Kota Kinabalu

Fri 15/05

Sabah starts to look a little more interesting on the ride into KK, the road winding up over the Crocker Range and then back down to the coast, where Mt Kinabalu dominates the horizon.



We’ve been thinking about maybe staying in KK for a month and renting an apartment, but have no idea how to go about this. So its a big surprise when, about 2 minutes after parking the bikes in the backpacker district, we meet a guy called Jack who has an apartment for rent. Or, that is to say he’ll move in with his sister next door and rent out his 3 bedroom apartment to us for RM500 per month. We arrange to meet him tonight and check in at a backpackers.

So far Lucas has managed to avoid sesame, but the law of averages and the fact that KK has a big Chinese population mean that it was bound to happen. We race out of the restaurant amidst utter confusion, Ann throwing money at the owner who won’t accept it (he thinks he’s poisoned us or something), to the backpackers to recover just in time to meet Jack, who’s taking us to his place.

Jack, who has recently split up with his wife, seems to be leading a bachelor’s life and so his apartment lacks a fridge, washing machine and a stove. Which is a shame, because otherwise its not bad and we’re pleasantly surprised with what RM500 per month buys.

Sat 16/05
Today we’ve arranged to meet Terry to talk about tyres, so eventually he blusters in with several Kiwis in tow, invites us back to his place later, draws us a mud map of directions and then blusters back out again.

We’d read a horror story about Terry’s driveway, a 5 kilometre gravel hill climb of a road, so approach it with a fair amount of respect. Luckily the author of the story was a bit of a wuss, because the road really isn’t that bad.

Terry is still in tour guide mode when we arrive, so we sit down and chat with Bryan, 5-time British motocross champion, about the dos and don’ts of riding on gravel and are reminded again about how little we really know about any of this stuff. What are you guys going to do when This happens and how have you prepared for That? He asks. “Um... we really didn’t think too much about any of those things.” we reply sheepishly.

There’s a party at Terry’s tonight, and the closest we’ll get to the Hilton on this trip is when his son Ben picks us up from out front. Its an interesting mix of people at the party, but the main attraction for us is what looks like (and actually turns out to be) real food, and are they bottles of Wolf Blass Shiraz? Our reaction to the potato salad gets a good laugh.

Sun 17/05
We’ve heard of another possible house for rent (everything seems word of mouth here), but in the meantime go to check out a place called Farida’s B&B, which is a few Ks out of town and has parking for the bikes.



On the way back we’re pulled over by an overly officious motorbike cop doing license checks. Seems they breed them the same here as they do in Oz. The whole thing seems pretty stupid. What do these letters mean? “Oh, well this one means I can fly a 747 officer.” Ok fine, you can go.

Mon 18/05
Farida’s seems to have a great vibe and her daughter Sophie is falling over herself to make us feel welcome, so we decide to stay here for the month and forget about renting the house. Its kind of a relief to have a place to call home after a few months on the road and we seem to click with everyone here, because pretty soon there’s talk of a G&T night tonight.



G&T night turns out to be G&T and caviar and all kinds of other decadent stuff we’d only dreamt of for months. KK is turning out all right...

Tue 19/05
The gastronomic tour of KK continues with Vegemite on toast for breakfast (which Ann unpatriotically turns her nose up at). We’re wondering what we’ve done to deserve all this generosity, but will gratefully accept it while it comes our way.

We also found a good restaurant across the road the other night and so go back there again for lunch. This will be the first of many times over the coming month when Zuraidah either refuses our money, or only lets us pay half the bill. What are people on here?

Wed 20/05
Not that we’re huge fans, but we finally get to see Star Trek today with no interruptions at a massive shopping mall called 1Borneo, the sound on par with any modern cinemaplex. There’s a sense in Malaysia though, that whilst the money, the will and the expertise (imported?) to build world class facilities and infrastructure are here, maintenance of those facilities is poor. Perhaps, as with the roads, the materials are substandard and so deteriorate more quickly. Perhaps, as we keep hearing, the Malays are an inherently lazy people and so farm out these jobs to Indonesians and Philippinos. Not a very nice thing to say, but we’re not passing judgement, just passing on what people tell us.



