Majestic Mt. Kinabatu

Another UNESCO Heritage Site, our destination today is Mt. Kinabatu, a couple hour drive from the port of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.  The best time of day to catch sight of the peak is before 9 AM, but we hope for a glimpse as we climb the winding road toward the clouds.  The peak is at 13,000 feet, but we will only go about halfway, to Kinabalu Park. 

Our guide, James Chew, is from a headhunter tribe, but he assures us that headhunters are only interested in male victims. Trained by his grandfather, he is a healer and an expert in medicinal plants.  He is also a guide and survival trainer.  He has worked on numerous documentaries about Borneo, including ones by Sir David Attenborough. 

Once we reach the park, we disembark the bus and start the guided walk through the Mountain Garden.  We’ve really lucked out with this guide.  He stops along the way to identify trees and plants, telling about the little known tribal medicinal uses. 

Banana

Ginger

Pitcher plant

Lipstick plant

Maidenhair

We walk for a couple of miles through this rain forest botanical garden seeing pitcher plants, lipstick plants, orchids, banana, rubber, wild begonia, and much more.  Everyone wants more information on the begonia after hearing that eating the flowers improves memory (only the white and pink ones.)

Again, we just beat the rain back to a tasty buffet lunch.  The return trip is all downhill and ahead of schedule back to the ship, but no time to do anything else.

What little I’ve seen of Malaysia is impressive, friendly folks and decent standard of living.