A Drunken Night Out in Kota Kinabalu
There are no photos in this post. To be exact, I do have photos, but they're of people I barely know. I have no idea if they'd be happy or upset to find their faces on Google, so I'm just leaving a written record.
Just like the title says, after returning from Mantanani Island, I got completely wasted and passed out in bed. Here's what happened.
I got back to the guesthouse around 9 PM after dinner. Like a typical guy traveling alone in Kota Kinabalu, I was spending this time opening up some alcohol and dried fish snacks I bought at the airport, secretly hoping someone would talk to me. I'm naturally terrible at initiating conversations, and since I'd have to speak English with foreigners, I absolutely never strike up a conversation first. That's why I use alcohol as bait. If I sit there drinking, people catch the scent and naturally start gathering one by one. Honestly, maybe I was just unlucky before, but this didn't usually work. Today, for whatever reason, everyone came out and started sipping my booze and eating my dried fish. I didn't know any of their names they told me, but I can't even remember Korean names well, but I ended up drinking and chatting with a Dutch guy, a French girl, a 20-year-old girl from New Zealand, a Chinese-American guy, and a British guy.
We talked about work hours, vacations, racism, and all those boring questions Europeans always seem to ask when they see an Asian person. Eventually, someone said, "Should we go out for a drink?" and we all trooped out to a bar. The funny thing about this group was that everyone acted exactly 100% in line with the stereotypes or memories I had about their respective countries. The Dutch guy was just inexplicably excited, while the French girl immediately put up a defensive wall, saying "We aren't like that, we're fine" to whatever was said. The New Zealander seemed a bit tense, maybe because she was young. The Chinese-American guy was arrogant in a very American way, judging the taxi and restaurant service against US standards and complaining about whether it was good or bad. The British guy was completely quiet without a word.
Me? Like a true Korean, I rambled in broken English. I think this perfectly demonstrated our national characteristics and why Korea spends so much money on English education.
At first, we started with beers and cocktails at a pub. We played "Never have I ever" the dirty version, naturally, and the vibe really heated up. Then we suddenly moved to another bar, took straight shots of tequila and whiskey, walked right out, and went to yet another bar for another round. I don't understand why we had to keep moving around if we were just going to take shots of the same liquor anyway; we could have just ordered a bottle and chatted. At least in Korea, we move around for the different bar snacks. We kept bar-hopping like that before finally ending up at a club to party.
If I had a higher tolerance, I would have partied longer, but my stomach was already screaming, "I can't digest this, take it back!!" I went outside, threw up a bunch of water into a street drain seriously, these guys don't eat any bar snacks at all, hurriedly caught a taxi, and collapsed into bed. The next day, they asked where I went. When I said, "I don't know either, I opened my eyes and I was in bed," they all giggled and went off sightseeing. Whether they just have a huge tolerance for alcohol or incredible stamina, it's pretty amazing either way.
Expenses (Conservatively calculated, multiply by 300 to get the amount in KRW)
- Restroom RM 0.3
- Beverage RM 4
- Sprite and Snacks RM 8
- Alcohol RM 100
Daily Expenses: RM 112.3
Total Trip Expenses: 2,875,000 KRW + RM 2634.88