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Travels with George and Marta

Journeys in the Botanical World

Travels with George and Marta
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    • Australia
      • Perth
      • Midwest of Western Australia
      • Kalbarri to Narrogin
      • The Great Southern Region and Albany
      • Margaret River
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    • Borneo
      • Kota Kinabalu
      • Nepenthes at Mesilau
      • Rafflesia at Poring Hot Springs
      • Danum – Borneo Lodge
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    • California
      • Anza Borrego – March 2006
      • Los Angeles Gardens April 2008
    • Chile
      • Chile Santiago
      • Chile Atacama
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      • Chile Patagonia
    • Namibia
      • Waterburg and Etosha
      • Etosha and Erongo
      • Welwitschia and Sossusvlei
    • South Africa
      • Kirstenbosch Gardens
      • Bushmans Kloof – Part 1
      • Bushmans Kloof – Part 2
      • Springbok
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      • Cape Town Part 1
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PhotoHunt: Yellow

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 21, 2009 by MartaMarch 21, 2009

Coreopsis

It is time again for PhotoHunt. This week’s theme is perfect for the beginning of spring – Yellow. I couldn’t resist selecting a cheery yellow flower. This is a coreopsis that I took in the Sacramento Historical Cemetery. The Old City Cemetery has a program to let gardeners adopt a plot. There are excellent perennial beds, a beautiful rose garden and a section devoted to California native plants. We always enjoy exploring the gardens. And the cemetery is also very interesting. Many of the California pioneers such as John Sutter are buried in the cemetery and there are very interesting headstones.

Here are a few more pictures:


Daylily

Solidago

Old City Cemetery - Sacramento

Old City Cemetery - Sacramento

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged Photohunt | 13 Replies

Thai Red Curry

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 20, 2009 by MartaSeptember 19, 2021


Red Thai Curry

Wow! Was that spicy!

I love different Thai curries. My favorite is red but I’ve never made it before. I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner and checked the cupboard. I found a carton of Mae Ploy Red Curry Paste. Hmmm… Southeast Asian sounds good.

I looked around the web for a recipe using Mae Ploy and found one. It was great! Definitely as good as what I’ve had at a Thai restaurant. Definitely use Thai basil – it adds a great taste.

I just re-read the recipe and I realized that I read the recipe wrong. I used two tablespoons and 1 can of coconut milk. No wonder it was hot! But ooooooohhhh so good.

Thai Red Curry

2 tablespoons canola or peanut oil
1 onion—finely chopped
2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste (or 3 teaspoons for a hotter curry)
2 cloves garlic—finely chopped
1 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1/2 cup veggies—sliced thin
1 red pepper (capsicum)—julienned
1 cup Jasmine rice
12 oz (360g) uncooked skinless chicken breast fillets—cut into bite-sized pieces
5-6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh Thai basil leaves

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onion for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the curry paste and garlic and cook, stirring, for a minute.
Add the coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, sugar, then bring to the boil. ADD the veggies, cover with a lid, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 12 minutes.
While the curry simmers, cook jasmine rice.
Add the chicken and Kaffir leaves to the curry and simmer, covered, for a further 8 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and basil.
Serve on a bed of rice.

Variations: This curry tastes equally delicious using any selection of seafood (such as shrimp, scallops or pieces of firm fish), or cubed firm tofu. Adapt the recipe with fresh ingredients and seasonal produce.

Note: I used 2 tablespoons of curry paste, 1 can coconut milk and 1 tbs fish sauce. For vegetables I used sliced carrots, a hand full of canned baby corn and whole frozen green beans. I also used about 1/2 lb of shrimp instead of chicken.


Red Thai Curry

Posted in Cooking | Tagged AsianCooking, Cooking | 7 Replies

Flora on Mesilau Trail – Mt Kinabalu

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 18, 2009 by MartaDecember 27, 2014


Rhododendron sp.
Rhododendron stenophyllum

This is the fifth in a series of more in-depth posts on our trip to Borneo.
February 15

We saw a wide array of amazing plants along the trail at Mesilau. Here are some more plants that we saw.

Nepenthes:

This is what we traveled to Borneo for. These carnivorous plants are along the trail at sunny outcrops.


Nepenthes sp.
Nepenthes tentaculata

Nepenthes sp.
Nepenthes fusca

Nepenthes sp.
Nepenthes fusca aerial pitchers

Rhododendron

Tropical Rhododendrons also known as Vireya Rhododendrons. We saw several species along the trail.