Later, while checking out the impressive mosque, it seems we’ve been noticed by two guys in a 4x4 who pull over to say hi. Matt and Massud own big bikes (a status symbol here) and so invite us for a drink and chat about bikes and stuff. We’ve said before what a massive pain in the ass these bikes can be, but now that we’ve had time to relax and reflect realise what a great way they are to meet people. These guys would never have stopped for your average garden variety orang putihs.

Farida and Arifen take us for drinks to his club, which is the oldest in KK and still has a slightly colonial feel about it. These two are unbelievably generous and seem to run the B&B for their own enjoyment, rather than a money making concern.

Thu 21/05
The bored looking staff at the fully staffed Rafflesia Centre at Crocker Range NP tell us we can’t walk in the park without a guide, and since there aren’t any around, turn us away. We’d been told otherwise, so make a few sarcastic comments about petty bureaucratic procedures (having just ridden 50Ks of mountain roads to get here), before turning around and heading back to a butterfly place we’d seen on the way up. It’d looked like a tourist trap, but we didn’t want to waste the day.

And... was actually pretty good after all.

Sat 23/05
The road up to Mt Kinabalu the next day highlights the driving mentality of your average Malaysian male. Its a car driving nation and so motorbike riders are generally treated as second class citizens. A bit like Oz actually. If you’re riding a big bike you’re expected to ride like a maniac, otherwise you’ll find a big black dual cab Hilux with a chrome grill driven by a test pilot about a foot from your rear wheel. Dual cab Hiluxes are the local weapon of choice, so its inadvisable to pass one unless you want a drag race. Its the penis thing again. Sigh...



Mt Kinabalu has some spectacular unspoiled beauty and we fart around on one of the trails most of the day, completely underestimating its steepness. It obviously rains a lot up here, it is a rainforest after all. But our rain jackets are a useless defence against the tropical (equatorial?) onslaught that hits in the afternoon. We trudge back to the bike soaked to the skin, freezing, and dreading the ride back down the mountain.

Tue 26/05
Someone mentions that Tenom is an interesting place to check out, but its a shame the old steam train is still out of action, having plunged off the tracks during a landslide a few years ago.



After visiting the agricultural park, we ride back to town and the polis station to park the bike for the night. Bizarrely, one of the cops there greets us with Where’s the other bike? “Huh?” we reply, confused. What happened to the other one? This is getting a little weird, until it turns out he’s actually read the article about us in the paper a few weeks ago and doesn’t realise that generally we ride 2-up on days like this. Sounds kind of corny, but we meet a lot of people like this guy, who dream of doing the bike thing.

Fri 29/05
Swine flu is front page news here, as it probably is everywhere. What with the financial crisis no longer at crisis proportions, the media obviously need something else to feed on. We wonder why people seem incapable of thinking for themselves and don’t treat this scaremongering with the contempt it deserves. Of course, we wondered the same thing with the financial crisis...



Sat 30/05
Up to Terry’s again for some brake pads, the only such rear pads in existence in Sabah, possibly the whole of Malaysia. On the way up Ann, who’d been complaining about the steering on her bike, loses it on the gravel. After checking the bike over later, its discovered the steering head bearings are knackered. Hard to believe on a bike that’s done 20000Ks, but seemingly a common problem on these 650s.

Sun 31/05
Believe it or not, neither of us has changed a set of brake pads in our lives, so we look at the little ones in the box with dread. Sure you can laugh, its all a learning experience right? Easy, when you know how.



Wed 03/06
Fitting new steering head bearings on the other hand is something we aren’t geared up for. At the workshop sits a brand new F800GS (basically the new version of our bikes), which is getting farkled up with all kinds of bits and pieces. We’re told the owner paid RM80000 for the bike, which translates roughly to AU$28500! This is almost the price we paid for both our bikes in Oz and is due to the ridiculous tax slapped on all foreign imports into Malaysia.

Thu 04/06


Thanks for the tyre Terry. Seriously, from the bottom of our hearts. However, there’s a good reason the online biker community refer to Bridgestone Trailwings as “Death Wings”, as Lucas discovers soon after having the new rear fitted. Possibly its a bad combination with the front Metzler, or maybe it needs running in, but man is it awful. The rear of the bike is all over the place and squirms badly under braking, the front now tracking every little imperfection in the road. On gravel, the bald Metzler had more grip. Scary stuff. But hey, its a new tyre. Woohoo.

