Sun, Mar 16 - Returning to Kota Kinabalu

At 5:45 AM on an overcast morning we gathered at the bus for a short drive to area where the very rare Everett’s Thrush lives. We entered the forest in the dark, walked a short way, and sat/stood for 45 min waiting for the thrush that only can be seen at dawn. It was a long chance, but Rose Ann had been told by a researcher working nearby that the thrush comes by occasionally around sunrise, and she didn’t want to miss the chance that we might see it.

Temminck's Sunbird (Randy Beaton photo)

It began to drizzle which rapidly turned to moderate rain so we gave up, returned to the bus, and drove to breakfast for fresh roti and lentil stew. We returned back up the road to try once again for Whitehead’s Trogan and the elusive Black-sided Flowerpecker. At about nine Rose Ann saw that it was going to be stormy and rain all day which makes for really impossible birding.

Utensils delivered in a dish of hot water

Delicious Noodles!

We returned to our rooms, packed, loaded up the buses, and took off down the mountain. Just before we left a Temminck’s Sunbird flew by and Randy got a terrific photo. The weather improved as we got to lower elevations. We stopped at a gas station next to a marshy area and birded a bit. Adrian directed us into a small town where he knew of a family noodle restaurant. We created quite a stir when all 14 of us in our birding garb walked into this little café! We all got plates of noodles, vegetable, fish, or pork, which were all quite good. Then we noticed Adrian eating a plate of a chopped green and we asked what it was.

Cooks preparing our lunch

Bitter Melon

Delicious in garlic oil!

Bitter Melon...so we ordered two plates which came out fried in garlic oil and very good and very bitter, but the bitterness doesn't linger. How neat to eat at a real non-tourist place! (Restaurant photos courtesy of Randy Beaton)

The vans drove 40 min to a rice paddy area where we birded along the road. We were able to add many marsh birds that we hadn't seen earlier for our trip list, and it was nice to be out of the dense forest and in the open! We saw little shacks scattered throughout the paddies that Adrian says people stand in when rice is ready to harvest and shake strings attached from the huts to stakes to keep the birds away. There were also whirl-a-gigs and scare crows.

Paddy scarecrows

Newly planted paddies

We left at 3:30 and drove into Kota Kinabalu proper. It is quite a prosperous city with lots of apartment buildings, plain to fancy, and lots of cars! We drove past the lovely water front park with its bike & running paths full of people in the early evening strolling, fishing, and chatting and continued on past some very interesting looking open markets that would have been fun to explore.

One of many round-about sculptures

We got to the Promenade Hotel at 5 and Rose Ann gave us an hour to clean up which we all took full advantage of, reappearing all scrubbed, beards trimmed, and in our remaining clean clothes!

Rose Ann led us a few blocks to a row of restaurants built over the South China Sea. An Australian seafood restaurant could accommodate all 14 of us, and we settled down to a long table overlooking incoming freighters, islands and the setting sun – very romantic and exotic! Rose Ann and John kindly bought us several bottles of wine for our Farewell Dinner and we all had a good time.

Overlooking the South China Sea

Bob and I are leaving the earliest, and so will not see any of our group tomorrow, so we said our goodbyes and returned to our room to pack for the flight home.