Rhododendron sp.

Rhododendron sp?

Rhododendron sp.
Rhododendron bud

Orchids

We saw several orchids along the trail. Many were very small. They grow as epiphytes on the trees.


Orchids

Orchids

Orchids

Other interesting plants


Nature trail at Mesilau
Nature trail at Mesilau

Impatient
Impatient (balsam)

Begonia
Begonia

Unknown
We never figured out what this plant is. Any ideas?

Related posts:

  • Dayhiking on the Mesilau Trail
  • Nepenthes have been found
Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo, BorneoJournal, Carnivorous | 3 Replies

Dayhiking on the Mesilau Trail at Mount Kinabalu

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 17, 2009 by MartaDecember 27, 2014


Mt Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu

This is the fourth in a series of more in-depth posts on our trip to Borneo.
February 15

The morning was brilliant blue and crisp. The wind had come through at night and blown all the clouds away. We leaned off the front porch to get a glimps of Mt Kinabalu. There was not a cloud in sight. Lily told us how it had rain non stop the previous week and we said a little prayer to the rain gods for giving us a wonderful day.

We sat down to a hot cup of coffee while Lily prepared our eggs. We had fresh baked bread and sweet creamy butter along with cereal and get us off to a great start in the morning.

It was time to hit the trail. We gathered up our gear and climbed in the car. It was just a short 5 minute drive and we arrived at the Mesilau Nature Resort. This area includes several lodges, restaurant and the park headquarters. I completely forgot to get information about the area and we were a little confused at first where to go to find the trail. We went into the Sutra Santuary reception office to ask for information. The receptionist told to see the Rajah Nepenthese that there are three daily hikes led by a ranger. We had just missed the first hike at 9:00. The next hikes were at 11:30 and 2:30. You can also do a day hike on the Mesilau trail without a guide as long as we returned before sunset. We decided to hike a while on the Mesilau and return in time for the late ranger hike. We would have to pay our trail fee at the Sabah Parks office which was next door.


Mesilau road to Mt. Kinabalu
Road to Kinabalu with our trusty little car

Mesilau Nature Center
Chalets for rent at Mesilau Nature Center

We parked and walked back to the park office. It was 10rm for the trail and 7rm for insurance or a total of 34RM (~$10US) for the two of us. We were interested in the Mesilau trail because the great flora along the trail. In researching where Nepenthes grew, G found out that several species could be easily located along the begining of the Mesilau trail. Nepenthes of Mt. Kinabalu are found at the higher elevations. Mesilau is at 2,000M. The main trail starts at a lower elevation and you can not find nepethes until you have hiked several kilometers.

Mt. Kinabalu is one of the richest flora areas of the world. The Mesilau trail starts out in the dark lowland dipterocarp forest filled with bamboo, ginger, begonias and wide variety of trees of various heights. I am thankful for the shade. Even in the shade it was very warm and humid.


Mesilau Trail

Mesilau Trail
Tall Dipterocarp forest

The trail immediately started to climb. The trail was mainly roots, large rocks and ladders but it was in good condition. The wooden steps are useful if the trail is muddy and wet but fortunately it had not rained recently and the trail was dry. We came across a sunny opening and spotted our first nepethes – N. tentaculata . G knew to look for sunny open areas which are favored by the nepenthes. We were so excited to finally see our first nepethes in the wild.


Mesilau Trail
One of many stairs to climb

Nepenthes sp.
Nepenthes found along the trailside

We continued climbing. We started to spot many epiphetic orchids and were amazed at the diversity of ferns. We stared at huge bird nest ferns in the trees above our heads. Looking down at the trail, we spotted brightly colored flowers which had fallen from above. We looked up and spotted our first tropical Rhododendrons growing high above our heads. The bloosoms were brilliant orange. Continuing to climb, we noticed the forest was starting the change and become more stunted. The forest changed to oak and pine.


Mesilau Trail
Wait for me!

Mesilau Trail
More to climb!

We had been hiking for about 1 1/2 hours and I started to tire. I suggested to G that he go on ahead and I’ll stop and wait for him. I slowly continued up and discovered that the trail crested at 2300m, just a little bit further. The trail leveled and opened up to wide vistas across the Mesilau valley and gorgeous views of eastern ridge of Mt. Kinabalu. High above clouds were starting to gather at the jagged peaks at the summit. We were so lucky to have a clear day but I could ready see the afternoon clouds would soon be gathering. On the other side of the trail were vistas down across the Kundasung Valley where we were staying. The plants were so interesting and diverse. Just before 1.5KM, I came to the first shelter and stopped in the shade to wait for George.

Mesilau trail vista
Mesilau trail vista

Mesilau Trail
Eastern Slope of Mt. Kinbalau

Mesilau Trail
View back down to Kundasung

Mesilau Trail
No easier going down

He returned after about 40 minutes. He was able to find another nepenthes species farther up the trail. We decided to return and it toke us just about 1 hour to return. But I was beat. The heat and exertion toke its toll on me and I was not certain if I could do another hike. We talked to the ranger and the Rajah trail is about .7km and similar in elevation to the distance we traveled on the Mesilau. We decided to return the next day to do the Rajah trail.

We took a short trail between the nature center and the restaurant. It will filled with interesting ginger and lots of huge birdsnest ferns. We returned to Mountain House and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before having another wonderful dinner prepared by Lily.

Previous Posts:

  • Driving in Sabah
  • Nepenthes have been found
  • Mesilau and Pitcher Plants
Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo, BorneoJournal, Carnivorous | 3 Replies

Spring Garden Planning

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 16, 2009 by MartaDecember 27, 2014

Getting ready to sow

It is that time again. Time to start our seedlings for this year’s vegetable garden. We are going to change some of the items that we grew last year. Some things didn’t work well.

We are going to try to grow more determinate tomatoes. The favor is not as good but we have been having problems getting our tomatoes to ripen. Determinate tomatoes are earlier so we hope to have better luck.

Here’s what is on tap:

  • Carrots – These did great. We even had a few that we left and overwintered. They were still sweet and crisp
  • Radishes – These are so easy. We’re also going to do some Cherry Belle this year in addition to French Breakfast.
  • Lettuce – We didn’t like Mascara oak leaf. It just didn’t do well. So we are switching to another leaf – dark ruby red Merlot. We’ll grow Nevada (green) and Red Sunset again. We’re also go to try a tangy mesculin mix. Hopefully we’ll stagger the plantings so we don’t have 18 heads ripen at once.
  • Pea – We’re growing the Sugar snap peas again – both pole and bush since they ripen at different times. We’re also going to try some bush sugar peas.
  • Green Beans – I love these. Maxibel was a great haricot vert producer. We’re growing more. We’re not going to do the shelling beans – just takes up too much space and probably not any of the yellow. We’ll do the same two pole green beans – Blue Lake and a Romano. And experiment with a yellow leaf scarlet runner bean. If it does well, I can use it as a shelling bean.
  • Zucchini – we’re trying two different ones. One that is self pollinating and another yellow one.
  • Cucumber – same one last year since we had good luck – Orient Express.
  • Pepper – It was a disaster last year. Not a single blossom. We might try Gypsy which is an earlier pepper but haven’t been able to find the seed.
  • Tomatoes – Looks like we are going to have a lot. We’ll have some in the greenhouse but we are also planning to put a few in the front on the hot driveway. Yes, we are determined to get some ripening before the end of September. Momotaro, Siletz, Oregon Star, Sun Gold Cherry, Stupice, Fraziers Gem, Taxi yellow.

I thought we were a little behind sowing our seeds. That is one of the great things about having a blog – you can look back and see when you started your seeds. We started them almost exactly the same time in 2007. We started them the first week in March in 2008. We started the first set of peas about a week ago. By July – we will have this.

Posted in Gardening | Tagged Gardening | 3 Replies

Sunday SlowSoupers #17 – One-of-Each Soup

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 15, 2009 by MartaMarch 15, 2009

I’ve missed several of the recent Slow Soupers. But I’m back.

This week’s selection was chosen by jgk. It was originally published in December of 2001 in Gourmet. It has several interesting ingredients such as banana. Curry with apple is a classic combination but banana was different. The base is pretty much a standard potato so I knew it was going to be good.

We really enjoyed it. The apple and banana really added an interesting flavor to the soup. A lot of the flavor also depends upon your curry mix. I used Spice Island and it was good but a little heavy on the tumeric. I wish I had used my Malaysia curry mix which also has some cinnamon and star anise. I used a half-half mixture for the cream and it was rich.

