Iteninary and Budget for the Kota Kinabalu/Kundasang Tip

Click for bigger view.

Below is the actual expenses (not including our dinner/lunch expenses as well as the souvenirs).

Breakdown per person and the souvenirs that I bought.

another additional info on car rental. this is from the guy that was together on my scuba trip. They have Kancil (manual) and Viva to be rented:

Zam 016-839 1721

Zie 014-567 3496

Final Day (5): Sabah Museum

Date: 1 July, 2013 (Monday)

Sabah Museum

Sabah Museum is located at Bukit Istana Lama. Walking from the lodge took us 30mins. The complex contains the main museum, gardens, a zoo, a 2-phased heritage village and the Islamic Civilization Museum. Entrance fee is RM2 for adult and free for students (with uniforms or student ID).

The main building also houses the Art Gallery and the building itself is located on top of the hill. So u need to walk to get to other exhibition center. For us, we went to the (outside) café first due to thirst and saw the cultural village next to it. Turned out, this was the 1^st phase on the village. The place was run down and no one was around for a tour or any briefing. The traditional houses were built by its native and u can wonder around in and out the area but honestly, it’s pretty creepy for us to go in. it was dark and abandoned.

After that, we walked back to the main building. Once u stepped in, ure welcomed by the huge skeletons of a whale. This largest Bryde Whale ever found in Asia beached itself near the shallow water of Gaya Island back in December 2006. No photos here as photography is not allowed in the main building.

Once we’re done with our stroll in the museum, we walked down the hill towards the Islamic Civilization Museum. It’s pretty close, just a 5mins walk. In the museum, there are a lot of artifacts and replicas of the swords during the Prophet’s time. Again, no photographing allowed.

Last stop before going back is the 2^nd phase of the cultural village. We were hoping that the 2^nd village will be more maintained but boy, we’re wrong. Well, the houses are newer but it is as empty as the 1^st village. What a disappointment. Well, I guess it’ll be livelier during school holidays where more people will flock in to the museum complex.

Among all, I think a visit in the main building was the best.

We left the museum complex around 4.00pm (can't believe we spent more than 2 hours there!). The walk back to the Lodge felt faster this time. picked up our bags and headed to the airport at 5.00pm. Note: Please expect VERY EXPENSIVE taxi ride if u ask the reception to call. We paid RM30!! I bet u can get cheaper rate if u stop the taxi ur self outside. 

KKIA

By the time we reached the airport, the check in counters were packed. Typical of AirAsia, there is no designated counters for specific destination. Everybody queue to the same counter. What's worst is that in our line, few groups faced excess baggage problem. Come on people, don't pack 2 big bags to check in if ure travelling with 5 adults and expect it'll be under 25kg! Don't be a cheapskate and cause problem to others!!! It took us 1 hour to drop our bags.

Had our expensive @ airport dinner and went in. Faced my 1st time flight delay with Airasia (from 8.10pm to 8.45pm) and safely reached LCCT at 11.15pm.

Accomodation in kota Kinabalu: Lavender Lodge

Found this lodge when I was bloghopping. Review in TripAdvisor was good and the pricing was not bad either. I was having some trouble as to decide where to stay, either Api-api, Kg. Air or Gaya Street. Well, I settled down at Kg. Air which is close to the Sinsuran Night Market/Filipino Market. It’d be easier for last minute shopping since the markets and malls are close by. Booked in Agoda for RM180 for 2 nights.

Attractions wise, Gaya Sunday market, Filipino market, Handicraft markets, Center Point mall are only a 5mins walk away. Waterfront Esplanade (where Hard Rock Café is located) is about 15mins walk. However, the Jetty is whopping 30 mins away ‘sigh’ and this is pretty important especially once u returned from your island hopping trip as the return trip to ur accommodation is not included in the package. Atkinson Clock Tower and Signal Hill are closer to the Jetty and u have to climb up the hill to get there. In our case, this was not a problem as we dropped by earlier on before returning our rental car.

Anyway, back to the lodge. We got the room G03. The room is at the ground floor, all the way to the back. The room was small with a very tiny window. We never opened the curtain as u can see the windows from the building behind so we wouldn't want to be peeked. The room is pretty small for both us and definitely will not fit non-Asians. Heck, I think even guys will feel very cramped inside. Imagine u have a double bed in the room with 1-foot spacing with the walls around it, that’s how big the room was. 1 thing that was really a downside for us was that there was only 1 power plug so charging our tablets, hps and cameras was a bit troublesome.

