Reflections at the Mosque
The City Mosque in Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
Having waited for sunset the previous night and suffered at the hands of a potent combination of midges and sand flies. After a miserable hour, we gave up as the heavens opened. We packed up our kit and headed back to the highway for a long walk back to our lodgings. It's amazing how the rain and cold appears to add distance to a journey.
Two lads pulled over and beckoned for us to get in their ropey truck. Against our better judgement we clambered in, grinning hugely and making appreciative noises. It was only then that we thought that we may have made a foolhardy decision, but we smiled anyway.
Eventually, through mime and exaggerated, broken English, we negotiated a drop off point and offered to pay them. Both shook their heads but pointed at the fridge in the local beer shop. A fair exchange we thought as we heartily shook hands. They drove off into the Kota Kinabalu traffic while cracking open their cans and raising them to us.
The next night, we returned to the Mosque. All was calm and the shot was taken. The common theme: those determined midges and sandflies feasting on us.
