It's my twelfth day here in Sabah. I flew to Kota Kinabalu on my birthday last month (because the cheapest Air Asia ticket was on that day hahaha), so I had about a week to hunt for a place to stay before I started work on 2nd September.
I promised to write about Sabah so tada! But no pictures because le Internet is le horrible.
Anyway here goes:
Pre-departure
Some of my friends thought I was nuts to pack up and leave without getting long-term accommodation. There were also others who thought I was brave to uproot myself and start fresh in an unfamiliar territory. The general consensus: they all thought I was crazy. With friends like these.... T_T
I've always been the "Why not?" kind of person when it comes to amazing opportunities, which has usually worked out pretty well in the past, and so I found myself saying yes to being based in Kota Kinabalu for a dream career in a non-profit organisation.
As for accommodation, I also had been searching for apartments even before I bought my flight ticket, but the search was frustrating due to a few factors:
1. I didn't know Sabah's real estate scene at all.
My budget and expectations were unrealistic as I expected Kota Kinabalu and the surrounding suburbs to mirror the real estate rates of Kuching. Turns out even dodgy-looking unfurnished studio/one-room apartments in a flood-prone area (flash floods are a huge problem here) require almost RM3000 upfront. If you include the cost of purchasing the bare minimum furnishings, that could push the costs even much higher. I wanted to really know a place before I was ready to part with an arm and a leg.
2. I didn't know Sabah at all, including transportation and traffic conditions.
According to my friends, places that are located within the 5km radius from my office can have varying travel time due to road works etc. Factor in flash floods after heavy rain and you'll take forever to get moving.
3. I still needed to be there in person.
My lovely Sabahan friends offered to help me view the apartments but ultimately it would be up to me to decide how I feel about the unit, the location and other factors. So I might as well be there myself.
I didn't have a family or a permanent place to stay in PJ/KL, so I had to pack up everything and move out within three weeks after getting the job offer. I sold my furniture to friends and neighbours, packed up most of my belongings in my car for storage at a friend's house, while the rest I mailed ahead of me, and took with me on the flight.
There were many farewell and birthday get togethers with friends when they found out that I was leaving. Some of them I had to turn down because I was really running out of time to do everything. I hope to make it up to them the next time I come to PJ/KL.
The night before I left, I managed to squeeze in a farewell dinner with some ex-colleagues and a last minute furniture sale to a neighbour, so it was a given that the day of my departure was utter madness. :
3am - finished packing
4.30am - finished loading stuff into the car and drove a heavily-laden car SLOWLY
5am - reached a friend's house and showered there
6.45am - reached another friend's to drop the car and went to the airport in hers
10.20am - up up and away
I didn't sleep at all the night before, so I dozed off a few times in my friend's car. Sleeping in the flight proved to be futile because there was an enfant terrible sitting in the row in front of me, who was spoiled rotten by her stupid parents and grandparents. She kept screaming for attention (I want my toy! I want a hug! I want to sit here! I want to sit there! I want this! I want that!) and in my head I was throwing that mollycoddled child off the plane over and over again.
If we insist on giving people tests before they drive on the road, why can't we insist on tests before people reproduce and inflict their spoiled offspring onto the unsuspecting public? Not everyone is fit for parenthood and misbehaving kids in public are usually a sign of lazy/bad parenting.
Temporary accommodation
A few days before my flight, I booked a single room at a backpackers' hostel called PODs. It's my first time staying at a backpacker's hostel and a lot of my friends marvelled at this fact hahaha. They're located in Api-Api Centre, and the staff were super friendly. I got to know the lovely owner named Maria, who made a hilarious effort to introduce me to some of her staff as "someone who works in WTF". The rest of us in the lounge almost died laughing hahaha.
My spacious room at PODs cost RM38/night and came with a mattress and the bedding, an IKEA wardrobe (I'm a recovering IKEA addict haha I have an IKEA radar in my head), free WiFi and simple self-service breakfast in the lounge. There are four communal showers (two showers with water heater) and my room comes with centralised air-conditioning AND also a ceiling fan.
There are plenty of cabs waiting outside of PODs and the Wawasan bus terminal which supplies buses to the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu is just a 5-min walk away. Across the road is also a hugely popular mall called Centrepoint.
I usually have trouble sleeping in a new place but I was so tired that I slept soundly on my first night at PODs. In my opinion, if you're travelling alone or as a couple and you just need a clean, convenient, and safe place to stay, PODs is the best hostel to stay in Kota Kinabalu.
Long-term accommodation
Based on my experience, it's best to call the advertiser the same day the rental ad goes up because good places get snapped up really fast. I mainly went online to search for apartments such as on Mudah.my, iProperty and Propwall.
My initial plan was to get an unfurnished studio/one-room apartment where it's easy to get a bus. My budget was RM600-RM700/month, with my max figure capped at RM800/month (this was my rent for a 3-bedroom unfurnished apartment in the dodgy end of Damansara Perdana).
To my horror, I discovered that unfurnished studio/one-room apartments here can go really high, as minimum as RM900/month! So I had to get my head out of the clouds, come down to earth and rent a furnished master room instead. I found it in a house located in Kepayan Ridge, where the bus terminal, cab stand, and so many shops are within walking distance. There's even a mall within 15 minutes of walking from the house.
Driving around
I also rented a car for the first three days of my stay. It was immensely helpful in my real estate search because I ended up checking out places like Likas, Penampang, Kepayan, Putatan and Sepanggar. The rates differ according to car model, including whether it's an automatic or manual transmission.
For the first two days I rented an automatic Perodua Kenari for RM80/day. I wanted either a Perodua Viva or a Kenari because their back seats can fully recline and would be helpful in transporting stuff.
