Bak Kut Teh

One of our favourite meals, which is available in many Chinese restaurants here in Kota Kinabalu, is Bak Kut Teh. There aren't too many "kwai lo", (or gwai lo - its a name the Chinese call white people, meaning "white ghost". I think in the old days it wasn't a term of endearment, but we are not in the least bit offended when referred to this way) who like Bak Kut Teh - it has a strange, some say medicinal, flavour to it.

The name means, "meat bone tea", and depending on where you are in the world will depend on its ingredients, but it will generally contain pork meat (extremely tender), minced pork balls, and various parts of the pigs intestines, liver and kidneys. Personally, I'm not a fan of stomach contents and so just have the meat only variety. Here in Kota Kinabalu, BKT is available from about 5pm onwards. It's said that you shouldn't eat it too often or you might get ill! Its served with white steamed rice and usally some tofu, pickle and doughy rings which I can never remember the name of! The accompanied with garlic and/or chopped chilli in soy sauce.

Highly recommended for those who have never tried it!

Beautiful Borneo 1 - TARP

Went out on Al & Audrey's boat "Eskape" yesterday to be surface cover while they went diving with another friend Ian Jones who we all know from Shell Miri.

I took the opportunity, as always, to try and capture some of the day in glorious techni-colour, which isn't too difficult to do in this part of the world. The boat is moored up in the Sutera Harbour and from there we made our way out beyond the TARP (Tunku Abdul Rahman Park), to a buoy about 11km offshore. This was going to be the first dive but the current was a raging 1.8 knots, and seeing as I am a novice boat driver, we decided to skip it this time and headed for the back end of Sapi Island, where they had a lovely dive, and due to the left to right swell, I was a little green!

Lunch and a dip in the sea at Sulug (where there were a couple of nude Germans thinking they were alone!), before heading off for second dive somewhere off the back of Mamutik.

On the way back, I had some boat driving, and diver pick-up lessons using a marker buoy which I really enjoyed and look forward to lesson 2.

Back to the Harbour to pack, load up and wash the boat down after a lovely day at sea.

Over the coming months I will try and do little posts about as many places in Sabah, Borneo as I can so watch this space.

Sunset in the City

I'm not a big city fan, preferring the space and fresh air of parks, woodlands and the sea, but I do think that at certain times of the day/night a city, despite its mass of concrete and smog, can look beautiful. 

Tonight, after a heavy downpour of rain, as is normal in the afternoons just now, we were treated to a gorgeous sunny evening that just got more glorious as the sun dropped lower. We didn't hang around for the whole sunset, hunger getting the better of us, but the view from the View Point (as you would expect) was impressive tonight and I wanted to share it. So here you are, enjoy.

Autumn in the tropics?

Other than hot and dry or hot and wet there aren't really any seasons over here, but on a walk today at the Kota Kinabalu City Wetlands centre, after a nice tropical downpour, these mangrove leaves on the rotting wooden boardwalks reminded me of an autumn day back in England. The 33 degrees C temperature reminded me otherwise, but it did give me just a tiny pang - I do love watching seasons change and you just don't really see it here. Well, now I know where to go to get that Autumn feeling!

Just a few words

Wherever I have been in the world I have always made it a priority to learn a few words in the country's language. As a result I can say:

• hello
• how are you
• yes
• no
• good morning
• good evening
• please
• thank you

not to mention a few expletives, in several languages! 

For the past 4 or 5 months I have been attempting to learn Mandarin Chinese. I listen to a few podcasts, have a few audiobooks and real books (yes made from paper!) that I use, but there is no substiture for practicing with a "real" Chinese person, and here in Kota Kinabalu, there are plenty of them. 

Most of  my Chinese friends speak Hakka though and keep trying to confuse me by telling me the Hakka word for something I have just tried to say in Mandarin! Well, to get to the point of this little post, as I was on my walk around the Bukit Padang this afternoon (see my posting last week for Bukit Padang), I had just reached the top and was puffing and sweating away when a Chinese lady, equalling puffed out, walked past me to rest on a bench. "Ni Hao", I said with a smile (pronounced nee how). "Hao", she said back. I was so chuffed that I got the right response! Then, as I was about to descend the steps from hell, I heard her say, "eh!" and I stopped to look. She came towards me squinting, and scrutinised my face, then said in English, "ah! I thought you were Chinese ah! Such a good accent. Good, good"! and she went off to sit down again.