On the positive side, the room and toilet was very clean. And for some reason, they provided shower gel. Same with our acco in Kundasang. English breakfast (read as toast, egg, cereal, coffee and tea) is provided between 7-10am. Of course, the reception can help u in anything u need (e.g calling taxi to the airport). There are plenty of brochures on things to do and explore, and a PC provided at the lounge for u to use. Wanna watch TV? No worries, u can head to the upper floor where there is a TV lounge.

All in all, if u don’t mind the space, this lodge is definitely a thumbs up.

Day 4: Gaya Market & Sapi Island

Date: 30 June, 2013 (Sunday)

The day started as early as 7am. Quick breakfast of toast at Lavender Lodge then off to the market.

Gaya Street Sunday Market.

This market only opens during Sunday morning (6am-1pm). From the lodge, it was only a 5mins walk. To me, the market is similar to Satok Weekend market in Kuching, only slightly smaller. There are plenty of food stalls selling food for breakfast (light food), seaweeds, vegetables and fruits. There are plenty of clothing stalls as well as handicrafts. Apart from that, there are few stalls actually selling animals; from fishes to puppies. I couldn’t find any stall selling fresh seafood like I did in Kuching, so you don’t need to worry for the smell or the dripping water or puddle on the walkway.

Since this was pretty much a walkthrough, I was searching for magnets stating “Kota Kinabalu” (but until the end of the trip, I failed to do so) and food for breakfast (after some toast earlier). Well, nothing caught my eyes so we ended up just walking to see what kind of market Gaya Street had.

Diving/Snorkel at T.A.R Marine Park.

At the end of Gaya Sunday Market, we directly walked to the Ferry. We reached there around 8am (meet up time was 8.20am). Nothing much we can do other than people watching. Food stalls not yet opened but there were plenty of people waiting for (maybe) their island hopping trip. Surprisingly, the indoor futsal center opened at 8.15am which is very early for me.

We saw a couple of mat salleh and after a while, more of the dive center staffs and divers appeared. Turned out, the meeting point inside on the upper level of the futsal place was a smaller dive shop. 8.30am, we’re all hustled up to the dive shop for group introduction and safety briefing. The dive shop of choice was Diverse Borneo.

The main reason Diverse Borneo was chosen was both on the diving and snorkeling trip. Both trip utilizes the same boat and have appointed guides (divemaster and snorkeling guide). Since my cousin is not a diver, this is a trip we both can enjoy. She was a bit afraid since she knew there was a very high probability that she’ll be the only one doing snorkeling that day (and she was right hehehe). However, this turned out to be very advantage to her. There was only 1 snorkeler so the guide could focus on entertaining her only. A 3-dive trip costs RM250 and a snorkeling trip costs RM90.

During the briefing, we were told that our dive/snorkel point will be around Sapi Island and Gaya Island. It’ll be 2 points in Sapi and 1 point near Gaya, depending on the weather. My cousin and her guide were dropped off first at Sapi before the divers proceed to our 1^st dive spot. On the boat, there were 1 guy Zam doing his Advance Open Water, his instructor Apek, me, my buddy Syafiq and our divemaster Alwee (5 divers). 

After our 1^st dive, we parked our boat at Sapi Jetty for our surface interval. Got a chance to see my cousin (in the water) before we saw the rain coming. It rained a bit and after an hour, we dove for our 2^nd dive there before our lunch break at 12. Lunch was provided in the package and by 1.30pm, we’re back into the water for our final dive. My cousin told me that to her, the snorkeling trip wasn’t like usual. Usually, the boat just floats there and let u snorkel around on your own; or they drop u off at the island and u wander around. This time, she had the guide who was really excited to show her everything and turned out that she snorkeled the same time that we dived.

We concluded our trip earlier than schedule, arriving at Jesselton Jetty around 3pm. The thought of walking back 1.5km was dreadful but we were saved by Zam who offered a ride. The guilt is still there for soaking his car huhuhu. Jesselton Terminal wasn’t that good in providing restroom facilities. I don’t know how it is possible to only have 1 restroom for the entire jetty plaza. What worst is that there are only 2 cubicles, sharing for toilet and changing room. Heck, Syafiq and Zam changed outside behind the stalls. Then again, it’s always easier for guys.

