Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
When we left Yogyakarta, we had to connect through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to get to Kota Kinabalu, which is on the Borneo part of Malaysia. Since most Air Asia flights seem to let you off down a staircase onto the tarmac, we had to walk towards the building to get inside the airport. When we exited the plane, for some reason there weren’t any signs or employees directing passengers, which we didn’t notice at first. We just followed the crowd, or so we thought. After walking alongside the building for a few minutes, we finally saw a door that didn’t say “do not enter” and started walking towards it. Until we noticed the sign above it that said “domestic arrivals.”
Amanda and I just came from Indonesia, so this couldn’t be right. We walked in anyway, had a look around and decided to ask if we were in the right place. An airport employee told us that we should’ve gone to international arrivals (obviously) and pointed us out the door we came in through and told us to go to the left. As we walked out, we looked at each other in disbelief. We could’ve just walked right through to the other side of that room and out of the airport, into Malaysia without ever having passed through customs and immigration. After setting off in the correct direction, getting our passports stamped and rushing through the chaos of the Kuala Lumpur airport’s budget airline terminal, we boarded our next flight, destined for Kota Kinabalu.
I had heard a lot about the night market, so we decided to see what it was all about. It had the typical vendors selling fruits, vegetables, drinks, and other food items. But we kept on wandering until we got to the fish vendors. All varieties of fish and seafood were displayed on tables, some we recognized, some we didn’t, some fully intact, some chopped up and still bloody. We kept walking until we reached the stalls selling food to eat. Fish and seafood, chicken and beef, vegetables, rice, noodles, fruit shakes, everything you could imagine. Amanda ordered some squid skewers and I got a few different types of chicken. Her squid was good, but not really my thing.
After returning from the rain forest to see the orangutans and proboscis monkeys, we were both craving pizza. On our way out of Kota Kinabalu we passed an Italian restaurant near our hostel and decided to try it out. We weren’t terribly impressed, but it satisfied the craving. Unfortunately our walk to the restaurant brought up another desire: Mexican food. That’s right, we passed a restaurant advertising tacos, and despite having just shared a pizza, we stopped in to try the tacos. They weren’t what I would expect in the States, but close enough and very tasty. Full, we returned to our hostel to get some sleep before our early morning departure for Brunei.
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November 21, 2011 @ 2:00 PM
From what you’ve told me about the border security in Malaysia leaves something to be desired. Had that happened in Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport i.e. somebody going through the wrong security door, and it has, the whole terminal gets evacuated and literally everybody gets re-screened. And it’s on the TV news that night for sure. The night market at Kota Kinabalu doesn’t sound too bad. It reminds me of fish market the Queen Victoria Market in central Melbourne. In particular it reminds me of the smell of fish close to closing time. The Queen Victoria Market by the way is the oldest market in Melbourne. It’s okay to look at once but I can tell you in advance that all the stalls there sell the same cheap stuff. You could even pass on it altogether and not be worse off. By the way it’s my pleasure to be able to help you with the info I provided about Melbourne under your last post. Feel free to email me anytime you like with questions. Also seeing that your coming to Melbourne quite soon, between the 1st and 5th of December the Cricket will be on at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. I think Australia will be playing India in a test that goes all five days. Expect the trams along Flinders Street to be really busy for those five days. Finally seeing that your post is about food, you must have some pizza at La Porchetta in Lygon Street. They have restaurants everywhere but the Lygon Street store is where it all began. I love La Porchetta pizza. It’s the best pizza you’ll taste in Australia and it doesn’t cost the earth.
November 21, 2011 @ 9:57 PM
I’m still shocked about the Kuala Lumpur Airport that day, how that so easily happened. Thanks for the additional Melbourne info, I really appreciate it! You’re definitely making my planning a little easier!
November 22, 2011 @ 2:41 AM
Wow there is some pretty interesting looking fish there!!! I can’t imagine the smell haha.
November 22, 2011 @ 9:50 AM
Ha! Definitely a strong fishy smell!
November 22, 2011 @ 2:17 PM
Great pictures. Glad I wasn’t eating when I saw them though…
I loved the kota Kinabalu night markets. The fresh fish was just amazing. I love the way they cook it up in front of you!
November 23, 2011 @ 11:12 AM
Thanks Monica! Yeah, it really was a fun market, highlight of the city I think.
December 1, 2011 @ 2:51 AM
Squid looks great!
December 1, 2011 @ 10:39 AM
It was! A little tough to get off the skewers though.