Well I went down those steps with such a spring in my step. She had made my day and it just goes to show that it IS worthwhile to learn just a little and try to use what you know.

"Qing Ming". Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day

I went out this afternoon with the intention of getting some photos to do a post about litter! Its never very far away from you wherever you are in the world and here in Borneo it's no exception. However, when I reached my destination - a 10 minute walk behind my apartment building - my post topic changed. Well it did and it didn't!

What I hadn't realised (though I knew it was coming up) was that today is Qing Ming in the Chinese Calender. "What", I hear you cry, "is Qing Ming?".

Qing Ming, 清明節 or Tomb Sweeping Day is the one day of the year when Chinese families will visit the graves of their ancestors. And my destination this afternoon happened to be the Chinese Cemetery! Spooky eh?  Most of my Chinese friends normally avoid going any where near a cemetery, all believing very much in ghosts! However, Qing Ming is the exception. It's meaning is "Clear Brightness", and falls in a period when the days are longer than the nights, and it is beleived to be an especially "yang" period.

A visit does not have to made today, it can be made 30 days either side of today.

Once you have located the grave of your ancestor (which can be quite a task as some of these cemetries are absolutely massive and sprawling and since your visit last year quite a few more graves will have appeared), you are supposed to say a prayer to the "hou tu", who is the deity looking after the grave. Then, leave some goodies like rice cakes, tea and wine. Many people leave things that the dead person enjoyed in life, cigarettes and even cans of Guiness Stout! Sadly, I did see one grave covered with toys and one with a baby bottle of milk - the deceased only being 1 month old when he'd died.

I was very careful and respectful around the tombs which are huge concrete constructions mostly, and if I accidentally trod on one I muttered an apology - you never know!

The photos above show fake money which is left on the grave, some incense which burns all over the place and smells wonderful, and some examples of the offerings left behind. You can't really see it but the photo in the top right shows a dried duck that someone offered! No plum sauce though! The local stray dogs and cats are going to have a wonderful feast tonight if the spirits are kind to them, then the ants will devour whatever is left tomorrow.

Some of the graves are very elaborate and contain lovely painted tiles like those in the collage below - a bit like those you see at chinese temples. Others have statues of lions or dragons - I guess to guard them. Its all much more colourful and fun that the graveyards back home which tend to be beautifully manicured and visited often. If you didn't know better, you could be mistaken for thinking you had stumbled upon a construction site!

Now, this bit kind of fits in nicely with what I originally intende to post about! It's all lovely and nice and respectful for you to visit your ancestors and sweep and tidy their graves, but come on guys! Look at all the rubbish which had been left behind! Just thrown down the grass banks all over the place. OK, there were no bins at this site but thats no excuse! Take it home lah! You should be ashamed if you were one of the visitors and this is your rubbish.

There - I managed to give you 2 posts for the price of one!

A Walk in the Park

Despite what you might think, those of you who have never been to Borneo before might be under the illusion that its all rainforest and monkeys here. Well, though there are indeed monkeys (not just orang utans you know) and though there are rainforests, Borneo, and in this case Sabah is also highly developed and continues to advance in terms of both population and tourism. Both have an obvious affect to the natural landscape here with great chunks of forest being carved out to make way for housing projects, shopping malls and the Date Palm Oil plantations to name a few. Its the price of progress and for sure its not just in Borneo.

Despite its evolution into the 21st century and beyond, Kota Kinabalu for me retains a pleasant mix of old and new buildings (though there is not a lot older than the mid 1940's due to the allied forces bombing the crap out of it), mountains and forest, rivers and seas and each day I am here I like to get out and feel it, breathe it in and take a picture.

Today, I packed my little Cadbury's backpack (which came free with a box of chocolates I bought Duty Free last week!) with camera, water bottle, umbrella, mozzie spray, towel (I sweat profusely and its not pretty) and some cash and around 3pm, heade out to catch the number 12 "bas mini" to the Bukit Padang. This is locally well known for two things. One is the mental hospital, and two is the Taman Tun Faud, a beautiful recreation park and it was to the park that I was headed though some days the latter seems more appropriate.

