Welcome to Kota Kinabalu – commonly called KK!
We meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel, where you can rest before starting to explore the interesting streets around your hotel and the coffee shops, food stalls, restaurants and cafes on the waterfront.

You are introduced to Sabah’s wonderful variety of arts and crafts, including their architecture, in a visit to the Sabah State Museum and Art Gallery.
In the afternoon, you have your first hands-on session, making a small item using rattan, grass and ceramic in the Rinago style of weaving particular to the Rungus people.  Your teacher is Rungus herself and a well-known artisan.
You also see the variety and quality of contemporary local handicrafts.

This morning, you set out for Kota Belud, north of KK.  This is a Bajau town, the Bajau being one of the larger ethnic groups in Sabah.
You visit the Handicraft Centre and see local craftmakers at work, using rattan and pandanus leaves, weaving cloth and designing batik.  You have the opportunity to learn alongside them.
In the afternoon, you visit pottery factories, operated by local Chinese and Kadazandusun (Sabah’s largest indigenous group).

You start the day by going to KK’s Laman Seni (Arts and Crafts Corner) where you can paint your own batik under the watchful eye of a local batik artist and then look at the work of other artists.
You then meet women creating contemporary beadwork designs using traditional techniques and learn about the project they are involved in.
The day ends at the gallery of a well-known artist who displays the work of many Sabahan artists and has a personal interest in all of them.

You travel north of KK today, through the rice fields of Tempasuk Plain to Rungus villages (‘kampungs’).  The Rungus people have started a variety of projects under the pilot programme ‘One Village One Industry’. 
You see a honey bee farm, gong-making (traditional musical instruments in Borneo), beadwork and cloth weaving.
Lunch is at a Rungus longhouse.

There are many unique and interesting animals and birds in Sabah, including the orangutan and the proboscis monkey – as well as the hornbills.  You see these this morning (and many more Borneo animals) at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.
To end the day – and your tour – you visit a spa in which you will be introduced to traditional forms of massage practised in Sabah and the plants used in the oils and powders.  You then have the opportunity of experiencing one of the treatments yourself.

This is the day on which you leave KK – or you may decide to stay longer!
We take you to the airport for your flight.
Safe journey!