July 20, 2026 – Borneo! Yes, Borneo!

I don’t know; maybe I was expecting jungles, palm trees, sandy beaches, and grass huts, and in some nearby places, that image is accurate, but Kota Kinabalu is a city, a bustling one with between 500,000 and 700,000 people. During the 130 years that Borneo was a British colony, this city was called Jesselton. The city was renamed Kota Kinabalu in 1968, ten years after Britain granted independence to the Federation of Malaya in 1957.  Now, people call this place simply KK.  Britain was ousted from this colony when Japan attacked during WWII, and yes, this city was all but destroyed by the bombs of the Allied Forces.  When the war was over, only the watchtower, dedicated to Jesselton’s first district officer, remained standing.  After the war and the end of Japanese occupation here, Britain returned to Borneo and maintained control of the island until they finally granted independence.

The weather here is hot, but the rainy season has passed, leaving blue skies accented with great white ocean clouds dominating the majestic seascape.  The evening’s red, blue, and golden sunsets are stupendous!  A consolation to the heat is the large and pretty pool at our condominium complex.  It is usually filled with happy but noisy children . . . who drive Stan nuts. I tell him he’s becoming a grouchy old man and try to remind him of the many times he used to toss our girls screaming their lungs out, high in the air in the pool and how they delighted in it, begging “Again, Again!”  Poor guy!  I cut him very little slack.

His grouchy persona bleeds over a little while on tours as well. Puzzling to me, he says things others, especially those like me, could never get away with. He gets into the guide’s business, telling them when it’s time to round up the troops and move on, makes fun of their jokes, etc., but invariably, they love him, remember him, and so do all the other guests. He’s the one people remember. He’s the one who, in conversation, adds, “Janie writes a blog,” and gives them access information.

From our apartment, we can see the South Sea and the collection of large colorful fishing boats that moor there when not at work.  Sometimes we can smell them too.  p-u!

We are near the city center and just steps from the Sunday market, the waterfront, and finally, restaurants with delicious fresh-caught fish, crabs, and even mantis shrimp on the menu. Mantis shrimp are long, wiggly, and ugly. We have not tried one and probably will not. We had, however, grouper and crabs today! We chose our own from fresh ones living in huge aquarium-like tanks. The grouper was fine in the superior sense, but the crabs were too small to enjoy tedious picking for just a tidbit. While the deep-fried grouper with lemon-chili sauce was really good, we miss having a hunk of Florida grouper, grilled and served beachside with a baked potato and salad in PCB. Now, that’s the real thing!

The culture of this part of Borneo is a mixed bag.  Foods in markets reflect a strong Chinese influence with lots of vegetables ande dried fish.  Restaurants often have a Chinese flair as well, with lots of rice, broths, vegetables, and chicken. Because the majority of people who live in KK are Muslim, food is primarily Halal.  There is an open-air fresh market very near to us and a hypermarket as well.  No beef or pork is sold in either.  Those purchases require a specialty meat market.

The island of Borneo, the third largest island in the world, is divided among three sovereign nations.  Imagine the complexity!  For now I’m just going to talk about East Malaysia, and Sabah (where we are now). Sabah is a Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy; Kota Kinabalu (the city where we are now) is the capital. Party differences in Sabah appear to be based on religion, and since the majority of the population is Muslim, they have control over government affairs.  People complain of government corruption, reduced support for schools and public services, and failure to govern according to the constitution.  It’s a sad story, but one we hear repeated in almost every country we have visited this year, including, perhaps, our own.

We came to Borneo because we’ve never been here before – I mean, who has?  A visit to Borneo conjured visions of exotic tribal headhunters, poison darts, and exotic wildlife.  The latter expectation is true.  In a boat tour two days ago, we found crocodiles, monitor lizards, and families of wild proboscis monkeys with their large bulbous noses taking their evening meal of mangrove leaves.  Later, following a knock-your-socks-off sunset on the beach, we cruised the river once more, witnessing the twinkling love dance of tiny fireflies in the trees.

KK is a popular vacation spot for Europeans and people from China, and while most people speak a little English, the language is Malay. We were delighted to see that some of the words we learned years ago in Bali are used here as well, so Stan and I can greet people we meet on the street in the morning and evening and also thank people using terms in their language.  We were also happy to meet a family from France, a couple from Austria, and a couple from NYC on our boat tour the other day.  They all spoke English – clearly, and possibly more perfectly than we do, so it was easy to make friends and entertain each other.  Tonight we are meeting Andrew and Eileen from NYC, long-term travelers like us, for drinks and a bite. 

This great world of ours is vast and diverse, indeed, yet not so big and not so different that we cannot find friends.

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