My last few Throwback Thursday posts have been from the island of Bali. But now, we move on to Malaysian Borneo. I know some of my readers like to know the names of cities we were in as they like to see exactly where we were but others would prefer to skim over the [boring] details. For this reason, I will mention them but not provide maps.
We flew into Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia spent one night and then flew the next day on to Sandakan. In Sandakan, we explored the city, got our bearings and went in search of the birthday trifecta since the day we arrived was Thys' 4th birthday!
1. Gift
You would think that purchasing sand toys in Malaysia would be an easy acquisition, However, it proved to be much more difficult than we were anticipating. We simply couldn't find any stores that carried them and referrals to other stores sent us in a circle. Finally, we found a few that would cover what was requested by the birthday boy--along with a few extra things he found along the way. More on that in a bit.
Taking a birthday-present-shopping break. Enjoying Te´ Tarik --a Malaysian version of our beloved Nm-cha ("milk tea" in Thai)
2.Cake
Later in the afternoon we went looking for a bakery and found a cake shop! Thys picked out the cake he wanted --green, of course! They added writing in his choice of red icing.
He was SOOOO excited about his cake! They even gave us candles to go with it!
3.Ice Cream
After we rushed the cake back to our air-conditioned hostel room, we went in search of ice cream. I use the word 'search' very loosely as this is about the easiest task you can ask for in SE Asia! Yum! A completion of the trifecta= a happy little birthday boy. Notice the intense concentration on the job at hand!
Super happy to be able to FINALLY (after waiting for something like 2 hours) eat his cake!
A close up of the chose confection. He put the candles in all by himself!
Happy 4th Birthday, Thys!!! And, yes, we ate cake on the floor of our room in the hostel. Two reasons: it was the safest [read: no icing on the bed covering] and even the floor in our air-con room was preferable to the 92 degree dining room at the hostel. Trust me, you would have done it too! :)
Birthday gifts opened! Sand toys, rubber snakes and swimming goggles (with ear and nose plugs). Si didn't quite understand which pieces of plastic were for his nose and which for his ears!
Thys was super happy with his new snake family. He still has them all and alows all but the green ones to be packed in our luggage when we travel. The green ones have to ride in his backpack!
We celebrated Thys' birthday in a hostel in Sandakan, Malaysia. Where is the most unusual or coolest place you have celebrated your birthday?
Becky Kortman
I'm a homeschooling, world traveling, Jesus follower who is a wife and mom of 4 kids, In all my travels, I am looking for places that fit with my soul and feel as much like 'home' as they can this side of heaven.
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