Trip to Borneo, Day 1 + Day 2

Alright guys.....how do I do this? How do I describe such an amazing trip in just a few short pages? Well, I may not take a few short pages. It may be longer, but please understand this trip was incredible. It was more than I expected it to be and that is awesome because God is cool like that. He'll take stuff that we have expectations for and make them even greater. Now this won't always happen, but when it does, it's awesome. So please bear with me as I write out my thoughts and put down what all happened. It may be boring for some of you, and for that I'm sorry, but if you ever have the chance to go to Borneo. Do IT!

So, the trip there was smooth and it was fun. I got to spend the flight there with the missions team from our school that was going to the town of Tawau. It was neat to be on their flight and to experience a little bit of their excitement. I myself was going to the town of Kota Kinabalu which was the first stop for the plane. Kota Kinabalu is a town of 200,000 on the coast of Borneo, Malaysia. More specifically Sabah.

Sabah is a state on the island of Borneo and is comprised of many different ethnicities. Philippinos, Chinese, Korean, Malaysians, Thai, and Indians. Very cool mix indeed. What I didn't know until I found out later is that Christianity is pretty much the main religion in Sabah. I always thought it was Islam, but I was corrected by my hostel owner and some other people who said Islam comprises about 40% and Christianity is a bit more.

Anyway, that's the background for where I was. Also, Borneo is comprised mostly of virgin rainforest with much wildlife.

Now for a background of people I might name drop on here.

The first person I'll talk about a bit is Vincent. He was the hostel owner of the place I stayed at. A nice backbacker place. He is half Japanese, half Malaysian. He's a very nice guy. Anyway, my first impression of him was when he came to pick me up at the airport. We met and got in to the 4X4. He says that we have to go to pick up some other guys that are staying at the lodge and we have to pick them up from the jetty because they were at the islands. Anyway, on the way there, he is driving and drinking a tiger beer. Hmm, okay. Also, at the same time he is smoking and talking on the cell phone. Dear Lord, please keep me safe I think. haha, Praise God, I was safe. Anyway, he really is a great guy though. In fact, if you think about it, pray for him because he has a son who has Lukimia (sp) and is in the hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, the day before I left, he got a call that they needed him to donate his bone marrow for his son as he was the only match. So he was going to fly up there. Also, right now, money is tight for him as he said medications are really expensive for his son. So please pray for him.

Other guys I'll probably name drop are Rahmat and Najjif. They were the two guys we picked up. They were from singapore. They were 27 and 28 and on vacation in Borneo. Very nice guys and liked nature a lot and conservation. They were such a blessing to me though because they took me to places I probably wouldn't have gone to by myself, but they always invited me along which was nice. They also bought a lot of strange things for me to try. Oh yeah, these guys are huge fans of the Durian fruit. It's the smelliest fruit in the world and I don't think it tastes that great, but these guys love it and had me try some. For that, I'm grateful.

Finally, one other name I might drop is Michelle. She was a lady from England who had just gotten to Malaysia, but has been travelling for 2.5 years! She had a wealth of experence with travelling and had a million stories from other countries.

So the first day I got to the resort, I met these people, and then in the evening the guys from Singapore invited me to dinner with them. We went to a seafood area where all these vendors tried to get our business. So the one we finally decided served us some delicious stuff. We choose some Peanut Chicken, some fish (I don't remember what kind), some delicious veggies, and some fried squid. Mmm, it was soo delicious. Plus, I had fresh squeezed pineapple juice. I also got to try some chilies which were very hot!

After that, we went to the night market which was on one of the streets. The night market here had everything from Jewelry to fake Nike's, to crafts. There weren't a lot of vendors this night though because it was raining.

Then we decided to go to a coffeehouse near our hostel. It was Michelles recommendation. The place was good and I got some hot Milo. It's basically like Nestle Quick. They also served toast there that they toasted over charcoal and had coconut jam over it.

So that was the first day. Quite an eventful first day. Anyway, the next day in the morning, Rahmat, Najjib, and I went to the Gaya Street Sunday Market. This is a massive street market with hundreds of vendors selling everything from spices and food, to animals, to crafts. I was able to pick up some things. It was fun to be with the guys from singapore as they knew how to speak Malay and would ask the vendors what some of the stuff was. They also introduced me to some interesting Malaysian snacks. Mmmm....more food. Anyway, after the market we went up to Signal Hill. This is a place where you can get a good view of the city. Then we decided to go eat lunch.

We had lunch at an Arab restaurant. I had some rice and some other stuff, I can't even remember. It was spicy and very good. I felt a little out of place though at this restaurant as it wasn't touristy. Haha, I felt so white and it felt good to be out of place. It changed my perspective a bit. It's nice to not always be the majority, ya know? The food here was very cheap too, got it all for like less than $1.

After that we went back to the lodge to get ready for our trips. For me I was going to do the Mt. Kinabalu climb and the guys were going to do a Long House experience.

Below are pictures from Day 1 and half of Day 2.



Malaysia - Day 1 2