Recently had a friend ask me about things to do in Sabah, so I thought I would post some photos from my last trip there. The capital, Kota Kinabalu, is quite Melbourne-like as it is laid out in a grid pattern and so is quite easy to get around. It is also very clean for a South-East Asian city. If you are visiting, I would recommend staying at the newly renovated Hyatt which is right on the waterfront with fantastic views out to the nearby islands. Rooms start from about $100AUD twin share.
Arriving at Kota Kinbalu airport at dawn this is the sight I was confronted with. All around me I could see mountains wreathed in mist. If you spin around 180 degrees from where this photo was taken, you can see Mt Kinabalu with the sun rising behind it – truly an amazing experience.
There is a bit to do in Kota Kinabalu, with the night markets a short stroll away from the Hyatt. It is famous for ‘Ikan Bakar’ or ‘Ikan Panggang’ – otherwise known as barbequed seafood. Most of the barbeques there use charcoal, imparting a nice smokey flavour to the seafood that is inimitable on gas fired barbeques.
‘Murtabak’ is an Indian pastry that is filled with vegetables and sometimes meat. A must-have if you ever see it around.
Dawn over Sabah as seen from Lowe’s Peak, Mount Kinabalu.
Descending from Lowe’s Peak (4.1 km above sea level) at Mt Kinabalu, Sabah. The assault on the summit began at 2AM in murky blackness, after a few hours shivering away in sleeping bags in Laban Rata (about halfway up the mountain). The early start was supposed to get us to the summit in time for sunrise, and boy did we need every minute. The air is so thin up there that a few steps is enough to wind you (see the guy in the foreground!). By the end of it, you are so high that you can see commercial aircraft flying underneath you (Fokker F50’s flying from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan). This surely has to be the jewel in the crown of Sabah, being visible from the capital of Kota Kinabalu and being the highest mountain in South-East Asia.
Descending into the clouds after conquering Lowe’s Peak.
Low tide at Mabul Island, which is the jumping off point to visit one of the best dive sites in the world – Sipadan Island – described by Jacques Cousteau as ‘an untouched work of art’. Mabul itself has amazing snorkelling/diving, with a dive off the jetty from which this photo was taken revealing large turtles, schools of squid, one very large cuttlefish, eagle rays, moray eels, trumpetfish and hundreds of other marine species that I don’t even know the name of.
I love island sunsets.
Swimming with the locals at Sipadan Island. On one dive alone I counted 43 turtles.
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