Inaugural Borneo visit

The photo above is the famous Mount Kinabalu (which was constantly shrouded in a blanket of clouds during my brief 2 day visit).

My inaugural visit to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah was a great experience. My host, Mr. Paul Chin of Alive Personal Defense, presumably happier now after years and years of trying to persuade me to visit his hometown, finally got to see Kate, Albert, (Big) Raj and myself on the shores of Sabah after an on-time Air Asia flight from KL- LCCT.





I noticed a couple of, ok at least 12 things, during my stay there:

1. It's really hot (could be seasonal or maybe because we're at sea level and near the beach)
2. There are a LOT of smokers in KK. Almost everyone (90%) smokes from what I saw! Did I mention the alcohol?
3. Food there is inexpensive and really fresh - especially the vegetables. Fruits are great.
   
4. I didn't detect any friction among the various races. People were laid back, very chilled out. It was great and felt really safe. I didn't see any "cub-chai" small CC motorcycles terrorizing the roads or pedestrians.
   
5. I didn't hear any mosques blaring out the prayers or sermons on the loudspeakers as you would in any part of KL.
6. The beach is 5 minutes away, the mountains 1.5 hours away.
7. There are loads of new development going on, new buildings, new malls, new homes. It's pretty busy.
8. The Pacific Sutera Harbour resort is a really nice hotel resort but the design of the rooms (in an enclosed space with all the room doors facing toward a central air well) can get pretty noisy.
9. There are loads of Korean and Taiwanese tourists (seasonal perhaps?) and generally a lot more visible tourists than in KL. Maybe because I was staying at the same hotel I noticed them a lot more than otherwise.
10. Locals are a lot friendlier and chatty than people in KL. Most people know each other as it's still a small city.
11. There are still hand-painted signboards (like KL in the 80's) in use in many shops
12. There are stilt houses perched on the waterfront in KK. Pretty nostalgic but I learnt they will soon be removed due to land reclamation and sanitary reasons (the still water under the houses looked pretty nasty)
13. White socks, black shoes and a blue gi IS an acceptable fashion statement in KK (refer to example above left). You can walk the streets of KK dressed like that and get "thumbs up" from impressed locals (who think you're heading to an important, official function to the state assembly representing your district as the village head from the interiors of Kalimantan)
    

Anyway, my visit was centered around the 2 nights of being the guest instructor at 2 different clubs: BJJ Borneo at the YMCA and Alive Personal Defense at Lintas Plaza.

BJJ Borneo club members

The turnout at the BJJ Borneo was pretty good but the training facility is a bit too small to accommodate the large number of people who turned up for the class.

The gym didn't have much air going in or out and they didn't have any fans or air conditioners which made training pretty uncomfortable and hot. But by the things look, the club will probably need to move to a larger facility soon as its obvious they can't fit everyone in at the same time on the mats.

Genn Lai (the "Man" from BJJ Borneo and Vice President) was a great guy to hang out with. Ever the entertainer and info-bank, spending a few minutes with the man, it was obvious he was a well known/recognized figure in KK.
Here you see him perched on the shoulders of Giant Raj and used as a weapon of sorts against Bert.

BJJ Borneo was really welcoming to our small entourage from KDT and we were treated with a lot of respect and warmth. I'm looking forward to a return visit as they are such a friendly, enthusiastic and eager group. It was great to train with them! They are ably led by Mr. Allen Chong, blue belt and the main coach under John Will.

After the training and a short roll with a few of the members, we adjourned to a nearby kopitiam for the Tuaran Mee (which is a soup-less Hong Kong style fried Yee mee). Pretty tasty and we all gulped it down.

The second night, I had the opportunity to teach 2 classes at Alive Personal Defense, owned and operated by Mr. Paul Chin, who so happened to be the chief instructor for Sabah Karate Association, the largest karate organization in Borneo.

A special mention goes to Mr. Jackson from SKA-Tawau (in the black gi pants) who drove 10 hours from Tawau to KK for my training sessions and to compete at the junior state karate competition at the same weekend.

The Alive Personal Defense group got their kettlebells on the day I got to KK too so the timing was just nice. I showed the group the basics of kettlebell lifting and after a 1.5 session, we changed up for the BJJ session.

Paul has a great facility going and he has it full time. I'm pretty sure that his dojo will go from strength to strength. In addition to providing Shotokan karate classes there, he teaches the Fizfit program and now will be introducing kettlebells and resistance bands training to KK as a trainer-in-training and distributor!
If you are ever in KK you will have somewhere to find eager BJJ players, kettlebells and get a great workout! I'm looking forward to my future visit.