From KK to Sepilok

Recently I drove from KK to Sepilok with some friends who were in Sabah on holiday.  They only had a few days, so we went straight from the airport to Kundasang.  And Mt Kinabalu offered some beautiful views, both in the evening and the next morning!

On the way to the east coast, we went on a rafflesia hunt and were lucky enough to be able to see one.  Although I have seen quite a few now, it is always interesting to see the flies buzzing around the centre, as well as the texture of the leaves, the interesting nodules hanging around the inside of the lip and the large cabbage-like buds - which take 9 months to develop.

Our next stop was Sepilok and the orangutans.  As we were walking to the feeding platform, a fairly large orangutan came down from a tree and started moving quickly among us.  We were alternately told to stop and move, stop and move - not sure what the right thing to do was, so maybe both.  We saw a mother and child, I think.  They are so surprisingly gentle, frightened even of the marauding macaques.

Not to be missed in Sepilok is the Rainforest Discovery Centre.  Great information, wonderful walks, a very strong canopy walkway and a great flower garden.

I am constantly photographing orchids too - their beauty is not that easy to catch - but their colours are gorgeous.

From Sepilok, we went to the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary - another 'must see' in this area.  The guides there are very informative and you can get very close to the proboscis monkeys themselves.  The males are very strong and have lovely coats - the females and young have incredibly cute, little up-turned noses!

An added attraction at Labuk Bay are the silver leaf langurs.  They are generally around - although I've been a couple of times when they seemed to be taking a break from all the tourists.  We were especially lucky to see the baby ones - who are orange in colour at first and then gradually get darker over the months.

If you're into photography at all, you'll know that you go through stages of being interested in certain things - and it's the same with me (except for Mt Kinabalu which is a passion!).  So here are some pics of heliconia.  They are fantastic because of their colour, their variety and their sculptural quality.

Sabah offers such variety.  I never tire of travelling to each different part - and taking photos. 

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.  I'd love to hear from you:  jude@astsabah.com

KK - coming of age

Kota Kinabalu is a great place to live. There is a lot going on here, a lot of new developments, a lot of different events happening all the time. The trick is to be able to find out about them! So you have to get onto people's mailing lists or sms lists - or join societies - or talk to people a lot about what you are interested in so that they remember to tell you when something is coming up!

And there is a new generation now making its mark in KK, so we see the cybercafes and the smart coffee shops and ice cream parlours and the trendy small restaurants with their fusion cuisine. Oh to be wanted to be seen! But I'm long past that. And I prefer the traditional small 'kopi tiams' (coffee shops), anyway.

However, I was sent an invitation to the opening of an art gallery in KK and I went there yesterday. What a great place - the Mary James Art Gallery! And just being there reminded me about how the young people of KK are having their influence on the city, shaping the look and feel of public places and happenings. The works on display also brought home to me again how profoundly artists in Sabah are influenced by the traditional cultures and handicrafts, the landscape, flora and Mt Kinabalu - hence my choice of photos for this blog! It is this link that underlies the design of AST's Flora Tour, where we explore what nature here offers and how this is so often the inspiration for artists (See our tours on www.astsabah.com)

Three Sabahan artists are being featured at the gallery at the moment. They are Awang Fadilah Bin Ali Hussein, Muhammed Amin B Muhidin and Sia Yek Chung. Their work is very different from each other's and very distinctive. Awang Fadilah works in acrylic and his black and white pictures are so full of fine detail that you are constantly seeing new things in them. Muhammed Amin, on the other hand, creates fabulous batiks on silk. They are vibrant and multi-layered, so that, again, their message is not revealed all at once - you need to keep looking at them to see what else is there.

Or you need to hear some of the stories that Ellie Hwong, the Managing Director of the gallery, can tell you about the pictures and the artists. She is committed to both the works and the artists and it is very interesting talking to her.

The third artist whose work is featured in the Mary James Art Gallery is Sia Yek Ching. He works in watercolour and the paintings on display are of pitcher plants, koi (fish) and local handicrafts. His super-enlarged pitcher plants are quite lovely.

In all three artists, the influence of Sabah is obvious, as I said above. The colours, the motifs, the themes, the richness of the cultures here and the unique offerings of nature in Sabah are all there in their work! I am not an artist myself - but I love looking at it, appreciating it and, occasionally, buying it! And all the works on display are very interesting to just look at and enjoy.

The works are all on sale and cater to the high-end and corporate slice of the market. Ellie is committed to promoting the work of Sabahan artists, though, and we look forward to some more exhibitions and perhaps 'meet the artist' evenings at this lovely new art gallery in KK.


You can visit the Mary James Art Gallery blog to see some of the works currently on display: http://mjartgallery.blogspot.com/. You can also call (088) 270223 for a viewing at the gallery.
If you have any comments or questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with us at: ron@astsabah.com or jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!

New Year's Day 2010

What better way to start a New Year than going out into the countryside with good friends, a delicious picnic and cameras to the ready!

Four of us set out in the morning – three of us with cameras set to go! We drove through a beautiful part of Sabah and were delighted when we came upon a spot where we could look down into a valley of terraced padi. It was an idyllic scene – the golden padi, the dark green hills and the sparkling water.

Padi has two stunning moments – first, when it is planted out and is a vibrant green, shimmering with its own potential, and then when is it ready to harvest and is a glowing gold, heavy with rich ripeness.