It was already 4pm by the time we reached Lavender Lodge. A quick hot shower and we slept like a log after that. I started feeling feverish and apparently it didn’t get better even after a 3-hour sleep. My cousin went for food hunt alone that night, and I only ate bread and Panadol. By 11, we both slept due to fatigue.

Day 3: When in KK

Date: 29 June, 2013 (Saturday)

After checking in and returning the car at Api-api Center, it’s time for our walk around KK. Mother Nature was not on our side so we’re in rush to find shelter. Thank God it didn’t rain all the way through the afternoon.

Waterfront Esplanade.

This boardwalk is said to have the best view for sunset. But when we went there, it was raining heavily. Our main reason going there was to visit the Hard Rock Shop. The shop was hidden from the main road by the big residence in construction next to it. There are also food center there but unfortunately the shop I was looking for the cheese banana fritters was closed so we didn’t stop.

Filipino Market/ Sinsuran Night Market.

A daily night market were local catch is sold. Fresh seafood is the main attraction where u can order up and get them cooked on the spot to savour.

Merlin Statue.

Located in front of Hyatt Hotel, this giant statue was officiated when KK was inaugurated as a city on 2^nd of February, 2000. To get to here, we walked all the way from the Esplanade, passing Filipino market, Central Market and the Wet Market. That was about a 1.5km walk.

Jesselton Ferry Terminal.

Another 1km walk up north is the Ferry Terminal to go to the island hopping. We walked up to estimate how far will it take to walk from the ferry to our lodge before our island trip the next day.

Kampung Air Night Market.

Well, we originally planned to buy all of our souvenirs here but the night market was pretty disappointing. Nothing much to be seen as all that’s being sold is clothing. More like the normal night market in the Peninsular. So we had to ditch to have our dinner here.

Handicraft Market.

Well, we walked back to the handicraft market since we couldn’t find anything worth to buy at the night market. There are a lot of reviews saying that buying souvenirs here are quite expensive but we’re out of options and since we’re not buying a lot, I thought I’d be ok.

Here, I bought the I love KK shirt for RM33, salt water pearl bracelet for RM35 and few brooches (1 dozen for RM48).

Day 3: Signal Hill Observatory & Atkinson Clock Tower, Kota Kinabalu

Date: 29 June, 2013 (Saturday)

Lunch stop was at the same Anjung Selera in Telipok and we headed directly to our first 2 stops in KK.

1^st stop: Signal Hill Observatory.

This viewing platform is the place for amazing views of the city and also the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. It is located on top of the Bendera Hill. It is due to its location that we decided to go to here first since we still have our rental car.

2^nd stop: Atkinson Clock Tower.

Close to the Observatory is the Atkinson Clock Tower. The clock tower was built in the memory of the 1^st District Officer of Jesselton who died due to malaria. Built in 1903, this structure survived the destruction of Jesselton town during WWII. It was built with wood with no nails.

No operating hours restriction or entrance fess for both of the attractions.

Day 1: From LCCT to KKIA

Date: 27 June, 2013 (Thursday)

This is our 2^nd annual trip for me and my cousin. Tickets were purchased about 6 months earlier for RM360 inclusive of 25kg return-baggage for 2pax (so RM180 per pax). Turned out that we don’t really need to buy too much of baggage allowance since our total bags weighted only 16kg (and returned at 17kg). Flight from LCCT departed on time at 11.05am and by 1.40pm we reached Kota Kinabalu.

KKIA building is very small; comparable to the airport in Kuching and Labuan. But it has one flaw. The immigration hall is way too small. It only has 6 foreign passport + 4 Malaysian passport + 1 staff counters. Very ironic that the foreigners counter is more compared for Malaysians. We had to cramped to the 4+1 counters and the queue ended up until outside towards the tarmac. Anyway, no need to wait for our bags since by the time we cleared off, 30mins already passed.

Then, a drama unfolds. I already made our car booking via online at sewabah.com. Perodua Viva Elite 1.0L at RM85/day (RM170 for 2 days). In my email correspondence, we agreed to give them a call once we’ve reached the airport on the 27^th. I guess a part of it was my mistake to not reconfirm with them a day earlier. The person in charge was not reachable when I called from KKIA. There is no office number on the website but there are few other contact numbers. I finally got hold and the guy said that he’s not aware of my booking. This is really weird since I thought it’s supposed to be in their database since there was a booking number upon confirmation. But the guy said he’ll try to find me a Viva and he’ll give me a call within 15mins.

