The 'Awas Highway', that's what we nicknamed the road from Sandakan to Kundasang. Awas is the Malaysian word for keen-sighted or careful, and is used as a road advisory sign so we took it to mean 'Watch out!' and judging by some of the buffalo-sized potholes and places where the side of the road had dislodged into the jungle many metres below, we felt that was a better translation.

We were driving Malaysia's own car, a Proton Saga which seemed, from much of the other traffic on the road, was their car of choice as well - that, and timber trucks, decrepit buses and panel vans stuffed with all manner of produce and people. This road was just one leg of a loop we were doing around Sabah, part of what is called Eastern Malaysia and the northernmost part of Borneo, third largest island in the world.

Until then my knowledge of Borneo was limited only to evocative phrases about 'the wilds' and the 'wild men' supposed to inhabit them. I probably had never realised that Sabah was between 4 and 8 degrees north of the equator, nor that Kota Kinabalu (formerly Jesselton) the capital, was pretty well in line with the Thai-Malaysian border. In short I had no points of reference with which to begin.

We began at Tawau on the eastern side, a thriving town sited on the Celebes Sea facing Indonesia. We knew we were not on a regular tourist route here: there was such candid curiosity about us we almost expected to be the ones being photographed.

Our route to Sandakan in the north took us through oil palm plantations and stands of cocoa. Both crops are vital to the economy and palms now cover many hillsides which once would have been thick with vines and huge ironwood trees. Nothing is wasted in Sabah. The glossy palm fronds are dried for atap which is used as a roofing material, bamboo becomes everything from scaffolding to huge backpacks for vegetables, and rattan, a type of reed, turns into baskets of all descriptions.

The coconut palm has a hundred purposes too with every part put to some use. One 99% humidity day we were particularly glad of a fresh green coconut, expertly slashed open with a brutal knife so we could drink the cool water inside it. This simple drink restored us enough to keep going and we understood why often in roadside markets there is a bright umbrella covering the coconut stand. Sometimes there is a heap of older brown ones, and their dry husks are hacked off, and the nut split, so that a householder can grind out the white meat and produce the coconut milk used in almost every local dish.

In my school atlas, Sabah was still a Crown Colony and coloured pink. It stayed that way until 1963 when it joined the Federation of Malaysia, but if I were to paint it today, it would have to be deep green - jungle green - with a rainbow on top.

Much of Sabah is still heavy jungle, disappearing at the hand of developers - too fast for some, not quickly enough for others - the ones who want to replant it all with cash-crops. Yet splashed across this backdrop is colour that grabs and beckons.

Malaysia is officially a Muslim country and everywhere you see the women dressed immaculately in multicoloured sarongs and kebayas, faces perfect ovals inside their smooth veils. At one airport we happened on several groups making a pilgrimage to Mecca and were dazzled by their finery as they proudly posed in their best clothes, flushed with anticipation of the holy trip.

Yet you can stumble across gaudy butterflies, brilliant tropical flowers and gilded mosques just as easily. At Sandakan, high up a narrow switchback road we gasped as suddenly the entire hilltop became an ornate Buddhist temple, dazzling in the noon sun. Even in the cool shadowy interior thousands of golden disks and miniature Buddhas flashed their presence, while outside the entire city and bay simmered hundreds of metres below.

To visit Sabah is to experience Malaysia on several different levels. There is the steamy coastal fringe of coconut palms and postcard-perfect beaches, five-star resorts, playground islands offering superb diving and snorkelling, and wandering rivers with fishing villages propped insecurely over the brown water. There are the cities, some older like Tawau and Sandakan, others such as Kota Kinabalu which was destroyed in the Second World War and finally rebuilt, where you can shop for everything from Chinese herbal remedies to the latest duty-free perfumes. There are still huge areas of jungle, some acting as refuges for native animals such as the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre that restores abandoned and estranged apes to their native environment.

And then there is Mount Kinabalu, saw-toothed guardian of the skyline, south-east Asia's highest mountain at 4101 metres, and climbed by hundreds each year. We saw it only from the base, which itself is a reviving 1500 metres. After steaming though much of our trip, it was relief to perch here and feel cool again. The mountain backdrops Kundasang, a thriving market township, where dozens of types of fruit and vegetables change hands. Because of the altitude, here you can find asparagus, strawberries, mushrooms, melons and cucumber - and cabbages (Kundasang would have to be cabbage capital of the world!) all grown in terraces on the surrounding hillsides.

Sabah has been called 'the land below the wind' because it misses the typhoons that seasonally tear at most other parts of Asia. There is a gentleness in Sabah too that is not just climatic. Her diverse patchwork of over thirty native tribes, with between them dozens of languages, has yielded a peaceful people, eager to please, patient with visitors.

As we steered our Proton Saga through yet another AWAS sidetrack, we made a wish that future visitors will take the more accurate meaning of the word and remain keen-sighted yet careful of this fragile, splendid paradise.

FACTFILE

GENERAL FACTS

Population 1.7 million.

Time difference - 2 hours behind EST

CLIMATE - Equatorial/tropical (23C-31C all year, humidity 85-95% - cooler in the mountains)

HOW TO GET THERE

Malaysia Airlines flies daily to Kuala Lumpur with connecting flights to Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan.

WHERE TO STAY

Kota Kinabalu: Shangrila Tanjung Aru Resort, offers 5-star comfort;

Tawau: Belmont Marco Polo;

Sandakan: Renaissance Hotel;

Kundasang: Perkasar Hotel;

Tuaran: Sabandar Bay Resort.            

GETTING AROUND

Hire Cars are a fairly inexpensive way to see the country. Petrol is around RM1.06 a litre. There are also local coaches and air connections between major towns.

HEALTH

Take advice from your doctor or Public Health unit regarding the need for malaria tablets. Bottled water is safest.

OTHER

Currency used - Malaysian Ringgit, approx. 1.74 to AUD.

No Visa needed for Australian passport holders.

Bahasa Malay is the official language although English is widely spoken in larger centres.

Electricity 240 volt AC/50 cycle system

OTHER DETAILS

For more information contact your travel agent or Malaysian Tourist Corporation.