Kudat 1

Hi. I'm back. I haven't been in the kitchen for a while and seem to have lost my passion for cooking and eating. In the meantime, for those who wrote expressing concern, here's a post on a trip Hub and I made to Kudat last year.


The ride to Kudat takes about 3 hours, passing fields of padi (rice). I've always loved the Crocker Mountain Range, which makes a beautiful backdrop for the north-west coast of Sabah. Depending on the weather, the mountain range varies in intensity of different shades of blue and grey.


Kudat is at the left tip of the 'ears' of Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world. This is the very end of the tip. The South China Sea and the Sulu Sea meet right there, beyond the rocks. On a different occasion when I was there, the sea was a bright deep blue.

The Tip Of Borneo was only explored as a vista point about 10 years ago. I was there for the first time 8 years ago and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Now, the place is a sad example of how inept planners and bad taste can mess up a naturally beautiful place. They cut and levelled the slopes, built a road up (we used to hike up the slope; why couldn't they just keep it natural by making steps up?) and put up ugly structures like a huge globe to tell you where you are. Like you didn't know.


The beach from the Tip is still beautiful (although it was even more when the slope was higher) but again, structures are beginning to come up to scar the picture.


We were in Kota Marudu, a town about 1 hour before Kudat, to teach English to the native kids who lived in a hostel set up by our church. The kids of the hostel are from surrounding villages and they had to walk for 3 hours to (starting out at 4 am!) and another 3 hours back from the school located in the town. With the hostel, the kids study in comfort as school is less than 30 minutes by walking.

This drawing of an emblem,done with the help of a visiting group of young Scots, caught my eye and I thought it was very encouraging: Impossible Is Nothing.


Parts of Kudat are still unchanged. I love these old shoplots. Quaint and nostalgic-looking, they remind me of the photos of Kota Kinabalu when it was a colony of the British. The good days when administration was run by people qualified for the jobs, not by their connection or other considerations.


When in Kudat, the only edible food is Hakka nyong, veg and tofu products stuffed with fish paste. Nothing particularly outstanding. Avoid their mixed beef soup by all means.

Most Hakka migrants from China first settled in Kudat.


Houses built during the colonial days. I hope they don't demolish them.


There's a golf course if you have nothing to do, which is guaranteed, because there's really nothing much in Kudat, given that the young people have all left town for the city. This golf course looks rather flat and boring.


Kudat's seafood is much sought after, for the freshness and the quality.


These sand crabs were kicking and screaming.




It's a shame that they are eating the beautiful coral fish too. In the past, these fish were never caught for consumption.

part 2 coming up...