Escaping Samsara

Kota Kinabalu: Where I Discovered I am an Ocean Person

A trip to Bornean Malaysia that made me reevaluate my ideas of the ocean and the coast.

I have lived most of my life a thirty minute drive away from the ocean, yet I never learned to swim. The fact that there are 44 rivers that crisscross the Monsoon drenched landscape of Kerala and I have several ponds and reservoirs in our backyard makes it more embarrassing for me.

I also thought I was a mountain person, that I was built to enjoy the cool solitude and fog of the Western Ghats as many of our holidays entailed a trip up the hairpin bends of Wayanad, Kerala’s idea of a hill station holiday.

Malaysia changed it all. Like most people, I spent a majority of the 3 months I had in Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, one of the most visited cities in the world, navigating its traffic in July heat to hop on the metro to visit the city’s never ending array of malls and markets. Its skyscrapers and gentrifying glass-walled developments get boring after a while. In Malaysia, you must always take time to visit cities like Georgetown and Johor with their less intense metropolitan atmosphere. They are more laid back compared to KL’s ever expanding urbanity.

Bornean Malaysia, on the other hand, is another self-contained world. I was not aware that there was a piece of Malaysia perched on the Northwestern side of Kalimantan (Borneo), which offers beaches where emerald and sapphire waters of the Pacific Ocean meet. There are some warning against going to the Eastern coast of this part of Malaysia but the city of Kota Kinabalu in the state of Sabah is open to visitors and has so much to offer.

For about US$ 150, I flew an AirAsia flight to Sabah and back in the middle of the week to experience this side of Malaysia. As the flight prepares to land on the island, you will get a preview of the pristine waters of Sabah as well as spot the famous floating villages smack dab in the middle of the ocean. The window seat is worth booking as the views approaching the islands are breathtaking.

Smudges of lighter blue in the midst. (Shot on Samsung S23 Ultra)

In the north of Kota Kinabalu, facing the prominent Gaya island, is Jesselton Point ferry terminal from where you can book boats that will take you to the many groups of islands that pepper the seas around the island. You will have to pay as little as 55 Malaysian Ringgits (about 13$) to board boats that run in circuits from island to island and back to the terminal. It is sweltering hot in Kota Kinabalu, but once you take off on the boat and get to the island, the winds regulate the temperature, keeping it at an optimal level for self-indulgence. There is of course, the expensive option of staying in one of the resorts at the island and to continue indulging in the ocean winds even during the night, but the more budget conscious travelers are better off returning to the city for their stay.

Once you are on the islands, you have the choice of sunbathing to your heart’s content, snorkeling or going on a paragliding excursion. The water is very shallow near the coast and you can easily walk through it for quite some distance. Schools of fish also dare to linger near the shore and you will have the privilege of observing them as they transfigure themselves into tantalizing shapes.

Kota Kinabalu offers you the pleasures and the abundance of tropical coasts without the crowds and overwhelming din of tourists. I went in July and the lines and wait times were not long and I had plenty of space in the islands. Some islands were less crowded than the others and you have your free choice of which island to spend the most time on.

Sabah as a whole can be cheaper than peninsular Malaysia. I stayed at Hotel Shangri-La, a 3-star establishment with very clean rooms and exceptionally polite service staff. My room cost about 135 Ringgits or about 35$ per night and the space was comfortable, clean, and well-designed; a steal for the price. If you stay there, do not miss the breakfast buffet; the offerings of continental, Western, and Malaysian food were gob smacking. The salads and fruits were fresh and sumptuous. On the other hand, the food outside and in Kota Kinabalu in general was tad underwhelming for Malaysian standards. This could be because it is relatively less cosmopolitan, but the best food I had there was at the hotel.

Once I had my fill of the coast, I wanted to explore further inland. Public transportation options are rather sparse on the island so, I booked an organized boat ride to see the Proboscis Monkey (its lipstick-like member always exposed) and, once the night fell, the fireflies on the Kinabatangan river. The monkey watching can get boring and mosquitoes can be abundant, but the real show begins at night when fireflies lend their glow to the forest and their reflection on the water.

I hesitated as I boarded my flight back to Kuala Lumpur after my time in Sabah. The relentless heat in KL without the wind to cool it down would be hard to encounter again, but I must suffer through it for a few more weeks. For the first time in my life, the flaneur in me discovered the pleasure of lounging around by the sea, eyes indulgent in the ocean palette, my skin in contact with the breeze…I understand this particular pleasure and I will seek it everywhere I go.

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All images shot on Olympus E-M10MarkIV by Sreekuttan “Sree” P S unless otherwise credited.

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Bonus video: