Review of Pin Min Restaurant, Kundasang
Food Tested: Sar Hor Fun and Fried Rice
Price: Moderate
Review: The Sar Hor Fun is almost the same as Kajang one by using small size Koay Teow. The fried rice is brownish red and it tastes better than Sar Hor Fun. We are placed in a room due to 15 peoples. The environment is bad due to the lousy toilet.
Ratings: D+
Pit Stop I: Mount Kinabalu Park Trek
We come here again to take a nearer photo of Mount Kinabalu. It is sunny morning after breakfast, which is better than the dark yesterday. Some of them try walking up the hill but it is a bit tiring. The route here is much better due to equip with road. We also go for another botanical garden with rare species of flowers and trees. Most of the corners of the parks are functioning as photo session and sight-seeing. Finally, before going back to KK, we stop again at the souvenir shops and I add my collection of fridge magnetic that contains the Sabah bird, orang utan and sea turtle.
Review of Guo Min Restaurant, Kota Kinabalu
Food Tested: Sheng Rou Mee
Price: Expensive (RM 8.50 per set)
Review: The service is bad. The aunty that takes the order confuses herself and like scolding customers makes the wrong order. The beverage of Xia Huo Chao is the same as Liang Cha in our hometown and it costs almost RM 2. The noodle is ok but the service ruins everything. Most of us are cheated as the price of noodle and the soup are separate one.
Ratings: C-
Pit Stop II: Tanjung Aru Beach
We are really exhausted after arriving from Kundasang. Most of us sleep until 5pm and we decide to test the seafood at Tanjung Aru as most of the people claim that the price is cheap. The beach at Tanjung Aru is unlike the one at Island of Manukan and Sapi. It is muddy and there are a lot of crab’s feces. You can see some small crabs moving on the beach, making holes and pumping water. A Sabah bird on the tree catches many photographers’ attention. The seafood there, again, same as Hatyai, whole row is the same. One side is the fried corn, another side is seafood, and remaining one is fried chicken. We test the “ass of the chicken”, fried fish and squid, corn, avocado ice blend, satay and so on. Review and ratings is the same as the one in Kota Kinabalu, salty is the failure even though there are a lot of seafood in Sabah. If you would want to say cheap, I would claim that the splicing of fruits are cheaper. (Marie leaves and back to Sarawak)
Pit Stop III: Perdana Park
Same as The Mines Resort but this park seems more like a jogging trek. The entrance is free and there is some water music splash, with an interval of 30 minutes, and lasts for 15 minutes. The colorful like makes the water splash interesting but lacks of variety. It is far away from the one at The Mines and Singapore. I record a video on it and you should be able to watch soon.
Pit Stop IV: Suria Sabah
A newly open shopping centres just a stone’s throw away from X-plorer. This shopping centre is smaller but there are a lot of brand opening soon such as Padini. Many stores are yet to open. We go for the movie Priest. It has been so long time that so many people watch movie with me. Priest is movie that I do not want to watch, but I watch it as a gathering with course mates. The GSC there is the same size as Sunway Carnival, but you need to travel 8 floors to there. It is less crowded according to my friend as not much people in Sabah going to movie theatre. The review for this movie as expected ridiculous and fail for me. There is an arcade opposite GSC, where Sandra shows her talent there. Melody and Huey Chyi also beat Fong Sim and Yi Hong in basketball tournament.
Sabah Trip Day V – Kiulu Rafting
Pit Stop I: Kiulu White River Rafting
Another first time experience I would say. Same as snorkeling, I am as excited, but at the same time as anxious to raft. The safeguard that gives us the talk on precautions is Syam. Yi Hong, me, Ivan, Fong Sim, Michelle and Sandra are on another boat with another guard. We raft out of our world and it is totally one of the amazing experiences in my life. We are quite co-operative during rafting and thus, we are not falling out of the boat. However, the river is full of stones, we got stuck several times but overall it is OK. Our guard is friendly and he always splashes the water to us, ending up another wet trip. The remaining four with Syam – Huey Chyi, Melody, Jia Ye and Jia Shen with another two visitors, are more adventurous. They fall into the river dragging by Syam. Melody is the one got the most shock. Huey Chyi got stalks with Syam saying that he is handsome when rafting (Hahaha!). Most of the guards there are friendly and sporting, but a weakness is, they smoke. The river there is also nice for enjoyment. We enjoy the flora and fauna, as well as the water there which is very cold. During rafting, there are tree roots that almost hanged us, but it is quite adventurous. We do not notice there is people taking our photos of rafting. This is Level ½ rafting. An accident occurs when Michelle bathes and the whole pipe bursts. Only amusement occurs and no one is injured. Before leaving, we purchase the photos of us with RM70 for two CDs and take photos with Syam and another guard as candid.
