By boat via Labuan island to Kota Kinabalu

Sunday 17 August 2008

Limbang to Labuan Island to Kota Kinabalu

At the wharf we found our somewhat streamlined rust bucket waiting to take us downriver and across a bay to Labuan Island.

I was up at 06h00 and had a shave with my newly acquired razor. What luxury - my first shave in 5 days. Having removed all the fuzz, I’m sure I’m a better individual to look at. Breakfast consisted of rice porridge, sliced melon, nasi goreng, small chicken sausages cut into 2cm lengths, toast and a terribly sweet bright yellow toast topper masquerading as pineapple jam or, as an alternative, bright red goo trying to be strawberry jam.

On arrival at the wharf we found our somewhat streamlined rust bucket waiting to take us downriver and across a bay to Labuan Island. This was a very noisy two hour trip in a boat that pushed along at quite a rate of knots. Now our tour notes indicate that we would spend some time in Labuan before we travelled on to Kota Kinabalu or, as it’s known here, KK. A seafood lunch was suggested - this is another place famous for its seafood. But… as earlier mentioned, things can change very quickly when you least expect it in these parts and that’s exactly what happened on arrival in Labuan.

Being a bit laid back we hadn’t, as a group, sharpened our elbows for getting off our boat so we let the locals fight to get off first. By the time we finally got off, our bags, which had ridden on the roof of the boat, had already been loaded onto the roof of another rust bucket standing at the adjacent wharf. We were soon hassled onto this boat, a move not resisted as none of us wanted to be parted from our bags. You know, you become quite attached to your bags when you are away from home and definitely so when there is still another week of the trip to go. No sooner had we found seats, scattered all over the place as we were the last to board, than we were pulling away for the wharf and heading for Kota Kinabalu. So much for enjoying a seafood lunch! So much for Labuan! And so much for relieving our bladders! This was not a good change of tour plans!

This fast rust bucket, albeit a bit newer boat than the last one, will take another 3 hours to reach our destination so I might as well make the most of the time to write up my diary notes and let you ‘enjoy’ the experience with me!

Firstly let’s watch the cockroaches! There are just as many cockroaches scurrying around the floor and walls as on the last boat. They appear from the smallest of cracks only to disappear into another one a few metres away. No, I’m not hungry anymore!

There’s a movie on that has two sets of sub-titles and a dialogue in a third language – none of which are English. Even so, the storyline is so weak that it is easy to follow the plot. I might have missed some of the nuances, but then again, looking at those around me who can understand the dialogue or can read the sub-titles, I doubt there were any to be missed. Somebody has just gone passed selling sealed plastic bags of prawn crackers. They look good but would not help one’s thirst. One wouldn’t want to need a drink as it may require a trip to the loo… and I shudder to think what it might be like.

Later:

We arrived in KK much earlier than anticipated, of course, so no-one from the next tour company that was to take over from Ricky was there to meet us. This situation required Ricky to take charge, a task he did not do at all well. He had a mobile phone and some phone numbers but none of them worked… each number seemed to have a different number of digits. The fact that it was Sunday afternoon probably didn’t help either. Between all of us in the group, there were three other mobiles…and none of these worked here. Arriving in KK meant that we had moved out of Sarawak and into Sabah.

Eventually, we persuaded Ricky to hire a couple of taxis and at least get us to our hotel. The availability of loos, food and water were of paramount importance to us all. Most of the group were happy to share the cost of the taxis. However, if in a situation like this the group gives in, nothing will be done to help improve the situation for the next group. So Ricky paid and it is up to him to get his money back from the tour company. I also think that he should have used his mobile to ring KK from Limbang when he knew we were on an earlier boat than the one we were scheduled to arrive on…. and a good tour director would never have allowed us to miss out on lunch and facilities in the first place. After years of being a tour director, I know how important food and facilities are to groups!

Finally, we checked into the Beverly Hotel which is towards one end of this sprawling city. At least the phones in the hotel worked and the new guide turned up 30 minutes or so later. Ricky was paid off with only the recommended tip, from me at least. He had done his job, but only just.

As we still hadn’t had any lunch, we decided that it was best to just ‘drop-our-bags-in-the-room’ and head out for a meal. The Waterfront was just a 20 minute walk away and by the time we got there, it was nearly 17h00. We looked for a likely looking place to eat and chose Toscani’s.

After selecting a table on a deck overlooking the water, we slaked our thirst with a beer. Half way through the drink, the hunger pangs took over so a menu was called for. I decided on Grilled Tiger Prawns with Pasta. Wow, what a great meal! Were the prawns giant prawns or small crayfish? The other choices around the table looked equally as good. At last we all felt in a better frame of mind.

To while away the time waiting for the sun to set, a couple more beers were required. Then, as the sun slowly sank below the horizon, the fishing fleet, which was anchored in front of us, came to life and provided our entertainment. Finally, as they headed out for a night’s sieving of the sea, we headed for a supermarket to wander along its aisles… we were in search of some goodies for our next challenging trek - up Mt. Kinabalu. Sultanas and peanuts seemed a good choice… easy to carry, easy to eat, nutritious. Back in the hotel room I mixed these two purchases together, only to find that I had missed the small print on the label on the peanuts. It stated quite clearly that these peanuts were garlic flavoured. Now, I do like garlic, but not with sultanas. So I’ll leave the ‘mix’ discreetly in the room when I leave in the morning.

Now, I hope, for my first good night’s sleep in a week.