I woke up sorer than yesterday. So I spent the day between bed and the mall for essentials like food, massage and a haircut. Just as well I organised a late checkout for a small fee.
I departed for the airport at 1645 in rush hour, getting to the airport an hour later. With the festive season, the queue at Malaysia Airlines’ checkin was bad and it took an hour to check-in and go through security and domestic immigration. Sabah state, like Sarawak has immigration controls to help maintain its unique culture and ethnic balance … otherwise it could end up like Tibet or Hawaii.
It was a pleasant change to fly Malaysia Airlines again. While AirAsia is sometimes dirt-cheap their prices around festivities are more carefully controlled and Malaysia Airlines was by far cheaper when I booked months ago.
I enjoyed my time in Sabah with both diving, my friend David … and kinda did as well with my achievement in scaling Mt Kinabalu. I also enjoyed the ethnic diversity here. But it is a bit confusing not knowing which language to use when speaking to people; the Kadazan-Dusun are quite light-skinned and can be easily mistaken for Chinese.