After all the hassle, we finally got a car around 3pm. Payment was settled on the spot and we made a deal on the returning point near our accommodation in KK 2 days later. Off we go to our 1^st stop, Kundasang. Oh ya, while waiting we managed to savage few KK and kundasang maps at the Sabah Tourism booth at the arrival hall. No maps were given by the car rental but then, this is Malaysia so we weren’t worried. GPS helps a lot too.

My cousin was the driver for 2 days. She said she preferred to drive rather than figuring the road hahaha :p

We had to drive though KK town. We were quite surprised at the traffic. It’s already jammed although it’s only 3.30pm. It wasn’t even rush hours yet! At first, we planned to stop by near the UMS for lunch and to pack food for dinner. But for some reason, we couldn’t find any roadside stall in that area. So we opted for Anjung Rasa at Putrajaya, Telipok (~30mins from KK). You will not miss this restaurant as it is exactly by the main road. There is a market nearby as well as a small Giant (where we bought our water supply).

Based on my blog-hopping, the route was simple. Just follow KK -> Tuaran -> Tamparuli -> Ranau. But there was a bit of confusion there. You don’t really need to go through Tamparuli IF you DON’T WANT TO VISIT THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE. You can just go straight at the roundabout (instead of taking the 3 o’clock exit) to go to Kundasang. Our initial plan was to drop by the Rumah Terbalik today and the suspension bridge on our back later on. But it turned up the other way around. We found the suspension bridge unsuspectedly after we followed the signboard to Tamparuli (we were searching for Rumah Terbalik at that point).

Aqua square is the Rumah Terbalik (which we missed on).

Red route - if u don't want to visit the suspension bridge

Blue route - route to the suspension bridge

Yellow box - Tamparuli Suspension Bridge

Some photo session here and there, we then move on to our main destination. At that point, it’s already 4.30pm. You can either take the blue colored route or return back. We followed back the route to the same roundabout. If you follow the blue route, you’ll end up to the roundabout with the pineapple statue. If u take the red route, this pineapple roundabout is the 2^nd roundabout u’ll pass through.

Anyway, we started the climb towards Kundasang soon after. The road wasn’t bad as I thought it’d be. It is exactly like the road up to Cameron Highlands. But the view was breathtaking. There were plenty of passing lanes but it started to rain so with Viva, we just take our own sweet time driving. We didn’t manage to stop at Pekan Nabalu since it’s already dark so we drove straight to Kundasang instead. Somewhere on the way up, we spotted a rest area but we gave it a pass as well.

To reach our accommodation, Kiram’s Village, we have to drive pass Kinabalu Park towards Kundasang Town. U’ll reach a roundabout, take the 9 o’clock exit and then go straight at the 2^nd roundabout. The shops should be on your right, as well as the Kundasang War Memorial. The signboard at the 1^st roundabout was way too small to be seen at night. There are no road lamps so we actually missed the turned. We stopped at the front to take our 1^st Kinabalu pics although the sun already sets. It’s dark but you can still see the shape of the peak.

If you didn’t see Kiram’s signboard at the Kundasang town, don’t worry. You may follow any of these signs: Desa Cattle Farm, Mesilau Nature Park, or Kundasang/Mesilau Golf Course (there is only 1 golf course in the area).

The drive after the 2^nd roundabout near the War Memorial was steeper and darker. U’ll pass thru the village area and after maybe a 15mins drive, u’ll see a junction to the left towards the Desa Cattle Farm. Go straight and u’ll make your way down towards the small wooden bridge (u’ll seriously feel like you’re in the middle of the jungle here). Don’t worry, just drive passes the bridge and u’ll reach Kg.Mesilau. Take a left turn at the junction and after that u’ll see Kiram’s Village on your right. If u still couldn’t find the place, gv them a call hehehehe ; )

All in all, we reached Kiram at 6.30pm. In the dark, I could see Kinabalu’s peak behind us. I’m excited to actually see it at daytime the next day! Dinner was banana fritters and maggi. When we first get in the room, it’s a bit warm. But wait for a while, it gets really cold and we slept like a log at 10pm hahahaha. Long john + socks + long sleeve shirt + sweater + long pants really helps….

More in the coming entries :D