. This city is larger then Regina x 4. Sabah  the northern end of Borneo has a population of roughly 3 million. What we found was a thriving laid back culture who are quick to laugh and hard to rile. The population consists of  mostly Muslim Malaysian and Chinese. The  Chinese love to run businesses while the Malaysians want to work in offices. Kota Kinabalu is a modern city with large shopping centres and good highways. A new shopping centre on the north end of the city would rival some of the best we have in Canada. Much as Christmas is one of the biggest retail periods in Canada, Chinese New Years or Gong Xi. Fa Cai is one of this country's, and most of Southeast Asia's big retail time. Over one million Chinese come to this area from China alone--to avoid the cold and take a break from winter. Much like we head to the southern states in the winter, they fill the hotels and resorts.  As a result, this often causes prices to jump during this period. Unless you have made prior bookings for a room to stay at, you may find that you will have to book other accommodation in a less desirable location. They come in such large numbers they often strain the parks they visit.  They travel as big families--grandparents, mum and dad, children, and any other family member who wants to comes along.

This is a country where many people speak English especially those under forty.

We have spent some time visiting some of the sights around the city--the museum, a boat ride across the bay to see the stilt housing on an island shore.  The people living here emigrated from the Philippines during the strife that occurred during the 60's and 70's.  We spent some time in the rural countryside trying to catch a view  of Mount  Kinabalu, soaking our feet in the Poring Hot Springs, and sighting their national flower--the Rafflesia, the biggest flower in the world.  This carnivorous flower is up to a meter in diameter, and about a foot deep.  We were lucky enough to see it while it is blooming.  It takes 15 months to bloom and lasts 7 days.   The  smell of the dead flower is apparently very bad.  We visited a vacation farm for lunch.  People from the city come out on weekends for peace and quiet, and beautiful scenery.  We did finally catch a glimpse of the peak of Mount Kinabalu before the evening clouds wafted in again.