Land Beneath the Winds

We left 3 hours before our domestic flight, to take the bus to the airport, instead of the effient train. Of course, the adventurous route is necessarily fraught with risk. An accident on the highway caused us to miss the flight. If you miss your plane on a budget airlines they make you buy a whole new one, no option of standby and no credit for the flight you missed. Last minute flights are expensive. From the huge line at the ticket sales window I’m sure they got someone else who had missed an earlier flight to buy our seats. After killing 4 hours at Starbucks waiting for the next plane, we were on our way to Kota Kinabalu.

KK is the capital of the state of Sabah in eastern Malaysia. East Malaysia conists of 2 states on the island of Bornea, Sabah being the northernmost. Sabahan (people of Sabah) proudly maintain their individual identity from the rest of the Malaysian federation. I had to get my passport stamped for Sabah even though I had arrived on a domestic flight.

After arriving at the hostel I took a walk around the neighborhood with some fellow team members. We are staying away from the city center so it offered a good opportunity to see a less touristy view of the area. Just behind the hostel is a river and along it a small alley market selling fruits and vegetables. The houses along the river are built high here to protect from the frequent floods. There are some illegal squats along the river. Flooding is controlled by deep storm drain trenches along and below the sidewalks, topped by cement covers, which are often missing, so you have to be careful where you walk because falling in would suck. Speaking of walking, there are small half steps up and down everywhere on the sidewalks. I'm constantly stubbing my toes or getting caught by a sudden drop in level. You have to always look down while shuffling along.