I got up at 5.20 and went to the toilet where my alarm went of, then had a shower and was ready before 6am so I put my suitcase outside but Nikie had just woken up. We left about 10 minutes later and he drove me all the way to the ferry which was great and then I think he went to school as its 10 minutes away. The ferry terminal was empty but it filled up before the ticket office opened at 7.30 and the boat was at 8.30. There was a cafe and toilets but not much else. I used a wall socket to charge my camera which was low but then I had to board the boat and the security check on my luggage was a bit OTT for the short boat ride to a neighbouring country. The boat was a quick hop and I got off having used the internet to check accommodation on the island which had not been cheap. I went to the ticket office and the boat to Kota Kinabalu )KK) left at 1pm so I bought a ticket and left my suitcase there. The journey was less than an hour with several oil rigs and lots of tankers to see on the way - no wonder Brunei was so rich. The island was pretty small and I could walk around it in maybe 5 or 6 hours but I only had less than 2.5 as I had to board the boat at 12.30. I headed out and went in a liquor shop which had a 1 litre Stoly vodka for 25 ringgit which is something I planned to get before boarding the boat. Then I walked to a small Chinese temple and into a supermarket opposite for a carton of juice, bananas and some egg coated nuts (an Indonesian treat). I checked my step count and it had stopped at 11 for today and was 0 steps for yesterday, not good progress. I wandered out of the supermarket the wrong way but came to a bus station which is pretty amazing for such a small place. I asked for a bus to peace park where the Japanese surrendered but the bus was not leaving soon enough so I walked to a mosque instead which was an unusual design and was pretty good. Leaving the mosque I made to go round the town and headed to the botanical gardens which were quite small and had a broken bridge. They didn't have much in the way of labeling or things to see but there were some lakes and the government house was here before it was demolished. I got a bit lost and was behind when I left but still went to the war memorial which had a nice description of the war and apparently just 1 Britain was buried here as it was mainly Australians doing the fighting. I headed along the beachfront road past and through parks and past a clocktower and an old looking fairground ride and came to the marine museum which was free and quite good but I rushed through as I had to be back soon. It would be a good place to go before scuba diving to learn what the fish and coral look like as they had them all there with labels and descriptions. Leaving there I rushed back and didn't have time to go in the Labuan museum but I took a photo in front of the stone that commemorated the island being British and one for Edward vii visiting in 1922. I didn't really have time to go to the shop I wanted to so I stopped at another place on my way and they had more selection so I got a cheaper 18 ringgit bottle, just hope it leaves some lining left in my stomach afterwards. I got to the boat with my suitcase and was in time and then had a few hour boat ride so I bought a pot noodle on board. We arrived around 4.30pm and I made the short walk to the hostel where I got checked in ok by a Dutch girl. I left soon after and went to the tourist info and grabbed a few brochures before they shut at 5. Then I followed a heritage trail around but apart from a war memorial there wasn't much on it. I did get some food from some market stalls and got to the sea where boats were going out to an island , someone offered to take me for 10rm. I continued along the harbour which was ok and the went west towards the airport. There was a a few shopping malls including one with a lot of electric pokemon and some paths for bikes or people along a waterway. I saw a monitor lizard in the water but it got away before my camera came out. The sun was setting and I got a few photos but there were things in the was so I continued to where houses were on stilts and first walked on the wooden planks before the stone walkway which went to the sea and had good views but the sunset had finished and it was getting dark. I headed back and it took a while so I got back close to 9 and used the computer which had a few issues unfortunately. I went to bed around 11.30 and switched off the light which was on despite 2 people being asleep in the room.
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Author39 year old English person travelling South East Asia - my 3rd gap travel ArchivesCategories |