Captivated by Kota Kinabalu | The West Australian

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Captivated by Kota Kinabalu | The West ***********

The silhouettes of close to 100 paddleboarders bob along the horizon as the sun sets on Tanjung Aru Beach.

A tranquil breeze eases the humidity and pushes you along as you glide across the water’s surface.

Back on land the muffled sounds of music can be heard, the faint smell of spices and seafood intensify as you get closer to shore, and a wedding is celebrated with fireworks, much to the excitement of local children.

It’s my first night in Kota Kinabalu — the state capital of Sabah in the Malaysian section of the island of Borneo.

My instant assessment of the city is it has similarities to Bali.

But dial down the intensity of the streets of Kuta and keep the favourable qualities such as cultural experiences, friendly locals, and affordability, and you have Kota Kinabalu.

Incredibly, the city is less than a three-hour flight from Denpasar.

Camera IconThe view of the ocean in Kota Kinabalu. Credit: Supplied

The popular destination for West Australians is no longer a one-stop holiday destination. Air Asia has opened it up as a hub to access more destinations in the continent at an affordable price.

It means Bali (which Air Asia flies to from Perth several times a day) can now be a stopover on a greater holiday, instead of being the final destination.

And North Borneo is worth exploring for all types of travellers.

There are few western tourists. Korean and ******** visitors are more prominent, while some backpackers are seen.

Despite this, the city is well prepared for English-speaking tourists keen to explore the natural wonders.

The drive from the airport to the hotel is a cultural experience in itself.

Water houses — some nearly falling into the ocean below — line the main roads, scooters zoom past, and construction workers brave the midday heat.

After quickly unpacking at the hotel, we are off to the ocean, where we can explore the city skyline from the water on a paddleboard.

It’s a calm start to a holiday that can be both hectic and relaxing at the same time — you can set the tempo according to your mood.

The food we explore for the first few nights is a mix of Malaysian and ********.

Camera IconThe food in Kota Kinabalu. Credit: Mitchell Woodcock

Seafood is the local delicacy. The locals are proud of their produce, and with good reason.

Sweet and sour fish, prawns and oysters greet us at a new restaurant, Utan, on our first night.

The owner smiles as he tells us they use only local produce, which does not disappoint.

As Islam is the most prominent religion here, you must be prepared for some venues not to serve alcohol, although it is not hard to find — and when the food is as good as it is at Utan, it is a sacrifice well worth making.

By the second day we get a great sense of local life when we’re taken to the Gaya Street Sunday Market.

There are clothes, trinkets and food on the street stalls, and here is where you get a real sense of Kota Kinabalu’s difference from Bali — the vendors are not pushy for you to buy from them.

Their customer service is above and beyond the call of duty, but they will not bother you intensely as they might elsewhere. Instead, they’re happy for you to look and explore the world around you.

As the humidity rises, we are swept out of the city and taken into the mountains, where we go whitewater rafting on the Kiulu River.

It’s a great way to see some of the local fauna and flora.

Whizzing down a 15km stretch of the river, there is little intensity to the rapids, making it perfect for beginners or a family experience, with little in the way of danger.

The local schoolchildren wave in excitement as you pass by, singing traditional songs, and you can also see plenty of wildlife.

Rafting is just one of the many adventurous experiences you can enjoy in the area without breaking the bank.

Depending on the rainfall, landslides may take down roads and make your trip a bit longer, but the scenery as you travel the winding roads is elegant, and the views from the sides of the mountains can be breathtaking.

There is almost too much to fit into a short space of time in Kota Kinabalu, but given its proximity to Perth, it’s a holiday destination that is worth repeat visits.

From the incredible Shangri-La Tanjung Aru, you can also take a short boat ride to the multiple islands off the coast of the main city.

Within just a few hours we visit the islands of Sapi and Mamutik, where you can hire snorkelling gear and look at the incredible life below the surface of the ocean.

Camera IconStand-up paddleboarding in Kota Kinabalu. Credit: Supplied

Schools of fish unbothered by the floods of tourists pass over your feet and weave through the coral, just a finger’s breadth away from your goggles. It is almost surreal seeing them so close, even in the low tide we experience on that particular day.