On New Year’s Day, the padi was golden and ready to harvest.

And there were people doing just that! They were harvesting by hand, using the traditional short, curved blade. These were small groups of people who saw us and waved and shouted greetings,holding their fistfuls of padi in the air for us to see. And then photographing us photographing them!

They were also threshing by hand and, somehow, we felt privileged to see them.

The air bubbled with fun!

As evening came, the scene was cast in a particularly beautiful light.

These photos were taken by my friends, Boon and Jessica, and me.

Our day-long trip took us from Kota Kinabalu to Ranau (on Mt Kinabalu) and then from Ranau to Tambunan, through the Crocker Range. We then crossed back over the Crocker Range from Tambunan to KK.

If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch with us.

We'd love to hear from you at jude@astsabah.com or ron@astsabah.com.

Brenda's overnight trip to Tenom

I recently spent two wonderful weeks in Sabah. During the first week, I took the Food Tour offered by Adventure Study Tours and in the second week, I did several of their day trips. These included an overnight trip to Tenom, a two and a half hour drive south-east of Kota Kinabalu. This was an opportunity to see a different part of Sabah. To get to Tenom, we needed to cross the Crocker Range, the mountains that lie north-south in the country and include Mt Kinabalu. We went over an amazing road with wonderful views back towards the sea and with hair-raising road elevation inclines of up to 19 degrees. Fortunately Jude has driven this road a number of times and can do it without overheating the car!

Once we entered the valley on the other side of the mountains, we passed lots of padi fields that were at various stages of growth, some seeming to have just been planted, while others were ready to harvest. The journey took us through villages in which we could see traditional wooden houses on stilts.

In Tenom, the hotel we stayed at was perched precariously on the side of the mountains and has outstanding views back along the valley. From my hotel room window, I was able to watch a rainstorm come along the valley to Tenom. The storm clouds were beautiful!

Besides making the trip to Tenom itself, we wanted to visit the Sabah Agriculture Park with its huge array of fruit trees and many different plants, including an amazing collection of hybrid and native orchids. We spent a number of hours on two days, with a knowledgeable local guide, walking through the park, tasting fruit, learning about almost everything we looked at and taking innumerable pictures of plants and flowers. One of the highlights of the park is the restaurant. It is so beautifully situated, it's hard to describe! Just look at the picture of the scene we were looking at as we had lunch.

We went back to Kota Kinabalu on another new road for me, going through Tambunan and passing the Rafflesia Centre but there weren't any rafflesia in bloom - unfortunately. (Rafflesia is the world's largest flower.) The road went through rainforest as we crossed back over the Crocker Range and, as could perhaps be expected, it rained all the way! As far as I was concerned, this only enhanced my 'rainforest' experience.
This was the last day of the very active two weeks I had in Sabah. There is still so much to see that a return visit is definitely needed. Next time, perhaps the rafflesia will be in bloom, maybe I'll get to the islands, and to Sandakan and ...

Brenda Morgan, Calgary, Canada

If you have any questions about Brenda's trip or Sabah, please don't hesitate to write to us at: ron@astsabah.com and jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!

Mt Kinabalu

On a Special Day, you can see Mt Kinabalu from all sorts of points around KK, even though it's a two-hour drive away. But that's why this is called 'Kota Kinabalu', City of Kinabalu. The stately mountain is there all the time, at the edge of our vision, deep in our hearts, occasionally revealing itself, only to be swiftly enveloped in clouds again. It really is wonderful to see it rising up in the distance, with its distinctive granite outline - which is captured, by the way, on the Sabah flag.

One of the best viewpoints - and only about 30 minutes from downtown KK - is on the Mengkabong Bridge. From here, the mountain seems to rise up out of the water and the mangroves and is in contrast to the tiny boats darting in and out along the river and the fish eagles soaring between patches of cloud.

There are some great spots to see the mountain when you're driving up to Kinabalu National Park as well. Like a lot of mountains, Kinabalu tends to be clear first thing in the morning and then to cover up from mid-morning on, so that you play a bit of a cat-and-mouse game trying to get a good picture. The clouds can come and go in a matter of seconds!

Once at Mt Kinabalu National Park, there are more photo ops, with the lush forest enhancing the implacable granite of the mountain top itself. The walks that are available in the park give you a great feeling of the richness of the forest and the amazing diversity of plants that grow here - including native orchids and pitcher plants.

If you stay up the mountain, you are sure to get some amazing views of it both in the evening and in the morning. Well, unless there's lots of rain and mist. The town just past the park entrance is called Kundasang, sometimes described as the market garden of KK. You will see black plastic-draped buildings as you reach the end of your drive to the national park and these have mushrooms growing in them - a thriving business. There are also lots of vegetable gardens and even some flower gardens, so you can buy really fresh veges at the Kundasang market. There is also a dairy farm here that provides fresh milk for KK.

But the real reason for me to go up onto Mt Kinabalu is the mountain itself - it's somehow formidable and also skittish, towering and yet not threatening, ever-present and yet so often hidden. I love it - and I love living in Kota Kinabalu and knowing that on Special Days I can see it. Today it was there, lightly covered in cloud and you could just see it as if through a veil. Lovely.

If you have any comments you would like to make or any questions about KK, Sabah or our tours, please just send me a note at: jude@astsabah.com.