Out of Indonesia and on to Sabah, Malaysia

Monday 17th Jan 2012 - two months out of Canada

I was going to fade this blog to black but I got a couple of encouraging feedbacks so I will keep it going for the time being

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There is not much happening with me and I was questioning “What is the point of my travels?” Beyond the obvious escape from Canadian winters I conclude that the point is: “There is no point”. Its simply a way. Maybe I am ready to settle down. I met an English woman on a flight to Denpasar who had retired in Kuching, Sarawak. She had a son living and working in Denpasar and she traveled about on her own saying her husband was basically a couch potato not interested in doing anything. She seemed quite happy at having left Britain behind and lives off her pension (retired school teacher). I like Kuching but it seems just a tad too far from Canada for going back and forth one or two times each year.

I am currently in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia (Kota means City) after having flown from Yoyakarta to Kota Kinabalu via Jakarta . KK is a welcome break after all the Indonesian chaos.

I have not much to say and no photos about Yogyakarta aka Jogjakarta and commonly Jogja ( pronounced something like choke cha). Jogja is the most popular tourist destination on Java because of two nearby UNESCO World Heritage sites. One Borobudur, a reconstructed Buddha temple and the other Prambanan, a Hindu temple. I didn't go see either one of these. I just didn't seem to have the interest in more ruins/temples and making a 4:00 AM trip to see the sunrise. I simply don't have 'spiritual experiences” that others speak about having and after all I climbed Mt Ararat (Egypt) in the dark!

I am a bit skeptical about the whole idea of UNESCO branding. Despite the treaty being touted as a means of preserving world heritage; I see it (the UNESCO World Heritage designation) more as a tourist marketing tool which is suffering from overexposure. And why are natural geological formations such as canyons (as in Grand) and mountains (as in Kinabalu) even on their list?

On my run this morning I headed eastward on the coastal highway at 5:30AM against heavy inbound traffic and no shoulders on the road. I expected much less traffic and I don't like having to put so much energy into traffic awareness; especially as there are frequent roundabouts here and they are not always so easy to navigate on foot. I thought I might have been better going west past the airport as it looks from my map there are fewer suburbs in that direction but a Sabah tourism clerk said it would be just as bad in that direction.

There is a significant Chinese community here in KK and they are readying for the Chinese New Year next weekend on the 23^{rd .} It seems like it might be a good time to leave the city. In any event I want to get to a smaller town and maybe up in altitude a bit for less traffic and cooler temps as I am now into my 2012 training season.

From Kota Kinabalu, Mount Kinabalu and the offshore islands for diving are the primary tourist draws. Climbing Mt Kilabalu is a “must”. It is rated easy but a little strenuous at 4100 meters. I don't know if I can do the thin air as I have to aclimatize even in Mexico City at only 2200 meters. In the meantime I think I will head out in the other direction and then back to Kinabalu Park.