Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (part 2)
Good morning from KK!!!!
My RM60.00 per night room at the BGB comes with a free breakfast of toasted bread (ikaw pa ang magtoast talaga! lol) + Borneo coffee (medyo lapsaw pero okay na rin). Actually I expected a better fare (something similar to what I got from the places I stayed in other SE minor cities) from this place, I'm really getting tired of staying in commercialized and badly-managed guesthouses. Ugh! I should have researched this thoroughly before the trip. I was hoping for a cozy B&B, more of a family-run establishment with a more personalized feel.
Mosques + Temples
After checking my LP guide, decided to head off to the Sabah State Mosque coz it is just a 15-minutes walk from the guesthouse. The mosque is not really that spectacular, it has a very modern and contemporary design......parang na realize ko tuloy yung mga tourists who flock to the Grand Mosque in Male and whenever I pass by I just don't understand what the attraction is all about......hehehehhe.....and there I was, doing the very same thing, taking photos of an otherwise normal-looking mosque. Hay naku, the traps that we tourists get sucked into..... brochures telling you its a landmark kaya mega sugod ka rin doon. lol!!!
The Sabah State Mosque is considered the largest mosque in the entire state of Sabah. What made me go and take a look though is the fact that the dome and minarets are made of real gold daw, kumikinang nga naman talaga!
Took a "bus mini" (more of a mini van) towards downtown KK, medyo magaling na ako ngayon sa mga bus stops na to after my bus trauma yesterday hehehehehe.
Stopped off in front of Marina Court, where mini bus routes normally converges. Good thing though, a friendly stranger agreed to take me to Gaya Street when I told him I want to see the Sunday market. His family is originally from Vietnam and fled during the communist era hence his name had changed from "Wong" to now "Harimasu".....still does not sound Sabah-non hehehehe.
We walked all the way to Gaya Street....... people here I think just walk nonstop from when they alight from their buses. Kaloka! Anyhow, I love the atmosphere in the Sunday market. Jalan Gaya (or Bond Street during the British era) was full of stalls, from food, souvenir items, clothes, and even orchids! Everything is sold there! Such a lovely, vibrant market scene.
From there I am still undecided as to what to do during the day, I went instead to Wisma Sabah building to look for a tour agency to book my Kinabalu park day trip tomorrow. After finalizing my tour (rate is RM 180.00 for the trip), I went to have lunch at Kenny Rogers @Suria Sabah.......as in kaloka, my bill was almost RM 30.00....as in, really? Ganun kamahal? Maybe this is the only Kenny in this entire city? Di pa ako nabusog kasi iba ang lasa ng kanilang teriyaki chicken.....
Nothing I can do about it, since ang laki na ng ginastos ko so why not splurge more hahahaha......I hired a cab to take me to 2 places which are located a bit away from KK center ---- City Mosque and the Puh Toh Tze temple. The City Mosque is indeed beautiful and can accommodate up to 12,000 worshippers.......it sits on a man-made lake and looks like the whole mosque is floating in the water. Mas maganda siguro if I come here at night....next time? hahahaha
The Puh Toh Tze temple was full of worshippers, maybe because its still Chinese New Year and there seems to be a huge population of Chinese immigrants in this city. The temple complex itself is very small if I compare it to other countries like Vietnam wherein their Chinese temples are really colorful and extensive.
Islands + White Sand Beaches
I asked the driver to drop me off at the Jesselton Point ferry terminal. My main reason for going there is to buy a ticket for my Labuan-Brunei crossing, however, when I finished paying for the ticket I got attracted to the next window which advertised for tickets to the TAR (Tunku Abdul Rahman) islands......of the three islands there, I opted to go to Pulau Manukan coz it has a 1:30pm departure.
The island itself is really pretty to look at from afar, clear blue-green waters with small fishes swimming around especially in the jetty area, ringed with a white sand beach, But when you get there, my God, there were like boatloads of tourists who are on package tours and the beach was just so crowded. Meron pang nagpa picture sa dagat ng naka sweater pa! hahahaha
I stayed glued to the isolated part of the beach and just lounged in the sand.....ang ending, super agta hahahaha with sunburned cheeks! The charm of the island is somehow lost due to the throngs of people swarming the area, maybe if I came on a quiet day (not during a public holiday) I would have been able to really enjoy the place.
Last departure from the island through the public ferries was 5pm, but for some reason we had to wait for the primadonna driver to come on board and took us quite some time before we finally left. Kaswerte ko rakan lam, nagpagara an driver....such a show-off, feeling nak mabungkag na an boat and I was seated in front pa talaga!
I still don't want to go back to my guesthouse, so I wandered around the Handicraft Market, a.k.a. Psar Filipino, but it was such a letdown..... the stuff there are too touristy expensive (I was too excited pa mandin to visit this place due to its name). I ended up walking around the harbour area and plonked myself in a Starbucks cafe and splurged further hahahah.....oh well, so much for being on a budget.
Time to head back to the guesthouse now, I'm broke for the day! lol It was a day well spent though....had my share of places of worship and my worship of the sun + beach.
