Date: Feb. 27, 2007
Location: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Next Port: Manila, Philippines, March 1
Quick Summary: Sabah is one of two Malaysian provinces located on the north coast of the island of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu, its capital, was razed during WW II and little of its British colonial heritage remains. Popularly known as KK, the city is set between lush tropical hills and the South China Sea. In fact, much of today’s city is built on reclaimed land.
Report: KK seems to be undergoing quite a bit of development. It is making an effort to expand its tourist trade to include fancy resorts on the edge of town and along Sabah’s pretty coasts. The province does have off shore oil fields, however since it decided to join the federation now called Malaysia, it only gets 5% royalties, the rest goes to the central government. (Brunei pulled out of the federation at the last moment – before oil and gas were discovered – and keeps 50% of the royalties generated by its fields.)
We enjoyed a ship’s excursion on a beautiful day in KK. We drove past (with several photo stops) the new City Mosque, the water villages, some new modern buildings, new housing areas and a resort and then though the university. Everywhere the public right of ways and buildings were lushly planted. We also saw quite a bit of new construction underway.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stop at the Sabah Museum and Heritage Village. The latter consists of replicas of 11 units of houses representing the different cultures in the local area. They were built by those ethnic groups using traditional methods and materials. The Skull Hut contained a collection of human skulls, seashells and animal bones suspended on the rafters. A relic of the headhunting days, the Dusans (tribe) believed the skulls brought good fortune to the household. The blowpipe was the weapon most used in olden days for either hunting or combat. The darts were dipped in poison, usually from a tree of the mulberry family. Larry tried his hand at shooting a dart at a balloon target. He hit it at about 35 feet on the first try! No sense pushing his luck with another shot, since others tried 5-6 times without success.
The museum itself provided a look at the life of the tribes who had inhabited the region, their clothes, artifacts, crafts, etc. It had an interesting natural history section with various stuffed animals and birds. Many of the latter were quite unusual and beautiful. The probiscus monkey was quite unique with it elongated nose.
We then stopped at a craft market on the waterfront. Karen bargained with an Indian woman for a woven bag that was made in the Philippines!
KK was an interesting place, as is Borneo. The island is the third largest in the world (behind Greenland and New Guinea). The southern two thirds is part of Indonesia and the northern part contains two of Malaysia’s nine provinces, plus independent Brunei. To the east of KK is Mt. Kinabalu, the tallest peak (13,450 ft.) between the Himalayas and New Guinea.
The population of Sabah is only 3 million. Islam is the official religion; though slightly more than 50% of the people are Christian, predominately Catholic.
The British established a tiny settlement here in 1881. During WW II, the Japanese occupied the area from 1942-45. The area had its own Death March when 2,400 soldiers, mostly Australians, were forced to march 300km. Only six survived. In order to liberate North Borneo, Allied forces bombed and destroyed Jesselton (as KK was called then). North Borneo became a British Crown Colony in July 1946. It was granted its independence in 1957 and joined Malaysia in 1963.
North Borneo is below the normal storm track of the typhoons and monsoons. Sabah actually means, “Land Below the Wind.”
We had a very pleasant day in this out of the way part of the world.
Larry
Photos of our cruise are available at the web site:
picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise
Photos from Kota Kinabalu have been added.
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