The pace of the trip changes again after a 40-minute Air Asia flight from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan on the east coast of the island. Sandakan is Sabah’s second-biggest city, but it is outside its borders that the real wonders lie.

A 2½-hour drive and a quick 10-minute boat ride later and I’m standing on the docks at the Sukau Rainforest Lodge, trying to get my breath back.

The lodge is nestled into the rain forest, with nature simply overtaking the wooden structures. After you get over the bright green shades that hit you, the sounds which envelope you put you at ease. You can hear the birds and the frogs as clearly as the person next to you.

And even then, this is only the start of the experience.

The restaurant lies on the Kinabatangan River, so you can just look over the water and wonder what lies beneath it.

But once you get back into the boat the wondering stops and the once-in-a-lifetime experience begins.

In Sukau, people will tell you about the “Borneo Big Five” they hope you’ll see.

These are the pygmy elephant, orangutan, proboscis monkey, crocodile, and rhinoceros hornbill. They hope to show you each of them in the wild, but warn you it is incredibly rare to see all five.

On our first boat trip, we’re lucky enough to see four.

Our guide quickly spots a rhinoceros hornbill at the top of the trees, with the orange ***** on top of its head clear in front of the backdrop of the cloudy sky.

We find the proboscis monkeys next. You can hear them before you see them, and once spotted, they show off for you, leaping from tree to tree in incredible feats of athleticism.

The next two animal spottings surprise even our guide.

Camera IconThe pygmy elephant. Credit: Jollence Lee

Visitors in other boats tell us of a group of pygmy elephants upriver.

A group of three play in the trees, scratching their backs on the fauna and wrestling with their trunks as boatloads of tourists watch on in awe, snapping pictures with their phones.

We are then lucky enough to find an orangutan in one of their nests.

Hidden away with only their limbs visible, it’s astonishing to see one in the wild so close to the river, unbothered by the people below.

We have to wait for an after-dinner night cruise to complete our Borneo Big Five bingo card, with another laser-eyed guide spotting a baby crocodile on the water’s surface.

He also spots plenty of birds as they sit stunned in the spotlight, almost as if they are posing for you when they’re really wary of predators given the sudden burst of light.

It was only one night in the jungle, but the incredible amount we were able to pack in was worth the drive alone, and left everyone fascinated by what lay in the greenery beyond the river banks.

On our way back to Sandakan we stop at the Rainforest Discovery Centre, where a downpour prevents us from seeing more orangutans, but we don’t have to wait long as we get a good look at plenty of them during feeding time at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.

Unbothered by the humans on the other side of the glass, the orangutan families eat and play in front of their excited fans.

One gets a laugh from the normally quiet tourists when he makes a hat out of some rubbish to protect himself from the rain, while a cheeky young one steals bananas from its mother, who is not too impressed.

Just across the road is the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre, where the quiet but interesting animals are rehabilitated, with many having been mistreated as pets.

They’re the smallest bears in the world and can only be found in Borneo, with a sleek ****** coat highlighting their crescent-shaped chest patch.

Camera IconThe rainforest in Sukau. Credit: Supplied

In less than an hour you can explore the centre, watching as the bears go about their day undisturbed in a natural habitat.

And it’s all at the fingertips of travellers who have already made the flight to Bali.

If you are looking for extra comfort, Kota Kinabalu is also accessible from the base of most of Air Asia’s operations in Kuala Lumpur. Only a five-hour flight from Perth, the extra 90 minutes of travel are worth it when you can book one of their premium flat beds, making the trip a lot more comfortable.

The spacious seat fully reclines, while the premium service is excellent as you are served good food (for a plane service) from the extensive menu.

If a Bali trip with a little bit more is on your travel list for this year, then Sabah is worth a good look for a cost-effective add-on that takes about the same time to get there as it does to drive from Perth to Margaret River.

+ Mitchell Woodcock was a guest of AirAsia and the Sabah Tourism Board. They have not influenced or read this story before publication.

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