Cloud Castle

So i’ve been up and about since the end of the exams~

By the way, i passed~!!

Will update the blog on my Sabah trip after my Bali excursion~

Any inconvenience is deeply regretted!

CB out

Some people might call it crazy when someone goes on a holiday straight out of an exam and when the results will be out a week later. But that’s exactly what me and a group of 6 strong did! The 6 included Wen Chung, Chen Yi, Fei Bing, Li Cin, Fang Han, and Ai Ling

Day 1

After a night of drinking, playing counter strike, and doing everything else except sleeping, I finally dragged my packed suitcase and my backpack down to the front of IMU at 6.30 in the morning to get to KL central and then to the LCC terminal. The train, bus and 2 hour plane ride was for the most part, boring. When we arrive at Kota Kinabalu, we met our tour guide, a Civil Engineering PhD student by the name of Doh.

Doh, Doh, Doh, Do Re Mi punya Doh.

- Doh Shu Ing
Civil Engineering PhD Student, Tour Guide

He took us to our accommodation to be checked in. Now at this point I was under the assumption that we were to stay in on e of the budget hotels around the town. And i was mildly surprise that Doh took us to some back alley shops that i was suspecting were the city’s red light district. “Welcome to the city’s red light district” said Doh, pointing to an alley, full with red Chinese lanterns. Apparently the actual red light district is somewhere across town and no where near where we were staying. The accommodation, was neither a hotel, nor a motel. It’s a lounge. The backpacker’s Lounge. When I saw it, I was all like “uh-oh” and imagining rats under the table, grub for breakfast, and slime on the bed sheets. But in fact it was all the opposite. The rooms were clean and well lit, the bed was hard but comfortable, sheets were sparkling clean and white, the service was excellent, and we can have unlimited bread, butter, jam and coffee for breakfast.

We did not have time to enjoy the comforts of the hostel, as we were whisked away by Doh to see about the sights the city has to offer. We ate the local Kolo Mee for lunch, went to a pearl shop to shop for pearls, visited the awesome seafront campus of University Malaysia Sabah and it’s aquarium for marine biology students, and also the carbon copy of One Utama in Sabah, One Borneo. We even went up to the observation tower on the Bukit Bendera of Sabah to watch the night view of the city. The tower strangely look like oversized mushrooms growing out of the mountains though.

Day 2

We started the day early and we got to eat at this chinese coffee shop just nearby out hostel. They serve fish noodles. Not the kind where they give you flour noodles served with fish cakes and fish fillets, but the kind where the noodles themselves are made from fish.

It was quite nice and soon after that, we went to Jesselton Point, boarded a ferry and headed to Manukan Island where we snorkeled in shallow waters feeding bread to the many colorful fishes in the sea. Corals there are not as colorful as those in the waters of Redang or Lang Tengah, but the fishes compensate this, showcasing every single color of an artist’s palate underwater. Before we left for the mainland, we started the first of our many jungle trekking activities to come. We circled the island on a hill trek for about an hour before it was too late, and we had to get back to the boat for lunch at the mainland.

After lunch, we headed towards the Philippine market near the waterfront and every inch of the covered building was filled with vendors selling the same trinkets and souvenirs. We bargained and slashed and shopped around the place for sometime until it was evening time, where we went to a place called Tanjung Aru to watch the sunset. It wasn’t a nice day for a sunset though as the skies were literally filled with dark clouds of an impending storm. Later, we went to a very “Sangkala” place to have seafood which was awesome! After that, we went to the “tower of coins” Yayasan Sabah tower to have drinks in the revolving restaurant! It is quite astonishing that University students come here to discuss and do their homeworks here, comparing to us going to McDonalds to study here in the mainland.

Day 3

Day 3 marked the day where we were to leave the city center of Kota Kinabalu, and head towards the outlands and tropic forests of Kinabalu Park. There we took pictures and even trekked up about 2 kilometers in the cool weather of the foot of the mountain. Kinabalu resort was another place where we stopped by to cam whore and to visit the gents.

Later that day, we headed towards Poring hot  springs, where we hiked yet another jungle trek, this time for god knows how long, to reach the canopy walk high up in the trees. Now it might not be scary for certain people, those with acrophobia are in for a real treat as the only thing separating you and ground zero is nothing but a few ropes and a piece of 2 by 4 wooden board!

It’s all fun and stuff, until it started raining, really heavily, when we were trekking down. By the time we reached the hot springs at the foot of the hill, we were literally soaked. The following bath in a private room in hot spring water proved to be an effective tranquilizer as every muscle in my body was in a state of relaxation.

After soaking ourselves in hot sulfurous water for about an hour or more, we exited the hot springs, and headed towards Rose Cabin, where it is quite high up in terms of sea level, and very chilly indeed made worse by the drizzling rain.

