Kota Kinabalu

B\It was hot and muggy Sunday when we stepped off the gangway onto the shore of Malaysia at Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Saba State. The temperature was in the 90s and with high humidity, even worse that August in Maryland. Kota Kinabalu is on the island of Borneo and Malaysia is one of the three countries on Borneo, the third largest island in the world. The southern part of the Island is part of Indonesia and the Sultanate of Brunei is the third country. We had decided to go into the town on our own in the morning and take a tour in the afternoon. The ship's shuttle bus dropped us off in the center of town near to what is known as the Philippines Market or the Handicraft Market. We took a walk through the market just browsing. While it was called the handicraft market, there was mostly food for sale. We didn't stay long because the place smelled bad. We had been told there was a place called the Sunday Market and we actually set out there. We had heard that one could buy anything there and that turned out to be true. Sunday market was a street market and was probably about a quarter of a mile long. We found everything from puppies to electronic equipment as well as all kinds of foodstuffs.

We wondered around in the town for a couple of hours and then took the shuttle back to the ship for a quick bite of lunch before our scheduled tour. The bus was air conditioned which made our afternoon much more comfortable. We were taken out along the seashore to visit the sights. There is a building here that is circular in shape built around a central column with steel girders used to support the various floors. It is one of only a few such in the world. Then we drove to the local university, really quite impressive, and to various other sights. The road we were on was built on reclaimed land and we saw some remains of communities that actually consisted of houses built on stilts. We had heard of them but never seen them before. After which we drove to the local museum where we toured primitive huts. There was a man dressed as a warrior who demonstrated the use of a blow gun. As you probably know, the darts would have been tipped with poison and would have been fatal if someone were struck by one. The good thing about Borneo is that they actually gave up head-hunting in 1942, so our pretty little heads were safe. Head hunters had to be licensed by the government and one potential hunter went to apply for a license and was told that it was now illegal to do that so he said, "Okay, and went away never to hunt heads again.

This is no nanny state. Health and Human Services are non existent here. Pavements were uneven, the curbs were very high and they had open ditches for rain runoff right next to the sidewalk so there is no way an infirmed person could get about. Electrical chords were strung all over the market place. It was a disaster waiting to happen. However the new part of the town was pretty nice, already landscaped, and they have started putting up big hotels and beautifying the area so in a few years this will be a nice vacation spot. The only houses on stilts that are still occupied are in a slum area and there are plans to remove them and relocate the people.

Today was laundry day. It's always packed. Usually the people are griping but today was rather pleasant. People from the U.K. would be more interested in this story than others but we will include it. There was an Australian lady doing laundry alongside Morag. She said, "Where are you from?" Morag replied, "Originally from Scotland but I live in the United States."//"What part of Scotland?"//"Edinburgh."//"Oh, we used to live in Edinburgh. We lived there for three years."//"Why were you in Edinburgh?"//"My husband was studying orthopedic surgery."//"Very nice, and did you happen to go to any church while you were in Edinburgh?"//"Yes, we went to Charlotte Chapel."//"Oh, I went there. Who was the pastor."//Alan Redpath, and the Church Secretary was Mr. Urquhart." So, the long and the short of it is they were friendly with Fergus Brown and knew Nan Purvis and Ian Balfour really well. Isn't it a small world! Their names are Philip and Grace Lind. Maybe some of you know them. Now that was a pleasant exchange in the laundry room. We had to keep this short and sweet. It was a much longer con version that that. They also are on board to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

We are on our way to Hong Kong and the seas are rough, gale-force winds and 4-6 meter swells. Tomorrow in Hong Kong is supposed to be cool and windy. We are here for 1 1/2 days. Will write more later.