Our Day 2 was packed. Come to think of it, I should have spent another morning at Kundasang and the mountain (I could go on and on with the mountain stories). Anyway.
We stayed at Likas Square Condotel in Kota Kinabalu - which look so-so from the outside;
terrible on the corridors but really great inside. It is a 3 bedroom unit; furnished beautifully and comes with a fully equipped kitchen. The children ooh-ed and aah-ed over the place (seriously I've never taken them to stay at a place as nice as this before; ha-ha..
kesian kat budak-budak tu)
Day 3We were supposed to start early to the islands at Taman Tunku Abdul Rahman; but diddle-dee and diddle-daa.. (getting seven people to be ready is not an easy task, mind you. They need coffee, breakfast, the toilet, the swimming gear, drinking water etc etc) By the time we got to the island the sun was hot; the sun rises an hour earlier here than in Semenanjung anyway. The hotel receptionist told us to get to the Jesselton Port as that is the closest.
Jesselton reminds me of the San Francisco quay in a way. With the wooden planks and tiny cafes and tables and chairs along the wharf. But the sun is definitely equator.
We decided to go to Manukan Island only; there are five islands you can visit although Manukan is the largest of them all. It is a lovely island. They have lodging there and you can have lunch on the beach under the cool trees (I didnt ask, but I read lunch could go as steep as RM99 per pax there - I think their customers are mostly foreigners..).
We brought bread and fed fish from the pier. There are tiny fish, small fish, big blue fish. There was also a long fish that attacked the smaller ones.
The children snorkeled till it was time to leave. I sort of regretted that we didnt visit Sapi Island. It is situated a bit further away from the mainland; maybe there'd be more fish there. We were told it was a good place to snorkel too.
(The green coconut is RM8 each - just so you know..)
The speed boat sped (I suppose that's exactly what speed boats are meant to do) back to the mainland (oh, our poor behinds..). On the way we stopped to drop off / pick up other passengers at Mamutik Island (which is small) and Sapi Island (which looked beautiful from the boat). We saw houses built on the water along the coves and wondered why there is no tour visits to these
kampungs. That should be interesting..
We stopped for lunch at the city then explored on foot to the
pasar, the Filipino Market (apparently the school girl we asked for directions do not know what is Filipino market - hmmm..) and the dried seafood
pasar. I brought back a boxful of dried seafood stuff here (easily that is like 10kg).
But surprise, surprise the Filipino market didnt do anything to me. The boys were bored while I took my time (a looong time) to look for something 'different' -
tak ade - although I bought some pearl pins to take home (as a token of the visit to the market).
We went back to the hotel to rest and THE plan said we have to catch sunset at Tanjung Aru. We didnt make it though -
letih.. (yeah, and I seem to have this thing with sunsets).
But we went out later that evening to have
ikan bakar at the
pasar malam (well, it looked like
pasar malam to me anyway). This is like behind the Filipino market; close to the Waterfront. The price was reasonable and the
sotong was really good and fresh. All I have to show for this is a photo that Iman took of the weird fish in the market.. We think this is
ikan buntal - what say you?
We walked along the Waterfront which has a row of cafes / restaurants for those city at heart. Nothing much at the Waterfront actually - or did I miss something here?
Day4We started the day early. And made the almost 3 hours drive to Simpang Mengayau. This is where the Tip of Borneo is. It is the point where the South China Seas and the Sulu Seas meet. The scenery is beautiful - miles of sea around you with rocks at the cliff edge. For the first time I think our pictures dont do justice to the actual panorama around us.
The area is rocky right into the sea and it was very windy. Few made it here that day; maybe because it is a week day and that long journey to get there. In fact, the road heading here is good at most places, under maintenance at some, deplorable at others. A stretch was not paved and was surfaced with gravel stones only. But overall the drive is quite tolerable.
Simpany Mengayau (seem like
merayau to me - like all the spirits roaming free; wild imagination, huh?) is about 20 minutes to Kudat. We got into Kudat for some gas. It is a small town. We went into Kota Belud too on the way back to KK (we sort of took the long way.. he-he). Kota Belud is like Tapah to me - small town, lots of traffic all concentrated on the main road. We saw little else anyway.
We later stopped at the bee farm in Kampung Gombizau. The best time to visit this place according to the park warden (?) - she is actually a Rungus woman manning the small hut at the farm entry - is in Mar / April. At this time the honey would be aplenty; you can taste honey on the farm and maybe eat the honey comb too (do we eat honey comb?) or something like that.
Since this is early stages of honey production, the honey is actually for the bee colony to feed on only (what a bad timing on our part..) Ilyas was disappointed - he was all excited about the bees and honey.
Fyi the smoke is used to mollify the bees.
That was our last stop. We drove into KK straight to the airport. Co-incidently our flight was delayed (this is Air Asia, right..?) But it worked our way since we were able to take the earlier flight to KLIA instead.
So best ke tak best pergi Sabah? Mesti la best, kan nak pergi conquer Kinabalu Peak pulak lepas ni..?
Tip #1 : Plan to visit Sapi Island; a few people told us it is nicer there. And start early too - by late morning the heat could be scorching. Dont forget sunblock and roti to feed the fish on the pier.
Tip #2 : Visit the honey farm in Mar / Apr when the honey is aplenty.
Tip #3 : Dont venture to Tip of Borneo if it rains - the roads could be hazardous.
ps - blogging this trip is meletihkan too..
*****
