Life ♥ walking on air: A 7 days getaway to the east!

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, here we come~
It was more like a foodie trip than a trip for the soul and mind.
I was drop dead tired upon returning home.
It must be because we worked extra hard to search for local delicacies.
Kota Kinabalu trip was fun but will not be especially fun if it wasn't for the company that i had :)
Looking forward to more trips in future. Hopefully.

21 July 2013, Sunday.
Hola! I've been waiting for this day before second semester even started. Yes, this trip indeed became my driving force to get me through the whole semester, finals in particular. First time boarding an airplane and i detest it instantly. There must be something wrong with my semicircular canal. My ears felt like they've going to burst and the pain never subside till landing was completed. Our plane was delayed for almost half an hour cause there were others blocking the runway. Took a cab to our hotel upon arrival. Checked in Hotel Eden 54 and i was loving it. The best among the four hotels that we stayed in throughout the trip. We were to stay there for two nights. The first lunch we had there was pork noodles at this restaurant proudly recommended by Jason's brother. He even wanted to take a picture with the signboard to prove that he's been there. Lol. We name it 猪肉粉 here in the peninsular but in Sabah it was called 生肉面. There are quite a lot of stuffs that we call them differently here and there. Walked around Gaya Street after lunch. The sun was blazing. Bought Sabah Tenom coffee as souvenir for dad on the very first day x) Jason and Kok Wai bought dried durian. Shopped in Suria Mall too as it was so near to our hotel. Kavita, a friend we met in NS brought us out for dinner. Seafood dinner at Gayang Seafood Restaurant! I was dumbfounded by her driving skills. Wow! Haha.

At the top :)

Second trip together after Malacca :)

This nasi lemak actually tasted good.

Complete with nutrition facts on the packaging (y)

Stayed here for the first two nights.

Hotel Eden 54.

First meal in KK.

The colour of this chinese tea is suspicious..

Proof!

Shopping for souvenirs on the very first day.

Sabah Tenom coffee for dad.

Hoping for a FOC trip! x)

So scare that my butt would recognise toilet bowl lol.

First picture together!

Seafood for dinner.

This dead fish looks really dead!

Dried butter prawns.

Fried sotong.

With Kavita :)

22 July 2013, Monday.
We had breakfast at Fook Yuen which is famous for their roti kahwin. It was just toast with kaya and butter really. Bought our lunch there too. The breads there were really cheap. RM1.90 for most of them including my favourite cinnamon roll. Island hopping as planned. Too bad i couldn't snorkel :( We chose Mamutik Island and Sapi Island. Mamukan looks pretty good too. We spent three hours on each of them. It was a sunny day but we agreed that we chose the right day cause the remaining days we were there were ten times sunnier and hotter. The boat ride from island to island was exciting! I was terrified! I was really scared to hell. The boat went up high and it hit the water surface so hard! Our butts hit the seats hard too! I had a feeling that the boat will break. I really did cause believe me when i said i've already had my eyes on the floats hanging on the boat in case something bad happens. I can't swim! Loved the sun but hated the aftermath. Sunburns and dark skins :( Anyway, i had lots of fun on the beaches. To top them all, Jason met his snorkeling buddy there, a Canadian governor. It was an exhausting day for all of us. Got back to hotel to clean ourselves up before heading for some Italian dinner. I lost so much hair that day cause they were all tangled up and i've no patience to untangle them slowly -.- Dined in Little Italy that night. Jason's been going on about how good their lemonade is. I really was expecting something good but it turned out they forgot to add sugar in ours. Omg, it was soooo sour! And we missed their squid ink pasta cause they weren't serving that that night. The rest of the dinner was good though. Love the tiramisu! :) A stroll at the water front to aid digestion.

Favourite cinnamon rolls for only RM1.90!

Dimsums, nasi lemak, fried foods and bread for breakfast!

Famous roti kahwin!

Island hopping day.

Exciting boat ride. I thought i am going to die!

Mamutik Island 220172013.

Mamutik is so full of seaweed.

Sapi Island next!

Loving the colour tones of the sea water!

Fishes! So many of them.

The beaches became our drawing block :)

Trying to draw every animal that crossed our minds.

Constipation? Lol.

Noooo.

Lunchtime!

His snorkeling buddy~

Yee Fung Laksa right after island hopping! I tasted bitterness..

Terrible sunburn. Sunblock ain't helping much.

Appetizer. All three sauces were yummyyyy!

White wine, Tomato cheese sauce and their homemade lemonade.

Tiramisu double yum!

Heeheeee.

I am exhausted x)

23 July 2013, Tuesday.
Once again we had pork noodles for breakfast at the same restaurant. Jason mati-mati pun mau try their 干劳面 also. Lol. Mee was sold out on the first day so we all had bihun soup. Back to hotel to pack after breakfast cause we were leaving for Kundasang~ Rented a Myvi for three days cause Kundasang's two-hours drive from KK. Guess what? We had a flat tyre after minutes of driving! It was our lucky day or what. Was just grateful everything was settled. Had fish noodles for lunch at Fatt Kee before continuing our journey to Kundasang. I LOVE THAT FISH NOODLES! The only food that i think that's better than what i usually have back home. Narrow and winding roads all the way uphill. I dared not to sleep. Lol. Stopped by a stall at the roadside for babi hutan panggang! I didn't have any of course. How could i when i couldn't stop myself from imagining how a boar looks like just by looking at the delicacy in front of me. Checked in Kinabalu Pines Resort. The weather there was so cool. Kundasang and Cameron Highlands are like brothers. We did nothing else that day. The journey there was tiring enough. We wanted to have steamboat for dinner so we drove to Kundasang town to search for it. It was nothing there. We were left with no choice but the steamboat restaurant at the resort although we knew better that it'll be damn expensive. The resort was awesome though. We had a balcony all to ourselves. There, we spent our night chatting and chilling with come Sabah tea :) Highlight of the day, we bought a big bunch of bananas at only RM2! Haha. Oh ya, we missed a visit to the cow farm there!

