Sabah: The tip of Borneo...

‘Travel not to escape life, but so life don’t escape you…’

Kota Kinabalu'

Today we decided to rent a car to go to Kudat, a town situated at the northern end of Sabah and not visited by many tourists. We started from Kota Kinabalu quite late and after 2-hour drive passing scenic countryside, rubber estates, paddy fields, and water buffaloes wallowing in the mud, and Kadazan Villages we reached Kota Belud before noon. The town is located in very nice surroundings but the town itself has lost some of its attraction. However the town is home to the Tamu, the largest Sunday Market where hundreds of stalls displaying their goods. If we come early in the morning, we could see activities at this vibrant open-air market and witness how its multi-ethnic groups of Bajau, Kadazan, Rungus, Chinese and Malay gather to exchange gossips and to trade live buffaloes, goats, chickens, local fruits, food, handicrafts and local hand-made pottery souvenirs. I bought a few crystal bracelets, which cost much cheaper than the Philippines Market in Kota Kinabalu.

On the way we thought of stopping at the Rungus Longhouses, one of the most famous and interesting Bavanggazo longhouse near Kudat. The Rungus are a sub-tribe of the Kadazan/Dusun indigenous ethnic group. They are found only in the Kudat and Bengkoka Peninsula in the Northern tip of Borneo and are descendants of Austronesian stock. They would almost certainly qualify as a rare tribe. However interesting, we put off the idea of visiting the longhouses as we could not estimate the distance to the place and would not want to waste time unnecessarily on the unfamiliar road.

We reached Kudat late afternoon and stopped for solat at the mosque. Shared a plate of mihun for lunch and went for a quick drive around town. On the way back to Kota Kinabalu we turned into a junction for a journey to the Tip of Borneo. And to reach the tip we had to drive on a 6 km long, bumpy, rocky and rough road. All in all, the journey was well worth it because the serenity of the sandy white beach and the waves and.... basically the view was beyond words itself as it was jaw dropping! A large world globe inscribing ‘Welcome to the Tip of Borneo’ greeted us. We tried climbing down to the tip but were careful not to trip. On the right side of the tip is the Sulu Sea and on the left of the tip is the South China Sea. The view is magnificent especially during the sunset. The place reminds me of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa (1996), the southern tip of Africa and the Copa de Roca in Portugal (2001), the most south-western tip of Europe.

For those who never heard of this place, the Tip of Borneo is one of the must go and visit destination in the world…