Cuti-cuti Sabah

Going out of our comfort zones might be the best way to know ourselves. I mean, of course I know myself well but maybe there are other things that I might want to learn about me.

Well, actually, I was just trying to create excuses so I would not feel so bad spending more than a week abroad.

OK not really abroad but considering that I never crossed the sea to West Malaysia, it is some kind of a big deal. For me of course.

It was an eight-day trip to Sabah with a very good friend. I've never shared a room that long with anyone since...let me see, 2005. So this will actually test the strength of our ten-year old friendship. Can we do this? Can we look at each others' faces for the one week or so? Can we agree on decisions made during the trip without getting at each others' throat? Will I burden her (I get dehydrated very easily)?

We started off from KLIA, heading to Kota Kinabalu (KK) on a two-hour flight. I have to say that I might do some exercise but I can never label myself as fit. Well, since my type of exercise is mostly walking in the shopping malls, with the cool down session involving either a) frappuccino b) iced lemon tea c) both. So it is safe to say that our journey from the boarding gate to Gate A (can't remember which gate) felt veery much like a training session to become a sherpa (since my bag weigh about 10kg (don't judge me. I am yet to master the art of travelling light)).

Our journey with Firefly was pretty smooth. We arrived in KK at about 10pm and it was a bit of a drizzle. I was craving for coffee but I missed the outlet in KK so we just took the taxi straightaway to our hotel, A & J Budget Hotel. It was situated very near to the Filipino market, the town, craft market with the grocery store right beneath our room. How cool is that?

Well, not really that cool considering our room was on the third floor. So, it was another sherpa training session for me.

For those who are looking for budget accommodation in KK, I suggest you consider A&J Budget Hotel. The room was pretty clean (IMHO) and for a room that cost less than RM 80, it was a good deal.

We had no specific itinerary. We knew (actually my friend arranged it) where we should headn o but there was no specific thing to do a day. Since we went in January 2011 and the weather was undecided (it rained and suddenly it stopped and then it rained again), we just looked out of the window and made a split decision where we should go. So, on the next morning, we decided that we should go to Gunung Kinabalu. Ouh no, we are not going to climb the mountain (as stated before, I am very unfit). We actually took the Poring-Kundasang-Ranau-Gunung Kinabalu-KK route for RM 200++ for the whole trip.

We started out pretty early and head to Poring as it was the farthest point. We stopped at Pekan Nabalu first, a place with a cold weather (the mineral water sold were not put into the fridge but left the bottles on the table to cool). We took nice pictures of the majestic Mount Kinabalu. There were a few tourists there at the time. They looked a bit Korean and some of them look very much like white people.

We didn't stop long as we were not too keen on the pineapples (I mean, I am sure the pineapples in Nabalu taste good. It was just that I'm not big on pineapples). Next destination was Poring, which is famous for hot water springs. Before that, we hiked up to titi gantung (what do we call titi gantung in English? My England is not good). It was a good 800-m track going upwards and nearly halfway, I was clutching my chest, worried that my heart leaped out of the ribcage. I was so unfit that it took all my pride not to back off the challenge and claim defeat. Want to know why? Some elderly women were behind us and we can clearly hear their voices behind us. Imagine the shame if we gave up.

Reaching the titi gantung, I tried to call Emak to tell her how much I love her because I suddenly had a case of afraid of heights. At one time, the bridge can only carry certain amount of weight so watch out for the signs.

The way down was very much nicer. I was tempted to go to the butterfly park but my bladder decided that was not going to happen. After the 'business', I decided to try the hot water springs. But nay, my skin couldn't stand it.

I do not know whether it was good luck or some other thing but on the day that we arrived in Poring, it was the first day Rafflesia bloomed. It takes 18 months to do so and only blooms for seven days. The only thing was the fee was RM 20 per person T___T. So no, we didn't go see it.

