Kami di Sabah, bah!

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah state capital

Heard the Prime Minister will be off for his vacation. So that rules out any chance for general election soon.

With a Deepavali and Maal Hijrah holidays close to each other and school is out, the best thing to do is to take a break from current affair of the world and take that long needed holiday. So off we go for Sabah last Tuesday.

The choice for Sabah is simple. Putting the fluid and unstable politics aside, Sabah is a lovely state to go. People are nice and friendly. It's cohesiveness as a society with many races and 'tribes' is amazing. The true 1Malaysia. 

It served our purpose of visiting our old Rengus friend in Kudat of 40 years and friends and family spread all over Sabah.

It also serve to complete our "tour of duty" of Sabah that begin couple of months back. We had visited Tawau and Semporna and took a two nights three days rest and recretation near Sipadan Island. Last two weekend ago, we were in Sandakan for an NGO function.  

KK's modern extended airport

We left Kuala Lumpur for Kota Kinabalu by Malaysian Airlines  (but off course) last Tuesday at 3 PM to join our two other siblings and their family there. They reached earlier by flying another (but poorer quality service) airline. 

By the time we landed, it is already dark and Maghrib at 6:40 PM. 

Maghrib in Sabah is around 5:50 PM, unlike around 7 something in Semenanjung. Subuh and begin of sunrise is at around 5:00 AM. While those in Semenanjung is up and readying themselves for work and school at 6:30 AM, it is bright and lively by 6:30 AM here. 

By the time they get to office at 9:00 AM, they've done their shopping at the market and sent kids to school. 

Time moves one or two hours faster in Sabah. The realignment of the time zone by Tun Dr mahathir when he began as Prime Minister only makes us Semenanjung people confused.

There are many Semenanjung living in Sabah. Many Semenanjung married Sabahan and reside here.

One Johorean friend of ours planned to retire in his wife's hometown in Keningau. 

Another of our Kota Kinabalu friend carries a Wan as a surname from his Kedahan father. He was sent here as policeman and married a Kadazan woman to settle here. So one find Sabahan Wan in Kota Kinabalu.   

Here is another interesting observation. 

Bet many Malays hated Kelantanis for their accent because they can't understand it and Kelantanis can't rid of it. Despite studying abroad in Australia, United Kingdom and US, most Kelantanis end up speaking English with a hodgepodge of accent of Kelantanis and cockney or ozzie or American. 

With so many Kelantanis in Kuala Lumpur, it allows them to speak that accent. It makes living in Kuala Lumpur like living in Kota Baru. 

The solution can be found in Sabah. 

One friend we met in Sabah the night we landed was speaking in Sabahan accent. It was until we start speaking with a Kelantanis accent to camouflage our conversation from on-lookers that he got back his Kelantanis groove. 

We begin our journey for Kudat the next morning. To be updated ....