Girls' Weekend in KK

For our Girls' Weekend, we went to Kota Kinabalu, also known as KK, located on the northwest coast of Borneo.  It's the capital of the state Sabah in Malaysia.

The weather in KK is about the same year round; it's warm (90 F high, 75 F low) with intermittent rain. We arrived on a beautiful sunny day and got to our hotel just as a huge rain storm hit. Fortunately, the rain storm passed quickly so we could walk around the city familiarizing ourselves with the different handicraft markets, malls, and restaurants. We ate some pretty good food during our trip.

KK also has some beautiful beaches and coastline.

One evening we enjoyed the beautiful view

from the appropriately named Sunset Bar.

It was a fantastic sunset.

We visited the Mari Mari Cultural Village (mari mari means come together)

to learn more about the culture and lifestyle of the indigenous tribes of Borneo.

First, we crossed this cool suspension bridge to enter the village. 

The different huts featured the different tribes and some aspects of their daily life. 

There were rice farmers (she's making rice wine), 

longhouse residents (many families lived together here),

hunters and fishermen,

sea gypsies,

and of course the infamous headhunters.

There were many demonstrations and hands-on activities including 

bamboo cooking (I want to try this while camping sometime),

making rice cookies,

 collecting honey,

 fire starting with only bamboo,

trying a blowpipe (yes I killed my target - an unsuspecting coconut),

indoor trampoline jumping,

henna tattoos,

a wedding ceremony,

and a traditional dance performance.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was island hopping and snorkeling.

We took a speed boat to 2 smaller islands

for the recommended snorkeling sites.

It was lots of fun and we saw some very colorful fish (my friend took these pics).

Unfortunately, one of my friends also got stung by a jellyfish (not a fun way to end a good day of snorkeling).

Girls' Weekend in KK was a wonderful trip. I really enjoyed all the activities, the delicious food, relaxing in the sun, not having to worry about kids and chores, but mostly I loved getting to know 5 amazing women better.  I'm so thankful for great friends!