Kota Kinabalu - Seafood!

One of the reasons for this trip was the seafood.  We loved it and we did eat lots of seafood indeed. We didnt go to any fancy seafood restaurants which mostly owned by chinese but we opted to eat at the gerai or small stalls and owned by muslims.  Our first stop was at the Sinsuran night market and these place was buzzing as usual.  So many stalls to select and seafood to eat and we ended up eating our dinner at a stall belonged to a very nice lady.  We liked the sambal that went with the seafood and the price were quite cheap too.

My brother enquired about this, we never seen it before.  The lady told us its called "rumpai" or seaweed?  It looked interesting so we tried it out for RM1.00 we got a whole plate.  And it was really nice, it has a great texture, sort of like crunchy and watery like grapes but very small in shape. We liked it and ended up buying it again the next day.

On the next night, we went to Likas for the seafood again.  Our first time here and the place looked like Tamu Selera in Bandar.  The seafood were fresh and uncooked, unlike in Sinsuran market where the seafood were cooked earlier and reheated.  We ordered prawns, fish, squids, shells and vegetables.  It was ok but the seafood in Kuching was much tastier in my opinion.

Kota Kinabalu - Manukan Island

The most anticipated visit by almost everyone.  We made our trip to Manukan Island on the second day.  My brother arranged the trip with someone, I guess he is a tour guide (?) and charged us RM58 per person for transportation (he collected us from our hotel), the boat ride, the safety vests, goggles, snokeling gear and admission fees.  Not sure if thats expensive or not, but hubby did browse through the internet and found that it would be cheaper to go there on our own, but anyway. 

We reached Jesselton pier/jetty and board the boat.  It was exhilirating trip, it took about 20 minutes boat ride to reach the island.  The weather was just nice, its not too hot and it was windy and made the trip really worthwhile.  We were fully equipped with the trip though, we brought our own towels, extra clothings, some food, water and sunblock.  So all were in order.

Some facts about the island, it  is the second largest island in Sabah and the most developed. Hence, this island probably see the most visitors. The island is one and half kilometers long, crescent shaped. We could see and usee nature trails here and there were chalets and some restaurants around.  We could snorkel, dive, swim, walk or just relax here (like I did, lol)  My family mostly swam and snorkel although there were other activities but since they were all rental, we decided to stick to the swim only and feed the fish!  They love feeding the fish since the fish were really close they just could touched them.  One thing they didnt know though was the corals are sharp.  Hubby and my daughter were both have cuts on their feets.  So have to be very careful.

We didnt stay for the whole day though, we were done around 1pm, happy, enjoying ourselves but tired.



All of us at the Jesselton Pier




Looking forward to the trip




Getting to the boat.




Me, Ayang and hubby on the boat




This is not our boat, another tourists were on their way too




Reaching Manukan Island




Me at the main entrance




Without further adieu, its time to hit the sea




Serene picture - the jetty leading up to the main entrance of the island




People getting up the jetty from the boat




They really enjoyed themselves




But someone was so scared of the fish lol



Fish feeding time!




Lots of fish to feed



Look at those fish!




Since I didnt join them in the water, my job was to take pictures and manned the belongings hehe




Admission fees




My brother was enjoying the swim





Sharp corals




Baywatch?




Me and my daughter ready to leave the island




While waiting for the boat





On the boat on our way back to the main land





Me and hubby



We reached the Jesselton Pier and the trip was over



Next destination - Kota Kinabalu Sabah

The day after we arrived from Singapore, we went to Kota Kinabalu next.  We have been here for so many times already but this time we wanted to go to Manukan Island as recommended by my brother.  And hubby craved the seafood too so why not! Those who were going was the same entourage to Singapore minus my parents.  We set out from home at around 7am and reached Kota Kinabalu 10 hours later at 5.30pm.  And that was a long journey!  Not because its very far but because of the traffic. It was horrendous.  We were caught in 3 different areas and each took about 1-2hrs of queuing.  It was insane.  The first queue was at Kuala Lurah of course.  There were already queue when we reached the checkpoint, although it was not too bad, we were done at about 8.30am.

The next queue was on the road leading up to Limbang.  We were queuing for more than one hour, the town was packed since the people of Limbang were in celebratory mood and welcoming a visitor, I think it was their deputy Prime Minister or someone.  I just didnt care, it hindered our journey, not good.  We stopped at one of the malay restaurants for breakfast since my brother and his family havent taken their breakfast yet.  Then we moved on and caught at the next queue and this was where it was the longest, at Temburong Ferry.  Wow.. I think the Brunei government should think about building a bridge!  The ferry couldnt cope with the number of cars and it took people hours to get to the other side.  The ferry could accomodation less than 15 cars and the queue was more than 1km long.  It was crazy.

The journey was ok from then on although we didnt reach KK earlier than expected but we were in a good jolly mood so everything went smoothly from there.  The apartment we stayed in was lovely, and I liked it.  It was a 3 bedroom apartments just nice for the 7 of us.  It was fully equipped although I would be much happier if they got laundry and dryer in there.  It was spacious and we got a good hotel bargain, the apartment cost RM345 per night (Shell rate) with breakfast for 6.  



At the Kuala Lurah check point




Almost reaching KK




Passed by KK airport




Hubby caught this establishment on camera.  Interesting name (and business).




My brother lend us this radio, thanks to it we could communicate very effectively and cheaply hehe.  We used this in Singapore too.




Arrived at the service apartment




Checking in, we got a room on the 8th floor




This is the cozy living room, it was ok but the entertainment could be improved.  There were only few channels but if we want Astro then we had to pay more, naahh....




The main bedroom which we took




The amenities at the kitchen




I like the set up.  The dining room with a window from the kitchen