Here’s a tip- when you want to visit a place that boasts a popular attraction make sure #1 they have accommodation and #2 don’t book your flight until said accommodation is available and booked.
I booked our flight to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia because I wanted to climb Mt. Kinabalu, the largest mountain in Southeast Asia. What I failed to do is to check whether or not accommodation was available on the mountain since it’s a 2-day climb. They were fully booked (even though I tried booking back in January) and there is only one place to stay on the mountain…
With a flight already booked to Kota K I said oh well and checked my new Lonely Planet, the Southeast Asia version. I left the Thailand one back in Koh Samui. Kota K has a few beaches, an orangutan rehab center, proboscis monkeys, and a Filipino Market. OK not to bad!! They also have a spa that offers a detox- SOLD! Besides, I like saying Kota K.
Kota K isn’t jam packed with tourists like Bangkok and it isn’t posh like Singapore, it’s more like Tak with a limited number of Westerners but here everyone seems to speak English.
So far we have island hopped…
went in search of the endangered and protected proboscis monkeys, found only in Malaysia…
visited a chocolate store, a tea shop, and a cupcake shop…
tasted Malaysian food…
and checked out the Filipino Market for a few souvenirs!
And tonight I detox! I’ll let you know how it goes but if you’ve ever done a detox you’ll know how it will go :-O