After our time in Penang, we flew to Kota Kinabalu for the last destination of our trip. KK is the capital of Sabah which is located in the northern part of the island of Borneo which in turn is just south of the Palawan.
It reminds me of a provincial city in the Philippines, like Cebu maybe. With paved roads, short highways, and lots of Filipinos so you would feel at home. And there’s also a nice state mosque that you should check out.
In Kota Kinabalu, there are three major things you can do: dive, jungle trek and climb Mt. Kinabalu. I really wanted to go see the proboscis monkeys but due to limited time, we opted for climbing the highest mountain in SEA instead. But if we had more time, I heard hitting the beaches for snorkeling is also a great way to spend your vacation in Kinabalu.
Lavender Lodge
Upon landing at the airport, it’s very easy to get to the city center. There are no buses or trains for you to worry about and all you’re left with are airport taxis who are known to be honest drivers.
So we boarded the taxi (RM38) and asked to be brought to Lavender Lodge where we were booked and the good thing the driver knew it.
Lavender Lodge is owned by a Chinese and is quite popular to backpackers. All the staff were Filipinos so communicating wasn’t a problem and they gave us tips on where to eat or where to go in the city. It’s strategically located near a cheap mall, a convenience store, a seafood open-air restaurant (like our dampa) and the wharf.
Lodging was RM75 a night for an air-conditioned deluxe room with own bathroom and free breakfast. They also allowed us to leave our luggage in their safe room while we climbed the mountain.
Only thing we can complain here is that the WiFi internet doesn’t reach most of the rooms. There’s also no elevators so if you have a lot of stuff, asked to be placed in the first or second floor.
Sightseeing
It’s easy to check out the sights in Kota Kinabalu but unfortunately, we didn’t do any of it. It rained the afternoon we planned to go out and we ran out of time on our last day.
If you have limited time in Kota Kinabalu or don’t want to climb Mt. Kinabalu or go diving, our friend The Pinay Solo Backpacker (Gael) has a nice guide on how to tour the place which you definitely would want as reference.
Where to eat in Kota Kinabalu
We weren’t able to eat in a lot of remarkable places here but what stood out was the seafood place in front of Lavender Lodge called Seri Selera.
It’s a huge open-air dining place with many food establishments inside serving fresh seafood. You choose what you want to eat and how it’s cooked and it’s really affordable. Too bad it’s only open during evenings but there are lot of Filipino servers so we didn’t have a hard time communicating.
Then there’s also the wharf (also evening) near the night market where a lot of bbq food vendors sell grilled fresh catches. Just choose what you want to eat and partner it with sambal rice and ABC (their version of halo-halo).
Sorry for the lack of photos of Kota Kinabalu but the best part of our trip here would be our Mt. Kinabalu climb.