Fri 05/06
Terry and Rose’s is a palace, something straight out of Grand Designs, and now the Kiwis are gone they invite us to stay over. Its high up in the hills of KK, the view from the infinity pool looking straight out over the city and the harbour. Someone makes the comment that today’s sunset is just “average”.

Sat 06/06
Bryan bangs on at every opportunity about standing up on the pegs (we swear he’d ride from Brisbane to Sydney standing up), so we give it a try on some gravel roads today. We can see what he’s on about (he’s the man after all), but still don’t trust our skills with the weight of the bikes.

Sun 07/06
Kota Belud supposedly has one of the better markets in Sabah, so we find ourselves wandering through the stalls this morning, saying selemat pagi to the locals and looking for photo opportunities. The markets are a bit of a disappointment however, and while we’re thinking about cutting our losses and maybe heading for the beach a young guy approaches Lucas and asks if he’d like to take some photos of a bride. “Sure, why not?” he replies.



So we follow Anol to a little bridal shop where, oddly in our eyes, both the bride and the groom are being fitted up for the wedding. After a while we thank him and are about to head off, when his uncle suggests that maybe we’d like to come to the wedding as well. So Ann hops into one of the bridal Hiluxes, which heads slowly through town and out to a little village, with Lucas following behind on the bike.

The wedding is in two parts. 1st the traditional western (Seventh Day Adventist) ceremony is held, followed by lunch. It seems like the whole village is here and while we sit back and wait for the lunch queue to dissipate one of the family invites us to eat with them at the main table. Pretty soon the karaoke fires up and everyone, except us of course, is clamouring for their turn. There are only so many Tom Jones impersonators we can take, so while waiting for the wedding couple to return for the 2nd ceremony we wander off to check out the gongs and the football match in the backyard.



After a while the bridal party returns, dressed in traditional Malay ceremonial costumes. This ceremony is much more relaxed and informal and the bride and groom are actually smiling now. Its been a great day.



Wed 10/06
Another day, another beach. Life’s tough.

On the way back we stop for lunch at a little roadside warung and chat for several hours with the school teacher and her friend who run it. We’ve done this sort of thing before, and its a real luxury to have the time. People often ask us what our “program” is today. Answering truthfully can sometimes get us some incredulous looks.



Fri 12/06
Farida has another place at Kuala Penyu, a sleepy seaside town a couple of hours from KK. All the “boys” are here today (the Filippino and Indonesian servants), doing odd jobs around the place or even just carrying Arifen’s luggage. The whole man-servant thing seems kind of weird to us, but its how they do things here, and keeps people employed. Some, even legally. There’s a massive population of illegal immigrants in Sabah, but since industries such as palm oil now depend on them, the government faces a bit of a dilemma.

Mon 15/06


We have another chance encounter with Massud and are invited back to his place for dinner (read feast) with his two wives and families. “How do you manage two families Massud?” we ask later after everyone else has cleared off. Well... sometimes things not perfect. he replies.

Wed 17/06
The trouble with staying anywhere for too long is the goodbyes. Its a gloomy morning which promises rain and as we ride off from Farida’s we wonder why we’re leaving at all.



Pretty soon its bucketing down, so our concentration is on the road and trying to pass the countless trucks which clog it. It seems to be an unwritten law in this part of the world that all trucks must stay under 50kph. Sure, some are clapped out wrecks or so overweight that they can’t go any faster, but most are just plain slowwww...

The whole Sabah-Sarawak-Brunei-Sarawak-Brunei-Sarawak thing is a tedious 10 checkpoint affair, so we decide to split it and stay in Limbang on the way through. We have no idea of visa costs in Brunei, but because we’re only transiting decide not to buy any Brunei dollars beforehand. Surely there’ll be a money changer at the border. Oops.

After a polite discussion with Brunei immigration officials, who will only accept their own currency, we turn around and ride about 10ks back to the Sarawak border, which is really just a ferry crossing. Ann then proceeds to hop back on the ferry and knock on car windows until someone kindly changes up enough ringgit for the visa.

We ride into Limbang late in the day, an awful knocking noise emanating from the bowels of Lucas’ bike. Sounds kind of terminal. We kind of hope it isn’t...

Greasing the Palms

Mon 04/05

We’re not the first people to attempt loading two big bikes onto the bow of an oversized speedboat. However its our first time and its terrifying.

