My FIRST Day In BORNEO 🇲🇾 Malaysia (Time for a Seafood Feast)

Coming up in this series of Next Level Adventures. For the next few weeks I'll be road tripping around the beautiful island of Borneo. I'll be renting a cheap scooter and exploring the Malaysian province of Sabah and trying my best to share with you everything that this magical place has to offer. And it only grows in Borneo and in Malaysia. So relax and subscribe if you're new and let's enjoy this series together. Hello, how are you? Grab an ice cream please. Can I get a mix? Only three, three ringgit. Okay, very cheap. It's good to be back on the road guys. I have no idea what flavours these are but it's a mixture of yumminess. This is where I landed yesterday and where I've just been getting my bearings. And the beginning and the end point for our adventures in Borneo. There's the main airport just across the way, there's a mall, there's a bunch of fancy hotels here as well and some delicious seafood which we will try. I thought I'd start with dessert. I had a bit of a rough start as well actually when I landed. Firstly, I flew with AirAsia and my flight was delayed by three hours so I missed my connecting flight in Kuala Lumpur. Luckily they moved me onto the next flight to Kota Kinabalu which was only 20 minutes later so that was really good. But then when I arrived in Kota Kinabalu my backpack never arrived so for the first day I had no luggage but I went to the airport this morning and they had my bag. So a bit of a rough start to the trip and it's been raining all day today so I just wrote today off and thought you know what let's go get our bag, let's get our bearings, let's try some ice cream, we'll have some seafood at the night market tonight and then we'll get out of here. Because we're here to explore the incredible and mysterious island of Borneo. The locals here seem really friendly. Everyone I've met so far, big smiles, very friendly, good level of English here. And even though this area of Borneo is very wild and we'll explore and we'll go on a big motorcycle tour and I'll show you my motorcycle in a minute, I'm really happy that the locals seem really friendly. Because that was one thing I was worried about coming here. I didn't really know what to expect. Obviously Borneo is the fourth largest island in the world and you know it's cut in half. Most of it is Indonesia, the northern part is Malaysia and there's also Brunei. But we're just going to be exploring in this series the northern province of Sabah, which is part of Malaysia. A very proud nation here. Everywhere you see the Malaysian flags on everyone's car, on everyone's house, on every street. Even the grab delivery drivers repping the flags. But they also seem to have a very proud connection to their province. Because their provincial state flag is everywhere. I even bought one at the airport and I put it on my motorcycle. I'll show you that tomorrow morning. Yeah, friendly locals. Quite a few things to see and do. Although it was all rained off for me today. And lovely, lovely local people. So I just wanted to give you a little bearings of where we are and what we're doing. I found the chocolate ice cream right down at the bottom. Now we're talking. There's quite this simple map here of Sabah province. The tip or the northern part of Borneo itself. And this is a great way to sort of show you and outline what my plan is over the next two or three weeks. So I've rented a bicycle here. A motorcycle here in Kota Kinabalu. This is where we landed. This is where we are right now. And tomorrow we'll head up to the tip of Borneo. Some nice beaches. And you know, it's always nice to visit the tip. You know, just the tip. Then you have Kinabalu National Park. Home to Mount Kinabalu. Not only the tallest mountain in Borneo. But the tallest mountain in Malaysia. And we may or may not be doing something very special there at the end of the series. We'll come along to this area here. I think there's lots of wildlife. You can see they've painted pygmy elephants. There's Borneo monkeys. Very special to this island. You've got orangutans. Wild as well as in salvation. So maybe we'll see them. We'll see that. We'll see how it develops. And then there's also some beautiful marine parks with some islands. So basically, in a nutshell, we'll do a loop up to the tip. We'll go see some animals. We'll try to discover the unique nature. And what, you know, is the reason Borneo is so famous around the world. And then we'll just, we'll get lost. And we'll just go on these random road trips. And maybe we'll go diving and snorkeling in these beautiful islands. The whole of the tip of Borneo is our playground in this series. And I can't wait. Right, let me show you my bike and also where I've been staying. Because it's quite cool, actually. And I recommend that you stay here. This is the Signal Postel, which is a fancy version of a hostel, basically. There are dorm rooms upstairs and a communal kitchen. But I'm staying in a private room. Very clean, very modern. Yeah, not too badly priced, as you can see below. This little street here, no traffic. Just the odd little motorbike coming through. And the smell of durian. Because over here is a durian shop. Where it's actually quite quiet. But it's been