This morning, we took a day trip to The Tip of Borneo (Tanjung Simpang Mengayau). This was the northern-most point of Borneo Island.
We took a leisurely drive up towards Kudat, passing the Padi fields of Kota Belud at 7.15am this morning.
A farmer busy spraying pesticide (I am glad he was wearing a mask at least; Does OSHA require him to wear a plastic apron?).
After Kota Belud, there were some bad stretches of broken roads before Langkon. The roads must have been under constant repairs for the past 30 years or more!
When you see this on the overhead pedestrian bridge at Sikuati, the turn-off from the main road is not far away.
That turn-off led to a junction ...
... where the brown sign said "RIGHT" and the blue sign said "LEFT"!!!
I turned left (later, I realised that the signs meant you can go either left or right to get there).
The road to the left had one stretch, for a few kilometers, of gravelled road (probably it was a road within an oil palm estate; i.e. private land). The stretch was gravelled, graded and compacted; so posed no problems.
There was a very nice beach just before arriving at the car park of The Tip of Borneo.
The Borneo Tip Beach Lodge was under construction (Opening Soon! it said). I was intrigued by That Round Thing to the right!!!
Hey, It's Christmas Eve; and here were the Christmas Trees!
This hut (named Tomanggong Kurantud - A native warrior of the area in the 1880s) marked the highest point.
The "famous" Tong Sampah - this one had with a broken lid.
A brilliant walkway from the car park leading to the Flagpole and Globe.
The Flagpole and The Commemorative Globe ...
... The Front ...
... The Back (The yellow horizontal line was the Equator); "You are Here" pointed to the spot which had been either vandalised (!) or erased by the numerous visitors rubbing the spot!
A staircase led down towards the actual headland ...
... nearly there ...
... there; The Tip of Borneo.
Tanjung Simpang Mengayau had a lighthouse on an island just offshore ...
... the lighthouse (at full zoom); not very impressive as a structure (but functional I supposed).
Two RMAF Trainers did some fly-pasts (Not because I was there!).
There were many good photo opportunities of trees, drift wood, ...
... landscapes and seascapes. All together, a wonderful day out. It threatened to rain as we arrived, but cleared up to a very nice cloudy, windy and cool day.
On the way home, we had a late lunch at Salut ...
... the prawn-rearing ponds.
The restaurant was situated near the river-mouth, with the mangroves ...
... just a wooden functional building; serving fresh seafood.
Merry Christmas To All and
Peace on Earth
Kota Kinabalu is one of those cities, where the "new" land for development was reclaimed from the sea. We had been inching closer to the offshore islands for the past half century. This stretch (the left end is the main part of Kota Kinabalu) consisted of the Marina Court condominiums (pink buildings on the left), Promenade Hotel, Ocean Seafood Restaurant, and Wawasan Plaza (on the right).
Across the road was the latest reclamation project (City Waterfront) bringing us another 100 feet closer to Pulau Gaya.
The project progress so far.
On the left of that project site was the "newly launched" (on 31 December 2010) City Square and The Waterfront Boardwalk.
The words "newly launched" were in quotes as there seemed to be no visitors today and even the car parks were cordoned off!
This looked like one of those ...
... not yet completed project, but the launching date had arrived!
The partly completed decking on the Boardwalk (cordoned off - for safety reasons I supposed).
A closer look at the "planks". They seemed to be from manufactured wood? Will they stand up to the elements?
They did have solar-powered street lamps.
There seemed to be quite a lot of work yet to be completed (towards the right) ...
... and even more to be done on the left side.
Of course there will be the usual food stalls, presumably with the tables and chairs in front of them ...
... and between the stalls.
It said "Kota Kinabalu City Waterfront - The Place To Be" ... But I guess I was quite a few months early! Who said the early bird gets the worms?
There was a roundabout nearby, but what that central feature was ... I have no idea?
Some of the front pillars had nice intricately carved wooden inserts.
There was a bus-stop out front, with 2 small structures behind it ...
... with very narrow passage-ways ...
... rain shelters?
A good Boardwalk would be nice for viewing the sea, the islands, the sunsets, the big bungalows with private jetties (each house lot - just the land - was RM2 million) , ...
... the colourful fishing boats, like this one ...
... and that one.
I was once told that the big lights were to attract the sotong (squids).
A closer view of one of the jars around the City Square.