From Poring, we took the road to Kundasang. I really like looking at the stores selling vegetables. The vegetables were wrapped in plastic and since it was cold, it looked really nice. Make sure you stop and take pictures because it was so beautiful. The lack of picture on the subject means that we forgot to do just that.

 kundasang war memorial

Kundasang was apparently famous for bananas (as we were told by the taxi driver). This was the place that made me realise that I still have things to learn about my country. There was a war memorial in Kundasang for British and Australian soldiers. This was the place that I learnt about the death march from Sandakan-KK that took the lives of 2,000 soldiers. Immediately, there were dust in my eyes and it watered (OK fine. i cried a bit). It was very touching really to learn about it although I cannot imagine what they have to endure, beng forced to walk for one month, in the rain. And what a coincidence, we are heading to Sandakan next and I would very much like to see the Prisoner of War (POW) route in Sandakan.

Next, we went to Mount Kinabalu and it rained. Imagine seeing fog at 2pm. It was crazy cold but beautiful at the same time. We didn't go to see the trail or anything but went to the museum instead.

We were dead tired when we reached KK (at around 4pm). We ate something, rested our body and had dinner in front of our hotel.

 what else to expect but seafood? 

The next morning, I woke up with a slight pain in the leg (but on the bright side, felt that I can fit better into my jeans yey) and we decided to go to the islands. It was actually not something that I expected but I very much liked the idea of snorkelling at the islands. We had breakfast and then head to Jesselton Point, which should take us about ten minutes. I said should because we were very lucky as some people approached us and offered a trip to Mamutik, Taman Peringatan Tunku Abdul Rahman (Manukan) and Sapi for Rm 90 for two people with safety jacket and other apparatus. It was a good deal for me, at least.

at sapi. we were stranded for an hour

We went to Mamutik but I didn't see any fishes while snorkeling. Manukan had too many people on the beaches (I only saw people's feet) so Sapi was the only good place to snorkel. IMHO, Terengganu offers better snorkeling experience.

We head back to the hotel at 4 something. On that night, we ventured into town just to see things around town. It nice to walking in KK because the places are not that far apart. There are many eateries and I discovered the food there are quite cheap.

The next day, luck was still on our side. It was a clear day and we went to the Green Connection (RM 25 per entry for adults). We arrived at 10am when the place was just about to open. We met a biologist named Eric and he showed us the place. We got to know a lot of things like what kind of frogs, crabs and tortoises that were actually putting the other local species in danger. Wow, I thought they were all the same.

We looked at the fishes and the corals. We spent time longer at the coral parts and we also get to see pin-cushion starfish. I feel like bringing them home and hugging them or something. There were also belangkas oke sumpah ni tak tau panggil apa dlm English. This animal has blue blood, making it a royalty (to us there and then). It is actually very interesting to know that he male ones clung to the females. There were records of male-male relationship (the males just clung to the females, doing nothing) but not female-female relationship. Sounds familiar?

michael. michael kan name die?

The place is like the KLCC version but not the cramped version and is a bit more green. The Green Connection manages to give us a lot more information because the staffs there are ready to answer our questions. I absolutely love the feeding show because the feeding session felt a bit closer to the audience compared to the other one in Aquria (I only make the comparison wih Aquatia because I work near there and went there about three times).

We didn't manage to say thanks to Hazel For givin us a lift back to KK (we went to the GreennConnection via the taxi). To be honest, I was feeling pretty dizzy at that time. Must be dehydration.

From KK, we flew to Sandakan on the next day. It takes about five hours if we were to drive to Sandakan but took only 45 minutes to Sandakan via AirAsia. This time, the flight was during the day and looking down (when we just about to leave KK), I absolutely longed to visit Gaya Island. But according to the pilot of the chartered boat we were on, we can only circle the island. Nothing else.

On arrival in Sandakan, I was actually smitten, to be honest. The airport looked quaint and I was transported back the the time when I was a kid. We were greeted by a taxi driver outside the airport before heading to Central Sandakan Hotel. Something about the trip towards our hotel reminded me of the 80's. Well, except for the heat. Of course, we stayed very near the sea.

Central Sandakan Hotel is another hotel that I would really recommend. The price was around RM 60-70 per night with a proper elevator and all. What you would be interested to know is (drumrolls)... Every Sunday, hey have tamu or market in front of the hotel. It starts as early as 5am (but then again the sun comes up pretty early in that side of the world).

We arrived mid-day, I think and we had KFC near the sea. I never had one near the sea. As in restaurant located beside the sea. After that, we went to Agnes Keith house on the hill.

