Splendid Sabah

Friday, January 15, 2010

Mood : Roslyn - Bon Iver & St. Vince

Well, first of all, I am sorry for being late posting article about my last trip to Sabah recently.
Now, this is it :

1st Day

We checked in the flight Malaysia Airlines from KLIA Airport somewhere near 12. The aeroplane wasnt as big as what I expected but the journey was okay. The food served by MAS was heaven ( we managed to eat Baskin Robbins ice-cream and Ferraro Rochhe for free ! Thank God !) So, we arrived at Kota Kinabalu International Airport around 2 o'clock. The airport seems OKAY. So, we took cab from airport to Winner Hotel,in the heart of the city in K.Kinabalu. Kota Kinabalu is a big town and there are lots of cars at the road. Particularly, the road was a bit small compared to the road to Peninsular. The hotel was OK but a bit small and it was very near to the Philippine Market ( a tourist attraction in KK).Price range : Around RM 150 per night. So, after relaxing inside the hotel, we went out and browsing around the Philippine Market and the streets. Then, after getting tired rambling around, we went back to room and sleep.

Pak Mat's shop

Philippine Market

2nd Day

I woke up at 6 a.m. Here in Sabah, 6 a.m resembles 7 a.m in the Peninsular so we need to catch up things early. Annur and I had breakfast at the hotel while Abah and Mak went to the restaurants near to the hotel.


We checked out the hotel and waited for our rental car more than 1 hour. At last, the car arrived. Price : RM 170 per day and it was just a crock Proton Wira only ! We wasnt really happy looking at the condition of the car :/ So, from the city of KK, we went straight to Kundasang, a small town near Mount Kinabalu. The journey took about 3 hours up to the mountain and the road was winding adding up with fogs.Kundasang is a place which I imagine like Cameron Highland. The place was breezy and the town have many vegetables stalls and Wak Hassan's stall as well. So, we went straight to our chalet, Golden Kundasang Highlands and it took about 5 km from the town and the road wasnt in good condition. But, Thank God, the chalet is awesomely beautiful with a breathtaking scenery. The chalet also been surrounded by vegetable farm and it was AWESOME. It is one of the most beautiful places that I ever stay in my life ! The room was OK, fully occupied with kitchen and the toilet was MASHAALLAH ! I give it C+.
After putting our luggages, we went to the town, bought some veggies and things to cook. At night, we cook dinner by ourselves and it was really fun !

I thought that this "vehicle" was carrying PATI's but this is their local taxi to go to town

our chalet

beautiful !

Kundasang view

the car that we rented

this dog is adorable !

places where veggies are sold

Kundasang Mini Town

3rd Day

I woke up at 6 a.m. It was icy cold, and I didnt have my bath on that morning :P Mak and Abah were already went out of the room, capturing photos of Mount Kinabalu. And it happens that I just realised that our chalet was really really near to Mount Kinabalu. The scenery was breathtaking, Alhamdulillah. So after having breakfast inside the room, we went to Poring Hot Springs which is about 1 hour from Kundasang. Poring is a recreational place which offers hot water pools, jungle trekking, waterfalls etc. So, at Poring, all of us did canopy walk and it was tiring but FUN. Pity Abah, because he was such a freak when it comes to height ! But all of us managed the canopy walk, bravo ! Then, we went to put our feet inside the hot pool and there are many tourists there. After having fun at Poring, we decided to go to Sabah Tea Plantation.Sabah Tea Plantation is just like Cameron Highland Tea Plantation but Cameron is much nicer and well-developed compared to Sabah's Tea. We had some ice tea there and went straight to Luanti Village. Luanti Village is situated 10 minutes from Sabah Tea. This village offers a river which is full which fishes that people can swim with the fishes. Hmm, sounds cool huh? The fishes are big and very tame. We gave the fishes some fish foods and the fishes keep on "kissing" my leg. Aww, I am feeling ICK. About an hour later, we went back to Kundasang, passing Ranau Town. Then, in Kundasang, we went to the Strawberry Farm, eating some fresh home-made strawberry ice cream. Then, we went to a cow farm just near our chalet. The road to the farm was HELL. Badly damaged and undeveloped. We managed to saw many cows that are originated from New Zealand been feed and milked by the workers. It was FUN ! We also bought a box of fresh milk and took some photos near the farm. It was breezy and the farm resembles farms in New Zealand and Switzerland. Yay, it was FUN indeed. So, at night, we cook dinner and sleep early, preparing ourselves for tomorrow's long journey to Kudat.



beautiful Mount Kinabalu !

