passing time: Journey to East Malaysia

Last week, I went to a trip with my mom and a group of aunties & uncles. The majority of them are senior citizens. At first, I joined the trip to accompany my mom and thought that since I haven't been to the east of Malaysia, it would be a great opportunity to see Sabah for the first time of my life. Furthermore, air ticket is cheap and the package includes accommodation, meals, transport from Ipoh-KL-Ipoh and transport in KK. But deep in my heart, I was afraid I'd be bored. But it turned out to be a very fun and enjoyable trip! :D

We departed from Ipoh at 4:00am on 3/5 by Yoyo bus and arrived at LCCT at 7:00am. Mom prepared tuna sandwich for our breakfast and we had some coffee at McD. The rest had McD breakfast. Our flight was at 10:20am. We took our time resting and chit-chatting at the boarding area. Got an sms from a friend who's also flying on the same day but she supposed to depart at 6:00am. But her flight got delayed to 12pm (6hrs delay?!) and she was still at the airport. But I didn't get to meet her because I was already at the boarding area.

We arrived in KK at about 12:00pm and had lunch at a nearby restaurant. Checked in at Gaya Centre Hotel in Kota Kinabalu at about 3:00pm and a rest before the next agenda. The hotel is new and the bed is so comfortable! :D

Sunset watching at 6:00pm. You need to go there before 6pm. We were slightly late. A few seconds late, the sun will be gone.

Musical fountain at Perdana Park. Entry to the park is free of charge. I got a nice seat, right in the middle. I guess it's because it's a daily 'performance', not many people came to see it. After Perdana Park, we went to see Sutera Harbour Resort which is a luxury hotel. Feel a bit 'paiseh' cuz we looked like a bunch of ppl from the kampung disturbing the quiet atmosphere at the hotel. haha!

Had seafood dinner on our first night here. Saw these funny looking rockfish at the restaurant. Wonder how they cook them?

On our second day, woke up at 6:30am as we need to depart to Mt Kinabalu at 8:00am. Took a few photos of the mountain but we can only see the tip as it was too cloudy that day. It was pretty amazing to see the huge mountain right beside you (literally). After that we had our lunch nearby Poring Hot Spring.

Just when we started our journey from the ticket counter, the sky started to pour heavy rain. We waited at some shelters for about an hour before we climbed the hill to the Poring Canopy walkway. Not an easy route to go up there. The paths and steps were all wet and muddy. As I'm an indoor person and seldom exercise, it was a fairly slow climb. Mom and I were the last few people climbing the hill. The tour leader and his wife accompanied us at the back. That's the wife behind me. :) I was so excited when we get there. Mom was excited too as she didn't think she could make it at first. Was hesitating before we went up the hill.

Kundasang War Memorial. It was drizzling and the weather turned pretty cold. I love the pavement in the garden.

At the start of the Mt Kinabalu summit trail. Just a short stop-by to take photographs and borrow their washroom. Not climbing up there. Haha!

On our last day of our trip, our tour guide whom we hired in Sabah brought us to have this famous fish noodle for our breakfast. I don't usually eat much for breakfast but it was so delicious that I ate quite a lot! :p This restaurant is frequented by celebrities too!

After breakfast, we visited the Sabah museum, chocolate factory (beryl's), coffee shop (free coffee tasting), a shop selling frozen seafood, a short stop at University Malaysia Sabah and Yayasan Sabah building. Supposed to visit the aquarium at the university but the aunties were to eager to buy seafood, so we skipped that.