Dry ones this time.

Ahhh i love this!

And yummy but very oily fried beancurd.

Babi hutan panggang =O

Shyte man x.x

Kundasang market.

Flat tyre.

Only for RM2!

Kinabalu Pine Resort :)

This is really nice~

Dinner at Pine Resort.

Steamboat at Kundasang, the best (y)

Supper!

Chilling with Sabah tea :)

24 July 2013, Wednesday.
Was up early cause we're on a mission. To conquer the Mountain of Kinabalu! Jia Wern and I had some self-prepared breakfast of toast with peanut butter, milk and banana while the guys treated themselves with breakfast buffet at the resort. Destination of the day was Kinabalu Park. I was already panting and gasping for air halfway through the lowest and easiest Pandanus trail. How embarassing! We forgot all about hiking and decided to drive the car uphill. However, we spotted a sign that reads "Way to waterfall and mountain view" and yeah, they were tempted, i wasn't. The first step was already the steepest of all the steps i had that day. It was thaaaaattttttttttt high -.- It all paid off in the end. The view was picturesque :) That's all for the morning and we headed back to the resort to pack. We couldn't snap a nice picture of the mountain top that whole morning and we're feeling dissatisfied. I think that's what got into our minds when we stopped by the roadside, ran along the narrow roadside and invaded someone's farm just to snap a picture of the mountain top. It was rather dangerous act now that i recall. Had mee tuaran for lunch, another must-have when you're at Sabah. Our third hotel of the trip was Tune Hotel. Jason said it was solely for the experience of shopping at One Borneo. Lol. Of course it was nothing compared to Midvalley or Pavillion we have here. Dinner at Hilltop Restaurant. The coconut pudding was damn good. A must-have highly recommended by the four of us. Likas Square and Likas Plaza after dinner cause we were trying to use make full use of the car. Bought some original flavoured mini croissants from Yoyo Cafe. Sister told me the chocolate flavoured one was filled with chocolate! And i missed this cheap and nice ice-cream in One Borneo too! Argh.

My legs are so heavyyyy :(

Waterfall view :)

We are not gonna venture on that trail -.-

Spot the mountain peak at the back.

Mee Tuaran!

Asam fish fillet, black pepper deer meat, hot plate tofu.

This coconut pudding is a must-have and Hilltop definitely serves the best!

Fatsssss.

25 July 2013, Thursday.
Another morning where we had pork noodles for breakfast. A different restaurant opposite One Borneo named Sinsuran this time. I've no idea why taking all the trouble to try all the pork noodles there cause they all tasted more or less the same to me. No offence but i am not a big fan of pork. Hehee. There's still time to kill before we can check into our fourth and last hotel for the trip, Cititel Express. And since we still had the car for that morning, we decided to catch a movie at Suria. Chilled at Starbucks before our movie, Lone Ranger at 12 pm. Plan for the evening was to watch the sunset at this bar called Sunset Bar located in Shangri La Hotel, Tanjung Aru. We reached there as early as 4:30 pm. Cheated by some wrong info source saying that the sun will set at 5 pm. Lol. Sunset watching wasn't as romantic as i thought and it certainly didn't feel as good as it seems in picture. I was drained in sweat. The evening continued with the dancing fountain in Perdana Park. Seafood feast for dinner at Sri Mutiara Seafood Restaurant cause we wanted to taste Sabah crabs that we missed at Gayang.

Sunset bar at Shangri La.

Nice place!

Chilling with mocktails and mojito.

Chicken wings!

Sunset!

Sunset, it happened all too fast.

Dancing fountain at Perdana Park.

Had seafood for late dinner. Stuffed.

26 July 2013, Friday.
Freestyle day cause we had no car and no plan after breakfast today. Had Fatt Kee's mixed fish noodles for breakfast, with milk added this time. Second round breakfast at Jia Siang Pork Noodles Restaurant. Souvenirs shopping at Asia City Complex later that day. I was craving for something cold and just my luck, there's one located just beside our hotel. 3 tons braised! All we did that day was just walking around town, exploring. Hard rock cafe to buy a Hard Rock Kota Kinabalu t-shirt, and i bought my kuih cincin to bring home. Dinner was settled in bazaar that night and i had my super oily apam balik.

My favourite mixed fish noodles~

Jia Siang serves more than just pork noodles. They sell bottled chilli sauce too.

Sour plum powder coated sweet potatoes!

Mixed fruits monster ice.

Jason bought this for his nephew's full moon. Great uncle!

Had Starbucks two days in a row.

Foods at bazaar.

Kuih cincin only in Sabah :)

Keychains as souvenirs.

Leather purse for mum :)

27 July 2013, Saturday.
Last day in KK. Breakfast at Fook Yuen and did more shopping for souvenirs. Bracelet, batik scarf, special steam fish sauce from Welcome Seafood Restaurant! Checked out and had KFC for lunch at a mall nearby. We tried it purely out of curiosity cause we see KFCs everywhere we go. KFC are all over the places. Subway, satu pun tak nampak ~.~ KFC there was not nice. Should have dine in Upperstar instead. Another must-have that we missed! Reached KL at 9:55pm and i was exhausted. And sick :(