The brief few hours we spend in Nunukan are a crazy rush around the docks to arrange transport for us and the bikes to Tawau (Sabah, Malaysia). We’re short of money, the cost is a ripoff (a one hour trip to Tawau is 2/3 the cost of the 32hr ferry from Sulawesi), customs and immigration procedures are a joke and totally confusing. Even extracting the bikes from the ferry at low tide means negotiating a steep, slippery steel ramp with zero ground clearance at the top. We argue repeatedly with the owner of the speedboat that this is all too rushed and dangerous, but he uses selective hearing and selective English to completely ignore us. Its only 8.30am. We’re under the impression that the boat goes at 2pm. What’s the rush?

In hindsight, the rushing made things so much easier. If we’d had time to stop and think about what we were doing, the whole experience would have been far worse.



Ann, who later admits she couldn’t bear to watch the whole process, looks on while Lucas rides the first bike down the Wooden Plank Of Death. This is a plank of wood which is gradually lowered off the edge of the jetty down to the deck of the speedboat. Maybe 10-15 ft. Maybe a 50 or 60 degree slope. Maybe a few years off his life. There’s a rope looped through the back wheel, but he doesn’t know this. He just feels like he’s sitting on top of, potentially, a very expensive roller-coaster. The bike sways in mid-air. There’s a shout and a tap on his right hand, but somehow the signal from his brain gets lost halfway. Releasing that brake lever will be like prising away someone’s dead hand. More shouting. Slowly the bike inches downwards. One of the crew tells him later that his left leg is shaking uncontrollably. Inch by agonising inch until the bike is on the deck. Everyone is shouting and laughing and patting each other on the back. Lucas is slumped over the tank bag, quietly having a heart attack.

Repeat steps above.

Meanwhile Ann is hurriedly sorting out the carnets. What’s the rush?

Eventually we’re hustled on board and realise that we’ve been completely oblivious to the fact that everyone else has already boarded and the boat is ready to go. There’s a shout from the jetty as the boat starts to pull away. Its an immigration official who has realised, amidst all the chaos, that our passports still haven’t been stamped. Crazy...

The adrenaline has started to wear off as we reach Tawau and when we realise getting the bikes off the boat is going to be a completely mental see-saw affair, put our foot down and refuse to budge until someone sorts out something a little more intelligent. After pointing out that the jetty next door is exactly the same height as the prow of the speedboat and that we could almost ride the bikes straight up the slanting deck onto the dock, the captain agrees and manoeuvres the boat around. It still takes 6 guys to manhandle the bikes onto the dock and Ann sheds a tear of relief when they’re finally on dry land.

We finally escape customs sometime in the afternoon and after riding around Tawau in futility looking for a hotel with parking, stop by the side of the road hot, tired and fed up. It seems to be the crowning glory in nearly 3 days of gruelling travel. Every hotel in Indonesia has parking. What’s going on here? Everyone is driving cars, not scooters. Where do they park them?

A man approaches us and asks if we need help. After two months in Indonesia we’re naturally wary. Does this guy want our money? Is he looking for a commission from some fancy hotel? He suggests we should park the bikes at the polis station and says he’ll take us and our luggage to a hotel nearby. Huh? The polis? He wants to drive us across town in his car? Is this guy pulling our leg?

Ann must see something in this guy that makes her trust him, so eventually convinces a reluctant Lucas to go along with the plan.

Anthony turns out to be some sort of guardian angel, sorting us out with the polis and the hotel and even taking us on a guided tour of Tawau. We even find out a few days later that he’s called the polis each day to make sure the bikes are ok.



Welcome to Malaysia.

Tue 05/05
Tawau has real supermarkets.

In hindsight we’re not sure what we were expecting, but we must have looked pretty silly wandering along the shelves going “Ooh! They have dairy products here. Wow! That looks like real bread.”



Customs have screwed up the carnet, so we head down there to sort things out before getting a taxi out to the Indonesian consulate to get a new visa. This will literally take the rest of the day. As anyone who has experienced an Indo consulate will attest, their system is incredibly inefficient and so we sit around all afternoon with about 200 others staring at the walls. Each time someone is called to the front counter its like they’ve just won lotto. When we finally get our passports back at around 5 o’clock, there are still over a hundred people left sitting around. Guess we’re a couple of the lucky ones...