On my third day I couldn't extend the Kenari rental because it was already booked by the next customer, so the guy rented out an old manual Perodua Kancil to me at only RM50/day. I ended up parking it most of the day because it was such torture driving it:
1. The air-conditioning was temperamental. So sometimes I had to roll down the windows because it wasn't working.
2. The windows were sometimes jammed.
3. The speedometer didn't work haha if I ever got pulled over for speeding that would be my excuse!
4. After parking, I sometimes had to turn on the ignition a few times before the car roared back to life.
5. The steering wheel wasn't a power steering one. Nice workout for your arms (not!)
I had never driven in Kota Kinabalu or its surrounding areas before, so I relied a lot on Waze, Google Maps, and a paper map. I also called friends when I wasn't sure of a place. For the most part it was easy driving here because most drivers drive at a leisurely pace, are quite patient and polite too. It rained every afternoon that I was driving but I didn't see any road accidents nor heard anyone honking when traffic wasn't moving.
Getting around by cab
The airport cab from Terminal 2 (which is the low-cost carrier terminal) to Centrepoint costs RM30. As for getting cabs to go around the Kota Kinabalu city or its suburbs...PLEASE DON'T GET INTO ONE.
I discovered one day that cabs here are daylight robbers-on-wheels. I was late for work and had missed the 7am bus (I say 7am but it actually leaves whenever the bus is full wtf), so I took a cab from Kepayan Ridge to Centrepoint. It was about 5km and we were stationary for maybe 3 minutes in the entire journey. The cab driver quoted me RM13 without the meter but I insisted on turning the meter on so that I have something to compare to. The final fare?
RM15!
Getting around by bus
Buses are plenty here and you can find those going to the suburbs on the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu in front of Marina Court (the Wawasan Terminal nearby is currently renovated). Long-distance buses are located at other terminals.
From Kepayan Ridge I take the 14, 14A and 14B orange-white bus to Marina Court (which is 5 mins' walk from my office) and the fare is RM1.30 (about ten times cheaper than a cab fare). Based on my observation (read: long wait at the Kepayan Ridge bus terminal), one bus leaves approximately every hour.
The buses here will only depart once it is full or almost full, and most of them are old and have no air-conditioning. You pay the fare to the driver when you get off. The good thing about buses here is that the drivers are generally careful and do not drive fast like the mad bus drivers in KL do (those in KL probably have nine lives, who knows). Also, unlike in KL and PJ where no one gets off the bus even if they're blocking your exit, people here will get off to give you way before boarding the bus again.
Healthcare
Private generic clinics can cost an arm and a leg here, even if you only have a normal fever. The cheapest quote I got from a colleague was minimum RM60 per visit. As for dentists, a visit will set you back at least RM150.
There's a multi-department centre called Urban Transformation Centre in Sembulan where Malaysians pay as little as RM2 to see a medical assistant (supposedly there are no GPs at the clinic) or even a dentist at its 1Malaysia clinic. You can also renew your driver's license at the post office, renew your passport at the immigration department, or even pay your Streamyx bills at the TMPoint branch here. Parking is free and it's easy to get buses here too. Very convenient.
Mobile coverage
I'm not sure about other telcos but DiGi's coverage in Kota Kinabalu and its surrounding areas is HORRENDOUS. I was lost on my way back from 1Borneo and almost drove to Menggatal because Waze couldn't get a signal BECAUSE DiGi HAD NO SIGNAL DURING THE RAIN.
DiGi consistently fails to provide service the moment the skies pour down here. Every time it rains, without fail, I will not have a signal on my phone. Even on a sunny day, I sometimes can't load a webpage on my laptop that is tethered to my phone.
The moment my contract with DiGi ends in July 2015, I will be switching to another telco unless DiGi's coverage improves.
Internet connection
If you're used to high-speed Unifi and you suddenly have to move to Sabah, please try to wean yourself off this luxury. Mourn if you must, because if you're like me (I need to be plugged in every day), you'll be so bloody frustrated when you get here.
There are areas covered by Unifi in Sabah but they're very few and far in between. My housing area is not covered by Unifi yet so I had to switch to Streamyx (which is slightly better than good old dial-up connection of yesteryears wtf) or risk being fined RM500 because I still have a contract with Unifi till next year.
I've surrendered my Unifi paraphernalia to TMPoint and while I wait for the good folks at Streamyx to come over, I have to rely on my wretched DiGi connection to surf the net.
Language
Try to speak Malay anywhere you go in Sabah, as Sabahan Malay is widely spoken here. It is almost similar to the official Malay language, but has a different twang and plenty of unique words in it. There are many Sabahans I've met on the streets who can speak English decently, so I suspect switching back to speaking mainly in Sabahan Malay is either a force of habit or they're not confident enough to speak fully in English.
I used to speak Sabahan Malay fluently when I was in uni because I had a lot of Sabahan friends, but I've gone rusty from not practising it over the years. For the first few days here, I spoke mainly in English and that got me really a lot of stares hahaha. I felt like a coconut whenever that happened (read: dark-skinned on the outside but ang moh on the inside ahaha)
I'm doing better now though. Speaking a language is like riding a bicycle; you'll get back into the groove once you practise it again.
The end
So that's it for now. I'm super tired from walking around the past two days in an effort to get back to running. Did a lot of stairs today and my recovering knee, which I injured in May this year (while lifting my grandma haha), surprisingly took it well.
Likas Bay and Perdana Park in Tanjung Aru are two lovely places for jogs because you get to see the sea as you huff and puff in the cold salty breeze. I'm looking forward to my first 5K run after three years on the side lines, which will happen in two weeks' time in Likas Bay.
Good night!
The Geek Goddess
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