Where on earth is Kota Kinabalu?

Many of you may not have heard of Kota Kinabalu (from now on referred to as KK) before. I never heard of this place until we were doing our trip research. Kota Kinabalu is in Borneo Malaysia, in the state of Sabah. Here is a context map of Borneo:

So now you have your geography lesson of the day. It was quite interesting because when you enter Sabah from Peninsular Malaysia, you still have to go through customs and get stamped. We thought we were in the wrong line at first haha. We arrived at KK pretty late at night and didn't spend time exploring the area at 11 PM. Our stay in KK was by far the shortest in total. We pretty much had one full day in KK since we arrived so late and departed early in the morning.

Thanks to our trusty Lonely Planet guide and its maps, we already decided on where we wanted to visit on our full day excursion - to Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, where there is supposed to be pretty decent snorkeling. We devoured a filling breakfast at a nearby kopi tiam in our Asia City Complex, and walked for about 30 minutes to the ferry terminal where we got our boat tickets and paid our marine park entrance fee. There are quite a few islands in the Marine Park, and we chose Manukan for its snorkeling availability and the fact that its not so deserted that we feel stranded. In the end, we did see some nice fishies and got our tan on a bit. However, it's pretty evident that tourism has played its part in both preserving and destroying the coral. We saw a lot of dead, bleached coral and the areas that were still alive had relatively small colonies. That's the thing about tourism - the concept of preservation will still have negative effects from the masses of tourists that flock to this area. However, without the Marine Park designation, the coral reefs may also be destroyed by pollution, overfishing, and the like. 

We left the island around 2PM due to a change in weather. We went back for a nice shower to wash off all the salt, and fell asleep to National Geographic...I guess we were a bit worn out and the beds were just so comfy... We finally got ourselves up and headed out for some kopi tiam food and a walk around the city centre. KK is not known for its urban attractions. Many visitors head up to Mount Kinabalu or to the jungles nearby to see orangutans and the world's largest flower. But since we arrived so late in KK and didn't want to spend a lot of time traveling to other destinations, we opted for a more relaxing snorkel. Anyhow, KK really isn't too interesting to go around at night. Like many Asian cities, the main attractions are food and shopping, which we did. 

Dinner in KK. it was a bit strange. Delicious lemon tea on the left. 

One of the main streets in the city centre. a lot of cars.

grilled seafood (slightly overpriced in my opinion)...I was too full from dinner to have any though

I left KK (en route to Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei) feeling a bit empty to be honest. I think it was because we were there for so little time. I think it would be worthwhile to check out the orangutans and Mount Kinabalu with more time and more money to spare on tours. Several airlines fly to KK's international airport (which is surprisingly quite updated) from many countries. I really wish I had more time in Malay Borneo. Kuching is supposed to be worthwhile checking out too. 

Next stop: Bandar Seri Begawan or BSB (give yourselves a pat on the back if you thought of the Backstreet Boys) in Brunei Darussalum, the land of oil and the Sultan!