I am sitting at Kota Kinabula (known locally as KK) airport in Sabah, eastern Borneo as I write, waiting for my flight to Sandakan, just under an hour’s flying time away, where I will spend a few days cruising along the Kinabatangan river, wildlife watching for orangutangs, probiscus monkeys, exotic birds and maybe some pygmy elephants, among other things.
The history of Sabah is very interesting. It was a British protectorate from 1888 and then became a crown colony after WWII and was called North Borneo. In 1963 there was a referendum and they opted to join Malaya (Malaysia) along with Sarawak and changed their name to Sabah. You still have to go through immigration when flying from the Malaysian peninsula, despite it technically being a domestic flight. Singapore also joined, but was expelled in 1965.
I’m also hoping to visit some orangutangs at Sepilok rehabilitation park. Do you know when it is safe to hug an orangutang? Never so the story goes. Apparently one enterprising orangutang likes to jump out and hug people, hoping for food in return, but the guide will tell you to run away when he sees him coming as they are very strong, about 5 times stronger than a human, so it can be dangerous. I’ll write more about my Borneo visit in my next post.
I left the Isaan region in Thailand on 20 December to go down to Pattaya for Christmas, I left a few days earlier due to a medical concern and wanted to go to one of the 5 * private hospitals there. The hospital was superb and the service very fast and highly efficient. It took less than an hour from walking in the door to see a specialist. After some tests and examinations all was OK, nothing to worry about. Phew that’s a relief. The insurance even paid for all of it as well, so I was very happy.
Pattaya is madly busy as usual and we have hired an apartment for Christmas, right in the centre of the the city. I bought some twinkly lights and a mini tree, already decorated, for the apartment and we plugged in the laptop to watch some Christmas movies. The apartment is compact, but nice although it is on the 15th floor so the view from the balcony is rather frightening!
Everywhere you look in the bars, shops and restaurants there are Christmas trees and decorations. I made the usual for breakfast on Christmas day, which Sasipa and I ate washed down with some Aussie fizz, which was excellent.
I found a nice place to go to for lunch and although it wasn’t a patch on a homemade Christmas dinner it was still tasty. They even had Yorkshire puddings and as it was an Irish pub, some Guinness as well. Sasipa decided that breakfast was sufficient european food for one day and had a Thai meal for lunch.
I revisited the Sanctuary of truth, a beautiful wooden construction, completely hand carved in teak and mai deng, which is a reddish tropical hardwood. I even had a little go at wood carving myself while I was there, under the guidance of one of the carpenters.
We also spent a half day on the beach in Jomtien just south of Pattaya. It’s slightly less busy and more laid back there than Pattaya beach. There was one westerner face down in the sand, no towel etc, not moving for about an hour. I was glad, when he did eventually move as I was beginning to worry he might be an ex-tourist..
I managed to drop my watch and crack the screen. It is only the glass face, but despite visiting one of the manufacturer’s service centre’s, they say they can only replace the whole inside of the watch, which is a pointless expense. Fortunately you can buy just the glass face on the internet, so I will do that and replace it myself.
After Pattaya, we headed south to Chanthaburi. This side of Thailand as opposed to the Phucket side peters out to nothing about 100 km further south and becomes Cambodia. South of us is the town of Trat and the island of Koh Chang and not much else. It was nice to see all the motorway toll barriers open, with free passage for the new year period.
This area is the main Durian growing region and there are Durian trees everywhere, It is often regarded as the most expensive fruit (and the smelliest) in the world, so there is plenty of money here. It is also a famous place for gems and there are many gem traders and gem stores here.
The main river running through town has lots of café’s and restaurants along the banks and at night it is all lit up.
The largest catholic church in Thailand is also here and although we weren’t able to go inside its still quite impressive from outside. Nearby is the impressive Wat Khao Sukim, full of jade statues and vases. There is a small funicular railway to take you up to the main temple. Sasipa decided to hand over a donation to one of the monks who chatted to us, bestowed blessings and wished us well.
Nearby there is a mangrove forest, with many different species of mangroves and a raised trail that takes you through the swamps that border the sea. Lots of mosquito’s too!
Heading back towards Bangkok for the new year celebrations we stopped at Chonburi city just north of Pattaya. There is not a lot to do here in my opinion, but there are a few temples, an amazing fish market and also what is sold as their very own version of the grand canyon. It’s actually a former gravel pit, however it is actually rather pretty and peaceful.
We bought some seafood, thinking to make a tom yam goong soup back at the apartment we were staying at for the night. We just about managed it, but it was difficult as the apartment was quite new and it hadn’t occurred to them to equip the kitchen! The reception bought us up a small saucepan, frying pan, cooks knife, ladle, plus some cutlery. We had to eat the soup directly out of the salad bowl as we only had plates, but it was very tasty.
