I
don’t usually write about my trips as it would require a great effort
from my part (This, for example is a 2000++ -word entry). However,
Khalis and I really enjoyed our recent trip to Kota Kinabalu and I feel
that the trip deserves an entry in our blog. Khalis has been in KK a
few times before for work but I never had the chance to go with him.
It
was a budget vacation – we only paid RM24 for the flight and stayed in
cheap hotels. However I’m determined that it won’t be the next time.
(yes, we love KK so much and will definitely return!)
We didnt bring our good camera so the quality of the photos is only so so.
Day 1
We
arrived in KK at 330pm and had to wait for 30 minutes at the airport
for our rented Saga FL. Our rental guy apologized for being late and
gave us about half tank of fuel for free. Paid the full rental
rate+deposit and off we went to our hotel – Zara Boutique Hotel. The
hotel was alright I guess but a bit far from the attractions. We rested
for a while and went out for dinner at 6pm at Salut. It’s a bit far
from the city but the traffic was good so we got there in approx 30
mints. … This restaurant served fresh seafood. We picked our fish and
prawns right from the tanks. They had good variety of seafood, fish not
so much and but they had wide selection of clams and snails. Minimum
order was however 500gm (which is a LOT for 2) so we really had to
choose carefully. We had kerapu asam manis, butter prawn and softshell
crab goreng tepung. I’ve always wanted to try ‘big’ softshell crab
(instead of the small ones in sushi restaurants). We thought the food
was so-so, but expensive nonetheless! And it really broke my heart
seeing the leftover. There’s nothing we could do, we’re stuffed to the
max! The view from the restaurant was good and we got ourselves a good
table too.
On
our way back to the hotel, we made a quick stop for kelapa bakar and
kelapa pudding. Kelapa bakar’s basically grilled old coconut and kelapa
pudding’s very similar to kelapa jelly in the east coast except that
the flesh is blended together with the juice so theres a hint of
santan. We couldn’t appreciate the kelapa bakar, we gave up after like 2
sips but we loved, loved loved kelapa pudding.
Day 2
We
had sub-standard breakfast at the hotel before we started our journey
to Kundasang. Weather was great – it wasn’t really hot as the entire KK
was covered by clouds - thick clouds that blocked satellite signal
from reaching my GPS. We’ve heard people talking about bringing 3-4 GPS
to KK, now we knew why.
We
stopped at Pekan Nabalu enroute for its famous pineapple. It was the
best pineapple I’ve had - super sweet and there was no stinging
aftertaste.
We
arrived at Kundasang around 1130 and it was too early to check in so
we continued driving to Poring Hot Springs which was located 400m above
sea level. We opted for enclosed bath which cost only RM15/ Hour.
There were limited no of enclosed baths around the area, maybe about
20? The bath was better than we expected, it was clean and could fit a
small family comfortably. Plus there’s a toilet with shower inside too.
There’re
lotsa other things to do in Poring Hot springs. They have butterfly
farm, Orchid Conservation Centre, the tropical garden, the canopy
walkway, the Rafflesia flower site and a few waterfalls but we didn’t go
to any.
We
had lunch after the bath (not worth mentioning) at a restaurant
outside the Hot Springs. We went back to Kundasang afterwards and
checked in at our Hotel – Kinabalu Pines Resort. It was a really
gorgeous hotel and had probably the best landscape in Kundasang.
In
the evening, we went to Ranau again, just driving around aimlessly. It
was only when we’re back from Ranau that we saw Mount Kinabalu. You
see, when we arrived in Kundasang we kept asking each other – where is
this Mount Kinabalu??. We’re surrounded by the Crocker Range but the
Mount Kinabalu itself was nowhere to be seen. But at around 5pm, the
clouds were all blown away and suddenly Mount Kinabalu was right in
front of us. I thank God for this wonderful opportunity. It lasted only
2 hours, but it was my best 2 hours in KK. Mount Kinabalu from where
we’re standing looked like Mordor. I don’t think I could ever describe
the feeling. We also found out later that, weather permitting, we could
actually see Mount Kinabalu from our balcony.
When
we’re back in Kundasang, we stopped at the vegetable/fruit market (by
the roadside) and bought some fruits. Turned out none was good.
We
went out again at night for dinner. There were not many choices
available so we went to like one of 3 restaurants there and we ordered
bihun sup. We drove around a bit after lunch and stopped for grilled
chicken wing.
Its soo cold at night and I didn’t sleep well.
Day 3
We
checked out from the hotel and our first destination for the day was
Kinabalu National Park (the HQ). From the entrance the park looked
really nice and it was a lot nicer inside. We couldnt find an empty
parking lot so we drove up up up and up not knowing what to expect. The
furthest a car could climb was up to Timpohon Gate, 1866m above sea
level. The summit trail begins here. There are two summit trail options,
Timpohon is the easier one, so its the most popular too. Adventurous
climbers might prefer Mesilau trail which starts at Mesilau Nature
Resort. Besides Timpohon summit trail, there are walking trails too at
HQ. It was drizzling lightly so we didnt get out of our car. We didnt
spend a lot of time here but its a really beautiful place and I really
wish we could explore one of the not so challenging walking trails.