The park (named after Stephen Tun Faud, a polititian who was killed in a plane crash some years ago) is made up of a 2km tarmac path pleasantly shaded by trees bearing huge leaves and smelling of nature in all its splendour. Smack in the middle is a lake which is cross-able (?) by a bridge if you are too lazy to walk round. From as early as 5am you will find people (predominantly Chinese) either running, walking or rawking (a cross between running and walking of course!) around the lake enjoying the cool morning air, or taking part in Tai Chi. I am never up early enough and so i am usually found there after 4pm when the sun is starting to reduce the heat to just the low thirties!  All around you is the sound of cicadas chirping merrily, swallowtail butterflies flap erratically from hibiscus to hibiscus, terrapins pop to the surface for a lungful of clean, fresh air and green crested lizards skitter across the path to the safety of the foliage. 

Most of the joggers and walkers are oblivious to it as they huff and puff and sweat their way round thinking about Dim Sum for breakfast.  At various points around the track you will notice paths which seem to have a definite incline.. And at kilometre 1.5/6 you will find the start of the "steps". I think Terry counted about 560 of them. And they are tough! Not one step is the same height as the other and the gradient is sharp. Once you think you are at the top, you soon find out that you have just reached a junction. Hang a right up some smooth rock formations and you will reach the foot of set number 2. These buggers are made of car tyres filled with sand, though there is a slope you can take if you fancy or "normal" steps. Whichever you pick it'll hurt, at the very least just your legs. However, it'll all seem worthwhile once you reach the top where through the sweat that's pouring from your brow you will see the best views of KK for miles around. Its a magnificent site (on a clear day anyway) to see the islands in the distance and a perfect spot for sunset. I don't think I can ever tire of the view though my legs are always tired of the climb. Local fit bods use the steps as training for the Mount Kinabalu Climbathon. Its humiliating when some bloke trots up past you with barely a bead of sweat on the end of his nose, and even more so when after he passes you on his way back down, he passes you again on his way up for the 2nd time before you've reached the top for the first time!

Anyway, to conclude this rambling, there is plenty of green and pleasant land out their, even in the largest cities. Instead of whinging about the demise of the country side, get out there and make the most of what's there. Feel it, smell it and take a picture. Not forgetting of course to take your litter home with you!

The Great Prawn Debate!

Last night I went out for a seafood meal with some Scottish friends, Al & Audrey who live here in Kota Kinabalu, and Audrey's parents Rob & Aileen, who are over from Aberdeen visiting.

Now, I am not the biggest seafood fan in the world, and unless invited, would not normally choose to go to a seafood restaurant. I do however, enjoy prawns. In England a prawn the size of a 50 pence piece would be considered quite a monster! Bah! SE Asia knocks socks of the puny prawns we ate as kids in our thousand island dressing smothered cocktails!  

While doing a bit of prawn research to give my posting a bit of an objective, I came across an article in the Singapore newspaper, The Straits Times, dated 19th March 09. I have put a clipping of the article below, but if the writing is too small, go and have a look at: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_351810.html .

Basically, a group of American tourists (ha!) went to the Newton Seafood hawker centre (I was there about this time last year) looking for some bargain seafood! Fools! Having ordered eight tiger prawns, some crabs (this hawker centre is famous for its chilli crabs), half a chicken and some beer, didn't think to asked for a rough estimate of how much it would all cost and merrily tucked into their feast. Not surprisingly, they were more than a little miffed when the total bill came to $491 - of which the prawns alone cost a staggering $239!! I'm sorry but I have to laugh at their ignorance for not questioning the price in the first place - especially in Singapore where if you want to eat bargain priced food, you eat chicken and rice in a place where you can only see Chinese people eating, or a curry where you can only see Indian people eating. 

I have no sympathy for them and for sure they'll be many more just like them.

I do think it's a bit off that the hawker who sold the prawns is now banned from working there for 3 months - just as well he charged them so much money as he will need it to cover his costs for the next 3 months!

