Thursday, 19 January 2012, Beaufort, Sabah, Malaysia

Thanx to all who have given me emotional support and encouragement to keep on blogging.

Some of my posts are over-weighted with logistics. But then, travel by definition is a logistical activity and in some countries such as Indonesia and India dealing with those logistics can take a disproportionate amount of ones time and energy. The lesson, at least for Asia, is to fly wherever possible. So for example at the last minute and after my stressful 'bus' travels I booked with Air Asia to fly from Yogyakarta to Jakarta and onward to Sabah. The flight from Yogy to Jakarta ( a distance of 437 km) costs $28.00Cdn.

As you can see, Adisutjipto Airport in Yogyakarta is a small airport but yet has frequent low cost flights.

In Jakarta the discount airlines have their own terminal, (Terminal 3) and it's from there that I flew Air Asia to Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu is the largest city in Sabah with a population of about 500,000 and although Sabah is a state of Malaysia, they can exert their own autonomy regarding immigration. A Canadian visiting Malaysia gets an entry stamp for 90 days and does not need a visa. Sabah is on the Island Borneo. Borneo is also the name sometimes given to Indonesia's province of Kilamantan. The Malaysian state of Sarawak and the Brunei Sultanate are also on Borneo.

Kota Kinabalu and Sabah in general has many offshore Islands on it's three coasts - South China Sea (opposite) on the west, Sulu Sea on the North East and Celebes Sea on the South East

A couple of boats anchored at Kota Kinabalu Harbour

Some like it hot.

Like everywhere KK has it's share of markets and there is always an abundance of fresh produce.

 At one of the Wisma's the sidewalk was lined with tailors and their sewing machines.  This is the first place in my travels that I have seen tailors concentrated in one place like this where there were at least 12 stands.  You would wonder if there would be enough demand for each of these men to make a living. In the past I have availed myself of tailor services in Yogyakarta, Chiang Mai and Mazatlan.  They are very handy and inexpensive for making repairs while on the road.

Yesterday (18th of January) I left KK by bus and traveled westward and a bit inland to Beaufort.

Beaufort is a small town and does not have the modernity of larger Malaysian centres even though it is only a couple of hours from KK. It serves the surrounding agricultural areas.  There are no western or world branded franchises here - not even a 7 /11 or a KFC.  There are several traditional markets and many, many eateries. 

Downtown Beaufort

Around the country coming toward Beaufort from Kota Kinabalu there are several Catholic churches, schools and missions including a couple here in Beaufort. However, one mosque dominates the town of Beaufort.

From the minaret at 4:30 AM the muezzin's call to prayer is broadcast through loudspeakers over the town.  It is of course in Arabic and is very rhythmic and hypnotic - all the better for mind control?

'A muezzin is the chosen person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer (adhan) The main purpose behind the multiple loud pronouncements of adhan in every mosque is to make available to everyone an easily intelligible summary of Islamic belief. It is intended to bring to the mind of every believer and non-believer the substance of Islamic beliefs, or its spiritual ideology. In modern times, loudspeakers  have been installed on minarets for this purpose.' (thanks Wikipedia)

I am liking it here as the geography is hillier and there is very little traffic and brething all that oxygen from the heavy vegetation is much better than sucking in hydrocarbon emission products. It's a good place for morning running.  By noon time though it is desperately hot, so I hide out in my AirCon hotel room. 

I am of course the current town oddity being the only pale face in sight and my hairy arms attract a lot of attention.