Kota Kinabalu is the capitol of the Malaysian State of Sabah. It was our first stop on a near 2 month stay in Borneo. We spent 10 days (4 - 14 Jan) and Kris had plenty of work to do so I got out and played. I spent 2 full days (6 dives) around the islands that form the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park located just off shore. The islands are a popular local dive spot and a big tourist attraction for all the pale westerners to turn themselves into crispy critters on the beach. The viz was 10 - 15m and the water around 27oC. I saw pipefish, giant cuttle fish, green sea turtle and lionfish among the highlights. I had noted the bad smell of my wetty, the poor viz and coral bleaching & rubble but figured the recent and regular flooding of the rivers and high water temperatures were perhaps to blame. I found out later the viz was litterally shit: the city has a bad sewage system so it all floats straight out past the islands! Hmmm I feel for the divers that work there every day.
Speaking of sewage the Malay toilet (or Tandas) can't be left without special mention. My first visit to a pulic loo left me in a total state of shock. This link http://puffergal.tripod.com/2004/250104.html explains it all beautifully but basically I paid my entry fee and was confronted with a dunny set in the ground and a hose to clean off with so without any tissues in my bag I did my best: overspray is inevitable for the unpracticed (even after growing up in the bush) drip dried and used the hose to wash my feet!
My other KK activity was to climb Mount Kinabalu. This was something we both wanted to do but with time running short and limited booking it conspired that Kris stayed in KK and I did the climb without him. I hooked up with a nice dutch couple and a pair of swedish brothers my age. Both pairs were on a big backpacking journeys. The dutch couple were fitness instructors and the brothers were just mad and I let them convince me into taking the harder Mesilau trail with them as a guide is compulsory and it is cheaper to hire one as a group. WELL it was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and that is no exaggeration. The total treck is 20km and starts at around 1800m climbing up to 4100m. The mesilau trail is more recent and is mainly used by researchers with only 150 tourists passing on it a month compared to about the same figure daily on the regular track. It was very beautiful (mountain squirrels, great views and pitcher plants a plenty) and worth the long steep climb. It rained the entire time and went from a balmy 25oC at the start to 10oC when we reached the upper camp for dinner and a brief sleep before getting up at 2am to start the climb to Low's Peak to be there for sunrise. It was a grey and rainy affair but as you can see I was just so elated to have made it up there it didn't matter! My legs were so exhausted and I had a cold so I spent our last couple of days in KK watching midday movies and limping around (actually barely moving!) but it was nice to do nothing for a little while!