How much would you be prepared to pay for a prawn?

We ate at the Suang Tain open air seafood centre, located at Kampung Air. Its a huge place, shaped in a square with loads of different restaurants arranged around the outside and hundreds of tables and chairs seating tourists and locals alike, in the centre.

I always find myself having a mental moral battle when I go to these places (being an animal lover and diver) and feel like a right hypocrite - surrounded by tanks stuffed with all kinds of fish, crabs (normal looking crabby crabs and more unusual coconut or horseshoe crabs), prawns (which seem to be grown in mineral water bottles - uh -  lump in the back of the throat thinking of poor prawny not being able to stretch his little legs his whole life), lobsters and writhing eels and frogs. I have never been able to pick a single live item of food and seal its fate in the wok or on the grill. I can't do it, and I do feel genuinely upset at seeing them all imprisoned in their glass walled fortresses awating iminent death, tossed with ginger and soy sauce and then ripped apart by a pair of savage chopsticks. So I get someone else to pick for me. I know, its cheating.

We had tiger prawns (5) cooked in a rich buttery, garlicky sauce, a large crab, some sayur manis (which is a green crunchy vegetable) and some garlic fried rice (nasi goreng bagi bawang puteh - in Malay I think!). The prawns were, as you might imagine, absolutely bloody lovely and a very big thank you to Al & Audrey for treating me to such fine fayre! Did they pay $200+ for the prawns? Would they? Of course not, they're Scottish!

Manila Mayhem

Last week (Tuesday) we flew into Clarks Airport near Angeles, jumped on a bus (Partas) and made our way to Manila. Why? a) Visas were about to expire, b) I had to attend a training update, c) Terry had to make his way to Puerto Galera to help out with some Tech courses.

It was late when we arrived at The Oxford Suites in Makati and so after getting hold of some Globe SIM cards, we went straight to the room to crash out. Early next morning, Terry left to catch his bus to Batangas, and I went to the update which lasted until about 3.30pm.

Next day I had to myself and wondered what on Earth I could do in Manila that was fun? Its not like there is anything to do in Manila... is there?

Well, yes there is! I spent 6 hourse wandering around with my camera around the Greenbelt/Glorietta area and had an unexpectadely nice day! The photo abouve captures the city from my hotel room on a rare clear day. the photo next to it is the front of The Peninsular hotel, made famous in late 2007 for the coup attempt (one of many in Philippines history)

I was amazed at how many great colours and textures were around - you just need to look hard enough and you find that there is beauty in this polluted, traffic ridden city!

The neon colours down P. Burgos street in Makati looked great at night. I sat outside a bar for an hour with a few white wine taking random snaps and was quite amused when a man (white) on a nearby table had a go at me for taking his photo in the "red light" area and I was not to use his photo on the internet as he was NOT there for THAT reason!!! I laughed and told him not to flatter himself and to get his baldy white head out of shots!

At the Greenbelt there is a landscaped park with a chapel in the centre. The park is rather nice and has ponds, statues, flowers and even ducks! There are coffee shops all around so you can sit amongst a little bit of nature and enjoy your skinny latte.

These dogs were all from K9 Unit and were all with their handlers who let me take their photos. The Rottweiler was the only on that I was not allowed to stroke...! You should have seen the Lab and Alsations tails wag when they got stroked. Gorgeous. It was nice to see dogs in SE Asia with some hair and fat on them.

We used to live in the Philippines (got married there too!) but Manila was always a place we just passed through, not somewhere we spent any time (the last time we were there I got so drunk on a nice bottle of white wine that the snooty ex-pats in the Irish bar banned me from participating in their team on the pub quiz as I kept shouting out answers.. ha ha ha). Anyway, now I won't be quite so quick to dismiss it. Yes, it is polluted, yes, there are some awful disgusting slums, yes, the taxi drivers will rip your last peso from you and yes, the local food is the blandest you will find in Asia, BUT it does some merits. I was disappointed that I didn't have enough time to visit Corregidor Island, or the Amercian Cemetery, or the Intromuros or the Museum... So, perhaps, the thought of going to Manila, should I need to go there again in the future, won't be so bad..