Travelling from one end of the country to another seems to fill almost the entire day, even when flight times are less than two hours. We had enough time for the girls to enjoy the wi-fi at The Marian, and for me to do some last minute shopping, before we headed to the airport via Grab (Malaysia’s version of Uber – very efficient!)

For those of you who are interested in such things as luggage, we travel with one soft sided wheeled suitcase each, and a day pack each. None of the suitcases are particularly large. They tend to have around 10 to 12kg in them at the start of our holidays, and usually plenty more by the end! It’s great now that Stella is old enough to take responsibility for managing her own stuff and we don’t have to double check everything quite as much. I do provide each member of the family with a packing list before we leave home, with guidance for both their checked and their carry-on luggage. This seems to work well for us as a family. Both Stella and I have laptops with us this holiday, which definitely adds weight to carry-on luggage, but also comes in handy for photo storage, blogging, and researching and planning what we’ll do each day.

Clare was particularly entertained by the humour in the signs on the backs of the toilet doors at the airport. Speaking of toilets, I really do need a lesson on how to use squat toilets properly and especially on how to use the rinsing hose attachments without causing a flood in the bathroom! Obviously I have used them many times before on my travels, but have always thought that I could do a much more effective job.  Unsurprisingly, I am not the first person to have googled ‘how to use a squat toilet’ and found this gem of a thread on tripadvisor that includes the following: Come on guys, have you seen a malaysian Ladies toilet??? must be joking if you guys think that our anatomy allows everything to be done in those strange shaped toilets!!! I am woman, and speaking from a woman’s point of view, there are two ways you have to adjust to. there is NO WAY you can do small business facing the door due to our anatomy and the shape of the malaysian toilets, you will only find every thing spilling over the door. So, the only thing that works for ladies is:

• Small business; facing the wall or with your back to the door.
• Big business, facing the door

there really is no other way with those unevenly shaped toilets unless you want to mess all over the floor. Other tips:

• roll up your long pants and wear waterproof shoes before entering the toilets, the floor is all wet and there is usually a hose inside the toilets with running water.
• bring ADEQUATE toilet paper. Most malaysians DO NOT use toilet paper. so you will never find toilet paper in the toilets. Only the chinese malaysians use toilet paper and they have to bring enough.
• The flush never works!!! So in that case, look to your right or left, find the long rubber hose, point it into the bowl and turn on the water full, or look for the bucket of water and throw some in. That is usually the only way to flush the ladies squatting toilet.

I have now also discovered this Wikihow article on how to use a squat toilet that even has illustrations.  There’s a handy how to use a bidet article as well.  Paper is mostly used for drying after cleaning.

Arriving in Kota Kinabalu also meant that we were now in the state of Sabah.  Wikipedia says that the earliest human settlement in Sabah can be traced back to 20,000–30,000 years ago along the Darvel Bay area at the Madai-Baturong caves. The state had a trading relationship with China from the 14th century AD. Sabah came under the influence of the Bruneian Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries while the eastern part of the territory fell under the influence of the Sultanate of Sulu between the 17th and 18th centuries. The state was subsequently acquired by the British-based North Borneo Chartered Company in the 19th century. During World War II, Sabah was occupied by the Japanese for three years. It became a British Crown Colony in 1946. On 31 August 1963, Sabah was granted self-government by the British. Following this, Sabah became one of the founding members of the Federation of Malaysia (established on 16 September 1963) alongside Sarawak, Singapore (expelled in 1965), and the Federation of Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia or West Malaysia). The federation was opposed by neighbouring Indonesia, which led to the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation over three years along with the threats of annexation by the Philippines, threats which continue to the present day.^[21]

Sabah exhibits notable diversity in ethnicity, culture and language. The head of state is the Governor, also known as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, while the head of government is the Chief Minister. The government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and has one of the earliest state legislature systems in Malaysia. Sabah is divided into five administrative divisions and 27 districts. Malay is the official language of the state;^[22][23] and Islam is the state religion, but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the state.^[24] Sabah is known for its traditional musical instrument, the sompoton.

Sabah has abundant natural resources, and its economy is strongly export oriented. Its primary exports include oil, gas, timber and palm oil. The other major industries are agriculture and ecotourism.

Our accommodation is an Air BnB at Sutera Avenue, a fairly new shopping mall/apartment complex that is mostly still empty of shops and is still having apartments fitted out.  It’s in a very convenient location near the airport and not far from town, is quite spacious, has a washer/dryer (oh the small things that excite me!) and has a rooftop pool with magnificent views across the water.  Our apartment is on the 8th floor.

But then we circled the buildig, and discovered that immediately beside us were some of Kota Kinabalu’s water villages/slums.  Triposo tells us Stilt villages, are houses found along the coast of ethnic Bajau, Suluk, Iranun, Malays, and Ubian people. Some villages are made up of people who have been here since 15th -18th century from Sulu Archipelago (now southern Philippines) who are considered natives under Sabah law. However massive influx if new migrants from this same region beginning 1970s have occupied these same villages mostly due to similar heritage and ethnicity as these local inhabitants. Some new migrants are illegal with no proper documentation. Illegal migrants would normally occupy deeper parts of these stilt villages in slums. These slums are significantly dirtier and dangerous since the people and their homes are illegal. Stilt villages can be found in Kampung Tanjung Aru, Kampung Sembulan, Kampung Kasuapan (Pulau Gaya) and Kampung Pondo (Pulau Gaya). Since there is no real boundary between a traditional stilt village and the slum, visiting these places is generally considered dangerous and very dirty and not recommended even for locals unless accompanied by tour guides. 

As traditional and long-standing as these communities are, Stella in particular found it very confronting to see these slums immediately beside our comparative extravagance.  She wanted to ‘do something’ about it – I’ve told her that we’ll investigate further what could actually be helpful.  I’ve found a couple of news articles about the slums here and here that might interest some of you.  I also discovered that the average monthly net salary after tax in Kota Kinabalu is RM2,314 – around A$810.  I only snapped a couple of photos as I didn’t want to be intrusive, but there are many on google if you want to get a better visual of the conditions that these people are living in.  I also found this and this blog post and this news article.

So to add a little more surreal, we headed across the road to the new Imago Shopping Mall, where there were numerous luxury shops and many food outlets.  We happened across a (very loud) dance performance and had a photo with the dancers.  Once again quite a few people took a photo of us – this has become a common occurrence (which I wasn’t really anticipating).

So today (Friday) will be our first full day in KK.  I’m still working out what we’ll do – possibly catch a few Grabs to museums and other ‘sights’.  You’ll have to wait and see!