McFlurries and More

We reached Kota Kinabalu located in Sabah, Borneo after midnight their time. Most of our eighty-person team left to spend part of the twelve hour layover in hotels, but about a dozen of us (I was one of the lucky few) stayed at the airport to keep an eye on our mountain of luggage.

The golden arches of the airport’s McDonald’s lured us and thoughts of ice cream filled our minds. But before we could buy anything, we had to exchange our U.S. Dollars for Ringgit, which is the currency used in Borneo. None of the exchange stations were open, and we wandered for almost an hour before Pastor Fred figured out a way to exchange some many at an ATM.

We hurried back to McDonald’s, but just as we arrived they finished closing for the night. We stood in a pathetic huddle, our hopes dashed. The manager was still standing nearby, and Pastor Fred approached him and asked, “Can we please buy some ice cream?” They must have felt sorry for us because they opened back up just for us and Pastor Fred treated us all to Oreo McFlurries.

Dominic, Marlayna, Allison and I opted to enjoy our frozen treats outside where there was a spectacular view of the city. This was my second trip to Borneo, and I had waited eagerly to come back. It was so good to see the jungle mountains rising in the distance, the moonlight mingling with the orangey glow of the city, the palm trees stirring in the breeze, and to breathe in that damp, earthy Borneo air.

Borneo is an island in the country of Malaysia. It’s vastly different from America, literally halfway around the world. During that twelve hours in the KK airport we absorbed the fact that we had left the world of snow, toilet paper and burritos far behind. The airport police took a little getting used to. Dressed sharply in dark uniforms they carried lethal rifles slung casually over their shoulders. But despite their forbidding appearance they were actually quite cheerful and friendly. When I greeted them with the Malay words for good morning, “selamat pagi,” their stern faces lit up in smiles.

After sleeping for a couple of hours, several of us girls washed our hair and faces in the bathroom sinks and brushed our teeth. There were a couple of Malaysian women cleaning the bathroom, they probably thought we were crazy but it felt so good to be clean.

As the sun rose over the distant hazy jungle mountains we enjoyed breakfast at McDonald’s. Several hours later we boarded a plane bound for Bintulu in Sarawak, Borneo.

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