Since I had taken my traveling desire a few notches higher over the past couple of years, I had learned to adjust myself when it came to choosing a place to stay. Gone were the days when I looked for comfort first; rather, I asked for the price first, and whatever convenience a place of accommodation presented was only considered a bonus. I had stayed in hostels where bed bugs and giant rats became your friends at the end of the night. Walls made of thin plywood meant you could hear headboards banging in the next room, caused by two lovers indulging in you-know-what. Mostly, those were the five-hundred-peso-and-below types of hostel rooms. Heading to Kota Kinabalu, a few friends who had been there had already told me that it was a different case there, because there were a lot of cheap hostels that were well taken care of and offered the kind of comfort a traveler needs when he or she is on the road.
Sensi Backpackers Hostel in Kota Kinabalu
An Easy Border Crossing
My Chinese travel blogger friend Josh and I arrived in Kota Kinabalu at around 6:00 PM and were met with ease at immigration, in total contrast to my Hong Kong immigration experience. The officer who examined my passport was a Malaysian who spoke Tagalog fluently. He asked me, "May kilala ka dito?" (Do you know somebody here?) and "May tutuluyan na kayo dito?" (Do you already have a place to stay here?)—standard questions immigration officers ask foreign visitors.
It was no wonder how he could speak Tagalog fluently, since there were many Filipinos by way of Jolo, Sulu living in Kota Kinabalu, and others were scattered across Borneo. Well, the eastern part of Sabah used to belong under the rule of the Sultanate of Sulu, and it remains a disputed territory between the Philippines and Malaysia.
We took a cab that cost thirty MYR from the airport into the city center since the bus stopped plying the airport-city route past 6:00 PM. It was a short cab ride into the town, where we walked toward Jalan Gaya. We originally looked for Lucy's Place—another decent, comfortable, and cheap backpacker hostel that our friend Gael had recommended to us. We were starving, so we decided to eat at a corner eatery manned by kind individuals of Indian descent. We asked one of the ladies there for directions to Lucy's place, and she answered us back in Tagalog: "Tagalog kayo? Marunong ako Tagalog konti lang." She then went on to point out the directions to us in both English and Tagalog. After ordering Nasi Goreng and Mee Goreng (fried rice and fried noodles), we proceeded on our search for a place to stay.
Navigating Jalan Gaya and Football Fever
Crossing the road in Malaysia was a bit confusing at first, as we had taken the habit of looking to our left first. There was an instance when I saw the road being clear, only to realize the incoming traffic was coming from the opposite side; good thing we weren't mowed down by a speeding Proton car. We passed by other food cafes filled with people huddled together around their tables with their attention centered on the television showing a football match between Malaysia and Chelsea. One could feel their passion for the sport of football, which was the same feeling we would want to experience someday with our own Philippine football team. With the Azkals fever sweeping the country back then, it would very well be only a few years away before we became as football-crazy as our neighboring countries in Asia.
The score was 1-0 in favor of Chelsea, but a few minutes later, we heard screams of "hurrah" from the people we passed by who were watching the TV in different cafes. I figured Malaysia was able to level the score. We saw Borneo Backpackers from afar and decided we should check that place until we came across this small spot on Gaya Street called Sensi Backpackers Hostel. That night, it was being manned by a small but friendly guy named Jazz; he checked us in after showing us the dorm room, which consisted of three double-deck beds, two tables, and a couch, plus free Wi-Fi. The dorm rooms were all air-conditioned, and the separate common shower rooms for males and females were clean and almost new.
The Sensi Backpacker Experience
Since my feet were already aching on their soles, we decided to choose that place. Sensi had its own kitchen where you could dine, and for thirty MYR a night for the dormitory-type room, you also got a free breakfast consisting of unlimited tasty bread, butter, fruits, plus all the coffee you wanted. On our first night, there was another Malaysian guy in the dorm room with us, but on our second night, a Chinese couple with two teenage boys joined us. The next dorm room was occupied by a bunch of female Caucasian backpackers, one of whom was named Nathalie. I could only muster a "hello" when I bumped into her in the kitchen.
The next morning, Tita Tupaz, a Filipina, took over from Jazz, and she was also very kind and hospitable, making our stay there feel like being at home. The rest of the staff was composed of an Indonesian who could also speak Tagalog and another Filipina, making communicating way better because you wouldn't need a Malay language or a German translation guidebook if ever the hostel staff spoke Malay and German, both of which were cool languages to learn. Anyway, our stay at Sensi Backpackers Hostel added to the stress-free and enjoyable brief trip to Kota Kinabalu. We took long walks around the city, got back in to take a quick shower, then went out again during the night for a marvelous food trip adventure.
Sensi Backpackers Hostel Directory
