Spent an afternoon walking around Kota Kinabalu. Nice to decompress after all the travelling over the previous couple of days. The markets in town were quite lively well into the evening, it was very interesting to watch the Sabah people carry on their daily purchases, They tend to buy everything they need for the nights meal the same day. I took a pass on the tourist trap shops as it was obvious that the crafts were made in bulk elsewhere. Not a whole lot of Caucasians here other than at a seaside boardwalk across from the posh Le Meridien. The walk had of course the mandatory Irish Pub and a few other restaurants including an Italian and an amazing seafood restaurant. This place had a huge area allocated to aquariums for keeping live fish. I decided to grab a some fresh fish and shrimp, its a treat picking out your evening meal as it is still swimming. I settled on a sea bass and then had some fun messing with the waiter as he was netting my shrimp telling him very seriously at first, no, not that one, the other one. He was really trying hard too, we were working out a colour pattern to help him track it in the tank. I'm talking about a tank swarming with hundreds of shrimp He finally figured out I was kidding and just started howling. This was a huge hit and I had the waiters and waitresses coming over to my table and chatting the rest of the evening. Their was a live traditional dance performance as well. The dance was an interesting contrast between Thai and Balinese dance styles, I think there is a very heavy Philippine influence here.
