Day 1: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday 9th August
Flight 1: Gold Coast - Kuala Lumpur
Flight 2: Kuala Lumpur - Kota Kinabalu
I had no sleep last night. I knew I wouldn't, a combination of nerves, excitement and an early wake-up call.
We were at the airport a bit after 6am - the roads to the Gold Coast airport have definitely improved! Check-in was a breeze as was security - although I got picked out for the explosives test. This normally happens to Mum whilst she's waiting for Dad as his hips always set the metal detector off. I don't know what about my blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin screams terrorist but I guess they have a job to do.
Loading up on reading materials and vegemite toast (although I do have a stash of vegemite in my pack), Mum became snap happy, posing me in front of the plane, the international departure gate and with Dad. At 7:30am, we said our good-byes (a few tears but better than I expected!) and I passed through customs into the international terminal, which consisted of 1 shop, 1 coffee shop and 3 gates. Despite a take-off time of 8:40am, we were boarding at 7:45am.
Given the price of the tickets, I wasn't expecting much from Air Asia. Although the plane was 'no frills', I was impressed at the 'value for cost'. The new seats (Air Asia recently replaced their seats thanks to numerous customer complaints) were comfy -> and as the plane wasn't full, I scored a window seat with two free seats next to me. My only complaint was that they tried to serve my pre-ordered meal of pasta straight after we took off at 9am - I requested to have it served at a more suitable time instead! (It wasn't the worth wait - the meal was gross. My packet of Clinkers got a work out instead.)
2 magazines, some 'Wicked' reading and a veg out later, we arrived
into the Low Cost Carrier Terminal at Kuala Lumpur. As Air Asia doesn't offer transfers, I had to pass through customs, collect my bags, and re-check in for the flight to Kota Kinabalu. By this point I was feeling extremely dehydrated -> flight attendants had been hard to track down on the flight to order drinks, and the high heat and hunidity was getting to me. I polished off a 600ml bottle of water very quickly before deciding on a meal at an Indian vegetarian cafe. I was intent on not eating Western food (at least, not yet!) As I sat down, an older gentleman asked if he could sit with me = turns out he was an engineer from the Gold Coast. We had a good chat about our travels - he'd lived in a lot of very interesting places, including Libya for the massive water project that is currently going on.
Farewelling Bill, my new friend, I boarded the flight to Kota Kinabalu. This was completely different to the international flight - it was full and with minimal leg room. As I hadn't paid to choose my seat prior, I was stuck in a middle seat. On top of that, the air conditioning kept billowing out 'smoke' - not a good look on a plane!
2.5 hours later and I was in Kota Kinabalu. As Sabah (and Sarawak) consider themselves as quasi-independent states, we all had to pass through border control again. I was quickly into a taxi to my hostel, 'Borneo Gaya Lodge'. Lucky me got the dorm room all to myself - $9 AUS! The beds had no linen so my new sleeping liner was retrieved from my bag, along with my travel towel for the next morning. Given the big day (I'd awoken at 5am Aussie and it was now 10pm Malaysian), I quickly crashed in bed.
Flight 1: Gold Coast - Kuala Lumpur
Flight 2: Kuala Lumpur - Kota Kinabalu
I had no sleep last night. I knew I wouldn't, a combination of nerves, excitement and an early wake-up call.
We were at the airport a bit after 6am - the roads to the Gold Coast airport have definitely improved! Check-in was a breeze as was security - although I got picked out for the explosives test. This normally happens to Mum whilst she's waiting for Dad as his hips always set the metal detector off. I don't know what about my blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin screams terrorist but I guess they have a job to do.
Loading up on reading materials and vegemite toast (although I do have a stash of vegemite in my pack), Mum became snap happy, posing me in front of the plane, the international departure gate and with Dad. At 7:30am, we said our good-byes (a few tears but better than I expected!) and I passed through customs into the international terminal, which consisted of 1 shop, 1 coffee shop and 3 gates. Despite a take-off time of 8:40am, we were boarding at 7:45am.
Given the price of the tickets, I wasn't expecting much from Air Asia. Although the plane was 'no frills', I was impressed at the 'value for cost'. The new seats (Air Asia recently replaced their seats thanks to numerous customer complaints) were comfy -> and as the plane wasn't full, I scored a window seat with two free seats next to me. My only complaint was that they tried to serve my pre-ordered meal of pasta straight after we took off at 9am - I requested to have it served at a more suitable time instead! (It wasn't the worth wait - the meal was gross. My packet of Clinkers got a work out instead.)2 magazines, some 'Wicked' reading and a veg out later, we arrived
into the Low Cost Carrier Terminal at Kuala Lumpur. As Air Asia doesn't offer transfers, I had to pass through customs, collect my bags, and re-check in for the flight to Kota Kinabalu. By this point I was feeling extremely dehydrated -> flight attendants had been hard to track down on the flight to order drinks, and the high heat and hunidity was getting to me. I polished off a 600ml bottle of water very quickly before deciding on a meal at an Indian vegetarian cafe. I was intent on not eating Western food (at least, not yet!) As I sat down, an older gentleman asked if he could sit with me = turns out he was an engineer from the Gold Coast. We had a good chat about our travels - he'd lived in a lot of very interesting places, including Libya for the massive water project that is currently going on.Farewelling Bill, my new friend, I boarded the flight to Kota Kinabalu. This was completely different to the international flight - it was full and with minimal leg room. As I hadn't paid to choose my seat prior, I was stuck in a middle seat. On top of that, the air conditioning kept billowing out 'smoke' - not a good look on a plane!
2.5 hours later and I was in Kota Kinabalu. As Sabah (and Sarawak) consider themselves as quasi-independent states, we all had to pass through border control again. I was quickly into a taxi to my hostel, 'Borneo Gaya Lodge'. Lucky me got the dorm room all to myself - $9 AUS! The beds had no linen so my new sleeping liner was retrieved from my bag, along with my travel towel for the next morning. Given the big day (I'd awoken at 5am Aussie and it was now 10pm Malaysian), I quickly crashed in bed.
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