Asia2004 - Mike's Journal

Mike's Journal

24/25 Nov, Poring / Kota Kinabalu

Wednesday, November 24 – Laban Rata – Low’s Peak (4095 m) – Poring Hot Springs

Summitted 5:30 AM, saw sun come up over Borneo. Awesome, best told in pictures.


Mike at the summit


At the summit sign...


Sunset hits the plateau

Thursday, November 25 – Poring Hot Springs – Kota Kinabalu.

It’s been suggested by some in our party that Poring Hot Springs should be re-christened, by changing the letter “P” to “B”. A bit harsh, I think, although the hot springs themselves were a bit of a disappointment. One large communal pool, filled with cloudy, lukewarm water that stank of sulfide, and a lot of small personal baths that wouldn’t fill for some reason. Still there were other at least mildly interesting activities to pursue. After sorting and repacking luggage, we headed for the resort restaurant.

The meal was memorable on a few counts. Chris ordered a “large coffee” which came out in a brim-full, 4 liter steel pot more suited to serving at a large busy restaurant or wedding reception. Furthermore, the massive pot wouldn’t pour well, so any attempt to transfer coffee to cup resulted in great gushes of coffee sloshing out onto the table, the ground, the pourer, and sometimes bystanders. Despite all our efforts, we only managed to consume about 1/10 of this monster coffee pot. Chris made an abortive effort to take some with him in an empty 1 L water bottle (mucho spillage here) but this got abandoned in a garbage can later, after an unsuccessful attempt to get a booth attendant to “hold onto it for a while”.


Mike about to order the "American Breakfast"

I had no such “serving size for people with severe eating disorders” incidents. My “American Breakfast” consisted of two runny, half-congealed fried eggs, revolting beans, and a vile chicken sausage. Or, they said it was chicken. At least the toast was OK. Lesson: never eat anything called “American” in a predominantly Muslim country these days.

After a pretty neat canopy walk (with more painful stair-climbing) we hitched a minibus to Ranau – a ride interrupted when the driver stopped at his home (?) for 10 minutes, apparently to retrieve his squash racket. At Ranau, we got the public minibus to KK.

An interesting ride, with backpacks on our knees and our legs crunched into weird positions. At one point, it was pouring rain and water started leaking in on us through a crack in the ceiling. I had to hold my hands under the stream of water, directing it back and away from my head and bag. Thereby, we managed to arrive in KK not completely soaked.

First stop in KK was the Pizza Hut at Centrepoint Mall. Pizza Hut in Malaysia is fascinating. The menu is completely in English. The employees shout phrases at each other in English (“drinks up”; “food up”). Yet the all apparently don’t actually speak or understand English at all. When Dups ordered an off-the-menu item – a glass of water – he was met with a blank stare and a confused grin. The guy then gave our order to the kitchen and disappeared. So there was noone to actually bring us our food. The multiple employees were busy i) playing cards ii) playing with scissors iii) opening and closing the door for patrons iv) sleeping to actually bring our food, clearly visible on the kitchen shelf, to the table. It’s kind of nice to see that Malaysian teenage fast food employees are as comprehensively incompetent and undedicated to their jobs as their North American counterparts.

After checking in to the City Park Inn, we dropped off laundry, chatted with a local retired doctor about the past and present of Sabah, and went back to the mall to do some email checking. While searching for the internet café, a cowboy-hat-wearing Myrick led the rest of us trooping through the women’s undergarments section of a high-end clothing store, while the young, attractive Malay sales girls and customers stared and tittered nervously at us. Short of attending a funeral wearing matching pink bunny suits, I can’t imagine how four scruffy men could do anything to stand out more.

Evening ended with an underwhelming meal at the waterfront, followed by (bunk) bed.

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