18th
March 2012
We arrived
in Kota Kinabalu just after 6am, and were berthed soon after, in a very good
harbor, giving us an early morning glimpse of the port area.
We were
booked to go on a tour of the Mt Kinabalu National Park, and were required to
be at the assembly area ant 7.10am, so after a quick breakfast we were ready to
go. It turned out to be a popular tour with 4 busloads of passengers
participating.
It took
about 2 hrs to reach the park which is at an elevation of about 1500m, with a
stop along the way to get a view of the summit of Mt Kinabalu, Malaysia’s
highest mountain. Naturally there was a small market near the viewing point,
allowing some needy passengers to part with their hard earned ringgit (or AUD
at not very generous exchange rates).
Mt Kinabalu
Dancers
From there
we headed off to the National Park, where the attractions were twofold, a guided
bushwalk through the rainforest (a bit strenuous for some of the participants),
and a guided tour of the botanical gardens. It was well run and interesting,
but strangely familiar to some of our Australian rainforests.
From there
it was off to lunch, at a local resort. Five star hasn’t yet arrived at Nabalu,
but the meal was tasty, even if it was Chinese food that was a bit overly
westernized for my taste. We had a bit of free time to have a look around,
before heading back to the bus for the trip back to the port.
On the way
back, the “toilet stop” was conveniently at a pottery factory, where those who
had any local currency left, desperately tried to part with it.
It was then
back to the port, where some temporary markets had appeared to get the last
ringgit from the passengers.
The guide
we had for the tour was excellent, and by far the most enjoyable part of the
tour was her commentary and life and attitudes to current issues in Sabah.
We cast off
for our next leg to Hong Kong right on time at 5pm, and had a scenic trip back
out of the harbor.
The latest
contribution to the towel animals is below. He must be running out of ideas
soon !!
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