Pit Stop II: Ranau Pagoda
There is nothing special here, just a pagoda. There is a monument of Journey to the West. It is just a photo session for us.
Pit Stop III: UMS Aquarium
I think it should be free for university student but still RM3 is charged. It is only a moderate aquarium and not many species there. The most attracting part should be the sea turtles, that all of us are waiting in a correct position in order to snap a photo with the turtles. There are many types of coral samples there, as well as nemo fish again. UMS starts its silence due to semester break that kicks off.
Pit Stop IV: Filipino Market
This is another shopping spot for the ladies but not in our group. Filipino market is considered the boys’ world. There are almost 50 stalls there selling the same stuffs. The one that is most popular is the pearl. Yi Hong tells us that he needs to buy a lot as his family contains many relatives. The technique of bargaining is important or else you will be cheated by the seller. Lily tells me that, when buying a souvenir, must open the price half lower than the one offered by the seller, and increase back until both satisfies. Filipino market is not surrounded by Philippine people, but the style of the market just like you are in Philippine. We come again to Filipino Market on Day 8 and many more stuffs to buy. Melody buys a nice handmade bag but it is expensive than RM35, which is offered at another stall.
Review of Restaurant at Kampung Air (Behind Le Meridian Hotel)
Food Tested: Hainan Chicken Rice (Most of the restaurant contains chicken rice only, that why we eat until we are bored)
Price: Reasonable
Review: The chicken rice tastes moderate with self-service system. Most of the foods served are about with Penang style. The weakness there is its chili sauce, too watery. Sambal there is Penang style, I can say.
Ratings: C
Sabah Trip Day VI - Menombok, Federal Territory of Labuan
Pit Stop I: Menombok Jetty
The jetty here looks like Bukit Tambun’s jetty. It takes about 4 hours from KK to Menombok jetty. This is probably due to its location around fish village. Along the journey to jetty, only trees and jungles are seen. The ticket price is reasonable with RM5 per way. It is a large ferry that departs at 11am. There are three layers on the ferry. The first layer is for the vehicles, second layer is for the passengers whereas the top layer is for passenger to enjoy the sea wind, as well as staffs office and canteen. The ferry takes about 90 minutes to surpass two islands until it arrives at Labuan.
Pit Stop II: Free Trade Zone of Labuan
This should be another shopping spree for all of us. Free tax on chocolates, alcoholic beverages, cigarette and perfume attracts us to throw our bag and straight entering the shops. The ferrero rocher is half price of other places. Most of the chocolates are cheap and there, we learn a technique to choose chocolate. If you notice the chocolate is cheap, then you must take note on the expiry date. It is usually far cheaper due to nearing of expiry date. I choose a few chocolates, but take a lot of M&M’s photos. Sports equipment such as NIKE is cheaper as well, but not more than half price. Another cheapest stuff is DOME.
Pit Stop III: Chimney Museum
Leading by Sok Kuan, we come to a museum that maintains most of the history of charcoal in Labuan. You can learn how the procedure of mining is being carried out, as well as some parts of the technology used left. In front of the information counter, you can use a controller to look around from the top of the tower outside through a TV. The Chimney tower is old and it is the historical symbol of Labuan. However, the purpose of British to build the tower and its functions are yet to discover.
Pit Stop IV: Labuan Reserved Bird Park
Maybe Labuan is one of the smallest location in Malaysia, its bird park is also far behind the one in Kuala Lumpur. Not many birds are found there. Most of the birds look lonely as one cage only contains one bird. There are several parrots there look like the one in the movie Rio, especially the blue one. There is one group of black birds that know to speak, such as “hi, sudah makan, assalamualaikum, wee wit, wou, hello…” This should be the group of bird that attracts most of the patrons. There are three ostriches and they have a long neck. Ivan tries to play with them, but is afraid of beaten by the ostrich. Upon entering, you can hear hifi music being played. After finishing the walk in the bird park, I only know that parrot uses to listen to the songs and dances. There is a photo session charging RM2 with the white parrot. It is so cute and the parrot uses mouth to climb to the shoulder. We do not take photo as it is a waste of money. The most important is, we manage to see the beauty and cutie of the parrot.
