Best of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah -Part 1

I have been to every state in Malaysia including Kelantan. Which state in Malaysia offers you the best experience of travelling ? Food heaven state definitely will belong to Penang. Most of my friends will ask me why are you going Sabah instead of somewhere else like Thailand or Taiwan since the airplane ticket price not much difference and I would reply them because Kota Kinabalu (KK) has it all from seafood, islands ,mountain and so much more! This post will added some of my holiday pictures.

The pictures were taken by me on my first visit when I flew from Miri to KK. The sunset was taken at Tanjung Aru beach. Those rivers looks like from Geography text books right? =D

Let's get back to food hunting ! Adeline's relatives brought us here to try this Yee Fung Laksa and was known as Sarawak laksa. I have been craving this since I went to National Service and my friends introduced this to me in Kuching. What made it so different between this laksa and the Penang version? Actually Sarawak laksa is more toward to curry version or spicy and the Penang version is more to sour. This laksa was not spicy and was not oily but one of the best one is still in Miri, Sarawak. Adeline's tried their ngau chap and she said it was good but she forget to take picture.

As you know KK cost of living is higher than KL and eating around the town wasn't cheap either. For large bowl cost about RM7 and small is about RM5.50.

The main entrance of the Kedai Kopi Yee Fung and is located at Jalan Gaya, which is the Sunday market street. This was our breakfast before heading to Mount Kinabalu for the 1-day tour.

While waiting for our tour bus, guess what I spotted ? An illegal jetty right in front of Wisma Sabah! There are 3 tourists going for a island tour or something but I didn't see them wearing life jackets. I managed to take picture while they were shaking hands. LOL.

On our way to Mount Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot Spring. You can see the Mount Kinabalu from KK if the weather is good. You can see Mount Kinabalu in the middle of the picture and of course it's the highest one. The tour guide pointed out to us XD

Some random shot from the bus on the way up. Majority of the people inside the bus were Koreans and only both of us are Malaysians. So I was considered as a tourist also I guess. haha

The bus stopped us somewhere near the village and all the tourists went down the bus and took pictures of the mountain. Got 1 aunty holding an iPad to take picture of herself by using the front camera. Looks amazing right?

This tour included us one meal before we head into the hotspring so we had our meal at Poring town which is located outside the entrance of the hot spring. This picture was taken last year but this time that suspension bridge is off-limits to tourists. You can no longer walk on the suspension bridge anymore because they have builded a new concrete bridge further down which cannot see the beautiful stream from the river.

There is another canopy walk inside the hot spring. Something like Taman Negara? You have to walk 800meters up to reach the top and the total journey was approximately an hour. We didn't know we had to walk so long and we wore slippers. Oh no! One of the tourists asked the tour guide why the forest floor was wet and did it rain the day before? In my mind, my first thought was they never been into jungle. Another tourist wore high heels (wedges! Guys cannot differentiate female shoes! XD) hiking into the jungle! I was like this aunty so "GENG" than us wearing slippers. LMAO

Before I joined this tour and I had been searching for a Raflessia tour online and calling the Sabah Tourism Board to confirm whether there is a flower blooming around the mountain or not. To see this biggest flower in the world and was only found in South East Asia you have to pay another RM20 to see but no touching. I asked most of my Sabahan friends or Adeline's relative and they have never seen this flower before. There are flies flying around the flower and surprisingly no smells maybe because it was day 5 of blooming I guess. 

 While calling the hotline, a funny conversation took place.... 

Me                             :    Hi, can I know whether there is Raflessia blooming in the forest?

Sabah Tourism Board :   Let me check with the other authority first and give me a second sir.

Me                             :   Okay.

Sabah Tourism Board :  There is Raflessia blooming at Poring near the hot spring. You have to confirm  again with the Poring centre.

Me                             :    Hi, can I know whether there is Raflessia blooming in the forest?

Poring                       :    Sir, there is some villager put the flower spotted sign by the road side but I don't know whether they have the flower or not! 

In my heart, like that also can? Really "zadou"                      

After searching online, calling all the hotline and finally we took a taxi to the town to double confirm again with the tour operators. Walking around the town asking few of the tour operators and one of the tour told us that there was Raflessia blooming at hot spring which the flower was already day 4. This means that in another 3 days the flower will die off. Adeline and I decided to join the tour and this tour operator looks professional. If you told them that you are Malaysians then you will eligible for some discounts. 

The tour hasn't end yet after the Rafflesia. In the bus, Adeline ate the Loh Mai Chee her uncle bought for us to eat in case we do not have enough to eat during the journey. It is also from Kedai Kopi Yee Fung. The Loh  Mai Chee in Sabah is bigger in size than the ones I bought in Kampar. The Loh Mai Chee form Kampar is smaller and softer. It was Adeline's first time eating it and it tasted like apom balik for her. She likes it.

The bus also stopped by the roadside stalls in Nabalu Town on the way back. There the Koreans went crazy over durians. We asked the stall operator what durians were those but they did not know. Jungle durians XD The smell of the durian was not strong and the Korean family we befriended seem to love eating the durians a lot! Crystal Pineapples (real pineapples, edible ok? :P 'Sui Jing' aka crystal) were sold there as well. I wanted to ask the stall operator to help me cut and put in the polystyrene box but there wasn't enough time so I didn't end up buying.

Recap/ Food in this post:

• Yee Fung laksa/ Sarawak laksa
• Ngau Chap
• Loh Mai Chee
• Durian
• Crystal Pineapple