Borneo! The mere mention of this name conjures up all sorts of exotic images of lush jungles, beautiful beaches, headhunter lore, remote tribes and longhouses...I have been captivated by this place for years; it started with seeing the movie Farewell to the King in the 80's and from its depiction of Borneo it looked like one of the most remote and exotic locales in the world...and now I was finally here!
We were to start our adventure in the northern state of Sabah before working our way down to Sarawak...we had a tough time choosing what to see and do here, there are a ton of options and we ultimately ended up scrapping the eastern portion of Sabah due to time/logistic constraints to focus more on the west and northwestern coast...
Touched down in Kota Kinabalu (or KK as the locals call it) late evening, we were still pretty jetlagged so decided to just crash and start fresh in the morning...after some coffee and breaky the following morning we wandered out to get our bearings, stopping to arrange a car rental in a couple of days for our self-guided trip up the western coast...not quite sure what to say about this place, it's a city with a few gigantic shopping malls and not a whole lot else...took a stroll along the waterfront and returned there for dinner when the local fish stalls cranked up, but after a couple of hours we decided on leaving the following day...so back to the rental agency to shift some dates around and that was that...
Picked up our decidedly unsexy Proton vehicle early the next morning, and with some basic directions started out for the Tip of Borneo where we planned to spend the next couple of days...the drive was great, spent a good three hours or so slowly making our way up the western coast before finally seeing the signs for Tommy's resort, then it was off the highway and into the thick of it...fortunately it was well signed, and after about thirty minutes we found it, right across the street from a large beach fronting onto the South China Sea...which would have been great had it not been for the rain and gale force winds whipping through the area!
Anyways, stopped in to find the place empty, checked out a couple of rooms, then went up to see another place right at the Tip of Borneo but ultimately decided on one of the private villas at Tommy's...very cool, there were three such villas on a hilltop behind Tommy's overlooking the sea and each with its own private covered deck...but again with the weather raging we didn't get to spend a lot of time out there...
Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Sabah and the North...
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