Kota Kinabalu-lu lu lu lu.. You're so pretty!

this weekend, a few of my friends from work and i went to Kota Kinabalu. we didn't stay in the city, though. we stayed on the water front and spent most of the time chilling on the little islands off the shore.


there are speed boats that leave the shore of Kota every hour to ferry folks to these remote little gems of beauty. the main island near us was Manukan Island:


which has some civilization on it (a small resort, a food stall and a souvenir shop) but there are others, that just consist of nature, white sand beaches and a ton of fish! yes, it's quite a trip - swimming with a bazillion tropical fish!! snorkelers feed them bread, so the fish are extremely friendly - swim right along side of you, entire schools of them, and even nibble on you a bit.


another fact worth mentioning about Kota is Mount Kinabalu which is one of the tallest, if not the tallest mountain in SE Asia. we didn't have enough time to explore it on this trip, but it was still a beaut to gaze upon from afar. You can see it from the smaller islands, boat rides, and pretty much from almost everywhere in Kota.

one of the mornings, my friend DFL and i went for a long run along the shore. we stumbled up this housing development:


it's a bit hard to see on the iPhone pic, but these houses are actually on the water on stilts. on the way back, thinking we were taking a shortcut, we accidentally ended up running through them. the wooden boardwalks connecting these houses are super sketchy, and felt quite unsafe. the houses are more like shacks and the water below is filled with garbage. possibly the current happens to wash it up there, or maybe people just toss their junk out the windows? some people were burning it, right on the water, among wooden houses! crazies!! it was one of the most bizarre sights.. simultaneously beautiful and sad. beautiful because from afar it's incredibly gorgeous and people are beyond friendly. (we were joking that we were not sure if we were more tired from the run, or from saying "Hello, Good Morning" 1000 times.) sad because when you get close up and see how little these folks have to live on, and the conditions they live in. . . although i could not help but wonder whose life is more enjoyable. you know how that is - the less you have, the less you need, and life is much simpler.

a fun thing i wanted to share is that my roommate, a total sweetheart and an awesome gentle soul, snored like a tank! the first night i managed to toss and turn through most of it, but the second night, i called it a day and literally dragged my mattress onto the balcony.


and it turned out to be a wise decision. i fell asleep to the sound of waves and the sight of a full moon, and woke up to the songs of what sounded like 50 different birds and the most glorious view.