We
bid farewell to Kundasang but promised to return. The fog’s too thick
up there so we didn’t get to see Mount Kinabalu for one last time
before we left.
On
our way to KK, we stopped in Tuaran solely for Mee Tuaran. Mee Tuaran
is actually egg noodles but without the alkaline water, made only in
Tuaran. Theres Mee Tuaran in KK too but it’s extremely difficult to find
an outlet serving Halal one. So we thought we tried our luck in
Tuaran, the birthplace of the dish itself. In Tuaran we actually went
on foot from one restaurant to another checking out the menu and looked
for halal sign. We had actually given up (tired!!) when we reached
Nasi Ayam Juara and Khalis decided it’s the place we’re gonna have our
lunch at coz it looked decent and had quite a number of patrons. And
guess what, it was a nice surprise seeing Mee Tuaran in the menu! And
that’s exactly what I ordered. Khalis ordered nasi ayam as the Mee
didn’t look very appetizing. He was right. However, I must say that the
mee itself was good and its something I can eat raw. Had it been fried
like mee goreng mamak, it would be a hit in the Peninsular and mee
kuning producers would all close shop. In other non-halal restaurants
however, Mee Tuaran is actually fried and prepared with roasted pork
and egg rolls.
Another
dish that I really wanted to try was Roti kahwin. Fook Yuen’s roti
kahwin’s the most famous in the KK so that’s our next target. We were
told that there’re 4 branches in KK and we decided to go to the one in
Luyang. It was a total waste of time as the shop was closed.
Disappointed, we headed to straight to our hotel and checked in at
around 130pm. This time we stayed at Promenade Hotel. We chose Promenade
because its really near to the Filipino Market and that’s where we’re
gonna have our dinner tonight.
The
weather was nice in the afternoon, so we decided to take a walk around
the area. We went to Filipino Market, checking out the local products
and pearls. But those were the last thing on my mind. I only had Fook
Yuen’s roti kahwin in my head. I somehow managed to convince Khalis to
walk to Gaya Street - where another Fook Yuen's located. It was quite
far, and I wouldn’t walk the distance in KL weather. Finding Fook Yuen
was a challenge. We went up and down Gaya street and we didnt see it
anywhere! I asked for directions from a few people, including a group of
policemen and nobody knew where it was. We googled for the location
and other bloggers said that its near the Sabah Tourism building, which
we had passed by a number of times. The whole time we were actually
walking on the other side of the street (Gaya street is a narrow
street) and for the last time, we decided to walk on Sabah Tourism's side and
thats when we saw it. It was right there all along. But it was easy to
miss. Next to Fook Yuen was Oldtown so we actually thought Fook Yuen
was Oldtown - they had the same concept and ambiance. There was a sign,
but it was covered by the awning.
The
kopitiam was huge and they had an OK selection of food too. Dim sum
was cheap and in good size too. We ordered our food - 2 sets of roti
kahwin, madras tea and sugarcane juice. The bread was good - it was
super soft and tasted great.
We
only spent like 15 minutes in the shop. When we got to our hotel, it
was already 4pm! I couldnt quite believe that we had spent 2 hours
walking to and from Fook Yuen. I dont remember walking this far under
the sun. Oh wait, we walked A LOT in Hanoi and it in late 2011 - so
that wasnt too long ago. But lets not talk about Hanoi. Its not a trip
I'd like to remember.
We
went out again at 630pm for cheap seafood dinner at Filipino Market.
Khalis and I didnt waste our time at other sections of the market, we
went straight to the ikan bakar section. There really was no point
trying to figure out which was the best stall, the food all looked the
same. I was still feeling full from breakfast, mee tuaran and roti
kahwin so I only ordered a medium sized plaice (ikan sebelah) and a set
of squid for the two of us despite Khalis trying to make me add a super
huge prawn/lobster (Khalis doesnt really like prawn, so it was only
for me. I really appreciated the thought). The fish and squid only cost
us RM20. Cheap! I thought the fish and squid tasted ok although they
were overcooked. The fish particularly was a bit hard and dry. I think
it’s a good place for not so fussy eaters wanting affordable seafood.
Day 4
Our
final day in KK. We started the day with sumptuous buffet breakfast at
the hotel. The nasi lemak was good which was a nice surprise as good
nasi lemak is hard to find - even in KL. We checked out after breakfast
and the first place we went to was 1Borneo Mall. It was still early and
shops were not open yet. There was nothing to do there.
Our next destination was the Viewpoint. The view was quite nice from here.
The
viewpoint’s very near to Fook Yuen so we went there again just to kill time.
This time around we had roti kahwin (again) and dim sum and took more
photos. We walked to Fook Yuen yesterday because we
thought parking was impossible but we discovered that we could park our
car inside the building Fook Yuen’s located.
We went to the airport after Fook Yuen and that’s the end of our vacation in KK.
Khalis
and I are still talking, reminiscing about time in KK until today. He
even suggested that we make KK our annual destination.