There is also a giant Chinese temple that was interesting, but over run with tourists and worshipers. On the first level were a couple of huge bells with gongs, where you could make a wish/prayer and then use the gong. The resulting sound reverberating around the temple was impressive.
Heading for Bangkok we passed through Bang Na on the outskirts of the city where Sasipa lived for 20 years. She excitedly pointed out where she worked, lived and where the kids went to school (or S kool as she pronounces it, the sc sound is difficult for Thai’s.) as we drove by.
I had looked at the options for new year’s eve and decide on the ICONsiam complex as there was supposed to be live music, fireworks etc in the park behind and events in the massive shopping complex set on the river banks of the Chaopraya main river.
A big mistake! Firstly the traffic was horrendous, so much so that we gave up on the taxi 2 km away and walked the rest of the way. The centre itself was absolutely and ridiculously overcrowded. There was no music to speak of, only a few buskers in the actual shopping centre and the park you couldn’t get into at all unless you booked a river cruise. In a nutshell their website was a complete fabrication about what was on offer. Evidently a lot of other people thought so too, as the exodus of people was at least equal to the influx of new people, no doubt soon about to be disappointed as well.
We had to walk the best part of a mile to get far enough away from the crowds to be able to flag down a Tuk Tuk to take us back to the Khao San area,
While there were no fireworks to speak of apart from a few small ones, the area was very lively and we enjoyed the live music and a few beers and saw in the new year that way.
Hello 2024, I’m off out on my own today as Sasipa’s foot hurts from all the walking and she’s feeling a bit unwell with a chest infection. A quick visit to the pharmacy for some antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and I was off. I do like how you can go to the pharmacy here and buy what you need without a prescription. It makes life so much easier.
I tootled along to the MBK centre, taking the canal boat as usual from Panfa Leela jetty to Siam. The crowding again was horrendous, we were packed in liked sardines on the boat. It was a far cry from the quieter days of November, when I was last here and much less pleasant. Think swarm of locusts and you’d be about right. Other ‘wildlife’ included a large lizard of some sort sunning itself by the canal.
The Thai government has done a deal with China and now they can come here visa free. Unfortunately from my perspective and many others, they have done just that, by the veritable coach load. The Russians have also done a deal and they now get 90 days entry with no visa. There is talk about extending the UK visa free access from 30 to 90 days as well, so fingers crossed.
The MBK centre itself wasn’t too busy and I bought a couple of small things I wanted. I plan to buy a new iPhone as they are quite a lot cheaper here, but I didn’t plan to buy one for a couple of months yet. However a good deal presented itself and so I went for it. Now I’ve got the hassle of setting it all up. Despite the option to copy all the stuff from your old phone, it doesn’t work with all the financial stuff, wallet, or all Esim cards, so there is still a lot to do manually.
The wifi in the hotel is rubbish. Some wannabe IT person has set it all up with multiple restrictions, limited logins, throttled speed etc, with a fine for resetting the modem. I’m not surprised, as I have no doubt quite a few people have done just that. The only reason I didn’t was I didn’t fancy a 2000 baht fine.
I visited Chatuchak market again to buy some hiking shoes for my Borneo adventure and as usual couldn’t resist a couple of T shirts, oh alright a few T shirts!
We took a long boat ride down the main Chaopraya river. All the way to the last stop which is a big shopping complex called Asiatique. It’s lovely on the boat with a nice breeze and lots of sights as you cruise along, from modern skyscrapers to posh hotels with their own jetties to ancient temples.
Unfortunately Asiatique was almost entirely shut. At most, perhpas half a dozen shops were open and only one or two restaurants, despite it being lunchtime. Apparently it doesn’t open until 5pm. Who ever heard of a shopping complex not opening until 5pm, Grrr.
Luckily, just over the road was one of the top voted dumpling places in Bangkok and we were soon tucking into a variety of steamed dumplings and Bao buns. The place was huge and full of locals (and Chinese) and the dumplings were excellent and inexpensive. There was also a branch of the Bangkok bank next door, so I could get my app updated to work on my new phone.
Back on the boat we hopped off at the royal palace stop, which is a sprawling palace and temple complex a kilometre of so south of the Khaosan road. Unfortunately they were incredibly strict and wouldn’t let me in with shorts on, even though they are below the knee, which is the usual temple requirement. Thwarted we walked back to our hotel, picking up some sliced green papaya and dipping spice from a street vendor on the way.
I will write another update about my visit to Malaysia and Borneo very soon.