I served it with a spring salad made of steamed asparagus and a poached egg. It was the first time that I made poached eggs without the little poached egg pan. I definitely need to practice. The whites did not stay together as well as they could on my first egg. I raised the temperature and my second one was better. Practice will make perfect. Smittenkitchen has a great write up on how to poach an egg. I also made some garlicy home made croutons. It was great.

One-of-Each Soup
Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings
Active time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min

Ingredients
1 large boiling potato (1/2 lb), peeled and coarsely chopped (I use Yukon Gold)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 celery heart (inner pale stalks with leaves), coarsely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 large apple (preferably Granny Smith), peeled and coarsely chopped
1 firm-ripe banana, coarsely chopped
1 pint chicken broth (can substitute vegetable broth for a vegetarian version)
1 cup heavy cream (I use whole milk)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 rounded teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives (I have used chives or cilantro or a mixture)

Preparation:
Simmer vegetables and fruits in broth in a 3-quart heavy saucepan, covered, until very tender, about 12 minutes. Stir in cream, butter, curry powder, and salt and heat just until hot (do not boil).

Purée soup in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Thin soup with water if desired and serve sprinkled with chives.

Cooks’ note:
– Originally, this curried soup was served cold. Given the winter chill in the air, however, we tried it hot and discovered it to be even better.
· Soup can be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.


Ingredients for One-Of-Each Soup


Ingredients for One of Each Soup

One Of Each Soup

Aspargus Salad
Asparagus Poached Egg Crouton Salad

Posted in Cooking | Tagged Cooking, Soups, VegetarianCooking | 4 Replies

PhotoHunt: Four

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 14, 2009 by MartaMarch 14, 2009

Four Cousins

This week’s Photohunt Theme is Four. It was hard for me to find something with 4 in my photos. Odd numbers such as 3 or 5 are more aesthetic for photo composition. I came across this one of 4 cousins and thought it would work.

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged Photohunt | 18 Replies

Driving in Sabah

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 11, 2009 by MartaNovember 2, 2014


Kundasang


Kundasang

This is the third in a series of more in-depth posts on our trip to Borneo.
February 14, 2009

Anxiety runs in my family. I was not afraid to drive in Sabah but I was very anxious about having my car delivered to the hotel. I tossed and turned during the night wondering if the delivery would go smoothly. Normally, we drop by the car rental city center office and pick up our car. I realized it was a little bit different in KK when I stopped by the rental office to do the paper work. The cars are only at the airport – not in the center of town. Several people on Trip Advisor mentioned that they had the car delivered to the hotel so we decided to do the same. We will also have them picked it up when return from Mt Kinabalu. Would everything go smoothly? What an item to lose sleep about!

We had breakfast, gathered our bags and went down to the lobby to check out just before 9am. We sat down and waited just a few minutes before the representative showed up. Right on time – just a few minutes after 9am. No reason to stress at all. We finished the paper work, swiped my credit card and walked us out to the car. He showed us the car and verified that it met our approval. It only had a 1/2 tank of gas (4 notches). He mentioned that if we returned the car with more gas, that he would be very happy. We signed off and loaded up our luggage. I adjusted the mirror and we were ready to go – once I figured out reverse.

Malaysia is a former British colony and they drive on the left. One thing we learned from our previous trip to Australia was, if possible, to rent an automatic car in left driving countries. There are two large Malaysian car manufacturers – Proton (a subsidy of Mitsubishi) and Perodua (subsidy of Daihatsu). We got a Perodua Viva 1000c automatic. It was pretty small but we have a small Honda Civic Hybrid at home and are used to driving a small car. But was going to be really interesting going up hill.

I do not mind driving on the left and driven on the left on most of our recent trips. I find it easier to get used to driving on the left than remembering to look left when I walk across streets. Of course, there are a couple of things that do take a bit of adjusting such as remembering which side of the steering wheel are the turn-signals located. I don’t know how many times I turned on the windshield wipers when I wanted to turn! The other drivers thought I must have been crazy flashing the windshield wipers at them. It is also a little hard to adjust to looking to the left for the rear view mirror but I must say the side mirror does a good job.

Our first stop was Orchid de Villa just on the outskirts of KK. I had emailed them for directions but I never received a reply. They had pretty good directions on their website and we asked at the Sabah Tourism Bureau how to get there. They said it was signed but warned us that it was a dirt road. Okay…

It was pretty easy driving out of KK. . I printed out a couple of Google maps for our route. I studied them before I left to become familiar with how get to Jalan Tuaran and Jalan Kiansom. Many of the roads are not signposted so you need to know the landmarks – Chinese temple, supermarket, church. We did pretty well until we got to Jalan Tuaran. Where do we turn? Are we in Inanam? Have we missed our turn?

