Wild Borneo: Sabah - Kota Kinabalu and Papar

Jesselton Point

When planning our 4 months away from Songster we decided to go to Northern Borneo where Bob worked for 9 months in 1973 doing a coastal survey job and living in tents and grass huts.  Bob dug up some of his old photos from that time and we have been going on the ‘Footsteps of Bob Nostalgia Tour’ of Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak.  I am hoping Bob will write a post giving his then and now perspective of our trip but until then I will give the highlights of our travels

The sights flying into Kota Kinabalu (KK) were spectacular – pristine islands, coral reefs, clear blue water.  I was very excited to be landing in wild Borneo, the land of jungles, orang-utans and head-hunters and the subject of endless nature shows I watched as a kid.  What we found in KK was a dynamic, modern, cosmopolitan city – big hotels, endless shopping malls with all the big name shops and streets lined with restaurants serving cuisines from around the world.

Our first day we hired a car to drive to Papar, a town about 50 km down the coast, where Bob had a camp in 1973.  We found the street corner where Bob had taken a photo in 1973 and except for more cars, not much had changed.

1973

2017

But out on the beach things were quite different.  Instead of a dirt road and jungle there was now a sealed road, nice houses and open spaces.  We had a lovely walk on the beach, which we had all to ourselves and got our feet wet in the warm South China Sea.  On the deserted beach with the bush hiding the houses one could imagine how it might have been in 1973.

 

 

Back in KK that evening we went to the night fish markets.  What an amazing feast for eyes and stomach!  A huge market of stalls stretched before us with every imaginable type of fish and seafood, many I had never seen before.  Dinners would wander through the stalls and pick the items they wanted and they would be cooked on the spot.  We just went up and down the stalls agog looking at the displays.  We happened upon an Australian couple from Queensland (one of the few ferringi (foreigners) we have come across) who were in heaven in front a huge pile of various shellfish.  We weren’t intending to have dinner as we had had a late lunch but couldn’t resist.  We settled on sharing a lovely grilled fish – fantastic.

Dinners enjoying themselves

I have never seen such large prawns!

Fresh colourful fish

Shellfish of every kind

Or maybe some sea weed on the side?

Fish grilling on a bamboo leaf

Sampling Some Colonial Heritage in Penang

On this repeat visit to Penang we thought we would indulge in a bit of the colonial nostalgia in its main city of George Town before it all goes the way of modern life.  Fortunately this is unlikely in George Town as the city is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.  Bob booked us into the 1926 Heritage Hotel, a refurbished hotel which had served as a home to the British colonial officers and local administrators.  The hotel was refurbished in 1999 and they retained the old, now slightly shabby, colonial furniture and style.  One could easily imagine the colonial clerk settling in for the evening in the easy chair after having had a stengah at the bar downstairs.

 

The Eastern and Orient hotel was another on the list of colonial indulgences.  Although we had completed the trifecta of having had a drink in all three Sarkies Brothers hotels (Raffles in Singapore, The Strand in Yangon and the Eastern and Orient in Penang) we thought we would actually have a meal at the Eastern and Orient.  We had a very nice roast dinner Sunday lunch just to complete the colonial theme.

 

Yes, the doormen still wear khaki and pith helmets

Pre-lunch drinks

We had a reality check on colonial life when we visited the old cemetery on Northam Road.  The cemetery was established in 1786 by Captain Francis Light, founder of the British colony.  The last grave was dug in 1892.  The cemetery now is an evocative cluster of lichen and moss covered tombstones.  Many of the graves were of those in the 20’s and 30’s, as well as many infant graves – a sobering reminder of the harshness of life in then what would have been mosquito infested tropics.

Grave of Francis Light

 

The Chinese make up over 40% of the population in Penang and dominate the trade and business throughout Malaysia.  (One of the things I like about Malaysia is that you get three major cultures in one, Malay, Chinese and Indian, as well as numerous indigenous ethnic groups, especially in East Malaysia.  They all seem to get along well together.  We noticed in the Thiapusum festival the Chinese were happily participating and helping out.  In fact the government has a big campaign of ‘1 Malaysia’ emphasizing ethnic harmony and national unity.  A lesson here for some Western countries?)  We had been to Chinese temples and clan houses in Penang on our previous trips but we thought the house of Sun Yat Sen was worth a repeat visit.  Sun Yat Sen was the founder of the Republic of China and a leading figure in uniting post-imperial China.  He travelled throughout Asia drumming up support for his cause and spent a lot of time in Malaysia.  In Penang he set one of the more than 50 reading rooms around Asia to serve as an information and liaison points for the revolutionaries.

Sun Yat Sen through the greenery

The meeting room

The Kitchen

Lovely pattern of tiles and inlay

Armenia Street, George Town

The caretaker of the museum insisted we he take an ‘artistic’ photo of Bob and I in the back room of the house.  It was rather nice and the name on the mirror especially apropos. 

Thaipusum in Penang

Unbeknownst to us we arrived in Penang on the eve of their big public holiday for the Thaipusum festival. Once again the fantastic serendipity of travel. The Thaipusum festival celebrates when Murugan, the Hindu god of war, is given a vel or spear to vanquish an evil demon.  The festival goes over three days and is a cacophony of chaos and colour.   

There are penance rituals devotees follow.  Some shave their heads and put a clay-like substance on their bald scalps.  Others carry milk jugs on their heads or numerous small jugs which hang from their shoulders, back and chest by hooks piercing their skin.  Still others put a vel through their cheeks and carry colourful Kavadi or burdens. The most spectacular are richly decorated portable canopies, carried on devotees’ shoulders and attached by skewers or vel pierced through the skin of the back and chest.  The devotees slowly walk along a processional route lined with thousands of revilers and accompanied by the most ear-splitting Indian music to which young men dance and twirl. Women are dressed in their best silk saris and salwar kameez.  Brightly coloured stalls and altars or shrines also lined the processional route.  These stalls are sponsored by local businesses and hand out free drinks and food to the spectators.

A devotee with a vel through his mouth

Carrying milk jugs hanging by hooks in his skin

Carrying milk jugs on their head towards the temple

Vel through the mouth and a heavy kavadi across his shoulders

A large white Kavadi

The spears of the Kavadi

A close up of the piercing

A brightly coloured Kavadi without the piercings.  Note the father and son with shaved heads

The women in their beautiful dresses

 

Shrine to Ganesh

Another ritual practiced during the festival is to smash coconuts.  This symbolises “the breaking of one’s ego to reveal purity inside”.  We were all set to watch this spectacle on the last night of the festival when the golden chariot is towed back from the Waterfall Temple.  All along the 7 km route are piles of coconuts.  These are donated by various businesses and delivered in sacks which are then emptied and put into neat piles along the foot paths.  Apparently people smash coconuts in front of the chariot as it approaches.  The broken bits of coconut then have to be cleaned up before the chariot can continue down the processional route.  The trip takes all night.  We mingled with the crowd in anticipation of the arrival of the chariot but by 11 pm we had to call it a night and could only admire the neat piles of coconuts.

The golden chariot and another father and son with shaved heads

Coconuts waiting to be smashed

Shrine at night

This has been my third trip to Penang but was by far the most amazing experience on this charming island.