Videos - Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia, Brunei 2008

...more videos and a few photos.

Apart from the pea soup atmosphere (humidity) in Borneo, I loved the Malaysian part of the country. OK...I liked all of the areas of Borneo we visited.

Looking left out of the hotel window to the resort area of KK.

Looking right out of the hotel window to the markets and fishing boats.

Looking straight across the road to the water front.

We arrived in Kota Kinabalu, after leaving Brunei, and moved into our digs across from the water front, for a few days. It's a handy location, obviously because of the water front over the road, markets, heaps of restaurants and cafes, large and close shopping ...and well, it's just lovely.

*Note, the photos above were not taken out of our hotel room window, otherwise you would be viewing pictures of a hall way. These were taken from a hotel cafe area, that was not in use. We think the hotel was intended to be part of the shopping complex, it was situated in.

After a day or so of wandering around, we decided to hire a car. So off we headed to reception. How easy was this? (rhetorical) 'We'd like to hire a car' to the receptionist, well, what do you know...there's a guy just delivering a car to another guest. 'Sure, I can hire you a car' and away we go. I'm 99% sure we ended up with this guys personal vehicle...no paperwork.

Anyhoo, he drove us out to Monsipiad Village, a cultural village which is well worth a visit, and left us with his car. This is a few seconds of the drive...sorry if the row of topiary shrubs send you into a spin or some type of fit!

Monsipiad is on my MUST SEE list if you're ever in the area. We paid a reasonable entry fee, got a personal guide around the complex of huts, tools/cultural relics, a show and welcome drink. Perhaps I listed that backwards. We sat down for our drink served in bamboo cups as a tailless cat came out to greet us. Stray and I always thought their tails ended up in soup, but evidently, they are a particular breed. I'm classifying them as an Asian bobtail?

We walked in part way through the show, but still got a full appreciation of the talent and entertainment factor. The next video is of Stray participating in a pole dance...not the type you maybe thinking of. His first attempt was on a dinner cruise in Vietnam, where his ankles were predictably whacked in the process. Go Stray!!!!

Now for the professional version.

The dancer on the right was a real showman and struck the right poses at the right times for the cameras.

In the evening we took advantage of having the car and went for a drive out to a university (golf) driving range...not much to show there, but the scenery along the way was very picturesque. A sunset over the China Sea, lights and mosques.

We visited a similar cultural village not far out of Kuching, in Sarawak. Although the grounds were probably more impressive, we didn't have a guide and the show wasn't as intimate. However, this didn't deter Stray from subjecting a poor member of the dance troupe, to his routine of traditional, disco, 50's, 60's and 70's style of toe tapping. Frankly, she really seems to be digging it around the halfway mark!

Have you ever been to Sabah or Sarawak? What would you recommend seeing or doing?

Cheers!