Chasing Sunsets at Kota Belud, Sabah

Sometimes when people attempt to make small talk with me by asking where I'm from, I'd always say Kota Belud, Sabah. Not a sentence more, not a sentence less. I'm not a conversant person. And their next question would always be "which part of Kota Belud?". Somehow, I'd be frowning by then and simply say that my home doesn't exactly have a pinpoint location. The kampong people would say that my home is near the paddy fields, on the way to Kudat.

Simply put in local ethnic Dusun language "sana ranau" with ranau meaning paddy fields. =)

My parents' house at Kota Belud in which I call home doesn't have a postal address. We tend to borrow the postal addresses of offices in town located about 30km away. Be it the previous workplace of my father's or maybe the clinic's address of my brother's wife's workplace. Any visitor who isn't familiar with the roads of Kota Belud tend to get lost trying to reach my home. Sometimes they end up not coming at all. So that's the quirks of being a kampong gal. =(

But if they did come, I'll make certain they'll enjoy the small delights that always make my visits so enjoyable as illustrated in my instagram pictures below.

Clockwise from upper left: Authentic home-cooked meals, "nasi lemak" from a local stall, mangoes ripe for consumption, a mango tree at the back of the house ready to be plucked, rides on the classic toyota corolla, and twilight view from our backyard.

I make an effort to fly back every once in a while and not only during major holidays to visit my parents and siblings. Thanks to AirAsia, I can easily book a ticket home from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah with only a click that doesn't hurt my pocket. And every time I come back, it has been a habit that I'd laze around at our backyard just to catch a sunset which is visible almost every day!

And it's down. Another new day awaits tomorrow. =)

I haven't seen any sunset that beats the sunset back at home. Well, as a matter of fact, ultimately nothing beats a holiday staying with family at a place where you call HOME. 

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