Kota Kinabalu

This might be my last time travelling with my family before I fly off to Glasgow next month. I don't know what to feel.. sad or happy.. which one suits me better?

This 4-pax family trip happened during Wesak Day holiday for 3 days and 2 nights. Flight used was AirAsia like usual, the cheaper the better. Can spend more on shopping.



Sunday

We departed from LCCT at 7.15 am and arrived at KKIA at about 10.30 am. The flight took about 2 hour and 15 min. We had our breakfast in the flight with our pre-booked meal so that we didn't feel hungry during our trip later. The pancakes were yummylicious and were served with butter and honey. I pau my brother's nasi lemak pak nasser which was delicious like usual. And the good thing was the food portion has increased. Barulah berbaloi2 makan dalam flight..

ronda-ronda bandar KK

We checked-in De Galleria Hotel at Kota Kinabalu and left our luggages in our room before we proceed with the city tour. Basically we just walked around the city, searching for a fine place to lunch. Since it's Sunday, there were a lot of markets in some places. We went to most of the market from wet market to dry market. My mom bought several fish crackers and I bought some fridge magnets as souvenirs. I want to buy Angry Birds t-shirts but the size is small, so not worth it to buy. I want to buy more souvenirs but my budget kept me away from overspend.

melompat dari pasar ke pasar

Then suddenly the rain poured down heavily during our lunch at a local restaurant. For lunch, we tried bakso, fried kuetiau and fried rice.. The portions were extremely huge! It's like eating for 2 person! So after finishing our meal, we headed back to the hotel to rest.

bakso

hujan

At night, once again we went to a market but this time, it's located at a different place. This one is located nearby the seaside when we could see ships and junks at the seashore. Many teenagers were loitering around this place, hanging out with friends.

pasar oh pasar~

Dinner at a seafood restaurant. The price is quite expensive although the taste is good. We had Szechuan chicken, butter prawn, fish and tofu dishes. Yummy~

sunset

We dropped by several shopping malls nearby to kill some time. We bought a local Sabah chocolate and again, they were quite expensive. We tried the caramel, tenom coffee and peppermint flavour.

chocolate heaven

Sabah specialities - tea, coffee and chocolate

So that's all for the first day, our activity mainly focussed in the Kota Kinabalu city area itself which consists of markets and shopping malls. My mom said that the malls are all new. When she was in KK 5 years ago, the city was quite empty. It's quite common if you find things at Sabah are more expensive than it's normal price (when compared it to Peninsular's price).



Monday

Today's activity was going to be further away. My dad had booked a car with a driver to bring us to Kinabalu Mountain area, Ranau, Kundasang and Poring Hot Spring. The driver actually is my mom's brother's friend. So it's kinda easy and convenient dealing with him.

We stopped for breakfast somewhere at the start of our journey. I want to try nasi lemak but because I want to preserve my stomach from aching from the sambal, I just ordered kuetiau goreng basah. In your mind, you must be thinking about fried kuetiau with damp gravy but not soupy. Teeetttt! Then you are totally wrong. I was surprised when the kuetiau goreng basah resembled more like kuetiau sup! Damnnn.... Nak kuetiau goreng! bukan kuetiau sup!

We reached Kinabalu Park about 2 hours later because the distance between KK and here is about 120 km. Quite far and therefore requires one day. The entrance fee is RM3. This park is actually the foot of Gunung Kinabalu. If you want to proceed climbing to the top of the montain, silakan.. We just rounded the place by car and took some photos. The condition at the park was cold, humid and soothing. The panorama was also nice with the wild flowers, ferns and chalets. FYI, there's a hostel here as well.

Kinabalu Park

At Kundasang, there's a row of market stalls at the roadside. We stopped by for a while to look around. We bought several more fish crackers and a bottle forest honey.

Kundasang market - sells fruits, salted fish, crackers, honey and kuih-muih.

Few minutes later, we arrived at Poring Hot Spring. The entrance fee is RM3 for adults, RM1 for children and RM1 for senior citizen. This area is divided into several section. There are outdoor bath tubs, indoor bath tubs, sulphur spring, butterfly park, canopy walk and botany garden. We didn't take a bath there, instead we just dipped our feet into the hot spring. Malas nak salin2 baju gitu. Padahal bawak baju 1 beg!

Poring Hot Spring - celup2 kaki

Lunch at Ranau. Sedap jugak lauk kat sini. We ate nasi campur. I enjoyed the fried chicken and eggplant sambal. Sedappppp.... Sometimes, simple dishes are more delicious than others.

We continued our activity to Green Connection Aquarium which is located at KK. We knew this aquarium from a flyer we took from the airport yesterday. It's located near Wisma Wanita at KK. At RM25 entrance fee, visitors can enjoying watching the fishes, snakes, and other small animals such as scorpions and lizards. The coral reef tank contains several types of fish, turtle, and sharks. There's also a freshwater pond. I bought a miniature set of sea animals as souvenir.

Green Connection Aquarium

Feeding time

some sort of shark

ikan main nyorok2..

At night, we had dinner at a local restaurant which serves goreng2 food. Since the portions are big, it took us some time to finished our meal. The nasi goreng paprik was so heaven with chicken, prawns, cuttlefish and veggies. After that, we did last minute shopping at a night bazaar in front of our hotel. I bought keychains and a t-shirt for myself. Hishhh, tak bestnya takde duit, tak boleh shopping sakan..


Tuesday

Breakfast at McD. Surprise tak? My parents are not fond of fast food but surprisingly my mom requested to have breakfast at McD to tried the hotcakes. I had Sausage McMuffin with egg. Nom.. nom... nom..


Our next destination was Philipine market which sells pearls, crystals and souvenirs. More markets along the way. I bought something and mom bought many things including rice, salted fish, dried shrimps other food ingredients. Banyaknya pasar dekat KK ni.. Murah2 jugak. Meriah2.. And then we also met my uncle, Cik Amin with family who were also jalan2 at KK.

Philipine market

Pearl bracelet - this one is cheap, RM5 only

dried seahorse.. anyone?

borong beras - macam2 jenis beras ada dijual; beras bario, beras merah, beras biasa, beras pulut, beras bukit dan lain2..

After lunch, we proceed to KKIA for our flight back to KL.

bye-bye KK

Eh, kejap je kan holiday kali ni.. Rasa macam banyak lagi tempat yang perlu diteroka. Takpe, next time nak pegi dgn kawan pulak. Baru boleh buat aktiviti mencabar. =)