My RM60.00 per night room at the BGB comes with a free breakfast of toasted bread (ikaw pa ang magtoast talaga! lol) + Borneo coffee (medyo lapsaw pero okay na rin). Actually I expected a better fare (something similar to what I got from the places I stayed in other SE minor cities) from this place, I'm really getting tired of staying in commercialized and badly-managed guesthouses. Ugh! I should have researched this thoroughly before the trip. I was hoping for a cozy B&B, more of a family-run establishment with a more personalized feel.
Mosques + Temples
After checking my LP guide, decided to head off to the Sabah State Mosque coz it is just a 15-minutes walk from the guesthouse. The mosque is not really that spectacular, it has a very modern and contemporary design......parang na realize ko tuloy yung mga tourists who flock to the Grand Mosque in Male and whenever I pass by I just don't understand what the attraction is all about......hehehehhe.....and there I was, doing the very same thing, taking photos of an otherwise normal-looking mosque. Hay naku, the traps that we tourists get sucked into..... brochures telling you its a landmark kaya mega sugod ka rin doon. lol!!!
The Sabah State Mosque is considered the largest mosque in the entire state of Sabah. What made me go and take a look though is the fact that the dome and minarets are made of real gold daw, kumikinang nga naman talaga!
Took a "bus mini" (more of a mini van) towards downtown KK, medyo magaling na ako ngayon sa mga bus stops na to after my bus trauma yesterday hehehehehe.
Stopped off in front of Marina Court, where mini bus routes normally converges. Good thing though, a friendly stranger agreed to take me to Gaya Street when I told him I want to see the Sunday market. His family is originally from Vietnam and fled during the communist era hence his name had changed from "Wong" to now "Harimasu".....still does not sound Sabah-non hehehehe.
We walked all the way to Gaya Street....... people here I think just walk nonstop from when they alight from their buses. Kaloka! Anyhow, I love the atmosphere in the Sunday market. Jalan Gaya (or Bond Street during the British era) was full of stalls, from food, souvenir items, clothes, and even orchids! Everything is sold there! Such a lovely, vibrant market scene.
From there I am still undecided as to what to do during the day, I went instead to Wisma Sabah building to look for a tour agency to book my Kinabalu park day trip tomorrow. After finalizing my tour (rate is RM 180.00 for the trip), I went to have lunch at Kenny Rogers @Suria Sabah.......as in kaloka, my bill was almost RM 30.00....as in, really? Ganun kamahal? Maybe this is the only Kenny in this entire city? Di pa ako nabusog kasi iba ang lasa ng kanilang teriyaki chicken.....
Nothing I can do about it, since ang laki na ng ginastos ko so why not splurge more hahahaha......I hired a cab to take me to 2 places which are located a bit away from KK center ---- City Mosque and the Puh Toh Tze temple. The City Mosque is indeed beautiful and can accommodate up to 12,000 worshippers.......it sits on a man-made lake and looks like the whole mosque is floating in the water. Mas maganda siguro if I come here at night....next time? hahahaha
The Puh Toh Tze temple was full of worshippers, maybe because its still Chinese New Year and there seems to be a huge population of Chinese immigrants in this city. The temple complex itself is very small if I compare it to other countries like Vietnam wherein their Chinese temples are really colorful and extensive.
Islands + White Sand Beaches
I asked the driver to drop me off at the Jesselton Point ferry terminal. My main reason for going there is to buy a ticket for my Labuan-Brunei crossing, however, when I finished paying for the ticket I got attracted to the next window which advertised for tickets to the TAR (Tunku Abdul Rahman) islands......of the three islands there, I opted to go to Pulau Manukan coz it has a 1:30pm departure.
The island itself is really pretty to look at from afar, clear blue-green waters with small fishes swimming around especially in the jetty area, ringed with a white sand beach, But when you get there, my God, there were like boatloads of tourists who are on package tours and the beach was just so crowded. Meron pang nagpa picture sa dagat ng naka sweater pa! hahahaha
I stayed glued to the isolated part of the beach and just lounged in the sand.....ang ending, super agta hahahaha with sunburned cheeks! The charm of the island is somehow lost due to the throngs of people swarming the area, maybe if I came on a quiet day (not during a public holiday) I would have been able to really enjoy the place.
Last departure from the island through the public ferries was 5pm, but for some reason we had to wait for the primadonna driver to come on board and took us quite some time before we finally left. Kaswerte ko rakan lam, nagpagara an driver....such a show-off, feeling nak mabungkag na an boat and I was seated in front pa talaga!
I still don't want to go back to my guesthouse, so I wandered around the Handicraft Market, a.k.a. Psar Filipino, but it was such a letdown..... the stuff there are too touristy expensive (I was too excited pa mandin to visit this place due to its name). I ended up walking around the harbour area and plonked myself in a Starbucks cafe and splurged further hahahah.....oh well, so much for being on a budget.
Time to head back to the guesthouse now, I'm broke for the day! lol It was a day well spent though....had my share of places of worship and my worship of the sun + beach.
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