Day 7 To Sabah Tea Plantation

This morning the stage for the concert on the 16th is looking more finished and the rehearsal last night finished around 10 p.m. which was good.

We had an early breakfast and checked out at 8 a m. 

It was lovely to have a large air-conditioned bus in which to spread out, we have a pair of seats each, plenty of room for the rucksacks.

We headed up into the mountains, past a fallen tree, stopping at a local market in Nabalu.

The roads are in pretty good condition if a bit bumpy. Power lines run alongside the whole way. There's quite a bit of litter unfortunately. We saw many bikers heading to KK for Malaysia Day. Quite a few feral dogs along the roadside too.

Found some interesting crackers that I felt obliged to buy, they tasted like Ritz crackers

 

We managed to glimpse a view of  Mount Kinabalu, the top shrouded in cloud 

Then on to Kinabalu National Park which is a world heritage site.

We visited the botanical gardens.

Followed by lunch in the restaurant and a walk, looking for birds, without much success.

Learnt a few facts on the journey. Sabah is made up of Muslims, Buddhist and predominantly Catholics, we past lots of churches. The average house costs 300,000 ringits (about £53,000) and a car 30,000 ringits. All schools have the same uniform and all tour buses are in the same colours.

Then on to Sabah Tea Plantation

Where we are staying the night in a “traditional long house.” No unpacking as things might slip through the gaps in the bamboo floor! We have our own room but communal toilets.

We had a beer on the garden swing seat. Then a photo in the heart sign.

Then, fully covered in Deet, we went to a local restaurant, I still managed to get bitten!

There were dozens of geckos on the walls but no midges there, probably as the fans were on. Either that or they're all at the long house!

Sat in the gardens writing the blog for a while then an early night as we're leaving at 6.30 a.m. bound for Sepilok.