Agnes Keith was actually the author of the book 'Land Below The Wind', which I didn't buy because my bag already weigh about 10kg. The house have been refurbished a few times and according to the history, it was also famous for haunting. She came to Sandakan with her husband who was a conservator of Borneo (if I'm not mistaken but then I'm easily mistaken).

There were old dolls tha belonged to her children. The dolls were used to send messages when they were being kept in prison. The house was big, with French doors and all but we are not allowed to take pictures inside it).

For the next 2 hours or so, we walked around Sandakan just to get to know the quaint town. We walked from the heart of the city towards the sea. We also managed to see the point of the POW route.

 something like the port

The next morning, we woke up pretty late. Not really so late, about 6am when actually, we were supposed to eake up earlier than that for Tamu. Sadly, it was raining cats and dogs and we had to get raincoats before heading to Sepilok. There were buses to Sepilok, the orang utan sanctuary. It was exciting to actually see the place. For the whole stretch of the road, there were several places like Crocodile farm. We were also told that there was a sanctuary for Prosbosis monkey or more famously called as the Dutchman.

Upon arrival, we need to leave our bags behind because you know, they might want to borrow it from us. Insect repellant usage is prohibited and I'm pretty sure handphone usage is not recommended. Things might fall ontomour heads, including but not limted to, sticks and snakes. Yes, snakes. I was actually terrified but for the sake of watching the orang utan at a (slightly) close range, I decided to go for it.

When we arrived, there were just about to feed the orang utan. Those orang utan that are being fed were actually those that are being treated. As part of the conservation programme, they will be fed at the platform and as time goes, they will be fed further intonthe junglembefore being released back to the wild.

Of course, it was very exciting to watch the orang utan. Some were exhibitionists while others just don't care about us on the platform (who are mostly foreigners. My friend and I were the minority there).

Community service message: save our orang utan. Ouh and you can adopt one for just 100 pound per year or something. Me? I'm adopting myself right now and I have tons of needs. So, I'm not ready for it yet.

For those who love bird watching, there is a park beside Sepilok that offers you just that. We couldn't appreciate it that much (but of course, the trees we like) but there were a few people with their camera and all, watching birds. It was actually a park with herbs and flowers too.

 90 degrees. 

boiler for electricity at the POW camp (pardon the orientation hihi)

Next stop is Sandakan War Memorial (yeay!). This is the start of the Death March and there were still a few things left from that incident. There were Japanese boilers and also barracks from the olden days. I have the feelin that the soldiers tried to make life as bearable because there were concert tickets. Imagine that, stuck in the prison, listening to the Japanese officials saying that the war will go on for another 100 years must be really terrible. I cannot help but feel a bit sad.

And that was the last stop to our sightseeing spree. we arrived at our hotel when the tamu ended (around 1pm). So, I cannot give much review on this part.

Sandakan is a quaint little town located beside the sea. It was humid and to me, it looked like Tampin when I was still a teenager. According to my friend, it looked like Kota Bharu back in the 80's. I can see myself living in KK but maybe not Sandakan. And one thing I noticed about Sandakan was soto is really popular there. We can almost see it anywhere.

After that, we retire back to our room. Actually only me because my friend wanted to go see the market and as I was really tired, she went alone. I have histories of fainting and also extreme dehydration so I decidee it will be best for me to just stay in the room.

From this point onwards, there were not much to tell. We were about to leave Sandakan and our stay in KK was only for just one night. But here's something from Jesselton Point in KK.

Towards the end of the trip, I was truly glad that we got along well and we didn't have a huge fight during the trip. I imagine it will be really disastrous if that happened. There were several hiccups like flight delays but overall, it was an enjoyable trip.

The food is good and cheap. The people in Sabah are really friendly. Some men may look fierce but don't be surprised to see them holding the babies or waiting patiently for their wives. And another interesting thing to see was regardless of the race, we can see quite a number of people speak Chinese, Malay and English. Frankly speaking, I think they are more united that we who live in Peninsular Malaysia.

I hope this will be of benefit to those who are looking to go to Sabah because I see a lot of searches on Sabah.

God will, I might go there again. But in the very near future, I might be land on an island.