Kandusang, KK, Manukan Island Resort, Feb 26, 2005

I walked up to the higher ground of the Pines Resort at 0600 hours to find the best spot to view the Mount Kinabalu. Firstly, I stopped at their viewing platform and it was strategically placed. I waited for a while hoping for a clear sky but the cloud persisted and I decided to move higher. The view was magnificent at the highest that I could go. Even thought the Kinabalu was still hidden by the cloud the whole Kundasang valley was something that I would recommend everyone to witness. It was so beautiful and I stood without moving admiring and envying the people who live nicely within the vast valley below me. The vastness of the place was so apparent in front of me. Not only that the height of Kandusang is so obvious where we stood was already high enough by Malaysia standard. Looking down on the valley was so breath taking so much so I did not want to go home. I waited for while before I did my serious photography. The limitation of cameras, especially the one that I have, is that I could not have a panoramic view captured. As always I innovated and we will find out the outcome in a day or two. I started to send a message to my family to joint me at the top. About half an hour or so they came up to join me, as usual Baqir was committed to continue sleeping. We stayed up on the hill, more like a baby mountain, for a while waiting patiently for the cloud to break, at least, long enough for us to have a complete view. Our patient was only rewarded with a brief glimpse of the tip. When we saw the tip then only we realized the size of the mountain that was hidden by the cloud. Had we any luck we would be looking at one big magnificent mountain in front of us. We Just not our day the clouds got thicker and I predicted it would be worse and few hours later I was proven right when the dense mist began to descent onto us lower then we had expected. Finally I abandoned my vigil and started to walk down. Not trying to be too disappointed I thought enough photos to finish almost a roll. I have a very good reason to come again then.
We did not know where to go for breakfast and just simply got ready for it. Our room did not come with a breakfast and we have no choice but to go out. So I brought out the Pregio into action to turn right towards Ranau. My argument since we there already in Kandusang might as well took the 20 minutes right to check out Ranau. Again Ranau is a small town snuck in a nice valley. Driving down into it already told us how wonderfully placed Ranau is. We chose Tanjung Putri restaurant for breakfast. Well actually ever since we arrived we did not actually had dinner lunch or breakfast but more of a food tasting session. We took the usual nasi lemak as well as other things that were on sale. After our morning food tasting session we drove around Ranau for a while. I continued downward just a bit more and crossed a bridge over; by any Malaysian standard qualify as one of the best picnic/family outing river location. The rock formation created a friendly rapid. The water was so clean and it was just, if you like, at the end of the town. It could not be any better than this and something that you have to travel far into the Malaysian jungle to get in the peninsular. Once again I am envious of the people of Ranau. I did not want to spend too much time there as we have and island to go to.

We checked out of the Kinabalu Pines Resorts, took a few memento sake photos and hit the road for KK. Our plan was to stop at relevant places along the way and the first one was few hundred meters away, the Kundasang vegetable stall. My wife bought some bananas while I took several shots of the place. I also stopped at one stall to buy a selection of Kundasang’s delicacies.

We were only just climbing a few hundred meters out of Kundasang when we stopped again and this time it was the Strawberry Hotel/Farm that sells among others strawberry’s ice cream and, what else, strawberry. I just stayed on the road side admiring the view. Just beside the road a mother and her son were diligently tendering their, what I think, leek garden. That was the first time I saw leek being planted. The strawberry lovers came down eventually and we pushed on towards KK. I tried to push a bit as I had time to make up. My wife asked whether we could make it to the Gaya Street Sunday market and I replied only if the van had wings. When we came to the entrance of Kinabalu Park I decided to check it out and turned right into it. At the gate we were told that we had to pay entrance fee to go in and on hearing that my entourage agreed that we skip it. So we continued our journey with the possibility only making another stop for a last call shopping at Nabalu before we reach Tamparuli.

Tamparuli is just a small town no bigger than Karak but the attraction to me was the suspension bridge, quite old but something that I wanted my children to experience, So, I purposely passed through the small town and stopped at the end of the bridge. The bridge is a walking bridge while other transportation would use the lower wooden bridge. The bridge was built so high I guess because of the elevation of the banks rather than due to flood. The other attraction to me also was the river itself. Again the river was so clear and clean. I am a liar if I did not admit that I was tempted to park the van near the river to take a dip. It was just because of time if not I would have done it. So far on this trip my associations with the places in Sabah were resorts, mountains, wildlife sanctuaries and other places of interest. To my family it was the AF participants especially AF3. So Tamparuli to them was Masha, Ranau was Felix and others that I do not know or care to remember.

