Kota Kinabalu

After 4 years of staying out of the skies, we finally took a trip to Malaysia. I had forgotten the hassle of air travel and the tiny leg room on Air Asia that the trip to the airport was more stressful than excitement.

We spent a couple of days in Kota Kinabalu. Upon arrival, we hurried to Suria Sabah mall to escape the heat and for lunch. It was within walking distance of our hotel, Mercure. We had Sushi King but found the quality had dropped and price has increased. There was another sushi train restaurant which advertised a flat rate of rm 3.80 and seemed better value. Darn!

Deepavali kolam in Suria Sabah. There are a number of shops in mall like Coach, Padini, G2000 but I did not find anything I liked to buy.

The next day, we went to a bigger mall Imago but I still could not find anything I liked.

The view from our hotel room. The hotel is within walking distance to Jesselton Point where people can buy boat tickets to visit the surrounding islands and for water activities at the islands like sea walking, paragliding, banana boat and snorkeling. 

We bought a ticket to visit Manukan Island (rm 35 each). Many bought a ticket to visit up to 3 islands that collectively are included in the Tunku abdul rahman marine conservation park but because we wanted time to do other activities during the day, we only opted to visit the biggest island.

This is the view from the beach. It was a sunny nice day. The waters are so clear and filled with colourful fishes. Schools of baby fishes swim right up to my feet as I waded around near the shore.

There is an unattended education centre that exhibits various live fishes and coral specimens. I was struck with how gigantic these fishes are. Each are longer than my arm. When I stopped to peer at them, they swam towards me with curiosity. When I noticed their sharp teeth, I opened my mouth and in turn they opened theirs showing their multiple rows of small, sharp teeth. I would not tire of looking at these gentle, and most probably old fish.

We walked around the island and took pictures of the scenery. A lone iguana walked around the island, unaware of the flurry of clicking phones.

As the sun sets on our visit to KK, we enjoyed the view from the hotel rooftop where earlier in the day I had tried to swim but failed miserably.