Kota Kinabalu... Part 3



The trip to the mountain. It was ~ 11am but kabus everywhere



The 3rd day's activity was a trip to Kinabalu Mountain.. Opps, Kinabalu Park to be exact..hehe..Kinabalu Mountain as the scenic background. Our family are not the hiking & mountain climbing type though.

So, we followed the route given by the hotel concierge, hand drawn & very accurate. Our first stop was Pekan Nabalu. It's full of handicrafts and souvenirs. A lot of T-shirts too.. There are 2 areas to shop. One is the roadside stalls, another is a 'rumah panjang'-like wooden building. If you'd like to buy T-shirts, I'd recommend here, because the shops in the 'Philipino market' or also called 'Handicraft Centre' in town didn't offer much choice on t-shirts design & sizes. The market mostly sold pearl items & handicrafts.

Another, because the weather here in Pekan Nabalu is sooo nice, it's cool.. probably around 20 deg C, depend on the time also..



Left: Roadside shops, Right: the 'rumah panjang' type

I haven't gotten used to blogging as yet, so sometimes when I ate or stop anywhere, lupa nak amik gambar. he.. Here in Pekan Nabalu also, there's a spot with very good views of Mount Kinabalu. Tips: Depends on the time that you reach this place; if you're lucky you'll get to see the tip of the mountain. If not, you're left with the 'kabus' only. You need to 'catch' the views at the right time. We stopped at this very scenic spot twice. 1st time, on the way up & 2nd time, on the way down. Reason, tak puas hati because didn't see the TIP of the Kinabalu Mountain, so, we made an effort to stop here again. And boy, we were lucky..!! See the snapshots below:

Focus at the tips - now you don't see them

Now you DO..!

I'll continue this post later... see ya..!

Kota Kinabalu...Part2

Now it's Day 2. The initial plan was to go island hopping. However, after the tsunami & earthquake hit Japan, we tried to avoid going to the sea or even ride on a boat. A few days before our arrival in KK, I read/heard some news that folks living at the Kampung Air near Tanjung Aru were asked to evacuate their homes & go to a higher ground for the fear that tsunami may hit KK. It was told that people should also stay away from the beaches as the after effect of the tsunami in Japan is hardly predictable.

So, since we are not going for any island hopping, we decided to explore Karambunai & its surrounding areas. So, these are our activities..

Day view of its landmark

Cycling



..and cycling..





Karambunai Lagoon..



Place to rest

We checked in to another hotel since the focus is more of the island hopping and city adventure. The thing is, we already cancelled island hopping, so, that's why we decided to check-in late & explored Karambunai instead. We chose Sutera Harbour as our next destination. There are 2 hotels in Sutera Harbour - Pacific Sutera & Magellan Sutera. Magellan Sutera is more expensive, so, we chose Pacific Sutera to see how it's like. To me, Pacific Sutera is not as nice as reviewed. It's old & definitely not as nice as Karambunai. I'm comparing them because the rates are almost the same. Probably we didn't savour the same luxury feeling as in Karambunai & probably because we stayed in a room with golf view which has no balcony..! If I had known, I wouldn't choose it in the 1st place. Magellan Sutera looked much better though. Next time then..

Ok, enough about the room. Other things about Pacific Sutera are actually not bad... We had the yachts around, great view of the islands from the swimming pool, breakfast was great & easy access to the city centre & pearl shops..! he..



View from the breakfast area



View from its garden & swimming pool area. Unfortunately our room is on the other side.. huhu..

Where to eat?

We drove around the waterfront area and jetty to scout for the seafood restaurants. Another scouting activities was where to shop. We saw stretch of wet market and handicraft market along the coast. Ok, so, at last we decided to have our 1st seafood delicacy at Ocean Seafood Restaurant.



Inside the restaurant. We also ordered fish & squid (not in picture, tak sempat amik, dah makan..he..)