Konni & Matt - Perpetual Travellers: 27 Jun

Southeast Asia

Flawed-Democratic Federation of Malaysia
Malaysian Borneo
Sabah aka Land Below the Wind
Kota Kinabalu
Jalan Sulaman 1Borneo Hypermall
Tune Hotel +6088447680 enquiry@tunehotels.com
Clean and convenient budget double room (no. 343), with fan, private bathroom with power shower, for MYR 44.- or US$ 14.40 per night, booked long ago on the internet, including unlimited free shuttle service between 1Borneo Hypermall and Warisan Square in Kota Kinabalu’s city centre.

Very professional, friendly and helpful staff; excellent English.
Beer: Three-packs with 330-ml cans of chilled Vietnamese Amigos Premium Lager (5.0 % alc./vol.) for MYR 10.- or US$ 3.10 per pack and three-packs with 330-ml cans of Belgian Stella Artois (5.0 % alc./vol.) for MYR 12.- or US$ 3.70 per pack from Marcella’s non-halal but nevertheless very friendly Litre Alcohol bottle store +60165203200 on ground level, lot G 602, of the 1Borneo Hypermall.

Click below for an interactive road map of this Tune Hotel at 1Borneo Hypermall in Kota Kinabalu, which we would highly recommend, and for directions:

N 06° 02.08' E 116° 07.79'

Matt: Trying to overcome Benjamin Disraeli’s paradox of travelling (“…I have seen more than I remember, and I remember more than I have seen…”), thus updating the Konni & Matt Travel Blog about Korea and Japan, editing photos for our on-line albums and securing enough funds for my upcoming trip to West Kalimantan; during all these activities, maintaining regular Skype/email contact with Konni in Ontario and trying to figure out if we are still an effective team within the oblivion of being.

"I loved you for your beauty
but that doesn't make a fool of me:
you were in it for your beauty too
and I loved you for your body
there's a voice that sounds like God to me
declaring, declaring, declaring that your body's really you.
And I loved you when our love was blessed
and I love you now there's nothing left
but sorrow and a sense of overtime
and I missed you since the place got wrecked.
And I just don't care what happens next
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's closing time..."

(Leonard Cohen)

Matt: Enjoying a break from perpetual travelling and accessing the mundane but nevertheless very comfortable amenities of the self-contained and fully air-conditioned 1Borneo Hypermall +6088447777, Sabah’s ultimate shopping, dining and life-style experience for immobiles and wanderers alike: (i) cosy internet cafés with broadband galore, (ii) fresh fruit and vegetables daily from the well-stocked Giant supermarket (“Your Low Price Leader”), (iii) delicious Singaporean economy rice (steamed rice with seafood/fish or tofu and two veggies for c. MYR 4.- or US$ 1.25 per heaped plate) from Frederick’s My Kitchen +60168210755, (iv) the latest local and international papers, magazines and guidebooks in the relaxing, air-conditioned reading corners of both Times +6088485018 and Popular’s Harris +6088448268 bookshops and, last but not least, bringing back pleasant memories from Korea, (v) nourishment for body and soul from the almost genuine Korean kimbap food stall on the mall's basement level – all this washed down with cans of ice-cold Belgian beer from Marcella’s friendly Litre Alcohol bottle store; but seriously, another day in paradise.

Matt: Purchasing a 60-day tourist visa for Indonesian's Kalimantan (requirements: one copy of my return air ticket, two photos and MYR 170.- or US$ 52.20 per applicant) from the conveniently situated Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia +6088218258 in Kota Kinabalu which issued the visa within 24 hours - friendly, fast and painless.

Matt: Building upon our previous visits to Kota Kinabalu aka "KK" in 2009 [2], [3], [4] and in 2011 [1], thus exploring a few new corners of the compact and walkable city centre with its lovely waterfront, and also re-visiting places already well known to us: (i) the fantastic Filipino Night Fish Market (set up at around 05:00 p.m. and open until midnight; no words can describe this barbecue feast of fresher-than-fresh seafood at unbeatable prices), (ii) the crowded and hyped-up Sunday Gaya Street Fair and (iii) the useful Centre Point shopping mall with its popular basement food court; all three being great places to observe those distinctive manners which characterise and unify 1Sabah’s relaxed and friendly two main demographic groups, the slit-eyed pork addicts and the chubby-cheeked sugar addicts: almost all of them prefer walking in the lowest gear, many waddle with their handbrakes on and absolutely none of them was born with a rear-view mirror.

Matt: Flagging down a minibus at the convenient bus stop right opposite 1Borneo Hypermall to Terminal Wawasan (c. 10 km, 20 min, MYR 2.- or US$ 0.60 per person), changing hereafter into Mustika city bus no. 16C to the airport’s modern Terminal Two, hopping with reliable Air Asia (“Now Everyone Can Fly”) in an Airbus A 320-200 from Kota Kinabalu International to Kuching International (thus travelling within Borneo, the third-biggest island on the planet, from Sabah to Sarawak) for MYR 72.- or US$ 24.- per person, one way and all inclusive, walking 15 min from the airport’s arrival hall to the bus stop and taking eventually a city bus (MYR 1.50 per person) straight into downtown Kuching, still buried in thought about my real reason for flying Air Asia: their low prices, the convenient internet booking or the outstanding service from their attractive flight attendants?