Pit Stop V: Marine Park
Same as Ranau Pagoda, it contains nothing here. It is another aquarium that is free of charge. A few species of marine found here, and you can touch some of them. The upper area is closed due to late already.
Pit Stop VI: Labuan’s BBQ Seaside
It is Wesak Day on that day and many families are barbequing there. We are divided two groups; one group stays at the beach and chooses a good location for BBQ. I follow another group to buy stuffs, so that I can go shopping and see how the shopping centre in Labuan is. Fortunately I am not living in Labuan, the two supermarkets are just as big as Billion in Parit Buntar. Labuan may not be a good place for entertainment, but a nice one for standard living – cheap car and house. Due to the early dark sky in East Coast, it is a problem for us to BBQ in the dark at the beach without any light. We finally make our way back to Sok Kuan’s house and BBQ behind the large area of her house. We dig two holes and it takes almost 45 minutes to get the fire ready. A surprise is made for Sok Kuan since her birthday is just around the corner.
Sabah Trip Day VII – Labuan, Kiasan and Kota Kinabalu
Pit Stop I: Labuan International Airport
The airport is as classy as Kuala Lumpur International Airport though not much flights there. We take a walk there.
Pit Stop II: Labuan Square
Since Sok Kuan is going for a part time job interview, we walk around the jetty and it is time for some of us to shop again for alcoholic beverages and chocolates. We walk under the hot sun to Labuan Square, thinking that it is a shopping mall (I doubt already at first since Sok Kuan says before, only two supermarkets in Labuan). At last, it turns out that it is a park. However, according to Sok Kuan, Times Square is opening opposite Labuan Square and it will be the first mall in Labuan. While waiting for Sok Kuan, we enjoy the air conditional at KFC.
Review of Ngee Hing Restaurant, Labuan
Food Tested: Laksa Sarawak
Price: Moderate
Review: The Laksa tastes good but it is a small bowl costing RM4.50. The service is great enough and quite friendly. However, improvement should be done especially more ingredients can be added to the Laksa, such as tofu.
Ratings: C+
Pit Stop III: Kiasan Long Nose Monkeys and Fireflies Reserved Park
We arrive from Labuan around 3pm sharp. Along the journey to this reserved park, all of us fall asleep due to too exhaust. I do not fall asleep as I sleep quite early yesterday at Sok Kuan’s house. This venue does not look like a park, but more to a small reserved area. You need to walk a distance into the dining area, where we have our high tea there. The food provided is just like we are having our meal at home. After that, we board on a boat with a group of Hong Kong people to see the long nose monkey along the river side. It really tests your eye sight to spot for those monkeys. Hong Kong people are more excited than us when monkey appears. At night, after finishing dinner at the same area, we notice that the whole area turns dark. Fireflies start to appear and one of them halts on my hand. It really drives me mad. Cautiously, we turn off all of our lights and travel by boat again. You will certainly be amazed by the fireflies that light up the whole tree. It is just like the Christmas tree that keeps shining. Uncle Chong even catches few of them and we release those fireflies when we are on the van.
Sabah Trip Day VIII – Waterfront Kota Kinabalu
Review on Sheng Rou Mian Restaurant
Food Tested: Sheng Rou Noodle
Price: Reasonable
Review: It is almost the same as Tuaran Mee that we test before, but more delicious and fresh that the Guo Min Restaurant. The aunty is more friendly and systematic. Nice sauce as well.
Ratings: B-
Pit Stop I: Waterfront Seaside
This is a place that gathered a lot of pub. However, I would like to stress again those pubs are café style and not the one which is negative. It would be nice if we can have our beer and at the same time enjoy the sea wind. Too bad, there is no more time as we are leaving at 1pm that day and most of the café has not started their business yet. Some of us move to Filipino Market and continue their last minute shopping.
As such, the trip has come to an end
Same as every trip
Even though it is tired
It leaves happy moments and unforgettable memories
Especially with friends and families
Perhaps another trip next year?
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