Suddenly I noticed one of the supermarkets noted on the map on the Orchid de Villa website and pulled into the right lane. There it was – a sign for Orchid de Villa. We had found Jalan Kiansom and turned. We traveled along it checking off the landmarks and then saw another sign for the road for the village – Kampung Kawakaan. Now the fun began. I was so glad that I knew it was a dirt road. The sign said we had 3KM to go. It was pretty rough but nothing worse than what I’ve driven before on a PNW logging road.

It was very interesting to see the small houses and farms. It felt similar to small country farms in the US but the houses looked very different. And the plants were so exotic.

We found the nursery and parked. The guide told us the entrance was 20rm and offered to show us around. She knew just where to look for the orchids in bloom. Part of the nursery is a cut flower nursery for the local florists in KK. They mainly grew dendrobium orchids and were very busy preparing cut orchids for Valentine’s Day bouquets. On the property, there is also a large pond which is fed by a cascading stream. This is where many of the local orchids grow. It was very interesting. We spent about 2 hours walking through the nursery. It gave us a good base knowledge of the orchids to look for on our travels. But it was time to move on.


Orchid de Villa


Orchid de Villa Office and our little Perodua Viva

Orchid de Villa
Showing us around Orchid de Villa

Dendrobium
Lovely Dendrobium orchids

Arachnis
More exotic Arachnis orchid

Orchid de Villa

I had not printed out directions on how to get from the nursery to Mt. Kinabalu. I thought we had enough information in the guidebook and the map we had gotten from the tourist office. George felt it would be best to return to the junction with Hwy 1 although I was pretty certain we could continue on Jalan Tuaran and join up with the highway without having to backtrack. But he was the navigator so we went the way he felt most comfortable with.

Of course, we ran into several traffic snarls. First was the traffic jam at the Chinese school on Jalan Kiansom. It was just getting out at noon and traffic was being stopped to allow parents to pick up their children. It took us a little bit to understand what was going on. But this was nothing to the backup we ran into back in Inanam on Jalan Tuaran. The traffic seemed to not be moving at all. It just sat for about 5 minutes and then moved a bit. What was going on! I was starting to panic. Was this normal? Why did we go this way?

We finally started to make some progress and realized what was going on. The light was out at the major intersection where we needed to turn and a traffic cop was directing traffic. He let each way take their turn which is why it was taking so long. But finally after a 30 minute delay, we were on our way. Yeah!

We pulled off and filled up the tank. We had instructions which told us to fill up before heading to Mt. Kinabalu. We didn’t see any gas stations after leaving Tuaran so it was a very good reminder. It was about 1.8RM per liter – not that much different from the US prices after calculating the per gallon price and exchange rate ($1.8USD). We continued to Tuaran and then turned off to the highway to Mt. Kinabalu.

The two lane highway continued for a few miles passing farms and small villages. One interesting village we passed was Tamparuli. It is known for the big weekly tamu (market and flea market) and an interesting swinging bridge. The market wasn’t on Sunday so we didn’t stop. The road started to climb. The grade was steep and road was windy but fortunately, it did not have a steep drop off on the edge. This is the major road between KK and Sandakan. You frequently come up behind diesel trucks with the truck beds loaded with heavy material such as lumber, rocks, etc. They crawl up the road at a very slow pace – maybe 20Km/h. You have no choice but to pass them on this curvy uphill road. Thank god for the passing lanes. Our little Perodua Viva had very little power to pass them so most of the time we just chilled out until the next passing lane.


On the Road to Mt Kinabalu

Passing on the road to Mt. Kinabalu

On the Road to Mt Kinabalu

One of many slow trucks we had to pass

On the Road to Mt Kinabalu

Mt Kinabalu peaking through the clouds and smoke from the farms

We caught glimpse Mt. Kinabalu in the cloud openings. The road sides were over grown with wild bananas, impatiens, bamboo and other tropical plants. Soon we became familiar with the Sabah dogs. They had a tendency to sleep on the road – close to the road edge or be found investigating the road edges close enough that you had to swerve to miss them. They seemed to be everywhere so I stayed alert. We kept climbing until we came to the main turn off for Mt Kinabalu. We had only traveled about 70km but we were almost at 4,000ft. The road now curved along the mountain side passing various hotels. This area is a popular area for hotels just outside the main park gate. The view opened and we saw the deep green terraced valley of the Kundasang area – our destination for the next 3 days.

