I was already really looking forward to going to Malaysia and I was promised an experience completely different from my previous Kampong (village) life in Sarawak. We were in Malaysia on business, pitching travel software to one of the most important tourism boards in the country, seeing what future Bhav’s company could have there and visiting her family.
We spent the majority of out time in Kota Kinabalu (KK to the locals) with Bhav’s Dad but visited Kuala Lumpur (KL, the capital) and Bhav’s extended family for a weekend too. I’ve never really been to KK before, my previous experience was getting a taxi from the international to domestic terminals before the recent building work. The city is quite spread out with a few hills separating residential parts. The waterfront area is the main location for tourists but even then KK isn’t a very attractive city and doesn’t have much in the way of tourist attractions. The Sabah Museum and Heritage Village is probably the main attraction. The museum is poorly laid out and quite dull but the heritage village outside is much better. Like its counterpart in Kuching, Sarawak (the other Malaysian state on the island of Borneo) the heritage village is a collection of buildings in the traditional style of the various tribal groups.
We enjoyed our time in Malaysia, and who knows, maybe it’ll be the next destination after New Zealand.
Me, Bhav and her Dad with KK behind us
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I don’t know why almost everyone outside of Auckland hates the city so much, I guess it’s the townie/country rivalry, but I really liked Auckland. It probably helped that the weather was so nice and consistently sunny. We were very lucky to be able to use Bhavs Mums apartment in the city centre and have her take us around and out for meals. It was great to finally meet all of Bhavs Auckland based family and friends too.
The first morning we went out to Mission Bay for brunch, a beautiful drive to a really nice part of town. I also visited the Sky Tower (you can’t visit Auckland and not see the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, apparently), the War Memorial Museum, Devonport, Mount Victoria, New Market, my first kiwi bbq and One Tree Hill.
From Auckland it was on to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia via Brunei.
Auckland from Bastion Point
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We only had a few hours in BSB this time (I’ve been there countless times before due to having lived only a few miles away over the Malaysian border) and nothing has changed, not that I expected anything new. It was good to escape the airport for a few hours, get some lunch, retrace paths once taken and visit BSB’s only new attraction; the Kampong Ayer Cultural & Tourism Gallery. Kampong Ayer, once described by a European explorer as the “Venice of the East”, is a collection of somewhat rundown houses and other buildings built on stilts in the bay. I’ve been there before of course (and taken the sunset boat tour round it and everything) but it was still fun to go over on one of the little speedboats and see the new museum.
Our detour to Brunei was only short but was our first taste of things to come; the food, the heat and the way of life. It’s funny how you fall so quickly back into things.
Kampong Ayer, Brunei
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