Good ‘early’ morning to all the readers. Today, dengan berbesar hatinya I would like to share my experience of our family trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah which was held for 4 days and 3 night not a very long time ago. To be accurate, I just came back 2 days ago. Haha
How we decided to come to Sabah out of any other places? Actually, this is my elder sister’s idea. I don’t really know what she was thinking about when she said this. After I passed my final year exam, in order to make this trip a success, I was officially appointed as her PA. To my dearly sister, after all those endless fights and emotional events, still NO PAYMENT AR? 😛
Actually, we planned for backpackers travelling initially but unfortunately we have 4 out of 9 family members who are actually a bit too young to be called elderly but we always, always and always call them ‘warga emas’.. Haha “Bagi laluan, bagi laluan, warga emas nak lalu”. Yup, we have a different family culture and tradition where HONESTY is a must….XD
So, to make it short, we decided to go and search for any affordable family package for the trip. Coincidentally, there was a MATTA Fair which was held in PWTC, KL. So, my cousin Kak Nor, my sister and I went there and had a nice window shopping in that crowded halls!! Actually, it was not really a good experience. Surrounded by those crowd and expensive food, sitting at the corner like a homeless people digesting all those crazy price brochures, coming with an empty paper bag at the front door and going back with a bunch of paper that weighed like tons doesn’t sounds great, right? However, I’m the one to be blame for loving these kinds of crazy stuffs. Yeah, I do love to go to any exhibition especially furniture, gadgets, food (I love MIHAS cause I can go there with an empty stomach and go back feeling full with just food testing.. XD) and now another crazy MATTA Fair.. haha.
We went to the exhibition for 2 consecutive days and decided to go with Borneo Excursions and fly with the AirAsia. The total per person for both return flight and package is around RM900… RM650 for trip package + RM250 for return flight. We planned to stay one whole day in Kundasang where about 2 hours from KK and another 2 nights in KK. I don’t think it is really expensive cause accommodation, driver and a tour guide were provided. All you have to do is just enjoying the trip. No need to worry being overly exhausted for a long distance driving.. But, I love to try backpackers travelling too. Maybe next time 🙂
A week before we have been talking on and off about the trip. What to wear, what to bring, what the schedule and all about that kind of stuffs. Yeah, it is exciting when you are going to a family trip with your close family members who are as crazy as you!!
We went to my cousin’s house a day before and had a ‘not so’ deep sleep that night. We were quite nervous as we’ve heard a numbers of bad reviews on AirAsia service. Luckily, we had not encountered any bad experience during our flights.
We arrived at KK Airport at almost 10am. As soon as we walked out of the airport, we were greeted by Mr Junaidi, our tourist guide and Mr Helmi, our driver for the trip. We were briefed on the trip before we started our journey. First we were brought to Rumah Terbalik or Upside Down House which situated at Tamparuli, KK. It’s not just an Upside Down House. But, it is a house with lots of traditional stuffs such as musical instruments, drawing, utensils and so on. It showed the culture of Sabahan. It is a thing to be proud of! We should be proud of our root, right? Malaysian root..
Next trip is Nabalu Town which is situated along the way to Kundasang. It is a small town with numbers of souvenirs and food shops. If you wish to buy some souvenirs, better buy them here rather than Pasar Filipina at Kota Kinabalu cause they are cheaper and hmmmm… yeah, CHEAPER! Haha. Just bare in your mind if you are heading to Kundasang, please bring along your sweater. Don’t bring it if you can stand the cold. But you might freeze to death when you are sleeping. Haha. Have a nice try! Even in Nabalu Town is quite chills. It’s more or less like Cameron Highland. So, Kundasang is worse!
(This description is used to compare Kundasang and normal Malaysia temperature. It’s not applicable to those who live in minus degree celcius)
We had a nice lunch at around 11.30am++. We were excited to try the local dish. We were served with Corn soup, Sweet Sour Fish Fillet, Vegetable, and Chicken Black Pepper Sauce ( or kicap? I can’t really remember). I love the sweet sour. Overall, it was a good lunch. But, it might not suit your tongue from the West North Malaysia. But, just enjoy the difference. We live in Malaysia which has varieties of culture, food and religion. We should be proud of it!!
We arrived at Kundasang at almost 1pm and landed at the Desa Cattle Farm which is not far from our villa. This place feels a bit like New Zealand. For your information, I never had any experience travelling to NZ so don’t expect my description to be perfectly accurate. It is such a fresh, grassy green, beautiful and pleasant place to come. Yeah, it is beautifully pleasant to your eyes until you open up the van’s door! LOL!! The smell is so ‘cow’. Teeeeeet! Haha. Nothing is perfect. In order to have a beautiful sight of nature, just stand the smell for a little while Nana! XD
To make it short, we spend a wonderful afternoon selfie, feeding two bottles of milk and grass to those ‘starving to death’ sheep and cows, watching cow peeing at the cow’s barn while breathing in the indescribable, horrible and terrible smells. ROFL!!! Bare in your mind, these are over exaggerated. Oh yeah, not to forget the marvelous super delicious Gelato (meleleh pulak)
We arrived at D’Villa lodge Rina Ria situated not too far from Kinabalu Park. It is owned by a Muslim. It has a small rooms and dorms too. We chose to sleep in two separates room. One of it has another two rooms. It is quite small but still more than enough for a short stay. It has a water heater in each room and there is no air conditioner provided. Of course!! Otherwise, we might need a coffin the next day. I am grateful to myself because I brought along my sleeping bag. It really helped me a lot to overcome that cold chilly night. We actually had nothing to do the whole day caused we arrived at the villa quite early. The schedule was arranged to ensure that we have adequate rest on our first day of arrival. In fact, we had a great rest while keep ordering food from the café.. LOL!! It’s nothing like a hotel. No buffet, just buy what you want.
OUR SCHEDULE
12hb: Arrival, Upside Down House, Nabalu Park, Desa Cattle Farm, Check in at D’Villa Lodge
13hb: Kinabalu Park, Canopy Walk, Poring Hotspring, Sunset at Tanjung Aru, Musical Fountain at Tanjung Aru Perdana Park, Check in at Marina Court Apartment, Kota Kinabalu (Fuhh, it was really a long long day)
14hb: Island Hoping (Pulau Manukan and Pulau Mamutik)
15hb: City Tour, Souvenirs time, and fly back.
To be continue… (banyak lagi)
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