We took a bus to the northern tip of Brunei, to a town called Serasa. Then we took a boat to Labuan island where we spent a night before we went by boat to the little town Menumbok and by bus to Kota Kinabalu.
This is our first ferry to Labuan. An ok good boat, but the sea was not very calm and we were happy when we after about an hour reached the Labuan island.
Labuan island is mainly known as an offshore financial center and as a tax free island.
There is not much to do as a tourists on the island beside visit the beaches.
After a lot of hotel searching we found a not very cheap hotel that stank of smoke and had a shared bathroom. It was the cheapest in town even though it was not cheap, but in the end we took it.
The weather (it was raining like it would never stop) and the hotel were not with us, so after just one night we went further.
Markus felt very bad, probably because of some cheap Indian food. At least our soon to be helper thought so. So in the morning Carina went to get some boat tickets for the fast boat to the mainland. She was told that there would be no boat because of the bad weather. When asking about if they in the boat office new when the next boat out of Labuan would sail the answer was "probably in a few days or later".
We wanted to get out of Labuan as fast as possible.
Problems:
1: Markus was very sick and we were afraid it was the same kind of food poison he got in Bolivia some years ago.
2: The hotel sucked big time and was not cheap.
3: The weather was bad.
4: There was absolutely nothing to do on the island and ending up in the hospital on Labuan would be bad.
Carina complained to the receptionist who did not understand many words, but then a man came in to the hotel and it turned out that he was the cousin of the owner of the hotel, spoke ok good english and drove us in his car the 200 meters to the boat terminal and showed/helped Carina to buy real ferry tickets out of Labuan due 2 hours later.
Markus felt really bad, he could hardly move, but gained the spirit and strength little by little.
This is our real ferry. It looked really old and it moved really slow.
We found a spot to lay down, and after less than 20 km and a couple of hours (not a writing mistake) we could take the bus from the tiny town Menumbok to Kota Kinabalu.
From the ferry we could see the mall and the businesses and offices on Labuan. Otherwise the island is little and flat.
Our detour to Labuan island was not good in any way, but the island has the potential of becoming a really really nice place. Exactly these words have we said about many many places in Borneo.
When we came to Kota Kinabalu it still rained, but Markus was feeling much better.
Kota Kinabalu is the capital of the state of Sabah.
Sabah is Malaysia's easternmost state on the island of Borneo. Sabah is often referred to as "Land Below The Wind" a phrase used by seafarers in the past to describe lands south of the typhoon belt.
Kota Kinabalu has about 500.000 inhabitants. The city and surroundings are major fishing destinations and the city is one of the major industrial and commercial centers of East Malaysia. Further the city is the starting point for many tourists who wants to visit the Sabah region of Borneo. All the above factors makes the city of Kota Kinabalu one of the fastest growing cities in Malaysia.
We stayed a couple of days in Kota Kinabalu and did a little sightseeing, but most of the time stayed in our hotel.
The Atkinson Clock Tower is the oldest standing structure in Kota Kinabalu.
We walked to a view platform, where we had a wet view over the city.
In Bali we were so unlucky because we got our credit card identities stolen and with that about 1250 euro or 9000 dkkr. When we noticed we contacted our Australian bank and they cancelled our credit cards. Later we got all our money back and the bank send us new cards to the Finnish consulate in Kota Kinabalu. One of the days the consul came by our hotel with our new credit cards. Jubii new credit cards with money.... :)
After a few days in Kota Kinabalu we were ready to move on further on our hunt to see the orangutans.
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