Welcome to Poring !

creepy canopy walk

Poring Hot Spring

Sabah Tea

fishes in Luanti

mooooo...

in front of the cow farm

cabbages

tip of Mount Kinabalu
our chalet

4th Day

We started the day early and went straight to Kundasang War Memorial, a place to pray tribute to Australian and British Armies which had been tortured by Japanese soldiers. The place was basically about garden and there was a long list on Australian's armies names who had fought till death. It was also called " Sandakan - Ranau Death March Track". We took some photos and finally say Goodbye to Kundasang, as we left the town and went ahead to the Kudat Town, which is near to the tip of Borneo. The journey from Kudat to Kundasang took about 3 hours and we passed the Kota Belud Town, Kinabatangan River, villages and a lot of Catholic churches. The journey was tiring and we arrived at Kudat around 3 o'clock. At Kudat town, we checked in at Ria Hotel. The hotel was OK and I'll give a rate of A. Kudat town is a small town but it is well-organized with few cars at the town. I think I like this town. It has a ferry port and many Mamak's restaurant. After chilling around this town, we went straight to Simpang Mengayau, a place which is one of the tourist spot or known as the tip of Borneo. The road was HELL again ! We passed through Christian villagers and it took merely about an hour from Kudat Town. The place was near a bay and on situated on the hill but it was breathtaking. We took photos at the globe statue and at the bay, it was amazing ! At night, we went for dinner at " Sidek Esplanade" ( sounds weird right?) served by a guy who seems to look like Malaysian version of Adam Lambert. HAHA. After browsing around the small and quiet town, we went back to the hotel and get some rest :)



Kundasang War Memorial

Kota Belud Town

Kudat :)

tip of borneo

mini-globe at the tip of Borneo

somewhere at Sidek Esplanade

Inside Ria Hotel

Kudat Town - peaceful

normal scenery along the road

5th Day

We started the day as early as we can because we had target to reach KK around 12 p.m. So, we had breakfast in a modern contemporary cafe at Ria Hotel and went straight to KK. We passed through another road to KK and the scenery was just the same, villages and churches. Abah was having a bad cough so he had to eat sweets for sore throats. The journey from KK to Kudat was OK, merely took us about 4 hours and finally, we reached KK around 1 p.m. Thank God ! After sending the car, we rest at the hotel and on the evening, we went to Philippine Market again and do some shopping ! We bought ourselves bangles, brooches, t-shirts etc. I bought Pinot ! Yipee :)  We also went to Jesselton Port and eat at Padang Restaurant there. The food was lavish and yummy. At night, we went to the night market and the night market sells really really cheap stuffs. Mak bought lots of stuffs to be given to relatives and friends. Abah bought a pair of fake sunglasses which claimed to be made from US but it only cost RM 15. How crap ! Annur and I bought nothing as we had nothing left to buy. We had dinner at KFC near our hotel and sleep after watching the movie Charlie and Chocolate Factory at midnight.

-Our hotel in KK, Winner Hotel-

-The main thing about Sabah people- they love to "meludah everywhere". Yuck :(

-Jesselton Port-

-Eating at Padang Restaurant, so Indonesia-nish-

-walking from Jesselton to Philippine Market, phew, it was tiring-

-Streets at KK-

-Choose whatever you want and its cheap!-

6th Day

We woke up early packing all our stuff and ready to leave KK. It was a bit sad for me though as I like Sabah! At 7 a.m , a taxi driver called Kim picked us from hotel and brought us to some famous tourist spots in Sabah. He is nice, informative but his religion seems - UNKNOWN. Well, we visited the Signal Hill, over-looking KK city, Double 6 Memorial ( a place where Donald Stephen's plane crashed somewhere in 70's), Sabah's National Mosque, Sabah's Museum and Petagas Memorial Garden. The trip was ok but I feel exhausted and almost vomited out. Ick :P So, around 12 p.m, we checked in at the airport and the trip to KLIA was okay minus the food wasnt as nice as we had on the previous flight. No more Baskin Robbins and Ferraro Rocche :( Alhamdulillah, around 3, we arrived at KLIA and safely arrived at home around 7 p.m.

-Signal Hill-

-At the Signal Hill, overlooking the city of KK-

-Double 6 Memorial-

-Sabah National Mosque-

-Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Sabah-

-Sabah Museum-

-At Petagas Memorial Park-

-our flight-

-scenery taken from the plane-


"Thank You Allah, Thank You Allah, Thank You Allah
and Thank You Abah, Mak and Annur
for allowing me to have this oppurtunity experiencing travelling in Sabah.
Thank You !"

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