Sitting and watching the sun set over Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia during cocktail and canapé hour - I think I'm in heaven. Or at least this is a strong contender for the title of "ultimate bliss" in my imagination.
We arrived in KK yesterday afternoon to a warm blast of tropical air with ten days ahead of us. I finished up at work (for good) on Thursday afternoon and by Thursday night (or 1.05 am Friday morning to be exact), I was on a plane headed for one of my favourite places - Malaysia. This is our third trip to KK, the first being the time we got married - which was a pretty action packed trip with loads of people and stuff to do.
The second trip was the polar opposite - it came just after a particularly hectic few months and I was feeling pretty tired. We went snorkelling at the nearby islands and took a day trip to Mt Kinabalu. But I also recall spending large amounts of time sleeping and sitting curled up in a big leather armchair in the Club lounge reading.
Borneo, where KK is located, has heaps of things to see and do. It's particularly famous for the rainforest interior, orang utan population and other wildlife. But I don't think we'll head out of the city on this trip - which is exactly what I'm up for. Sometimes it's awesome to be all adventure-y, but I also love trips where you just drop into another city and wander around fairly aimlessly. I think we will do a couple of trips out to the islands to snorkel, but I'm most looking forward to walking down the boardwalk, watching a couple of movies at the local cinema and going to the market.
I had been looking forward to sitting by the pool in the sun with a cocktail in hand for months, which I managed to achieve yesterday afternoon. It's amazing how something you're so looking forward to can be sated in 10 minutes or less!! Or is that a 14 hour journey to East Malaysia, plus 10 minutes... Anyway, the Singapore sling hit the spot and instantly transported me to the coveted "holiday mode"!
So far today we've managed breakfast, a stint in the gym and lunch of extremely delish pork noodles. We did also get to the movies this afternoon and watched Taken 2 in a room full of Malaysian teenagers - it had quite a few violent scenes which strangely the crowd found hilariously funny... I think the movies here are censored for sexual content, so action and horror flicks are on heavy rotation as a result. I think tomorrow our choices are a Nic Cage movie about kidnapping and a Chinese action-adventure! Woo hoo!!
Because the last few weeks of work were pretty hectic, I didn't sit down and pack in one go - I sort of threw things at the suitcase on a few occasions and hoped for the best. So, I ended up with a bit of a mixed bag. So far I realised that I've got my camera but no charger and no do-hickey that allows me to move photos from the camera to the iPad (and then onto the blog). Probably forgot a couple of other things too, but I guess when your only plans are to wander around the streets, watch a couple of movies, eat some beef noodles and drink some cold milo (they sell it everywhere) not too much can go wrong!
Happy weekend wherever you are!
- Posted with a Bacardi and ginger ale in hand
