View of Mount Kinabalu. The holiday was excellent. Shah and I had a great time enjoying the laid back life of Kota Kinabalu and we're contemplating on moving over to KK one fine day. We arrived in KK on Saturday (13 May 06) night and myh mum's friend was waiting at the airport to take us to our hotel. The next day all four of us (my mum, sister, Shah and I) went on a tour to Poring Hot Spring (near Ranau) and Mount Kinabalu Park. The drive to Poring Hot Spring took almost 3 hours but we had a few stops along the way to enjoy the view of Mount Kinabalu (the highest mountain in South East Asia) and to but some local handiocraft as well as fresh vegetables and honey. At the hot spring we went on the Canopy Walk whereby we had walk across 3 hanging bridges 41m above the ground. It was an exhilarating experience although there were times when I was a bit scared of falling down. We did not bathe in the hot spring but we did dip our feet in the pool. Next we moved on to Mount Kinabalu Park. We were brought up to the starting point of the climbing track (which is approximaltely 1500m above sea level) up the mountain and enjoyed the view from there. It was breathtaking! Shah and I vowed to ourselves that we would one day climb right up to the peak of Mount Kinabalau. But before that we've really got to get into shape!
View from the starting point of Mount Kinabalu climbing track.
The next day, my mum's friend brought all of us to an Orang Utan Nature Reserve which is located at the Shangri La Rasa Ria Resort in Karamunsing. It is a very small version of the Orang Utan Natural Reserve centre in Sepilok near Sandakan (on the east coast of Sabah). We had fun watching 3 small orang utan's playing around. Luckily the orang utan's obliged us by jumping from tree to tree and haging from the ropes connecting the trees. After lunch we went to Monsopiad Cultural Village which is a place that showcases the culture of the Kadazan tribe in Sabah. We watched a Kadazan traditional dance show and were brought around the village by the tour guide who explained to us the culture of the Kadazan people. We were also brought to the House of Skulls which is the house of a kadazan warrior called Monsopiad who lived 300 years ago. According to the tour guide Monsopiad killed 42 people thourghout his life and each to the 42 skulls of his victims were kept until this day. This was done to an an act of bravery to display to other tribes that the Kadazan people of his village are not to be bothered with.
The orang utan must be thinking 'what are these creatures watching us?'
The final day of our trip in KK was spent touring the city and going to the Handicraft Market to buy some pearl jewellery which is what Sanah is famous for. I bought a pearl bracelet and a ring. We flew home that night but not after a 1-hour delay courtesy of A*rA*ia. Well, we couldn't grumble much since we got the the fare at RM0!