Kundasang is at 1600 ~(5200ft) meters and much cooler the KK. The hills are terraced with vegetable farms growing a wide variety of different fruits and vegetables such as cabbages, tomatoes, and squashes. At the turnoff for the road to Mesilau, the roadside was lined with covered wooden stalls filled with fresh vegetables, fruit and snacks. We watched for the sign for the Golf Course to know where to turn. It was hard to see where to turn. The area was chaotic – filled with people, cars, buses, dogs going every which way. We slowed and crawled along waiting for an opening so we could turn. It was Sunday afternoon and everyone was preparing for the work week. Once on the Mesilau road, we passed seed and nursery stores more evidence that this was a major farming center.

We kept watch for more signs to the golf course to point us the way. The road steeply angled up and our little car struggled up the road. We passed the Kundasang diary and knew we were getting closer. Suddenly we noticed the large expanses of grass. This must be the golf course. The road to Mesilau cuts right through the course. We found our turnoff and drove up our home for the next three days – Magic Mountain Country Home. The owner, Lily, and her two dogs came out to great us and showed us the way to our room where we relaxed and unwound from the drive.

Dinner was wonderful as expected. We had a great steamed fish with ginger, tofu, and a vegetable similar to spinach except with more firm stems. Lily sauteed it in garlic. It was so yummy.

We also tasted some wonderful tropical fruit – snakeskin fruit and fresh jackfruit. The snakeskin was very good and so different . It is large about the size of a plum but in a tear drop shape. You peel the scaly skin and the firm fruit is in segments similar to a clove of garlic. It is similar in taste to a cross between pineapple and apple. It is also very crunchy. Lily also bought us some mangosteen but haven’t tried them yet.

The evening was cool and we were both very sleepy after our wonderful dinner. We had to say good night early and fell asleep right away to the sounds of the wind in the trees.


Kundasang

Fruit stands along the road in Kundasang

Kundasang  Fruit Stalls

Wide variety of fruit and goods under the shade of the wooden roofs

School Girls in Kundasang

Schools Girls in Kundasang

Kundasang  Road

Mesilau road at Kundasang

Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo, BorneoJournal | 8 Replies

Filipino BBQ at Night Market in Kota Kinabalu

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 10, 2009 by MartaDecember 27, 2014


Filipino Night Market
Seller at the Filipino BBQ

This is the second in a series of more in-depth posts on our trip to Borneo.
February 12, 2009

We are always surprised at how draining the heat and humidity can be. We took advantage of our air conditioned room to rest and refresh ourselves during the afternoon. We had read a lot about the Filipino night market. It happens every night along the waterfront in Kota Kinabalu. It was not far from the hotel and decided to check it out.

We arrived at the market around 6pm and it was already in full swing. The vendors seemed to be organized by what they sold – chili, vegetables, fruit, produce and closer to the water – poultry. On the other side were the food vendors. The woks were hot serving up stir fries. Other booths had ice shavers and prepared Ais Kacang or ABC, a sweet mix of shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk, gelatin, cendol and other items.


Filipino Night Market
Limes and hot chilies

Filipino Night Market
Ginger and onion

Mangos at Filipino Night Market
Mangos

Durians
Durians

The smoke and wonderful smell from the BBQ led us back to the corner and the Filipino BBQ. The grills were set up along the waterfront. You can stroll along the smoky aisle to see the wide variety of fish available – fillets, whole fish, prawn, king prawns, whole squids. Next to the grills are long cafeteria style tables set under a canopy. Go to the opposite head of the table to negotiate and select your meal. At the opposite end of the table, a seller is setup with recently grilled seafood and ready to provide you with whatever you want.


Filipino Night Market
Grills in action

We were hungry and decided to go for the King Prawns. The owner took our order and sent our selection back to be reheated and finished. He directed us over to the table and showed us how to do the dipping sauce. Take a handful of the small potent birds-eye chilies, crush them a bit with the spoon, salt, pour a little bit of the sweet soy sauce and water. He gave us a bowl to pour water and wash our hands. They asked if wanted “nasi” which is rice. We said “Yes” and they brought us two bowls of rice. A package of paper napkins was dropped on the table. Napkins were very poor in Malaysia They were often very small and very thin or just a box of tissues (Kleenex). We used a lot of the Wet-Ones we brought along. We also took some hand sanitizer but never used it.

