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As you know the wedding will be held in my hometown the ever beautiful and peaceful state of Sabah. I love my hometown. Although the state has its shares of problems I think that we are still all working hard to get along. I find that my beautiful city is progressing much too quickly and in its haste to catch up with the rest of the world I fear that the community feel of the city will be lost in the rush. But I’m not here to blab about that sort of thing! My reason for writing about my hometown was that I realised quite a few of our guest will be coming from New Zealand and would not have a clue about my hometown so I thought what better opportunity to have to talk/brag about the beautiful place where I was born?

How do you get there?

From Auckland I usually take flights from Royal Brunei who have a direct flight to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Only one transit in Brunei before arriving in KK. I’m currently waiting for their $999 promo to get my tickets and you should to (Thanks to Wei En for reminding me)

From Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Brunei  I always use Air Asia. Those who are planning to travel South East Asia after the wedding should have a look at Air Asia as they always have cheap deals to fly all over Asia.

Another popular airline to use to get to Kota Kinabalu is MAS Airlines which I have only used once from Auckland.

Map taken from the official Sabah Tourism site.

Sabah which is also affectionately known as the ‘Land Below the Wind’. According to the orang tua (elders) Sabah is called ‘Land Below the Wind’ as we always seem to get the tail of the typhoon that seems to hit Phillipines during the monsoon season. But to double check the authenticity of that statement I went for a quick look and they were quite close. The fact is that Sabah is located right beneath the typhoon belt hence the nickname. Sabah is situated in the North of  Borneo which is the third largest island in the world.

I am from the city of Kota Kinalu which is the capital city of Sabah. I love it there for the simple pleasures of having easy access to the beaches and the mountain.

The lifestyle is very laid back which suits the weather as it can get very humid and hot in the day but the evening showers tend to cool the city off. I always sigh in bliss when the rain comes and turns everything wet and green when not a moment ago it was dry and brown from the morning and afternoon sun.

I love that Kota Kinabalu (which the locals call KK) has a bustling city but a 20 minute drive will bring us to the calmness of the paddy fields and small villages that surround those fields.

I love that we are surrounded by  islands that are accessible from the mainland.

If you would like to know more about my hometown do check out 2 links that I picked from the official Sabah Tourism website

About Sabah -getting to know the land-

General Information -very useful for travelers-

As I have said KK is quite laid back but like every part of Malaysia, Sabahans (what the locals of Sabah are called) love their food and alcohol. There are endless shops dedicated to varied types of food and drinks. I personally like visiting the markets for authentic Sabah food and drinks whilst the  coffee shops/mamaks serve the more popular Malaysian dishes like fried rice, nasi lemak, fried noodles etc.

The nightlife in KK is quite ‘happening’ as the locals like to enjoy their drinks while listening to the in-house live band. Almost all the main nightclubs and pubs have a live band. It’s something I took for granted when I came here to New Zealand who seem to prefer to have disc jockeys instead of bands perform. Some have mentioned that KK is quite quiet and I tend to agree as I believe that  it is usually the company that makes the night and not the place. Having said that KK is mostly well known for it’s islands, pristine waters, a haven for divers, golf, outdoor pursuits and it’s people.

If your interested do check out the Things To Do Page. It’s a compilation of things that I have done and enjoyed doing in Sabah. It is also a list of things I would like to plan to do with the guest who will be arriving from overseas for the wedding.

Hope this helps:)

Xoxo

A

rat and horse

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