Friday, July 29, 2011
KK, Sabah trip 2011
Just came back from a one week vacation at kota kinabalu, Sabah, a land of beautiful people, beaches and mountains. Bryon was the most awesome host who opened up his house for 11 of us to put up our nights at, with free and efficient laundry service and a chilling living room to play monopoly deal and watch "How To MATE Your Dragon". There were too many of us that the poor water tank could handle with xD Special thanks to bryon's friends who came to drive us around KK. It's really not easy to drive 2 hours back and forth to Mount K Park. It was really a beautiful place to appreciate sunset. The weather there was like a combination of air-con + high speed fan. We were shiv-v-vering instead of shuffling. haha.
Island hopping and snorkeling were the highlight of the trip! I love the sizzling hot sun kissing my skin when I was soaked in the sea appreciating the corals and fishes. I was pretty afraid of getting stung by jelly fishes, sea urchins or any other underwater creatures residing at the corals so I was all time alert. As I happily found a clear ground to land, a few seconds later my leg got bitten by a fish. LOL, do i really look like food? It was quite painful actually. I got a few wounds that resembled the jaw of the fish-.- damn it. After repeated episodes of TERRIFYING experience, I decided to swim alone to the shore. Half way through the water became more and more blur and I couldn't see any single shit. damn. ahh what to do, just keep swimming =.= Felt relieved when I literally hit the shore. I actually headbutted the land. LOL
Taken lots of funny photos at the beach. Apparently the sea water had washed away my UV protection and actually got me sun burnt. And I wasn't the only one :/ Haha aloe vera gel has become a necessity for 4 of us to cool off the heat radiating from our reddish skin.
I love soaking my feet in the icy waterfall with tadpole-sized fishes biting off the dead skin. It was kind of ticklish feeling, very pleasurable. It's my first time being so close to nature. I actually took photo with a dragonfly that I found surprisingly not afraid of human. It calmly rested on my index finger unwilling to fly. It kind of liked my finger.
Canopy walking was another interesting experience and to appreciate that, you gotta climb lots and lots of stairs until you actually reached the top of the forest. We walked at the canopy level, from trees to trees along the rocking hanging bridges. You can actually see the rainforest in a bird's-eye view. It's like a carpet of broccoli. While walking you can hear bird's chipping and sound of swirling water underneath. We also never missed the Poring hot spring and the Sabah tea garden nearby. Nothing special about these two. Poring smelled like egg's shell. And it was quite lame cos there are actually man-made bathtubs with hot and cold taps. The natural one was not accessible cos it is 80 degrees. Any men who dare to jump in may have their balls cooked...
Gaya street was like the pasar malam we used to see but it was held in sunday morning. Basically it sells what our pasar malam does but more souvenirs and handicrafts. There was a lot of people especially tourists and you can count yourself lucky if you can find parking. Very 'touring' atmosphere except it was very humid. Oh something interesting about Sabah is the TIME and Pace. Sunrise at 530am instead of 7am; pitch dark at 6pm unlike 8pm in KL. Not much traffic on the road unlike in KL where you seem to always slow everybody down-.-Less traffic lights and hums but LOTS OF round-abouts. Round-about is actually the most efficient way of controlling traffic i think. Oh another interesting fact I observed: Sabahans like to drive big cars! Maybe because it's more convenient to drive on hilly roads.
Im not really a foody person, that's why i recall it the last. What really struck me was the cooling COCONUT PUDDING! Imagine the head of a coconut was cut open, all you see inside is not juice but PUDDING :D The whole coconut was served chilled. Awesome! Another delicacy was the fried dumplings (Guo Tie) served at the very first night. mmhhhmm...Oh ya not forgetting the awesome seafood dinner at our last night. awesome because it was only rm27 per person, inclusive of fruit juice, prawn, chicken, fish, tofu, veg and 5kilos of CRABS. Also, we dined in Little Italy in one of those nights. I found it ok la =3
PS: YOYO was a dessert shop that survived becos of the girls. We went there almost everyday :/
