Beside the wharf there are several fruit and vegetable stands covering some acres. The amount of product available is staggering. This area is called the Central Market and can get very busy at times. The largest single building has densely packed rows of stands. And to wrap up, a fairly typical apartment block in downtown. And for the record, there are 19 satellite dishes visible in this picture
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The fish market has such fresh fish that it does not smell like a fish market. That alone tells one that things are fresh. Just in from this morning, and that makes buying such better than most options. Droves of people come and buy fresh fish, although I should really say fresh seafood, as there are crabs and prawns and other such things available. And while most of it I consider food from the sea (not that I agree with all the harvest), this pic is of something I don't like to see much of, and there was only this one stall selling such... And while my opinion is that we should give the sharks a break, the selling of all things sea food goes on as a lively trade in KK And to finish this bit, what doesn't get sold here during the day... Well the whole area turns into a sea food restaurant of sorts at night and you can go and buy dinner made from the leftovers, which are still more fresh than what most buy in a supermarket.
Okay, so to get back to the wharf area and see if I can get pics up. There is a central market area on the coast, where the boats come in and everything fish, fruit and vegetable is sold. Pretty big place. First up, the boats. Click on the previous picture to get a larger size, and you will see a lot of very big lights hanging from the orange crossbeams. Apparently they can turn those on and use them to attract squid and fish to the boat. Something I would like to look in to more at some point. There were about eight people fishing along the wharf, and all were catching these small fish regularly. This young gentleman just caught one and posed for me with his catch without me even asking him to. In general, fish like this make great meals. The fishing technique, however, was new to me. Apparently hard to catch on a hook (small mouth or something), they put a scrap of bait about an inch above a medium-sized treble hook, and when they feel something nibbling on the bait, they yank hard and the treble hook snags the fish. I saw this done with and without a bobber. And thus ends the short tour of the docks. But there are certainly more fishing boats than what can actually be docked, so I end with a photo of some fishing boats moored offshore.
The city of Kota Kinabalu (known as KK) is a hive of commercial activity. It is the capitol of the Sabah State in East Malaysia, has a population of about half a million people, and is probably the major fishing and commercial zone for most of the region. And in all the massive mess of cars and shops and apartments, there is apparently an ongoing effort to sort out the parking situation. We saw many cars with tickets and several times saw the people writing the tickets. KK sits on the northwestern side of the island of Borneo and faces the South China Sea to the west. So let's have a look at one of the wharfs in town where the fishing boats come in.
Or not, as my software is acting up again and not letting me post more photos. I'll post this and try and later to add more. NOTE: I put up the missing pictures and story line from 7/7/2014 so have a look. I, and the whole team, have arrived in Borneo, currently in Kota Kinabalu. My check in bags (and another team member's), however, did not. So I'll be in the same clothes for another day, but am rooming with the Warren Roberts, the other guy whose bags didn't show up, so we can stink together. Supposedly the bags will arrive in 24 hours, to be delivered at 1am. I don't care what hour it is if I can get my bags back.
Still can't figure out the picture posting problem but have spent 22 hours in the air over the last two days with very little sleep and it is 3:45am Borneo time. Gotta sleep. I'll get it worked out and this blog will get much better quickly. So, the easy part, a five-hour-plus flight from Dulles Airport outside of Washington, DC, to LAX, the airport in Los Angeles, California. Virgin American proved to be a spiffy airline and my first time flying with them. Kudos to Virgin for an error-free flight. Arrived at my hotel, as this is a multi-day trip to get to our final destination at Sukau, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. From which we will launch many day trips to the Gomantong Caves. But the hotel had little record of me coming, so there was a bit of whatnot to get me a room even though I presented a bit of paper with my name and a reservation number on it. That overcome, I got some food and settled in to the hotel room. But I didn't have any photos from today, so figured I'd take a few minutes to find something sorta representing Los Angeles if I could do so fairly quickly. This wasn't a priority. I wandered up to the highest floor I could get to in the hotel, and took this shot of what appears to be an apartment complex. Which doesn't show up here, nor do the other two pics i wanted to post. Not sure why, but hopefully will figure this out and get pics up! Sorry for no pic today. I am baffled as to why I can't post pics. Okay, so now that I can post pictures again, I wanted to get some kind of a photo with Los Angeles mood. The movies always have expensive fast cars at red lights, so I tried for that. Didn't get what I was really looking for, but it was very late and I had been traveling all day. And finally, a photo of the lock and handle on my hotel room at the Hacienda Hotel at LAX. Why, you might ask, is this important? So, I was only out with the camera for a short bit, and came back and my key card did not work. This happens. Went to the front desk and they gave me a new one. It also did not work. Went to the front desk. They called security and he came and brought two master keys which he guaranteed me would work. They did not.
At this point, remember I had been up for a long time and it was late and I had been locked out for some time. He called the maintenance security guy who showed up with his master key, which did not work, and a long metal fishing rod like thing that they use to go under the door and pull the handle from the inside, which did not work. Well, eventually it might have, but after 20 minutes the "line" part of it got wrapped around the foot of the luggage rack that was inside near the door. It was stuck and useless. They then spent some time to go and fetch yet another "master" key that is supposed to be just for this room, but the first run got the wrong card so they made a second run and got the right card, which did not work. Out of options on the door, note from the photo that there is no way to take the frame off the lock box, they decided (or remembered) that the room has a back door. I did not know this, but they went around and after playing with that door for some time apparently one of the key cards worked and I was in! In the end the maintenance guy took the whole lock apart from the inside and declared it completely broken and in need of replacement. I got to bed at something like 3:30am California time. Going off to Borneo, and starting things with a pic from a previous trip. This time I will be in Sabah, not Sarawak, and the focus will be on the Gomantong caves. Look for a lot of pics coming up from the trip, as I think I have internet access at our base camp.
I walked with my kid to the nearest fireworks display, the Falls Church extravaganza. We set up on the roof of the nearby Metro parking garage and waited for the 9:20pm start. And waited. And waited some more. People were leaving at some point.
So we decided to relocate closer to our leave spot and see what happened. Finally, 50 minutes late, the fireworks started and it was great. There were lots of fireworks, probably even too many. The whole show took 40 minutes and people were leaving in the middle as they'd seen fireworks and had to get their kids home and to bed. But we stayed for the finale, and then walked home. A few pics... It was 94 degrees F outside and heavy thunderstorms were coming up from the south. So no long-term plan could be made other than to hit the pool until the thunder started and they threw us out. Which we did, and they did, but... Upon arriving at the pool I sat in the shade for a bit and read, while, apparently an imp stole my camera! I went looking for it and found the culprit. But he is a pretty good photographer and here is the photo he took just before I got my camera back. So, after that awesome shot by the imp, here is what I got while coolin' in the pool. |
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