Our first day in Kota Kinabalu, and we had a bunch of things on the agenda - first of which was getting the week's activities all settled. First up was the soon-to-be-famous morning seven minute workout!
We set out on foot after breakfast in search of some markets. Being Sunday, it was a good day to do this. We walked down to the waterfront and within minutes we could see an impromptu seafood market set up along the water's edge walkway. I saw a bunch of large conch shells with the animal still moving around inside, which I hadn't seen before. I also saw a lot of stingray for sale, which apparently is a local delicacy (which most likely means they'll be on the endangered list soon!).
Right next to the seafood people was a proper, organized fruit and vegetable market. Beth mocked me for taking more pictures of mounds of chillies...and here's the proof - I can't resist!
Right next to the wet market was the Phillipino Handicraft Market, which was more of a tourist specific set of dozens of small shops. They were all crammed in a building and had about 30" of walking space up the aisles between shops and really low headroom as you entered and exited each stall. We all kind of dispersed, and a half hour later reconvened, some with bags of trinkets, some without. As Abby said to me, she is a little "marketed out.... Not food markets, but shopping markets" and I'm pretty much in agreement.... Though I did see some cool small metal replica cyclos and bikes.....
Next up? Why not... Another market! We walked over to Gaya street - the street was shut down for the Sunday market. This market was a pop up market that is open Sundays from the morning to early afternoon, and stretches about a kilometer down the street. It was a pretty good one to browse through, as they had a very eclectic mix of vendors - a guy selling meat grinders, a pet fish shop, fruit vendors, handmade soap, homemade health supplements, snacks, flowers.... Pretty much everything. I bought some durian, the stinky "king of the fruits" and convinced Matt and Jeffrey that they should really try it. I actually didn't mind it when we had it in Vietnam (kind of like mango, but not as sweet), but this one didn't seem fresh and left everyone with a bad taste in their mouths....
We are struggling a bit with understanding the tourism business here. In previous countries, organizing a tour was very easy - the details and itinerary were very "set" in the marketplace, as was the price (that may sound like collusion, but from my perspective, it's more comparable to having an "auto mall" like setup.... Vendors have to compete on service and quality). Buying a ticket or tour in Vietnam was very easy - you found out what was on offer, you got the price, you checked for recommendations online and from other visitors, and you signed up.
We are finding in Malaysia, the experience is much different. First, they are way behind on the digital front - way behind. While you can find out a lot from tourist reports and the odd trip advisor rating, the quantity and quality of information is lacking. Second - information on "what" is available, how long it will take, the itinerary and requirements is not good at all at the street level - it can be like pulling teeth. One of the worst things here with trip planning is the pricing - we have found the exact same "tour" with very far ranging changes in prices, and often times this is when comparing the same trip from the same operator through different booking agents. In Vietnam, commissions are taken out of the list price - everybody and their brother are trying to sell you a bus ticket at the exact same price, for example. From the tourists perspective, it becomes a safe environment that leads you to interact more with the people and look for someone that peaks your interest or that you have a rapport with, because you don't have to worry that the price you're paying for your bus ticket is higher than you should be paying. The seller gets the commission because they hustle - it works in communist countries Malaysia, how about you! In Malaysia, it seems like the commissions are built on top of tour prices - a "get as much as you can" approach that is a real turnoff. Oddly enough, they also seem to be on salary, as they (sweeping generalization) are not active salespeople.
Another observation - and Alex and I are completely aligned on this.... I prefer to pay a small premium for a tour as opposed to a DIY tour if it's going to save me time, or generally make things a lot easier. If I can save $30 for the family on a full day tour, but I have to spend time waiting for taxis or negotiating return trips or finding a place for food, it's not worth the savings. On the flip side, Alex and I have found that it's really easy to do things yourself here and that tour operators are charging 2.5 to 3 times what it would cost a group of 8. We don't really get it.
With that in mind, I was getting vibes from the kids that it was time for a change of pace, and Kim and Beth seemed to want to get organizing and stop market wandering. I found a restaurant and got the kids and I settled in with some food and cards, and Beth, Kim and Alex went looking to book our week. We wanted information on island snorkelling, Mulu national park, white water rafting and a cultural village visit.
They got back an hour or so later and they seemed pretty frustrated. As Kim pointed out, they just didn't give you much information - it was like pulling teeth. They ended up booking us into a white water rafting trip for tomorrow out of desperation. Apparently, we were booked into a a trip that may or may not have safety kayaks, had zero, one or two guides on each boat, required riders to be over 6, over 12, or just tall, in boats of 8 or 10 people going over Cat 1, 2 or 3 rapids. What's more, when they googled the company and the river, most of the information that came up was Chinese. I could tell based on this information that Beth had been desperate to just get something booked - it sounded very frustrating. I wasn't too worried - most things just seem to work out.
We went down to the waterfront and immediately met a guy that had personality, presentable information, up to date pricing and a willingness to negotiate - with all of those boxes ticked, we booked a Thursday island visit with him. See, that's all it takes people!
The kids and moms headed directly home, while Alex and I went through yet another huge wet market that we stumbled upon. We got a bunch of fruit, snacks, beer and street food for later. Just before we got home, we stumbled upon a North Indian restaurant that peaked our interest. Low and behold it was actually on the Internet, the owner was friendly and informative and the place looked great. Check...We found our dinner place.
Alex showed how much patience he had, to much laughter from the peanut gallery. We found a nearby spa on the way home, so when we got back to the apartment, Kim, Alex and Beth decided they wanted to get massages after dinner. Alex phoned the owner and it was too funny listening to him try and book the appointment, confirm the services each person wanted, correct them on mistaken interpretations of what he wanted, then figure out the price, renegotiate that price, reconfirm everything, then start over..... He's a patient, determined young man.
Dinner worked out great. It was a bit of a splurge for us (Toronto prices) but it was some gooooooddd Indian food! The massages seemed to work out too, and I took that opportunity to school the four kids in multiple rounds of President. With some more phone calls in the afternoon and all the work the other three did today, I think we'll have a fun and relaxing last week with the Versly gang.
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