**Sorry for the no posts! I'm working hard to get back on track!**
So, (this is as far as I got the other day when I realised there were ants all over my keyboard. Nasty.) we left Dublin. I starting packing my bag about 2 hours before we left for the airport and surprisingly didn’t miss the plane or forget anything important. Aideen and Mick met us at the airport which was great. We checked our bags through to Kuala Lumpar (KL from now on) and went for some lunch. Aideen gave me a huge folder filled with strange envelopes. I was wary. She assured me I was safe bringing it onto the plane. I was slightly less wary. She told me not to open it till we were on the main flight. I did as I was told.
We left Dublin in a bit of a blur. Next thing you know we were on the flight to KL after a brief Aer Lingus flight and an uneventful stopover in Manchester Airport. The Malaysian Airlines plane was a monster. The staff were nice and the plane wasn’t too packed, but it was a bit noisy (We were right beside an engine) and I couldn’t hear the films. Disaster! I remembered Aideen’s package and opened it up. It was a load of envelopes numbered 1 to 14 or so. Each one had something cool in it. There was an essentials envelope with chewing gum, headache tablets, tissues, ear plugs, etc. In each of the other there were things like puzzle books, origami instructions (with lots of coloured squares of paper), sketch pads with instructions, a pack of cards(!) with card tricks (one of which is totally cool), instructions on how to aggravate passengers for my own evil entertainment, and a particularly well chosen miniature book of fairy tales which I read with squinted eyes till I passed out. Terrific. Thanks Aideen! I’m still trying to sketch that feckin’ bear. . .
Next thing you know we’re in KL. Out of the airport, deftly avoiding the “Drugs=Death” signs, into the middle of a throng of taxi men pouncing on jet-lagged travellers. We had read our Lonely Planet carefully (Thanks Bren!) and knew to get a pre-paid tickets inside the departure lounge. Off we went. Crazy driver, crazy traffic, lots of palm trees, asleep, awake, traffic jams, mopeds, sleep, awake, hotel. Nice place, checked in, showered, went out. The jet lag was catching up with us at that stage, but we went out for some food, I bought a belt (my last belt deserves an honourable mention because it served me well for the last 10-15 years, but it was damaged beyond repair by my expanding gut. Now that I think about it, I think I had it when I was in school . . . Final resting place of such a faithful accessory?: a bin in KL.), we avoided the hundreds of people on the street pushing foot massages like they were an essential part of everyday life. Can’t remember going to sleep, but I remember waking up at around 4am, with our complimentary breakfast not till 8am. Poxy. The breakfast was great. All kinds of crazy fruits, breads, omelettes, tasty coffee and mild curries (surprisingly good breakfast food). We went to the big towers. Can’t remember what they were called, Petrona I think. Impressive though.
(The Towers!)
We got onto a tour which brought us up onto the bridge between the towers. Real nice views.
(The View From The Towers)
We had some more food in the MASSIVE mall below the towers filled with loads of expensive crap and headed back to the hotel. Later it was off to Chinatown to try and find a Budokan dojo. Alex had contacted one of the members through email, but he couldn’t get through to the instructor (Sensai) to find out exactly where it was in Chinatown. I was dubious about our chances, but Alex was convinced we’d find it. We wandered around for a bit, Alex went to try phoning James (the Sensai) again. There was a crazy looking Hindu temple across the road. I took a picture and this fella stopped to talk about Hinduism and Muslims and travel. He had travelled on ships all over the world, Alex came back out and we had a good chat while waiting for James to meet us.
(The Hindu Temple)
James arrived a few minutes later and we headed off to the dojo for the Budokan class. It was the first time I’d seen a class and it was very interesting. I took some pictures and a video. James asked Alex to show them some stuff he’d picked up in Japan and it all went very well. (Alex had asked me not to cause any trouble by exhibiting some of my own martial arts moves. Apparently the world isn’t ready yet.)
(Practicing Some Moves - Click to Watch Video)
After the class, James and his students (who were very nice) brought us for a meal and afterwards Adrian (one of the students) brought us around a few sights. We talked at a coffee shop for hours about music (Adrian is a musician and is into some bands I love) and Budokan (very interesting). Eventually, I had to call it a night (jet-lag was rearing its ugly head), so we said good luck to Adrian and it was off to sleep again.
(The Lads at The Kuala Lumpar Dojo. James is third from the left and Adrian is second from the right.)
Next day it was up early for breakfast and off to the Airport to catch a plane to Kota Kinabalu. A mere 2 hour flight. No problem. Picked up at the airport by the tour driver and dropped off at the hotel. It was called the Hyatt Regency and it was very nice. It overlooked the sea, but our room overlooked the office block behind. Don’t think we did much the first night. A few beers and some food. I’m going to get fuzzy here, because I don’t really remember the exact days/details, but basically Kota Kinabalu (KK from now on) was very nice. It had waterside restaurants, nice bars and plenty of markets. Probably the best thing we did there was catch the local ferries to some nearby islands. You could hire snorkelling gear and spend the day on these small islands and then get picked up by the boat later. The first island we went to was one of the biggest, called Manokan. It was great. There was a 1KM long walk into the jungle and onto a secluded beach. Alex went for a swim, but I was convinced it was secluded for a reason (i.e. Sharks/Underwater currents/Nuclear testing) and convinced him to come back with me to civilisation.
(Alex – Snorkelling With The Sharks)
(Desert Island Video - Click To Watch)
Safely back with the rest of the tourists, we went snorkelling and it was amazing. Around the pier there was some coral and loads of different types of tropical fish swimming around. Absolutely brilliant. In no time, the day was gone and the boat was back.
(The Monster From the Deep . . . With Pre-Sunburn Legs)
Next day we went to a smaller island (I’ll cal it Manokin, but I can’t remember what it was called) and it was even better. There was a massive area of living coral there. So many fish and beautiful coral formations. We had rented life jackets too, so you could literally just float above the coral for ages watching the fish. The day disappeared again and when we arrived back in KK we went to the local museum which was a little disappointing. The exhibits weren’t great, except for one about some crazy German professor who flew a hang glider off Mount Kinabalu (more about that mountain later). As we were walking around, we started to feel the first touches of sunburn on our heads and the backs of our legs (The exposed parts when we were snorkelling), so we headed to the chemist for some industrial strength After-Sun cream and then back to the hotel. A few hours later, the extent of the sun damage was becoming apparent. Ah well, it wasn’t like we had to get up at 5am to climb Mount Kinabalu (The highest mountain in Eastern Asia). Oh wait, that’s exactly what we had to do. A gruelling mountain climb and a nice bit of sunburn. Foolish, foolish, fools.
