In Search of Paradise
Sunday
Dirty old town. Shiny new airport.
Dragonair KA 901 soars through thick layers of grayness, a typical chilly morning at the
northern capital.
Destination Sabah, a name I have never
heard, meaningless to most of us northern Chinese reporters.
Friendly flight attendants mete out meals,
magazines and Bloody Marys. Three-hour flight plain sailing. No direct flight, so another
shiny new airport.
Hong Kong International sits on a lonely
island, 40 minutes”drive from anywhere. Shangri-La whisks us into two limos and
downtown by expressway.
Warm sea air greets our jolly mainland
crew. Architecture overwhelms. Kowloon Shangri-La beckons at the waterfront of Tsimshatsui
East, the heart o f commercial and
shopping district. Trams, buses, motorcycles, pedestrians and tall buildings. They back up
hills, they mingle, they strut, they jut. Ferry and hovercraft link with the
Central’s influential business district. Mass Transit Railway and Cross Harbour
Tunnel are all only minutes away.
The hotel’s 725 rooms and suites are
among the most spacious available in packed Hong Kong. Every room has a wide bay window
commanding sweeping views of Victoria Harbour or postcard scenes of the city.
Monday
Fancy dinner at the hotel’s Margaux
French restaurant. Sound sleep, hurried check out and catch 8am Dragonair flight to Kota
Kinobalu (KK), the capital of Sabah.
Customs inspector eyes me suspiciously.
“Where are you going?”
“Ah, it’s really a strange name.
I don’t know... Hey, Judy, what’s this place called again?”
Policeman unimpressed.
‘You don’t know where
you’re going?”
Maybe she’s an illegal job seeker, he
thinks. He stares. Strange thoughts hit me all at once. Maybe I really am an illegal. Why
am I here? Where am I going?
“Where are you going?”
“Er ... somewhere, East
Malaysia.”
Finally, he releases me.
Dragonair flight arrives 11am. Plane
carries mostly Westerners with their families, and Malaysians. Suddenly realize I am the
foreigner here.
Forty five minutes by bus through
villages. Women in white veils. Half-naked, dark-skinned boys. Coconut trees. Crescent
moons on domes. Final stop: town called Tuaran.
Rasa Ria Resort (RRR) nestles amidst 400
acres of lush tropical vegetation along the sea gulf. Bordered by the Tambalang and
Mengkabong rivers, the resort sits before Mount Kinobalu. Three kilometers of white sandy
beach and the South China Sea stretch before it.
Six-member local band greets us. Lobby
looks like a local house, open ground floor, cool columns. Hot, wet salty wind refreshes.
The hum of nature makes this world here seem so quiet and serene. Doubt whether I am in
the real world. Where am I? Where am I going?
Tuesday
“Shangri-La”comes from the 1933
novel Lost Horizon by James Hilt on,
describing an idyllic Tibetan mountain settlement. To most Westerners,
“Shangri-La”is synonymous for paradise.
Nobody explains why this idyllic spot was
picked by a Malaysian hotel group and made into a resort. The nature reserve at the back
of the hotel give us a clue. It saves and feeds orphaned orangutans. They grow up and can
be released to the wild.
Paul, 7, is almost ready. Romaria, 5,
befriends visitors quickly. The two perform lazy stunts amidst the tropical forest trees,
sip bottled mineral water, chew on carrots. Last year, a stray orangutan followed guests
into the hotel and helped out at the elevators.
Wednesday
Mengkabong Village, houses on water to
keep cool. Stepping off onto the dock, local village children come running out of school
lunch. Wave and say “Hello.”
Thirsty. Children follow me into the only
shop in village of about 500.
“King Cola, please. And some for my
friends here...”
The owner smiles, takes 10 Ringgit (23
yuan) bill, and hands me back two crisp fives. Point to the kids and point to the money.
Aha! First contact.
Money and King colas are quickly
separated. Wait a moment. Did I count wrong? There are still five children without colas.
I order another five.
“Are you some kind of a
charity?,” yells Chris, our guide. The whole village is talking about somebody
handing out free cokes. Come on, let’s go!”
Look around and sure enough, half a dozen
kids are running towards the shop. Walk into stilt village via long wooden bridge which
links houses together. Windows are covered by colorful cloth, no glass. Through open
window, see posters of Andy Lau, Hong Kong pop singer.
It’s all another world, yet the
feeling is so familiar, so intimate. Where am I?
Kota Kinobalu. Clean, modern city.
Shangri-La has Tanjung Aru Resort at its north corner. The 500 rooms all open onto a
private balcony and offer panoramic views of the gardens, the sea and the outlying
islands.
Thursday
The national park, comprised of five
islands, is just within the sight of the resort. Boat takes us to the island. Each island
has its special point. We stay on one island for a barbecue lunch, swimming and then some
speedboating. Such colorful fish.
Night. Headhunter minority music and dance
at the open-air seaside restaurant. Leon Pengiren, 6 and a half, plays well. Dancers
describe ancient scenes where tribal people showed their braveness. The two-hour jamboree
climaxes with an impromptu diner disco.
By the lobby, listen to a pop song by a
local young band led by Laurence Tan. They play Elvis Presley, Jacky Chang, English,
Cantonese and Chinese mandarin.
Friday
Staff are ready for our leaving. Guitar
man and singers see us off:
t’s time to leave,
I know you have to go,
Hurry, hurry home.
Back to civilization. Hong Kong first,
though. Grimy air, traffic, skyscrapers. Pressure. Where am I now?
Very close to work already. Deadline
headaches. Got to wrote story about this.
Escape into Island Shangri-La. Amazing to
see how this Shangri-La chain adapts its hotels to different environments. It works out
really well here, convenient for business types like myself who want to start work in the
room.
Saturday
Heart sinks as Dragonair touches down in
Beijing. No coconut trees on the Fourth Ring Road, no siree. I miss my Shangri-La.
Travel Information:
Dragonair: (8610) 6518-2533 (Beijing),
(6088)25-4733 (Kota Kinabalu), (852) 2590-1262 (Hong Kong)
Kowloon Shangri-La: (852) 2721-2111
Rasa Ria Resort: (6088) 79-2888
Tanjung Aru Resort: (6088) 22-5800
Island Shangri-La: (852) 2877-3838
Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board:
(852)2528-5810 (Hong Kong), (6088) 24-8698 (Kota Kinabalu)
Sabah Tourism Promotion Corporation:
(6088) 21-2121 |
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