Oh my, 3 days until Christmas!
Up about 7:45, said goodbye to the German couple, then walked in search of a proboscis monkey postcard, turned up empty handed, so back to my room, grabbed my bags and walked to the bus terminal for the 8:45 bus. A guy in a bright green shirt with parrots all over it asked me where I was headed, told him the ferry terminal, he told me the next bus was at 9:15. So I waited and waited and about 9:15, green shirt buddy keeps glancing at his watch and looking at the bus entry driveway. It's obvious he's wondering where the bus I need is. About 15 minutes later, still no bus, he came over and said the bus was late, but not to worry, I still have lots of time to catch the 1:00 ferry to Labuan. He worked at the terminal, he was the bus inspector.
At 10:00, still no bus, and I suddenly remembered I had to reconfirm my Kota Kinabalu to KL flight, which is on Wednesday, so I grabbed my backpack, and headed to the Malaysia Airlines office, had to wait 5 minutes, got my flight confirmed, then back to the bus station, and the bus still hadn't come.
Bus finally came about 10:40, got to the ferry terminal at 11:25, went to the counter, there was a special 11:30 ferry to Labuan, I had just enough time to get the ticket and get on the ferry. Exited Brunei, and got on ferry. Ferry showed Mr. Bean during the trip. The locals were enjoying it. I was the only westerner on the boat.
Got to Labuan about 12:45, passed through Malaysian customs, and went to get another ferry ticket (Labuan is an island, you see) to Kota Kinabalu (KK), she told me to come back at 1:45, so I waited, snacked on a Snickers and a Pepsi Twist (Pepsi is the cola of choice in Brunei, BTW), then waited, and about 1:55, got my ticket, and waited in the departure lounge.
Boarded the vessel at 2:30, took off at 3:00. Very bumpy ride, people getting sea sick all around me. The boat FLIES. If it only had wings....
They showed an old Jackie Chan flick, in Chinese (or Mandarin, or whatever language he speaks), perhaps featuring a young Lucy Lui too (whoever it was, she kicked more ass than Jackie Chan's character did). Then they showed SWAT, but the volume was turned down too much, and couldn't hear it quite. The boat is COLD too, the AC is in fine working order.
Got to KK about 6:00. Started walking to Lucy's Homestay, but ran into Trekkers Lodge first, so stayed there. All their AC dorms were full, so had to settle for a fan dorm room for 18 ringget. I had an old Swedish (or Norwegian or Danish or something) woman in my dorm room, along with a local, heading back to his village for the school break.
Once again, Borneo has blown me away. KK has totally amazed me! Neon lights, modern cityscape, Burger King (besides Bangkok, the only place in SE Asia I've seen them, I think), Hyatt Regency downtown, HUGE malls (biggest I've seen!), busy night markets, plus, Beach Street, a pedestrian area that's essentially an open-air pub, restaurant, and dance bar area, covered with permanent tarps, two huge TV screens showing music videos, and live music, etc. WOW!
Lots of westerners here too. Lots of older westerners, they outnumber the young backpackers.
Walked around for a bit, found the Burger King, had supper there, used internet, explored the streets, had a sundae at the open-air place (from SugarBarn restaurant located there).
Back to room about 9:30, I wasn't feeling well, probably because I ate almost nothing all day.
Read, and to sleep maybe 10:30.
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