Dy 142: Kinabalu

So today I am headed off to Kinabalu National Park. This is one of the two things that I really want to see in Malaysia.

I walked into town to grab some breakfast. This part of Malaysia has a high Islamic population, yet the majority of the food is curry based, and the restaurants have Asian names?! I ended up eating at Wand Han Coffee Shop, ordered noodles and was served by a women in a burqa. What a combination! And it was delicious!

After I got back to my hostel, I got all packed up and headed to a minibus stop, caught one into town and then another to the big bus station that goes to Kinabalu. Getting from one bus to the next was surprisingly easy. Most people in Malaysia speak a bit of English and are always willing to help. One guy even spoke to the minibus driver to make sure I got off at the right stop and then the little school girl in the front reminded me of the next bus line to go to!

A couple hours later, the bus dropped me off at my supposed hostel. Before I realized it was the wrong hostel, the bus was gone. One of the staff offered to drive me to my hostel on the back of his moped. Winding thought the wet mountainous roads in Kinabalu was a little nerve wrecking! Since I had the weight of a child on my back, I was worried that I was going to flip off the thing when he was shifting through the gears up the mountain. He was very brave, leaning into the visibly wet crooked roads. While it was a freaky ride, the view was amazing. To my left was an endless view of rolling tree covered mountains and to my right was the massive Kinabalu mountain. My mouth dropped at the sight of the way the clouds wrapped around the peak like a wide tornado fully engulfing the rest of its beauty.

We eventually arrived at my hostel, an amazing home tucked away in the woods off the main road, surrounded by mountains and fog. The view off the front porch was well worth the $5 a night!

Since there was nothing around us, there was a "homey" feeling to this place. The two ladies who ran the hostel cooked us a large dinner and the three other backpackers and I all sat down for a family-style dinner. It was kinda weird since most of my meals are eaten on a sidewalk.

That night, the temperature dropped pretty quickly, so I was curled up in a ball under my thin tapestry that the hostel gave me for a blanket; it's supposed to get even colder up on the mountain!