so busy all day. Lots of Chinese tourists. Lots of Japanese tourists sitting there ordering durian and enjoying it. And there's a little cocktail bar here with live music, which is quite nice. Right opposite the hotel. And then there's a really nice Hainanese chicken, like Khao Mun Gai chicken shop. And delicious food there. Had lunch there this morning. And I'm going to meet a subscriber for breakfast there tomorrow before we head off. So I'll introduce you to him later in the video. Right, do you want to see the bike? Now, don't get too excited. Because it's not epic or anything. The selection in Borneo and in this city was very limited. Not very many places that rent bikes. And not a very good selection, to be honest. So I just went for this. This is a Honda Vario 125cc scooter. Now, very not interesting. It's just a Honda Click, basically. Just different name here in Malaysia. 150cc, sorry, not 125. And it's got F1 technology. And it's red and black. Comes with a back box, which is quite handy. Keep your helmet in here and other bits and bobs. And I will tape the Sabah flag to it later. Maybe tomorrow before I leave. And, you know, she's red and we're in Borneo. And so I just thought we'd call her Britney. After the red outfit that you see her in that famous Oops, I did it again video. I don't know. I'm getting Britney vibes. Beautiful Britney in Borneo. Here's a nice alliteration there. Anyway, let's go to the night market and get some seafood and enjoy some more of the sights of this small city before the real adventure starts. Right, welcome to the night market here in Koto Kinabalu. And it's the seafood night market. I'll leave it in the description for you. Five minute walk from the hotel. Live music, lots of things for the kids to do and lots of seafood for us to try. Now, I did pop my head in here last night, but it wasn't as busy as it is today. Jeez, everyone seems to be having a feast. This is definitely the kind of place that you want to come with a family or a group of you. Yeah, the seafood night market here on the waterfront in Koto Kinabalu is certainly an attack on the senses. The live music, lots of people enjoying their dinner, kids running around playing and screaming their heads off, and lots of delicious fresh catch seafood all around you. I couldn't actually get my head around the massive selection. You will be spoiled for choice. Every type of fish, lots of seashells and snails, big and small. We saw the huge ones a second ago. And yeah, just walk around. Each stall has a slightly different variation of selection. So walk around, have a look at each stall, and then pick your favourite place. Be careful when you come in the kitchen. You won't leave with any eyebrows. How are you? Want to try this one, sir? Maybe barbecue with sambal, banana leaf. Barbecue with banana leaf? Barbecue with banana leaf, yeah. Is it spicy? I like spicy. Yeah. Which fish in particular? Maybe grouper or red snapper. Or maybe parrotfish. Try, sir. I tried a parrotfish before. I didn't think it tastes very good because they eat coral, right? Yeah. You need to eat fish that eat fish. Oh, maybe this one. Red snapper, she eat fish and prawn. All right. Do you have a smaller one? Smaller one, smaller one. Maybe this one. Same also. Red snapper. All right, let me have a look. Fresh one, too. Can I see his eyes? Yeah. Okay. Are you going to catch today? Yeah. Morning. In the morning? Try the price first, including all the prices. Can you give me a good price on a selection? Yeah. I would like to try maybe a fish. A fish? And maybe three other traditional style Malaysian things. Maybe small, just... Okay, some squid. Give me basket first. Okay. And which one? I would like some prawn. How much is the little lobster? We sell 25. I give you 18 ringgit for 100 gram. 18 ringgit for 100 gram? Yeah. For one kilo, just 180. All right. How can we prepare this one? Maybe try... Do you like spicy? Yeah, go on. Try kamyang. Kamyang. Tastes good. All right. Lobster kamyang. Kamyang. We got the squid, we got the fish. The lobster is 400 gram. 18... No good. We'll do it for free then. Yeah. Look at the snails. You see these guys? That's a bit too extreme for me. This one tastes good, like some ebola. Tastes like what? Tastes like ebola. I can't eat a snail that big. I wouldn't be able to stomach it. What's this green stuff? Seaweed. Okay. Can I try a little bit of that? Yeah, just... What do you do? Do you deep fry that or... No, just eat raw. Eat raw? Eat raw. Okay, I'll try a little piece of that. Maybe 3 ringgit, like this? No, no, no. I mean, I'm talking like a mouthful. This one good? Oh, maybe just... Half, half, half. Maybe this one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we don't eat seaweed like that where I come from. And I want to try a new thing. Just try this one. He grabbed like a massive bunch. I was like, whoa, dude. And the price on... Can you wait? What are these? Scallop. That's what I was trying to say on camera. Scallops are really, really lovely. Oh, that's a lot. That's a lot. How much is that? Is that 300 gram or is that 100 gram? Maybe. Yeah, 300 gram. So this is everything that we're going to have. Wow. This is way too much, but you know. We've got a lobster. What type of lobster is it? Rock