I was in Tawau for my cousin’s wedding.

You’d think I’ll be all excited to attend it (it was my first time going there too)… but I wasn’t.

Urgh. It’s like camping! I hate camping!

But I called this post “Ups and Downs” because it wasn’t erm… all bad there. I mean, I had bad times but I had good times too. It’s ‘almost fun’ I guess…
Lol. At least now I can say, “I’ve been around Sabah by car!”… Not really ‘been to the entire state’, but close enough. Something is better than nothing. Haha. 

We used the road via Keningau to reach Tawau. Before that, we stayed for a night at Keningau (friend of dad’s). It’s a pastor house (same church but different area).  The church is directly under the pastor’s house. They had christmas rehearsal the same night so the music was really LOUD that night. Lol. It was an interesting experience. They did stop by the time we went to sleep.

/* This was taken after dinner in Tambunan. We reached Keningau in darkness.*/

We stopped by Tambunan first for dinner than headed to Keningau. Didn’t find a decent restaurant in Tambunan. The one we went to overcharged us (the food wasn’t any good too!).  /*The front yard of the place we stayed at.*/

The road (Keningau to Tawau) was still a gravel road. A long gravel road without any stops (where you can find lavatory… or jamban. Haha). It was dusty all the way! Crazy! Oh yeah…had a flat tyre during that journey. My uncle in Tawau told us that it’s faster using that road (to Tawau)…the only disadvantage is the road isn’t complete (not asphalt).

The road trip was kinda boring cos there’s not much to look at (dust everywhere) & not many vehicles passed our car (mostly only logging trucks). There were trees everywhere – which was the only thing I looked at. I brought along books but can’t concentrate on reading them. My sister kept saying “Priceless” whenever she saw a row of trees that were beautifully arranged (naturally, of course).

It’s been awhile I stay in kampong. It used to get me excited when I was little. Balik kampung. Mandi sungai. Haha. But, yeah, we stayed with our cousin (who’s getting married) family.

I don’t really anticipate those things now… but huh… can’t avoid bathing in the nature (river) in Tawau. Good thing I didn’t go berserk (like, “What? I don’t wanna bathe in the river!”).

Oddly, I enjoyed the river baths (lol). The last time I went to a wedding (which required me to stay in my kampong) – my aunt’s wedding – I bathed in the rain (with sarong of course!)… that was a thrilling bath experience (I recalled a shampoo ad where the girl used the shampoo and washed her hair while dancing in the rain). Anyway, we had to bathe in dark (we brought along torchlight and candles) twice & I saw fireflies! Haha.

Oh yeah. You can see oil palm trees everywhere in Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan. These are the main areas for oil palm plantations in Sabah.
It’s no wonder my relatives in Tawau sometimes eat snake dishes (caught in ladang). A curry-like snake dish was served the first night we were there. I didn’t take a bite but my sister did. She said it tasted like fish, sweet, hard & bony.

I was kinda surprised to see how big Tawau is. The town is bigger than the town in Labuan. I don’t know how it compares to Sandakan (I was asleep when we got there) but I think they’re almost the same (maybe Sandakan is slightly bigger).

I know there’s a “Mongolian Chicken Rice” stall in Kolombong’s Giant hypermarket building but that one pales in comparison to the one I’d eaten in Tawau (the food outlet is very popular in Tawau, it’s mentioned in Tawau’s wiki entry!).

The wedding was on Sunday, after church service. In the morning we got up early because my uncle (with almost everyone staying in the house) would be leading us to Tamu Tawau. I thought we were going to attend church first. Haha. Imagine the car full of weird smells, snake fruit & salted fish combined, whenever we get into the car.
Oh, yeah. The wedding! Nobody told me I was supposed to be in the “walk to remember” (If you read “A Walk to Remember”, you’ll get what I mean)! Lol. My cousin walked in followed by her aunts (including my mum) and cousins (including me).
When the wedding ceremony started, I felt a lump in my throat. I kept trying to hold back my tears but when they exchanged vows, I cried (I cried a little too at my aunt’s wedding). Yeah. I’m over-emotional. I can cry over things I just watched on TV (like ads or documentaries). Books make me cry too. But crying at weddings isn’t something I know I’m capable of. Do I have to avoid attending weddings starting now? Hehe… My mum said it’s because it's held in the church. “Sometimes it gives effects like that to people.”

We returned to Kota Kinabalu the next day via Sandakan’s road.
My parents decided to stop by Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.  We reached there past the feeding time so they wanted to wait. I was cranky and moody at that time so I didn’t join them when it’s opened. I only hear stories from them. The first time we arrived (we went to Sandakan town before returning to Sepilok, again), we saw wild monkeys ‘digging’ the dustbin. Scary!

The wild monkeys sometimes steal the orang utan’s food, the ranger told my dad. Nasty. They even tried to fight back when they were chased away.

We ate lunch at Sepilok. The prices were reasonable. Slightly higher than usual but nothing too much (like in hotels). Delicious too (better than the restaurant that over-charged us in Tambunan).

We stopped by Ranau for dinner. The road from Sandakan to Ranau was kinda creepy… maybe because it’s dark. Hehe. My dad told us a funny story about a colleague who drove through the same road. This colleague heard scary things about the road (like apparitions) so when he had a punctured tyre he didn’t dare to stop, he kept driving (with the flat tyre) till he reached Telupid (located between Ranau and Sandakan). Nice sceneries (the usual trees). We were tired of seeing oil palm trees along the road from Tawau to Sandakan.


I slept all the way to Kota Kinabalu after Ranau. When we reached home it was almost 11pm already.
It could have been less than 17 hours if not for the long stop at Sepilok and Ranau… Oh well. But it does take longer time to reach Kota Kinabalu (or Tawau, if the other way round) using that road compared to the Keningau-Tawau gravel road.

Anyway… The aftermath : Will I go back to Tawau? YES! Lol. It’s was fun being there. We haven’t visit my other uncle’s house in Tawau’s yet. And Semporna too! Haven’t been there yet! Also there’s an archaeological site (hanging coffins!) I wanted to visit in Kinabatangan. That made me think (again) about my interest in anthropology. My aunt played a really good host to us and was very accommodating. I’m grateful for that because she seemed determined to let us have a pleasant stay there (which we did have).