The City of Kota Kinabalo is located at Sabah, Borneo (Malaysia) and home of the highest mountain in Southeast Asia.
Day 1
Our day started with a one-hour road trip to Clark. We were surprised to see a lot of passengers, mostly OFWs going to Malaysia, Brunei, etc. Since the flight is free sitting, there was some kind of an “amazing race”. As some passengers wanted to grab the best seats (front seats for that matter), they were running from the gate to the plane. Kaya kami takbo rin!
Heavy rains welcomed us at KK. We had to stay at the plane for about 20 minutes to wait for the rains to fade a bit. Big red umbrellas from the airport came in handy, though, our shoes and sandals still soaked wet.
The Executive Suite at Kota Kinabalo Daya Hotel was neat and was big enough for the seven of us. After settling for an hour, the rains have stopped, the clouds have cleared and the afternoon sun came out.
We marveled at the simplicity of the city. As I stood on a block, I turned to my right and had the bay (with Swordfish) view and on the left mountainous area with thick trees. We happily took our pictures, walked further to check out their “handycraft market” and finally reached Centerpoint Mall. For us girls, the mall was in our itinerary for us to be able to buy VNC shoes (costing half of Philippine price).SEDCO (likened to our Dampa here in Manila) was our final stop. The barbecued stingray was great, buttered and chili prawns, clams and the famous chili crabs. One of our friends, Davey, unbelievably stormed the crabs (meaning, parang dinaanan ng bagyo).
Day 2
The sunny day was perfect for our island hopping. The 15-minute walk to the port was able to jumpstart us for the day.
Roy (armed with his research) and his wife Lara was able to get a good bargain for a boat trip to the 3 Islands. We were with Daniel (a German guy), Daniel (Malaysian Guy), Miranda (Malaysian) and two Koreans. Nuel, was our boat guide, incidentally a Filipino.
1st stop – SAPI ISLAND
Clear blue waters greeted us at SAPI Island. As we headed off to the beach for snorkling, we were amazed that even at ankle deep, we can already see those fishes.
I was so happy that I was able to overcome my fear of water (two years back I couldn’t relax at the waters even with a life vest), thanks to my 1st session of swimming lessons. We happily swam with the fishes, big and small, and we were able to see three cousins of NEMO.
2nd stop – MAMUTIK ISLAND
Lunch was great under the trees at this island. It had a short shoreline but had fine sand (but not as white) like that of Boracay. As the available water sports were costly (banana boat cost RM25/person – around P450), we opted to stay at the waters and relax (this meant eating my M&Ms).
3rd stop – MANUKAN ISLAND
Approaching Manukan Island was exhilarating. The cream sand contrasted the dark green trees which lined up at the shore. However, Manukan did not have as much variety of fish underwater and no corals to display.
We all took a freshening bath up at the hotel and headed to the famous Ocean View Seafood Village. Roy and Davey were salivating, seeing those live but pricey lobsters. We ended up having prawns, asparagus and maya-maya.After dinner, I had this “laughing trip”, an unstoppable laugh c/o Mayette, our comic relief (sorry for the lack of term). Every word she blurts out was funny to me and I was laughing (sumakit na tiyan ko) for almost 15 minutes.
Day 3
Our 3rd day was spent in the up-country, more so like our Baguio.
The two hour trip to Poring Hot Spring gave us the chance to recharge. We were welcomed with a sweet harmony of chirping birds, sound of crickets and splash of stream waters to those big rocks underneath the bridge walk entrance.
We passed by the pools of hot springs to assuage our curiosity. We also saw Japanese-type clusters where a group of four can actually dip their legs to enjoy the soothing effect of hot spring.
Next stop is the Canopy Walk, which required a 20 minute hike up the mountains. Each person cost MR15/person (roughly P240/person) and each digicam or videocam one brings up/uses has the same entrance fee. Sa pagtitipid namin, we decided to just use the artistry and digicam of Olive.
Hiking up was so much fun (thanks to my regular 30-minute cardio workout prior to the trip) dahil sa alaskahan! Arriving uphill, there was a line for the 3 canopy walks (hanging bridge). One can get scared at first but all of us got the hang of it, plus, Olive was able to take our pics. Mayette even displayed her “look Ma no hands” to us. Lara, who was excited for the canopy walk, apparently enjoyed it differently. Roy, her husband, had to let her rush during the last leg as two big Caucasians were behind them.After the hike, we were able to meet Tina Kalaw-Medina (of Philippine’s Tourism TV Segment, TRAVEL TIME) and some of her friends. Roy was looking out for camera’s (dahil baka nga naman may shooting sya at ma-extra pa kami). Sad to say, she was just on a vacation. We made some chit chat with her upon learning that we were a bunch of Filipino friends traveling together. She encouraged us to try Cagayan de Oro’s canopy walk as well as climb Mt. Pulag. (We told ourselves to explore the Philippines next time).
We had lunch at Kinabalo Park (similar to Baguio Country Club) and just lazed around until the afternoon.
A good recap to our tiring day was a good and cheap meal at Ang’s Kedai Kopi (beside our hotel). We had the cheapest but good-tasting Chinese meal, though it was the most stressful for Mayette. The Chinese owner berated our friend when she was trying to request a “not so spicy” flavor for our spicy prawn order.
Day 4
The Gaya weekend market was our last stop. The market strip was enlivened with a lot of tourists and interesting things, from food, pets and decoratives.
************************************************************************
At the airport, I discovered that I did not have my Departure Card. My friends were kinda nervous for me (and I too!). The airport employee, though seriously asked why I did not have it, was kind enough to let me fly back home to Manila. Akala ko, maiiwan na ako sa KK!
************************************************************************
The trip was a very nice breather for me. I was able to marvel at God’s creation as the plane danced with the clouds, as I swam with the fishes in the sea, as I marveled at the ferns and trees that lined up Kota Kinabalo City.
