Kota Kinabalu City Tour

Bandaraya Floating Mosque

Day I: Just Arrived in Kota Kinabalu

DayII: Kota Kinabalu City Tour

Day III: Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot Springs

Day IV: Free Time at the City

Our initial plan for this day is to cross Brunei but due to…Here’s the story

By 6 AM , Woke Up and Breakfast at Tong Pin 2 Coffee (Besides Lavender Lodge, Opposite of Seri Selera)

*One of the Employees is a Filipina (Ate Perlita or Perly from Davao). She gave us discounts for our meal.

Traditional Coffee with Condense Milk

Malay-Chinese Breakfast

Back to Hotel. Nap turn to Sleep. Woke up by 9 AM. No Definite Plans. Lazy Environment (Hahaha)

By 10 AM, Left the Hotel with So-so Concrete plans. Because we missed the first trip to Brunei by 8.30, we decided to have a City Tour instead. 

*Hotel Iskandar offered RM 270 (Rent a Car with a Driver/24 Hours). We declined and they suggested to hire a Taxi for our desired Tourist Spots.

*All we want is to see a Proboscis Monkey  (a Resident of Borneo Island) ,so we had a Unanimous decision to go to Lok Kawi Wildlife Park for a Half Day Tour and the other half is to Visit at least 3 Heritage Sites outside from Downtown KK. (Thank You Hotel Iskandar for providing us Tour Brochures and we were enlightened where to go or you can visit this site http://malaysiatour2u.com/store/)

 

We negotiated to two Taxi Drivers but we didn’t meet half way to a best deal (They wanted  to bring us to Lok Kawi and after,will visit just one Heritage Site and back to City Proper  for RM150). Until we met Kuya Jonny ,(Half  Filipino/ Half Malaysian) and offered us  (Lok Kawi Tour-Signal Hill-Tun Mustapha- Floating Mosque- Drop City Proper for RM160. Not Bad! The Whole Van is Ours. Good Deal)

*Here’s Jonny and Jean Contact Info:

Sabah Express Rent a Car &Tour

Jonny 016-8220048 or Jean 0111-6027274

Facebook:Iko_John88@yahoo.com

*Lok Kawi Wildlife Park( A Must Visit Tour) is 30-45 mins away Southwest of  Downtown KK,

- Entrance RM10 (Malaysian Citizen), RM20 (Non-Malaysian)

-They Have Animal Feeding Sessions, Animal Show ,Elephant Ride(RM5) and Tram Service (RM2)

Again, all we wanted is to see a Proboscis Monkey and Orangutans (Residents of Borneo Island) 

 

Malayan Tiger ( Roowwrrr)

Sun Bear (Tamad lang)

Gibon (Pa-Bibo Lang)

Otter (Best in Swimming)

Had a Muddy Bath

Tram Ride (RM2)

Other Animals, etc....in short IT IS A ZOO...

Highlight of this tour...(The Proboscis Monkeys)

Pinocchio?

Chubby Pinocchio? (Purgahin na Yan)

Lunch at LoK Kawi and Back to Kota Kinabalu Downtown and now we’re headed to our City Tour (Northern Part of Downtown KK)

1^st Stop: Signal Hill Observatory (a Viewing  Deck )

Kota Kinabalu Downtown

Go Cels! I Can't go there near. I'm Afraid of Heights

2^nd Stop: Tun Mustapha Building (believed to have a Revolving Restaurant-according to Jonny’s wife)

Opposite Building of Tun Mustapha

3^rd Stop: Floating Mosque

-          Wearing Shorts and Sleeveless are not allowed inside the Mosque

-          We Rented Abaya  for only RM2

-          We we’re guided by a Filipina for a tour inside the Mosque

Bandaraya Floating Mosque

Imam?

 

With our Filipina Guide

We bade goodbye and grateful to Kuya Jonny and his wife, Jean for touring us and we decided to drop us at Jesselton Point ( So we can check the ferry schedules to Brunei)

Due to our limited time and  schedules of ferries  Brunei- KK Vice Versa. We decided to cancel our visit to Brunei. Maybe some other time and planning to get a direct flight from Manila- Brunei and visit Kota Kinabalu again and Go to Sandakan or will try to climb Mt Kinabalu. :-)

Would you like to read: Gael’s Solo Backpack in Brunei

So for our third day, we booked a Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot Springs package(Lunch Included/Hotel Pick- Up by 830 AM) for only RM120 for the 4 of us  from RM170 at Grand Kinabalu Tours in Jesselton Point (We were assisted by Nur, also a Filipina).

From Jesselton Point, we walked the long stretch of Jalan Tun Razak and headed to the City Park and Centerpoint Mall area and look for FOREX.

Dinner at KFC again and Capping our night with a Massage (RM60). Lights Off

Tips for the Day

*Average Meal (RM10), Can of Coke (RM2.5)

*If you’re looking for travel agencies that caters KK tours, go to  Jesselton Point.

*Malls in Dowtown KK are KK Plaza, Centerpoint, Wisma Merdeka, Warisan Square and Suria Sabah.

* A lot of Filipinos in Sabah, Don’t be surprised if they’ll ask “Tagalog Kayo?” and that will be the start of non-stop chit-chat..Hehe

*Malay Language I always use  “ Apa Khabar?” (How Are You?), “Terimah Kasih” (Thank You!), “Selamat “Pagi” (Good Morning! ) “Malam” (Evening!) etc… and the most Funny Word we learned “Pondan” (Gay/Homosexual)!

Next > Day III: Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot Springs