We reached KK around 1300 hours and I drove around to find a good place to eat. Parking space was a commodity at that hour in KK in the end I got a bay near the wet market and took my family up to eat at the Medan Selera above it. After a quick lunch we crossed over to KK Plaza to replenish our supply of Maggi mee and I saw and bought my first whole meal bread in Sabah. That would be the only one for the whole trip. I was rushing as I wanted to catch the earliest speedboat to the Manukan Island but the others were taking their own sweet time. It was almost 1500 hours when we were at the Ferry Station the negotiation took a bit more time and in the end we have to pay around RM 250 for the 14 of us. One speedboat for 12 while Fatah and Along went with another group in a different speedboat. Manukan Island was a pleasant surprise, quite, clean and private in a way. The beach is suitable for children to play, swim and snorkel as hardly any wave came ashore. My wife and I love the chalet very much and we foresaw that won’t be the only time we would be in Manukan Island. At the ferry terminal the boat driver, Mohammad, was already selling us his snorkeling equipment and told us it would be RM 15 a set. We ignored him as we did not know the actual rental fee for such a thing there. Although he told us it would be RM 25 a piece on the island we were skeptical. When we arrived at the island he asked again and suddenly the price came down to RM 8 for the snorkel and RM5 for the life jacket. We figured what the heck we rented from him 5 sets. My son and his cousins were anxious to ask whether the island had a ASTRO receiver at the front desk and when they were told that there was in very chalet the yelled excitedly. MU was playing Wigan in the League Cup final that night. After we have checked in and prayed we immediately hit the water with the equipment and enjoyed ourselves to the maximum. I just could not believe that I was really enjoying the snorkeling. Time passed very quickly when you were enjoying yourself. We reluctantly came out of the water close to darkness and prepared ourselves for dinner and a night on the island.

Dinner was not so great but where as could we go? The next time we are going to make sure we bring enough packed or canned food along and have a cook out on the beach. The night was too slow for me while the rest of my family were enjoying themselves watching the live telecast of the Anugerah Popular Berita Harian and waiting for the final live telecast of the League Cup final I went to sleep. Sleep came very easy primarily because I was really tired because of the driving and snorkeling

KK, Kandusang, Kinabalu Pines Resort, Feb 25, 2005

I went down to Api Api Centre with the idea of finding and buying something for breakfast but as I was walking the quiet early morning area I saw few banks there and decided to find Maybank and nothing nearby. I knew there was one at the Centre Points but I thought it would be closed. As I was walking I met one of the guards there and I asked and was told the one at the Centre Points was opened. On the way back I stopped to have quick breakfast at the 24 hours mamak joint and bought loads of roti canais and nasi lemaks for my family. As I was reaching the apartment Tona my new friend called to say he had arrived to deliver the van.

Since I had done my initial research we did not need the three hours allocated for the Filipino Market. We left KK f or Kundasang at around 1030 hours. Of course we stopped along the way and the first one was the Likas floating mosque. For the journey as usual I assigned Baqir as my chief navigator and as always as well as soon as we left the Shell station to fill up the van he dozed off. A very reliable navigator he was indeed. The roads in Sabah although properly signed were not really using the route numbering system as yet as it would be easy for me to navigate like I am used to. So, I was really careful not to miss the right turns. When we entered Tamparuli Baqir woke up. Of course I loudly complaint to him for his failure but instead he said he was so confident with the instructions given earlier. After Tamparuli the climb started and there I said loudly that I wished we were on our Ranger and the climb would be brilliant. Although the KIA Pregio was new the climb was still too much for it to handle. The scenery started to change as we climbed and getting better each kilometer. At Nabalu we stopped, for me it was for the photography and the others sight seeing and shopping at the handicraft centre. Prices up there were different compared to KK. White t-shirts are cheaper at RM10 each and the colored a bit expensive at RM20. I managed to get the Sabah straw hat that I wanted at only RM10 compared to RM25 at KK. After about half an hour we started our climb again and only stopped for scenic photography. By now everyone in the van were fully awake and enjoyed the scenic journey. Being a first timer I was really impressed with the surrounding and more than once I envied the locals for living there having a picture perfect environment as their backyard. We rolled down slowly into Kundasang at around 1300 hours. As I was really hungry I drove the van around the one small round Kundasang town. We saw at least two Muslim eateries but both were fully occupied. We decided to check in first.