Day 4

The next morning, our resident alarm bell Wen Chung, whose biological clock has been permanently set to wake him at an hour inconvenient for humans to awake, awoke us from sleep at about 6am in the morning. We were told before coming here that one of the features of Rose Cabin, was that you can see a very beautiful sunrise with Mount Kinabalu in it’s picturesque scenery. Lo and behold what we got was the complete opposite, plus wind biting cold temperatures, a light drizzle and a school kid with no personal protective equipment from cold, walking to a school bus, putting all of us to shame!

After a very expensive breakfast at the cabin, we headed towards Kudat and the scenery of the Tip of Borneo. Before that, the 3 hour van journey was prolonged by a very surprising twist of events. Apparently it had rained quite heavily the last night, and it was still raining when we were on the road, and the amount of water that has fallen from the sky has overflowed most of the rivers and drains located along the roads heading towards the tip. In total, we went pass 4 out of 7 floods on the way to the tip.

However, kudos to our van driver, who was very concerned about the van’s durability, our safety, and our happiness as tourists. He professionally overcame each obstacle on the way even though he was tired from all the driving. Respect.

Now, the tip of Borneo is one magnificent sight. All there is at the tip are a couple of statues saying it is the northern most point on Borneo island, a few flower bushes and a warning sign, telling you not to wander off to far towards the rocks below. It’s magnificent because of the sea’s waves, green colored ground glass in appearance, enveloping itself on to the rocks, smashing into them with their  naturally generated forces, causing sparks of water to spray all over, causing a snow like effect. Water has temporarily became solid. That image was so artistic, I just stood there capturing it all in.

Not before long, we were off to Kudat town where we ate lunch and were told we were not able to visit the bee farm and the gong factory due to time constraints caused by the floods. But we were able to visit a traditional Bajau Long House. It is amazing that they still live in these houses, and even rent them out to travelers seeking for adventure!

After that, it was another monotonous ride back to Kota Kinabalu city. All in all, I would think 85% of the day was spent in the van, but it was totally worth it just to see the tip of Borneo.

Day 5

Day 5, and after a loooooong night’s rest, we were told to meet at a place nearby for a bus that would be taking us to a hill nearby for water rafting. Now i’ve never done rafting in my entire life and this is my very first time. At the launch site, we were told to put on a half egg shell helmet, a life jacket (tightened, i really mean tightened), and a paddle. We were briefed shortly on safety and what to do if one falls out of the boat and into the river rapids (trick is to just relax, hang on for dear life, and swim to the nearest boat when you have the chance!).

The rafting experience was an incredible one! We were paddling to gain speed throughout the whole journey, and when we came to a descent, the skipper would purposely manipulate the situation so that we would plunge into the waters below! I plunged in quite a number of times and had half the river in my stomach when I was done with it! I even nearly drowned on one occasion! Pure fun actually! (There’s this one picture that i bought for RM40, will show you guys some other time la!).

After rafting, the package includes a buffet lunch, including barbequed chicken and lamb! Tasty! Later, we headed back, had a nap, and it was free and easy time where we shopped at a nearby shopping center.

Day 6 and 7

After yet another night of good sleep, we were yet again on the move. This time towards Museum Sabah. There’s this very nice outdoor exhibition exhibiting various environments where the aborigines lived. There were long houses of every kind of tribes, houses of every kind of race, and even their socioeconomic status in their neighborhood. However, I found the entire experience rather distasteful as I was the state cafeteria to a swarm of mosquitoes, biting me for a blood meal so they can spawn more of their cursed species.

The tour inside the university proper proved to be an excellent one. We saw the large bony structure of a Bryde’s Whale which was beached and perished on one of the shores of Sabah, we saw the various cultural practices of the aborigines, and even the wildlife in Sabah. Rather nerdy yes, but that’s the museum for you.

Later after lunch, we headed to Jesselton Point yet again. This time, it was to catch a ferry to La-bu-an (bang sai cannot bang finish). It was a 3 hour boring ferry ride where the air con was on full blast and the seas a tad bit too rocky for a few of it’s passengers.

When we reached Labuan, I was given the task to pilot a car there because Doh couldn’t rent a van. And so i can now proudly claim that i have once driven in Labuan! Not a great place to drive in though. There’s nothing much to see in Labuan other then the various duty free shops that sells alcohol, smokes and chocolates. But the next day, we made full use of it, visiting the war memorial, which looks a lot like the one you see in America, the marina which has no ships in it, the chimney with no apparent use other then the myth that the Japanese used it as a tunnel to gain access to mainland Sabah, the bird park where we were it’s first customers of the day at 4pm, and the awesome barbequed chicken wings with it’s awesome sauce!

Labuan’s purpose was not for sightseeing, more on the side for duty free shopping, and that’s what we did. We bought hundreds of Ringgits worth of chocolates and alcohol and soon after that, we were on the long trip home by flight, where on the next day we were to recieve our exam results!

All in all, it was a great trip with friends and i really hope that we would do it again sometime in the future! Especially Rafting!!!

CB out