Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, Malaysia

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo Malaysia in the State of Sabah. Sure sounds a lot bigger then it is. The main attraction in this town is nothing. The main thing people come here for is to see and climb Mt. Kinabalu at 13, 450 feet. Couldn’t help seeing it when it wasn’t raining but we were not inclined to climb it.

There is nothing older then from the 1950s. First the Japanese bombed the heck out of it and then we bombed them back even better. You will see absolute squalor and right next to it a big fancy house. These folks do squalor right. Houses rest on sticks and many are falling apart or never were too good to begin with. In this type housing the toilet facilities consist of a board with a hole in it and you can see the water below. What happens in the fancy houses, I have no idea. We did see an awful lot of new construction. This could not have been for poor people as whatever we saw was too large and too well constructed.

We did not get to see the Wild Man of Borneo. All that was available was a zoo. I have seen zoos. Instead we went on a short tour by bus, saw more dancing, except this was Borneo dancing, and then a ride on an old steam engine train on narrow gauge track.

Our guide spoke broken English at best. She kept telling us that everything was wonderful there and all the people were so happy especially the ones living in the filth. This was a real chairman Mao set up. There is no crime, no drugs, and all you have to do to get anything you want is to just ask the government. There is no unemployment. The peop0le living in the jungle don’t need money because they can just pick the food off trees. I guess that is where you would go if you do not have a job. Everyone gets along perfectly with everyone else and there is no social or racial problems even though there are so many different religions and races, except all the big houses and cars belong to those darn Chinese who are always rich. She does caution, if you do not hold on to your purse with both hands it will probably be stolen as will your wallet if left in your pants without your hand holding it tightly. But there is no crime.

It was interesting to look at once but I wouldn’t chance living here for more then a day or so. First we took a ride on a well air conditioned bus for about 45 minutes. We were taken along the ocean front to their most beautiful beach. It looks like another one of their rice paddies of mud going off to the ocean. The bus drove over this beach without making a mark in the concrete like mud.

Next we had just what I needed. Another kaka May Me native dance. This one was the pits. There weren’t even any real good uniforms. The men’s hats were cardboard. The best part was the intermissions. During these costume changes, a young fellow would demonstrate some of the local pass times. They were done with balls but I don’t thnk you could them sports. The way this kid was doing them it should have been called a comedy. He handled these balls the way Bobbi carries dishes. Both land on the floor far more often then where they are supposed to go. Thankfully it didn’t last long and then we went on to the important part.

Surprise, surprise. They had junk to sell us. Can you imagine my amazement? And if there is someone selling junk, what does Bobbi do? She buys anything. Muriel does try to keep up this tradition too. I am now the proud owner of some imitation, hand painted pieces of cloth. Bobbi says they are real. I guess you can never have too many rags. They gave us free soft drinks for buying junk for far too much money.

Next it was back to the bus for a ride down a far too narrow and bumpy road, way inland. The farming was mostly rice paddies but was interesting. One place would be a roof without most of the walls while next door there could be a nice house with a satellite dish and an air conditioner. Finally we arrived at the train station.

The steam engine was much smaller then the ones I remember seeing when I was a kid but it was not tiny. The cars all had tables with booth like seating at either end. You could be traveling backwards or forwards depending the direction the train went. Being a backward country, the train was set up backward. The front of the engine faced the cars as if were going to push them. However it went backward and pulled the cars. This faked us out as we were in the car next to the engine. All the windows were open and we got to suck on sulfur and cinders. They had given us fans woven out of straw and there were electric fans running in the cars. It was not at all too hot, as we were warned it would be.

We had been on an old narrow gauge steam train in France about three years ago. It had no suspension and wooden benches to sit on. It killed you after about 10 minutes. This train had padded seats and floppy suspension. It flopped along as if you were bouncing on a bad mattress but did not kill the posterior. It did almost kill Bobbi however. Shortly after the train started to move, something stung or bit her in the back of the neck. Probably a blow dart or spear I’m sure. It does look worse the next morning. I may have to have her neck amputated.

The train ride was interesting and I enjoy old trains. The only problem was the engineer. This guy was way too horny. He didn’t let that steam whistle alone for a moment. As we rode along the people on the sides would all wave and many children would come running. They did seem to be friendly people.

After about an hour we met the bus at the station and went for a ride through town before returning to the ship.

When we got back to our room there was a message waiting on the phone. A friend on the ship had called and asked to be contacted. When Bobbi saw her later she told her that she had to go on a tour alone as her husband would not leave the ship. She said they saw a sign where we walk out to the dock. It said they would not allow you to enter the port if you had an Israeli passport or an Israel stamped passport. I never saw the letter and I do not know if this is true. Bob Kramer has Israel stamps and had no problem and later when I saw Nick, the guy in question, he told me he didn’t get off because he didn’t feel too well. Maybe I’ll find out more later.

Wild Man of Borneo Sherm Out

(Posted on behalf of Sherman Rootberg)