King Prawns
King Prawns

Our two prawns arrived – steaming hot just off the BBQ. We washed our hands in the bowl and dug in. You eat with your hands. Peel a segment of prawn; grab a hand of rice. It was somewhat primeval sitting under the smokey evening light eating with our hands. But it was great. The prawns were meaty and sweet. I should have devined them since they were a little gritty and sandy but otherwise very tasty. We also had a couple of Malaysian canned drinks. We asked for ‘sodas’ but they heard ‘soya’ and we gave us two canned Seasons brand soya drinks They were actually much better than having a Coke. The dipping sauce was spicy hot, the shrimp was sweet, the drinks were refreshing, the atmosphere was very exotic. It cost us about 80RM (~23USD) and was wonderful for such an experience.

Related Posts: Arrival in Kota Kinabalu – First in the series


Filipino Night Market
Our view across the tables

Ready for dinner
Ready for dinner

Enjoying dinner
Enjoying the prawns – note the dipping sauce, drinks and other dishes

Filipino Night Market
Another shot of the variety of fish

Filipino Night Market
Smoky Grills

Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo, BorneoJournal | 9 Replies

Arrival in Kota Kinabalu

Travels with George and Marta Posted on March 9, 2009 by MartaDecember 27, 2014


View of Kota Kinabalu

This is the first in a series of more in-depth posts on our trip to Borneo.
February 12, 2009

South China Seas. I can not hear that name without thinking of the Vietnam War. My brother-in-law served in the Navy on a boat station in the South China Seas. But Vietnam was not our destination. It was Borneo, an island south of Vietnam bordering on the South China Sea. Specifically, we were bound for the Eastern Malaysia state of Sabah and the town of Kota Kinabalu.

Kota Kinabalu, known locally as KK, was originally called Jesselton. It was a major trading post of the British North Borneo Company and founded it in the late 1800’s. The British razed the city in WWII to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Japanese and rebuilt after the war. Northern Borneo joined Malaysia in 1963 and the town was renamed Kota Kinabalu in 1968. Today it is one of the fastest growing cities in Malaysia.

It is also a great tourist jump-off point for visiting Sabah. We selected it because of an one-stop flight from Seattle to KK via Seoul. There are also frequent flights from KK to other areas of Sabah and Sarawak which made it a great anchor point for our travels.

Our flight arrived late in the evening. The airport is new and very efficient. We were not certain if there was an ATM in the airport or if it would be accessible at 11:00pm so we exchanged $50US at the Incheon airport in Korea when we changed planes. Do you know how hard it is to get Malaysia Ringgits in the US? Many banks stock common currencies such as Euros, Sterling Dollars but you have to pre-order Malaysia Ringgits from either a bank that handles international currencies or from Travelex.

We did not need to be concerned. There are two ATMS at BKI and a currency exchange booth just outside of baggage claim in KK airport. They were open until 12:00 midnight.

Our bags arrived quickly and it did not take long to get through Malaysian customs. They inserted the departure portion their immigration form in our passport. I was afraid that we would lose it over the two weeks but never did. We also found out that you have to go though passport control when you travel between states in Malaysia.

There is a taxi counter in the airport and the taxis between airport and KK are regulated. You just walk up. tell them where you want to go and pay the taxi fee. It was 20RM to KK (30RM if between 12:00midnight and 6:00am). We made it by 15 minutes of the 50% surcharge.

There was little traffic and the driver rushed us towards KK. Sodium lights gave the area a golden glow as the buildings rushed by. I could feel and smell the humidity and heat even at midnight. Valentines Day was just a few days away and several of the billboards suggested for gifts. At one major intersection, a couple professed their love for each other. I do not think I would like my love announced on a huge billboard for millions to see.

Fifteen minutes later we arrived at our hotel. The King Park Hotel is located just on the edge of the center of KK. Our room was near the top and faced the water. A little musty but very clean with a large king bed and air conditioning. We took a hot shower and soon fell asleep. It had been a long 18 hours.

Activity starts early in the tropics. The length of the day varies little. Sun rose around 6:30am and set around 6:30pm. The low drone of the early traffic and a narrow beam of sunlight woke us. We heard the local minivans beeping for passengers. I peaked out through the window for my first glimpse of Borneo. The traffic circled below me and I could see the city awaking.

