summer love

I was recently posted to Kota Kinabalu to fly the flights from that base for 2 weeks. Actually about 16 days. I was very apprehensive at first and thought what did I do to deserve this? I had alot going for me in KL and I had alot of planning to do before my trip to Bali end of the month. So tried as I could to swap it with someone, I couldn't. So with a heavy heart I went for it. And guess what? I had the time of my life!! I was a huge hit over there. HUGE HIT. Stayed in Promenade and was treated like a king. Everything was walking distance. Spent my days there walking from one point to another. Just walking and taking in the sites and letting the locals take in my sight ;) I was a regular tourist.


This is the view from my room.



Spent the first few days exploring and sightseeing. I love doing this. Just walking and getting lost in the surroundings. Met up with Azhar I think my 5th day there and he took me to the markets where everything is extremely cheap, colourful and FRESH. Check out the veges and esp the chilies! The colours! And i adore vege.. I wanted to buy them which was ridiculous.



We then went to the seafood section. And the smell had me retching. Even now looking at the photos, I can still smell the seawater and the blood and all the fish. Lord.. I'm feeling woozy. But the fish were extremely fresh. You can still see some of the gills moving. And there were so many varieties. From stingrays to crabs and weird coloured fishes and HUGE fishes. But the smell..

And some of the fishmongers were cleaning and gutting the fish and you could see the innards being pulled out. I could have passed out. But truth be told, some of them were hunky! The mongers not the fish. And they were topless ;) Leave it to me to notice men in a bloodbath.




And until today I cannot tell what this is. Some weird underwater plantation. And I'm not sure what is in the plastic containers either. They look like intestines. Or gall bladders.


After that, we walked thru the clothes part of the market and got approached by porn peddlers. Then we went to look at massage parlours. And got approached by a particularly hot massuer named Jimmy who guaranteed a good massage. Very good. I should mention here that in that 2weeks I was in KK, I must have gone for like 5 or was it 6 massages. I must have tried every place the city had to offer. But none gave me a happy ending ;) Even Mr Jimmy.

Flying in KK was a breeze. The flights were short and simple. The heat however was unbearable. Could have died. But survived. Part of the city, somewhere after LeMeridien towards Hyatt had a park. And in this park there were all this weird structures which to my eyes served no purpose. They looked like pillars. Patrick says they're pots. I'm not too sure about that Patrick..



And at one point there was this huge splash of colours on the buildings! I was very intrigued. I'm all for colours. These buildings are flats with shophouses at the bottom. And it's quite cosy walking thru them. And you can get from point to another by walking using the elevated colourful pedestrian walk. From this mall to the next. Very ingenious.



There was this gelato/ice cream place near my hotel called Scoops. Which was a bad idea. Cos I was there almost every other day. And each time I tell myself I must take a pic of what I ordered. But it never happens. Cos after one spoon or one lick, I just couldn't stop. So to make up for the lack of gelato pic here, here is the overall look. The taste is to die for! Esp the chocolate orange! Smooth and tart.




So there you have it, my 2weeks went by in a flash. And what I thought was gonna be the death of me turned out to be the highlight of my year thus far. I met such interesting and wonderful people. Patrick being one of them ;) Really like the city. It's small. Quiet. But I don't think I could live there. In that 2 weeks, I've explored every nook and cranny of it. If I lived there, I'd go mad with mentalness. I also had the time to check out the islands Manukan and Sapi but I didn't take photos as I had left my phone back in the hotel. Didn't want to risk me dropping it or misplacing it. But the islands were nice. Esp Sapi. My return trip to Sabah would be to go to Sipadan. Someone close recommended it alot. I even had a free hair highlight! How cool is that? Yes.. I now have blonde highlights. It was silver initially then got switched to blonde. For free. Don't ask how or why.

On recommendation of my heartbeat HoneyStar i checked out this wonderful place called Little Italy. And the food is to die for! Very good Italian cuisine. Took pics of my first visit. Didn't take photos of my subsequent visits. Their bread basket comes with 4 varieties of bread. And their pastas are handmade. And the drinks come in cool pitcher like glasses.



Upperstar (about a block away) had nice drinks and ok ok food. Cheap drinks and the atmosphere was excellent. The view was amazing as we were upstairs on the balcony and you can people watch. But my eyes kept coming back to the person in front of me. The smoky silver of his hair kept caressing my thoughts ;)

All in all, KK was good to me. Very good. I enjoyed it alot. And am definitely pondering making a coming back visit. Lots to look forward to on my return trip. Azhar and the girls say I should. And I just might. But i'm also glad to be back to the old status quo. Nothing like home.