lobster. Tastes good. Yeah, okay. And scallops. Then we've got the scallops. We've got the red snapper. We've got the baby squid and scallops. Is there something else I'm missing? Oh, and the seaweed is in there somewhere. And the seaweed, this one. Yeah, put some seaweed in there for good luck. Maybe more. Okay, okay. All right, what's your name? My name is... Just call me Mats. Mats. Because everyone here call me Mats. Okay, the food has started to come out. And I still think we're waiting on the lobster. And something else that I can't remember. Okay, here comes the lobster. Thank you so much, my love. Wow, have a look at this. Oh, it smells so good. Okay, we'll let that stew over here. Okay, I think we should begin with the scallops. Wow, kind of in this gravy sauce with some spring onion. A little bit of chili in there. This is the spicy squid. Looks amazing. Some onions and more garlic. And lots of chili in here. I'm gonna have to cut that with some rice because it is spicy. Okay, so here's the red snapper, which they cooked in banana leaf. Oh, it smells very sweet. The sauce on the top, it's like a curry sauce. Like you would find in an Indian restaurant. But the flavor's not of a curry. It's just the texture. Tastes more like it's made from a fruit. It's got that plummy sweetness to it. And just by squeezing that calamansi lime on top, this gives it that little zest. Okay, let's try the rock lobster, the final dish. Not quite sure where to start. I'm gonna have to put this one down. So the lobster tail just came out really easily with my fork. Just pulled it out of its shell. I've never seen lobster prepared like this in any restaurant that I've ever worked in or eaten in. It smells like condensed milk or something. Anyway, down the hatch. I'm gonna ask him again what sauce we went for. Can you ask him? I'm gonna ask him, what is it? It's almost like sweet milk, but it tastes a lot better than how it sounds. What sauce is this again, the lobster? Do you remember? Butter garlic. Butter garlic, okay, okay. I couldn't remember. It tastes great. It's a butter garlic. It's a lot of butter. I'm glad we chose this though because we've got a varied selection. This gravy sauce with just a little bit of chili. Then you've got the real spicy squid, which I absolutely love. And then you've got the fish covered in curry sauce. So we'll finish the lobster half and then we'll get onto the final dish, which is the raw seaweed. Right, we're only gonna try one piece of this. It does come with a spicy dip. But I've got a very strong feeling that I won't like this, but we'll give it a try. Raw seaweed. So I was enjoying that until the very end. So the initial texture and flavor is the stalk that holds these little bubbles. Tastes like morning glory. It's got a nice crunch to it. And it's delicious. And then when the bubbles pop in your mouth, it's quite pleasant. And the spicy dipping sauce sets your mouth on fire. And so on paper, everything was going fine until the last five seconds as I was chewing it and it was about to go down the hatchet. I just got this big hit of salt water, seawater, obviously seaweed. Obviously it's raw. But I thought I had escaped that salt water taste. And it just reminded me of when you go surfing and you get hit by a wave and you swallow loads of seawater and it makes you want to throw up. Which is a shame because apart from that, everything else was really nice. But we tried it. We tried it. And now I've got the pleasure to sit here and finish this absolutely delicious seafood banquet, sadly on my own. Everyone's just having dinner with their wife or their partner and their friends. And I just got here. I'm really looking forward to this trip. But it really properly begins tomorrow. Okie dokie. It's time to leave Kota Kinabalu. It's time to get this road trip started. And I'm excited. I'm a little bit nervous, but mainly excited. So let's go. Okay, Brittany. The Borneo motorcycle road trip begun. Beautiful little area here. Some activities. There's some cultural. Where's Dreamy? How's Dreamy? Dreamy's great. She's in Bangkok enjoying her early retirement. Out of retirement later. Maybe next year. I had breakfast this morning with a local, a subscriber who reached out to me on Instagram. And I do get questions quite often. Like, you know, why don't I show? It's just a bit awkward for me. I don't really like putting people on the spot, putting people on camera. Gave me lots of advice about the road trip and the destinations. Told me of some places that I didn't even know about, which was great. So hopefully that'll be on the list. This is to be on the road, guys. It's just nice to be setting sails for this direction. I know roughly I need to go. Which is where we have a rough plan. We have a motorcycle. Northern Borneo. Borneo, baby! And yeah, damn did this feel good. Wind in my face, the open road before me and the general direction of north. Being the only motivation for today. It's been a while on this channel since we've had a trip like this and to have two wheels once again. And damn, does it feel good. And yeah, we've got a lot of distance to cover. Will we make it to the tip of Borneo? And what will we find when we get there? Well, all of that will have to wait. Until next time.