Breakfast was included with the price of our room which by the way is an economical 138rm or ~40USD. It was the standard Malaysian breakfast which consists of a variety of noodles and rice dishes, curry, porridge and egg along with hot sweet milky coffee.

We hit the street after a lazy morning. Our first challenge – getting across a major 4 lane street in rush hour traffic. And to remember to look left since Malaysians drive on the left. My senses were in overdrive. Heat, smells, noise! You definitely need to watch your footing while walking in KK. Many of the sidewalks at store fronts have tile floors which are often missing one or two tiles. There are dips and bumps on the sidewalks just waiting to twist your ankle if you are not paying attending. The storm drain gutters are covered with loose uneven slotted tiles which easily twist your foot. You do not want to go gawking around staring at the sights and not watch where you place your foot. Thankfully the sidewalks are extremely clean and there is no dog poop unlike Europe. The smell is another thing.

We headed toward Jalan Gaya. Jalan is the Malaysia word for street or road. This area is the Chinese center and also filled with backpacker hotels. The streets were still lined with brilliant red Chinese lanterns from the recent New Years Celebrations. We headed for the Alliance Bank for more money and the Sabah Tourism Bureau. We quickly realized that it only took us about 15 minutes to walk the main distance of the center of town.

I noticed the Tong Hing Supermarket when we left the Tourism Bureau. We had to check it out. It was almost deserted early in the morning and was extremely clean. It is rather upscale and looks to be the place to purchase foreign food. It also had an extensive wine section which is pretty unusual. Malaysia is a Muslim county and alcohol is not as readily available as it is in Western countries.

Our next stop was Borneo Books in the Wisma Merdeka Mall. This is the place for flora and fauna books. We had to go there to see what plant guides we could find. We were not disappointed. The Wisma (mall) was also very interesting . I’m not certain how to describe it. In the center, there is an escalator/stairs leading up to the other two floors. Radiating out from this center space are passages lined with small tightly packed stores selling everything from sim cards, computer games, candy, shoes, clothing, food, jewelry, services like reflexology massage. I’m used to more open malls coming from the west coast and the stores seemed a bit more packed like what you would find in NYC or Europe. Borneo Books was located in the back corner of the 2nd Floor (3rd floor for US). We just followed the signs pointing the way.

Now for a bit of sightseeing. We headed to the waterfront. The day market is located in a large concrete multi-story building along the waterfront. The bottom floor is a wet market filled with produce, meat and other food sellers. I could not resist and investigated up and down the aisles and maze of stalls. It was dark but very interesting. So much foreign and different. The top floor is food court and a clothing store. Next door and outdoors is the smelly but fascinating fish market. It is filled with exotic fish and seafood. Next is the Filipino craft market. The stalls made me pretty claustrophobic. The aisles wound among the packed stalls lit by single light bulbs – dark even in the bright tropical mid-day sun. We were not in the market for trinkets or souvenirs so we moved on.


Vegetable stall

We were surprised that it was not yet noon. We had one more chore to take care of. We dropped by the downtown office of KK Leisure Tours to arrange for our rental car to be dropped off the following day. We ordered an automatic on-line and I wanted to take care of the paper work. We found their office in Sedco Complex, paid the deposit and finished the paper work. We arranged to have the car delivered to our hotel the next morning at 9am.

The Centerpoint Mall was near by so we decided to check it out. It was lunch time and there was a lot of activity in the mall. It is a somewhat modern mall with 5 floors including an extensive hawker food court in the basement. The air-conditioning made it a nice refuge. We checked out the food court and attempted to get a juice but we had not figured out how the hawkers work yet or we were just being ignored. We decided to move on. We crossed the street and stopped for a coke in outdoor restaurant along Jalan Pasar Baru. They had a large TV on with US big time wrestling. We learned this is a popular item in Malaysia. “Where are you from?” the waiter asked us. This question or its variation of “Are you from Great Britain?” was a common question. Many people were surprised to hear that we were from the United States. We ran into many other Europeans but rarely other tourists from the US.

The sun was high in the sky – it was time to return and rest before venturing out again at night.

Related Posts:

  • Kota Kinabalu
  • On the slope of Mt. Kinabalu

View of Kota Kinabalu
View from our hotel – King Park – over the center of Kota Kinabalu. Palau Gaya in the distance.

Kota Kinabalu
Near the Wisma Merdeka

Early evening rush hour
Rush hour in Kota Kinabalu – early evening

Posted in Borneo | Tagged Borneo, BorneoJournal

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