Can you beat this! Listening to BB King’s ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ sitting on the balcony in the evening looking at the Mount Kinabalu. The only problem is the Mount Kinabalu is covered with clouds. Also, with the magnificent thing in front of me my view is spoilt by power lines crisscrossing. Earlier on I was fast asleep resting my tired brain and body. In the end we had our lunch at the Kundasang town after we checked in. After lunch I decided to drive around to explore the area going towards The Mount Kinabalu Golf Resort and ended up climbing the steepest climb that I had ever had and I may have pushed the van to the limit as when we climbed down we can smell the brake plates burning and that worried everyone including myself, the driver. Maghrib slowly crept upon me as I sat there waiting for the scenery to change but Alllah knows best. I did not wish to drive out for dinner so we opted for steamboat at the Pines (the Kinabalu Pines’s restaurant). The steamboat was just so so and if you must have dinner at this place and you are not constraint to explore other possibilities I encourage you to do so. After dinner we went down to the karaoke room and blasted the place with our not so coordinated sound. Since we had the room to ourselves after one another we belted our favorites.

Kota Kinabalu, Feb 24, 2006

Again I had a very early breakfast and decided to walk the waterfront to explore a little bit more. I got what I need to know on what we should do the next three days. I concluded there nothing much to see around KK city but we just need few hours to do our shopping. The city is not the place to be in Sabah the beautiful islands with their wonderful beaches, the nature parks, and cultural places where you must be.

I walked back to the hotel to rest a bit. At 1130 hours I checked out of Hyatt and checked in at Marina Court Resort Condominium. I stayed inside mostly as I did not know where as to go but I knew I need an internet connection to check my emails. I went out eventually to get something to eat. I thought of getting something light for lunch and walked towards the Api Api Centre. As I was walking I was thinking about the van that I needed to rent for this short holidays. Suddenly and important realization hit me, I was a holder of an expired driving license. I did not realize it at all for sure taking the train to work everyday contributed to that. Thanks God I knew where the post office was and that was my immediate target after lunch. I picked up my pace and saw Mc D from afar and decided to go there. My choice was actually a strategic one as I got near I saw the TMnet Hotspot sign. So I got lunch and broadband connection at the same time. In less than ten minutes I was at the main post office in KK and my luck continued to run when I was served immediately when I got there. Save by the bell as they say, I was s bit relax after that and started to enjoy my stroll around the city. From my first trip here Centre Points seemed to be the largest shopping complex in KK and I thought it still is now. So, I decided to pass my time in there.

I did not realize the extend of the problem when my wife sent me a message stating long story as to the delay of their checking in. When Fatah’s or An’s message said their flight was delayed to 1830 hours I was expecting that and confidently and absentmindedly concluded that the same applied to everyone else. So I took my own sweet time before I left for the airport. When I finally got into the cab and told the driver that I wanted to go to the airport he asked me whether I was flying Airasia or MAS. Before I could asked another question he continued that Airasia would be flying out at Tanjung Aru Terminal and Mas at the main terminal. So in that case I said I am going to the Tanjung Aru terminal. Just when I was about to reach the terminal 2 I received a message from my son stating they arrived already and I was caught by surprise. If they left KLIA at 1830 they would probably still in the sky and I couldn’t believe Airasia would be flying that fast. I found out later An, Fatah, Imah and their mum missed their flight and they were the ones that were late. My family, Tariq, Intan and their small daughter managed to checked in on the original flight. They told me the whole story later. Eventually all of them arrived safely at Marina Court condominium and we went for dinner at Anjung Senja and this time it was definitely Gerai No. 14. With my family with me then I could enjoyed KK more. Despite telling them we going to have an early morning the next day almost all of them stayed up late. Also, despite the big dinner all of them came back to the condominium to cook more maggi mee. Since I was the designated driver I went in early.

Kota Kinabalu, Feb. 23, 2006

As usual I had my breakfast early at 0630 as Suboh is at 0530 here. We left for the briefing at 5 to 1000 and it was just near by. If I were alone I just walk there but I go along with the high heels.

Before I left KL my wife and her sisters were talking and discussing about pearls and I did not have a clue that KK is famous for that. I did not know how big deal it is, not until we strolled the waterfront and passed the Filipino market last night. Although it was closed I could sense the bazaar would be full of pearls by the conversation I heard among the ladies. We had a bit of daylight after the briefing and the ladies decided to check the pearls and I tagged along just to explore (edisi siasat) for the benefit of my wife. Our host straight away took us to the best and cheapest stall and I was amazed to see the sparkling. Ladies, husbands (some I could see were really agonized by the experience), husbands who were on the phone almost every five minutes calling homes for confirmation and taking last minutes orders and quite a few people like me who just stared in disbelief. I explored the area and bought two Mount Kinabalu t-shirts. Next to Filipino bazaar is the bazaar for dried seafood and I was told I should brought some ikan bilis and udang kering home. One even seriously suggested I bought enough to last a year.

Our host took us to Nelayan Seafood village for dinner. The place is like the new Umbai Ikan Bakar place in Melaka that has a cultural show. The food, hmmmm…., no surprises.