Sunday 12th July
The lodge is absolutely beautiful. The chalets all face east, and we have an ocean-side view. There is a row of trees between our chalet and the beach, so that softens the sunrise a little bit as it hits your front door, but you can still see the ocean. The bathroom is an interesting design. The walls go up about 7 feet, but then there is a big gap between the tops of the walls and the ceiling. It gives you the feeling of showering outside, whilst still having your privacy. The floor is all wooden boards and there is no specific shower recess. The water hits the floorboards and runs through to a collection plate underneath. It’s all very eco-friendly feeling…
I awoke this morning feeling like death warmed up. Just your regular garden-variety cold, but it’s not pleasant. I spent the morning in bed while Max and Cath went snorkelling off the beach.
At lunch time, I made myself get up, have a shower, go have some lunch and then go for a swim.
That helped a little bit, but I still wasn’t feeling on top of it all.
We all snorkelled in the afternoon, and then decided we should take a quick trip into Kudat for some supplies. We had a quick look around town, and whilst browsing through one of the markets, I came across a bunch of male tailors sitting behind old style sewing machines like my mum used to have in the late 60’s/early 70’s. I couldn’t resist grabbing a shot. When I pulled my camera out and started looking for the angle I wanted, one of the guys asked me what was happening. I said I was going to take a picture, to which he quite seriously replied, “No, no, no” with a negative wave of his hand. With a smile on my face, I said “What? Is this not your best side?” That just cracked him up. He laughed and laughed, high-fived me, asked me where I was from, and after that, he was happy to have his picture taken. I guess like all street photography, a good-natured smile goes a long way!
We hopped back in the car and decided we would drive up to the Tip of Borneo, which was about 30km from Kudat. Legend has it that some of the best sunsets in Borneo are seen and photographed from this spot, and there are meant to be some great restaurants there as well.
We followed google maps’ directions, until we got diverted onto a side road because of some roadworks. The side road was dirt, but I wasn’t too concerned. It was a little rough, but overall, wasn’t too bad a road. We were happily cruising along at about 40km/h when all of a sudden, there was a loud crash and the gearstick (5 on the floor, manual) jerked violently. From that point onward, we only had 2nd gear. Not only did we not have any other gear, but we didn’t have neutral either. If you wanted neutral, you had to ride the clutch. And of course, this HAD to happen in an area where there was no mobile coverage, didn’t it? We limped back to Kudat at 20km/hr to find that there were no mechanics around. It was after all 18:00 on a Sunday afternoon. We phoned the rental car company, explained the situation, and were asked by them to take the car to the police station, leave the keys with the police, catch a taxi back to our hotel 12km out of town, get a receipt for reimbursement, and they would organise a mechanic to look at the car the next day.
So, that was how Sunday ended. Somewhat disappointing, as we had been really looking forward to visiting the Tip of Borneo while we were here. It was after all, the very reason we’d suffered the drive up here from Sandakan in the first place. Hopefully, we’ll have wheels again tomorrow and can do it tomorrow night instead.
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