Yes… This post has been long overdue. But today, I am in a ‘posting’ mood! I just published my ‘Books for Thoughts’ post which I drafted 4 days before my Sabah trip. And now that I’m on a roll, I might as well finish up my post on Sabah. If I remember clearly…. KK is where we got all our aches – butt and all =).

July 10, 2009
This time, there were no more first-class service from friendly air steward and we were no longer Stamford College’s models =P. We took MASWings whereby there was only 2 air stewardess. On the plus side, the packet of Milo Kurang Manis was really good (the air stewardess gave us 2 each…. yay!)

That is the pilot and the co-pilot. Haha. What ran through our head, I don’t know.

July 11, 2009
Got up, dressed and packed for…… ISLAND HOPPING!! Before that, we had breakfast in the common area – toast, swiss-roll and tea made by Susan (first-time effort).

We chatted with the lady boss of Lavender Lodge and she was really helpful. She told us the places where we get good food and how to get around AND she ‘planned’ out our 2nd day activities(sort of).

We walked to Jesselton Point (I have a picture for this but I decided against putting it up… this post will be freakishly long then). Once we got there, we found out that we were only in time to go to one island. We chose Manukan Island, the largest of the five islands. Sitting on the jetty was a blast! It was the main contributor to our butt ache BUT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Woohoo! I don’t mind going on that all day!

We were greeted by a guide, Amir once we reached Manukan who was really friendly…. in fact, TOO friendly and hence, the stalker as was mentioned by Li Qing in the chatbox. Anyway, it rained 5 minutes once we reached the island. 15 minutes afterwards, we decided to play in the water despite the drizzle. Managed to snorkel a little. Half an hour after that… boom… heavy heavy heavy heavy heavy rain and strong strong strong strong strong strong winds *ULTIMATE EXASPERATION*. We had to get out of the waters and head for shelter whereby we were joined by Amir. That’s our lunch – BIKA and Milo from the plane. The wind got a bit unbearable but Li Qing insisted on walking along the beach which Su and I sat out on. IT WAS JUST TOO COLD!! Then, Li Qing being the Sociable Queen made friends with a lifeguard and another worker on the island (To Su – I’ve included two ‘scandals’ on Manukan Island. Did I miss out any?). After she returned from her walk, we managed to persuade her to return to the city as it will not be possible for us to snorkel anytime soon (Thank Goodness!! No offense Qing… but I was really really freezing!!)

That’s me… wrapped with life jackets and two towels … shaking.

The tide rose to that level

The guy in the picture with Li Qing is Amir who walked us to Gaya Street where we managed to lose him but not for long. He was not there physically but he made sure that he was there thanks to the invention of cellular phones =). He took down Qing’s number as Su and I left ours in the lodge, sms-ed every two seconds and tried to call us in between. If only he just left it at being friendly in Manukan, the trip would be near perfect. Unfortunately, it was not so. Li Qing finally got rid of him on our last day by telling him off (U GO GIRL!).

Our original plan was to go to Tanjung Aru but because of our tiredness and our stalker who lived there, we changed course and went to the Waterfront Esplanade (literally water front – in front of the water) and the Night market which was within walking distance.

In Front of the Water

Hmm… what shall I say about it… there’s just a lot of shops selling very similar stuff at the same price. So… hmm… well… it was ok. I was just expecting more variety. Then we went to Sabah’s version of Petaling Street. Now that was pretty interesting.

July 12, 2009
We went to the Gaya Street Market on Sunday which is a must to all Kota Kinabalu Travellers whose stay covers a Sunday, there are loads of interesting stuff there. However, we couldn’t cover half of the street as we are dued back at the lodge to begin our day trip to Kinabalu Park and all those on the way (Nabalu Market, Poring Hot Spring, Canopy Walkway and Kundasang Market). Our chartered taxi man – Jeffin was nice. Like I said, we met a lot of nice people.

First Stop: Nabalu Market

Compared to Gaya Market, they have a more limited variety but the people there are nicer. We got some really good bargains there. I got most of my souvenirs there and anyone who knows me knows that I am very thrifty (I’m getting better nowadays, mind you). 2nd Stop: Timpohan Check Point

The place where people start their quest on climbing Mount Kinabalu. Really cold!

3rd Stop: Exhibition Hall

4th Stop: Botanical Garden

Not much to report here. There’s not enough variety and flowers to interest a non-botanical person. The walkway within the botanical garden, though not steep, made me feel my back pain. 5th Stop: Poring Hot Spring

Me and Li Qing totally bypassed the hot spring and head to the Canopy Walkway. Su said on a bench near the hot spring due to her oh-so-poor back =).

This is less than 100m. Imagine climbing this stairs when you have sore muscles. Whoosh…

I think it’s worth mentioning here that my superwoman wanted to go to the waterfall which is 430 m from the start of the canopy walkway which means we would be walking about 1800m to and fro from the hot spring! However, proving that she is smart, she scraped that idea off once we were halfway up the stairs =).

6th Stop: Kundasang Market

7th Stop: Jambatan Tamparuli

We reached the lodge at 7pm. It wouldn’t be fair for us to go all the way there and not show you a picture of the magnificent Mount Kinabalu right?

July 13, 2009
Last day! First stop – Monsopiad Cultural Village. We got there by bus to Penampang and a van to the village. We were just in time for the cultural show which showed 4 traditional dances, my favourite being the last one with the bamboo sticks (Don’t remember the name).

After that, we had our guided tour around the village. It would have been sweeter if our guide, Ros, did not ignore us local, teenagers. We were the only locals in our group. The others were foreigners. We went to the hanging bridge which was no different from the canopy walkway, the rice making section, the skull house, traditional games section and the traditional house.

As a token of remembrance, we were each given beaded necklaces. We went back to the city, walked around Centre Point and headed back to Lavender Lodge to collect our bags and check in.

Alright… before my post head to the airport. This hotel looks extremely impressive

and in comparison… ours look like this =)

At the airport: We were at the airport 2 hours before we are supposed to be there. Apparently… we were not the only ones. Shorty hottie, tall-ie brother and shorty mummy and their dad were there. Ehem… Li Qing and Susan had a fit! We know that the tall bro is going to London (info gathered thx to the mother). Their bags took really long to clear and my two wonderful friends took advantage of that time.

There they are!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, to the joy of Su and Qing, there were in the same flight as us. A few rows to the front. Still within Su’s spying and sharp eyes=). Well, one can only guess what those adjectives mean.

Ah… We had a REALLY really good time. Now, if only the original owners of the photos could upload their photos… Ehem… Ehem… =)

Labels: events, fun, happenings