An Escapade to Kota Kinabalu
On the 2nd of
April 2016, my parents and I were up with the lark to catch the morning flight
to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Our
aircraft, an old-fashioned Boeing B737-800, had no multimedia screen and no
in-flight magazine. So we spent most of the time reading and taking power naps.
Eventually, we touched down at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport. We then
took a cab from the airport to our hotel, The Magellan Sutera Resort. We had a little
bit of spare time before the check-in time at 2pm. So, we took another cab ride
to the nearby Imago Mall, where we had a sumptuous lunch. We did a quick bout
of grocery shopping at the supermarket before spending the rest of the day
chilling out in the hotel room. The highlight of the day came in the evening,
when we had dinner with my Year 1 teacher, Ms. Helen in a highly rated
restaurant called Little Italy. The food was extremely delectable and we had a
very satisfying feast.
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Our tour kicked off with crossing a very rickety rope bridge that was swaying over a brook criss-crossed with boulders. Then, we headed to the Dusun longhouse. The guide showed us a hollow pit called tangkob and asked us to guess what its purpose is. Nearly everybody in the group said it was a well, but I gave the correct answer when I said it was a storage for their main crop - rice. When I entered their abode, I discovered another secret of the Dusun - making rice wine. The procedure is rather simple: firstly, they soak rice in water and leave it overnight. Then, they add yeast to the rice, pour it into a tiny container, and grind the mixture until it was no more than a paste.
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After that, they add flavouring to counteract any flat taste. If they wanted it bitter, they would add tobacco. Everyone, except me and a few other boys who were on the tour, sampled the rice wine. An American, named Calvin, loved the beverage so much he requested for a second serving. The guide told us that females would sleep on the top deck while males would sleep at the bottom. This was a precaution to prevent attacks from enemies who might try to abduct the girls, who were less defensive than the boys. After exiting the longhouse, we had the opportunity to taste some bamboo cooking delights by the Dusun. It was unexpectedly delicious and it gave me a totally new impression about Sabahan cuisine.
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When we entered the longhouse of the upriver people, the first thing that greeted my eyes was a platter of food and a fire burning. Our guide revealed the most bewildering secret of the Lundayeh, they had a traditional ‘air-conditioner’. All of us were dumbfounded. Tribes weren’t supposed to have any modern features hanging about in their abodes! Our guide explained that if anybody in the house needed a breather from the tropical weather, they would open up the roof so that a cooling breeze could stream in. Lifting up the heavy roof was rather cumbersome, so it served as a good workout as well. Like the Murut, the Lundayeh were also head-hunters but they weren’t as ferocious. After exiting the house, I was awestruck. Behind a wooden bench was a crocodile silhouette made out of grass! The Lundayeh people actually used the crocodile as a symbol of ferocity and it was a sign that they were invincible and defensive. It was necessary for them to trim their grass into the shape of a crocodile. If they didn’t, rivalling attackers would think they were puny and defeat them hollow.
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The last tribe was the savage headhunters of Sabah - the Murut. On entry to the grounds of the Murut, one tribal man shrieked out loudly. Seeing him made me break out in goose bumps and cold sweat. What would they do to me when I entered? Thankfully, I only got touched lightly on my palm with a hair ruffle before being allowed entry onto the Murut’s soil. Phew! We got to try our hand at using a blowpipe with an arrow to shoot at a coconut shell before entry. Nearly all the men made it, but one lady picked up the blowpipe and surprisingly hit the coconut! What a sharpshooter! On entering the residence of the Murut, we found out one of their traditional pastimes. It was bouncing on a rattan trampoline that was constructed inside their house. At the top was a colourful figure that the men would try to hit by bouncing as high as possible to touch it. It beats me how they could do it without suffering muscular pains, but these men were fit as a fiddle.
Before lunch, we were treated to a cultural show. Drums, gongs and chimes tinkled, banged and bonged at the start. Then, a troupe of Lundayeh women began to do a slightly sedate dance before a group of Murut men, armed with long, sharp spears, began to recreate a traditional dance with bold movements. Finally, two pairs of Lundayeh women laid sticks of bamboo on the stage. The Murut chief began dancing between each bamboo at an awesome speed. After the performance, audience were invited to join the bamboo dance, but at a much slower speed. Throughout the show, we were served lime juice from a tiny stall inside the amphitheatre. I have learnt so much about the culture and lifestyle of how these indigenous people of Sabah.
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At one point I even saw monkeys frolicking and leaping nimbly on the netting! We passed by some chalets and a small swimming pool before arriving at MERC. A young lady named Vanessa greeted us and ushered us to the auditorium to watch two videos on marine conservation.
Then, we went to another hall where Vanessa told us about the process of coral bleaching and many other things about the ocean. Seven of the world’s eight species of Giant Clams are bred in MERC.
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After that was the Coral
Tank. Vanessa told us that coral could be divided into two groups - hard corals
and soft corals. The hard corals have shells made out of tough calcium
carbonate and they have polyp tentacles in multiples of 6 while soft coral
shells made out of a flexible protein called gorgonin and have polyp tentacles
in the multiples of eight, hence giving them the name ‘octocorals’. Next we
were briefed on the bleaching of corals. The corals have a symbiotic
relationship with a type of algae called zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae colours
the coral and makes them attractive. When the global warming effect causes the
zooxanthellae to seep out, the coral loses its colour and turns white. Any reef
or ocean with coral is susceptible to such a phenomenon - even the Great
Barrier Reef is succumbing to this effect.
The highlight of the visit
was the Touch Tank, where I was allowed to touch and feel starfishes, sea cucumber,
snails and crabs. I started off with touching a horseshoe crab. It was
squirming around a bit, so I put it down quickly. Next, I moved on to the sea
cucumbers. Their soft and slimy texture felt unappealing to me at first, but as
I felt more of them, I slowly got used to it. Finally, I managed to feel a
Chocolate Chip Starfish. It was bright red with brown bumps dotted all over it,
giving it the name “chocolate chip”. The last attraction was the baby crabs.
One was the miniscule Tridacna maxima at 16 months, and the slightly bigger Tridacna gerada at 24 months.
On the third morning, we headed to the airport and left Kota Kinabalu with a heavy heart. To some extent, I was glad to fly home because of the worsening haze in Kota Kinabalu. Some schools were closed for two days.
Written by:
Koh Chee Yuan
On the third morning, we headed to the airport and left Kota Kinabalu with a heavy heart. To some extent, I was glad to fly home because of the worsening haze in Kota Kinabalu. Some schools were closed for two days.
Written by:
Koh Chee Yuan
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