Week 34: Kota Kinabalu - Headhunters and Nemo's Dad

 

Jo and I recently celebrated 31 years of being an item. And when I say celebrated, I mean going out to eat a couple of days afterwards in a mutual acknowledgement that we've reached a place where we're both 100% cool with low key. And that the daily fiesta of sharing our lives with each other is the real party.

Which is why I've found myself working harder to keep myself busy since she's been back in the states, and not here in Penang to entertain me. Free time like this would normally be the realm of long-procrastinated home improvement / car maintenance projects, but that's not really a thing here in a rented 39th floor apartment. So I'm spending a little more time in the gym, church service, hiking here on the island, and making progress on a couple of books and netflix series. All good things, but also lonely. I'm way too extroverted to enjoy back-to-back quiet evenings with a book. 

Cue Borneo. If you're not a geographic hobbyist, you might not know that Malaysia is made up of two main pieces - the peninsula under Thailand that ends in Singapore (this is the part we live on) and the top half of the island of Borneo - third largest island in the world (Greenland is champion here, New Guinea comes in 2nd).

In my enthusiasm to get out of the house and further develop my diving competence I went looking for a place that could be a reasonable weekend trip - i.e. minimal travel logistics between Penang airport and the dive site. Kota Kinabalu ended up being the best option - direct flight on a Friday, early flight home on a Monday, and a reef that's only a 15 minute boat ride from the jetty. Other places we've been to for ocean fun required a two-hop flight and/or longish ferry ride to an island - KK (how the locals say it) was perfect. 

Also have been anxious to put my Christmas present go-pro to the test. It proved to be super easy to let the video run as a swam about and then snip out a few stills that make me look like I know what I'm doing. Including this action shot of the bravest little clownfish ever. You might be able to spot the little guy hanging back in the anemone - his dad (or mom - not sure how to tell) really wanted me to leave, and let me know by ramming my camera and mask with his little head. 

Here's a couple other shots as well as a little bit of video from the trip

Besides cool ocean creatures, Kota Kinabalu has a vibrant night market. I went each night I was there, mostly to people-watch and appreciate the way stuff for sale was displayed. I bought a nautilus shell about the size of a dinner plate - ever since little Zackary did a 2nd grade report on this I've had a soft spot for this creature - hope to see one in the ocean some day. 

One of the rules of scuba is that you can't dive ~18 hrs before you fly. An early morning flight Monday meant that I wouldn't in the water Sunday. 

So instead decided to check out the Sabah state museum. It was an interesting combo of taxidermy animals, state history, and native ethnic ceremonial wear. Including this one, which finally answers the question of "if a horse wore pants, how would they look?"

Also worth noting is this large whale skeleton that greets those that first enter the museum. My favorite part was not the bones themselves, but rather, the exhaustive documentation of how the beached whale came to hang from this very ceiling. 

    

I'll briefly summarize - the whale beached itself, was towed out to sea, swam back to beach itself again and died. Was towed out again and sunk with an anchor tied to it so it wouldn't stink up the beach. Then subsequently retrieved from the ocean floor because "wouldn't the bones look good in the museum" and dismembered on the beach by an army of volunteers. Here's an excerpt from the play-by-play story.

I love the idea that somebody had the idea that museum-goers will want to know that "at 1030pm the spine removal began, and continued until 3AM at which point people stopped for a break." This whole story to me was a testament to Malaysians willingness to roll up their sleeves for the greater good. Or at least a message about the right way to dispose of a dead cetacean. 

I offer the contrast of the Oregon State Highway Division in 1970. 

While we're on the topic of bones...

Borneo has a rich history of headhunting among the native population. British and Dutch colonizers frowned on this policy of exacting vengeance and largely stamped it out by the early 1900s. A decent chunk of the museum was dedicated to explaining not just the practice, but the ceremony associated with the route a severed head would follow until it was hung at its place of honor in the community longhouse. This included some stopover in the head hut for a cooling off period for the souls involved. Luckily, the museum had a couple, just hanging out in the open

This is the head display  / hanging rack taken from a headhunting tribe's lodge

Also on the grounds of the museum - saw this guy

Finally, sunset. My room at the hotel overlooked the pool, and each evening I observed an instagram ritual of people gathering at the edge of the pool for the perfect vacation pic. To be fair, the sunsets were pretty spectacular

Finally finally - I'll include a couple of pics out the window of the plane - the South China Sea is pretty spectacular palette of blues and greens. Returning to where this post started - Joanna might have had a strong reaction initially to discovering that while she was working long hours back in Portland I was having this kind of fun without her. Fortunately I was able to draw upon 31 years of goodwill to smooth things over. And promise we'd be back here soon. together.