06/05 – 07/05
Ann has come down with a cold so we decide to spend a couple more lazy days in Tawau. The place is easy to take and in some ways reminds us of Oz. People are friendly, but respect our personal space and don’t stare at us. The only Hello Misters we get are from Indos selling cigarettes by the side of the road. It gives us a good chuckle now.

Strangely the place is infested with rats. Its like nothing we’ve ever seen, so one afternoon decide to sit by the waterfront and watch them.



Its also kind of strange seeing such well fed people everywhere, and KFC seems to be the evil western fast food of choice, so one night we sit upstairs in air-conditioned comfort and make use of their free WiFi. What luxury.

Fri 08/05
The ride to Sandakan is an eye-opener. We’re expecting to see some palm oil plantations, but are unprepared for the scale of the operations here. From Tawau to Sandakan its palm palm palm as far as the eye can see. 50 years ago this was all rich virgin rainforest. Now, notwithstanding the fact that Sabah is promoted as some sort of eco wonderland, the forests are a shadow of their former selves. After awhile we tune out to the monotony of the landscape and the ride becomes another exercise in A to B. We have no photos to show for any of this. What’s the point? In case you’re curious, here’s one someone else took.



Otherwise there are plenty more here.

Being wise to the polis trick, we sort out parking for the bikes and then head to the centre of town to find a hotel. As we’re preparing to drag our luggage up to the backpackers’, Lucas is literally tapped on the shoulder and some guy asks if we’ve been interviewed yet. “Um, well no, actually we haven’t.” he says jokingly, before realising he’s actually talking to a journalist from the Sabah Times.

Later that night we do an interview with James and have a long chat with him, learning all kinds of interesting things about Sandakan and Sabah in the process. You can read the article here.

Sat 09/05
Its Wesak Day today. We find this out after trudging up to the Buddhist temple on top of the hill.



Sandakan is eerily dead at night, but has a sort of run-down charm and we’re feeling relaxed so decide to stay another day.

Sun 10/05
We have a feeling someone told us the Sepilok orangutan sanctuary was a waste of time and to see the one in Sarawak instead. But we can’t remember for sure, so rush off to see the morning feeding.

There are about 200 other camera-toting tourists there, and in the zoo-like atmosphere the orangutans, which are a long way from the viewing platform, disinterestedly pick at their bananas. Ironically the light makes it impossible to get decent photos. This must be “the waste of time” one then... Still, we decide to make the most of it and do a hike through the jungle, picking off leeches as we go.



Later that day when James drops by to give us the paper and show us the article, we’re stunned to see our photo on the front page. Its obviously a slow news day in Sabah.

Mon 11/05
We decide to spend another day in Sandakan. After all, we’re local celebrities right?

After wandering around town for a while like we own the place, we visit the cemetery (Sandakan is where the infamous death marches occurred during WWII), afterwards deciding to treat ourselves to a movie (more decadence). Unfortunately Star Trek is interrupted after 15 minutes by another of Sandakan's regular power cuts. Its just as well really. The sound in the theatre is the worst we’ve heard and at times we could swear Spok is speaking in Bahasa.

Tue 12/05
We keep hearing about a “new” road to Kudat, but can’t find it on any maps, so turn to Google Earth for the coordinates which we plug into the GPS.

The road itself is more palm, with occasional glimpses of 200ft trees fringing the edges of pockets of rainforest. These pockets are like little self-contained flat-earth worlds which end abruptly in clear fell. The orangutans have been the highest profile casualties in this systematic destruction, but thousands of species of plants, animals and nomadic humans have all fallen over the edge.

The new road deteriorates badly near its end, a victim to poor construction methods. It seems Malaysia shares more with Indonesia than just a border. We keep hearing of the corruption that’s rife here and the road, which in theory probably had an adequate budget for construction, was instead built using the money left over after various people pocketed “their share”.

Wed 13/05
We’re a bit disillusioned with Borneo, so the tip, which is a beautifully paved car park complete with huge bronze monument seems kind of “So what?” to us.



However, we’ve been told the beaches are pretty special, so wander off down various dirt roads looking for some.

Thu 14/05
The quest for the perfect beach continues. Not easy when most of the good ones are hidden down steep gravel roads. We manage to find one, spectacular in isolation, spoiled a little by rubbish, but still beautiful. The sandflies eventually chase us away, and after two days accumulating some really wicked bites, decide that tomorrow we’ll head to Kota Kinabalu...