Wanderlust Journal #002 - Kota Kinabalu - Where I Came From

I came from Kota Kinabalu – The Land below the Wind.
Being a Sabahan, we take huge pride from where we came from.
Even though it’s not the biggest state in Malaysia, but this small piece of North Borneo land is more than what meets the eye.

Here are 5 reasons where my heart belongs to:

1. Mount Kinabalu

Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Malaysia, and ranked as the 5th highest mountain in South East Asia.
I remember when I was young, every morning when my dad drove me to school, there would be this Mountain always greets me, with rays of lights and clouds fogging around it.
In my heart, woah this mountain is so high! If one day I get to reach the top, I will touch and sleep on the clouds! haha
(Is sleeping on the clouds one of your childhood dream too?) :p

This is the ever majestic Mount Kinabalu.I took this photo on plane when I en-route to Taiwan.

This stole my heart away. I am certain if I see this view with my naked eye, the magnitude of beauty would be out of the world.Picture credits to: Travis Chong, an avid photographer. (A Sabahan too!)

Nevertheless, 5 years ago in 2013, a group of friends and I decided to take up this challenge in order to claim ourselves true Sabahan.
What I can say is the whole hiking up to the peak, is more of a mind battle than a fitness battle. You just have to keep going, despite how soar and burn your thighs are.

We took 2 days to reach the summit. The hike is split to 2 parts.
1st part is 6-hours hike up to mid-mountain (Laban Rata).
2nd part is hiking all the way up to the summit, which we started our journey at 2am and reaching at 6am (just in time to catch the first light!)

All 26 of us, on 4095m above the sea level!

No regrets! :) Planning to hike this beast again given it’s a new trail route after the earth quake happened in 2015.

2 Island - Pulau Mantanani

Sabah is blessed with so many islands surrounding it, and most of it are pretty accessible from the city (the nearest ones are Pulau Gaya, Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan, Pulau Mamutik), which probably only takes like 15-20 minutes of boat ride from KK jetty.

In 2016, I decided to go to a more isolated island with my uncle, which is Pulau Mantanani.

Mantanani islands are a group of three isolated islands located near Kota Belud.
It takes like an 1 hour of drive up to Kota Belud, and 30 mins of speed boat ride from the Jetty to reach.
Click here to read more on Mantanani Islands. (http://mantananiisland.com/about-mantanani.html)

I had a time of my life snorkelling, finding nemos, getting suntan, enjoying the breeze and white sands on the island.
Truthfully speaking, as a local, I prefer going to more isolated island like this one, rather than the near one like Pulau Gaya, Pulau Sapi.
The isolated ones are less crowded, less commercialized, where the waters are cleaner, clearer, and the corals are still alive, leaving you to hidden gems and treasure.
If you are lucky, you may even spots some dolphin and sea turtle!

3 Seafood and food paradise

KK is well known for cheap and quality seafoods, tourists came all the way just to have grouper fish, crabs, soft shell crabs, clams, mussels, tiger prawns, sea snails and etc.

These are my personal favourites, and my cravings lately!

Dried Butter Prawns 奶油虾

Babylonia 东风螺

Steam Prawns dipped in Soy Sauce (Bak Chok Ha)

4 The 3PM YAMCHA

If you are a Sabahan, you know what I meant.
We love and enjoy our teatime, and if you are scouting a kopitiam at 3pm, you can easily see that the Kopitiam is crowded and packed with people, even on weekdays.
People always say that KK is a laid-back city, I now know why. Haha
Yamcha is equally as important as work to us!

These are my personal favorites!

Toasted bread or steamed bread, with Milo Kaw Ping. (Concentrated Iced Milo)Nothing beats the iced milo here in Foo Yen.

If you decided to go for a more modern local café, Inch is my personal favorite too.Their rose chai latte is the bomb!

5 Sunsets

The photo below will justify how beautiful sunset is in KK.

Picture credits to: Travis Chong, an avid photographer.

Sunset is beautiful in KK, not just because of the pastels of lights coming together so perfectly, but also because if you happened to watch the sunset, be it by the beach, or on top of a hill, you will see that the view is perfectly adorned by the Islands. (not just one island, but islands of islands can be spotted faraway.

Can you spot the islands of islands faraway in the vast ocean of South China Sea?View from the top of Kokol Hill.

This makes our sunset in KK so unique and special.
How many cities in the world out there are blessed by so many islands surrounding it?

What I always do to complete the memories, is always getting myself those yummy and creamy avocado juice, lekors (fish crackers) and steam butter corn!This to me, is something that I would not trade anything in the world for.

People always say, that "Home is where the heart is."
Well, this, is where my heart is!

I hope after looking at all these photos, you would fall in love with this city as much as I do! :)

Till then!
Love,
Steph

Mountain image source:(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?)fbid=10212574130042768&set=pb.1069478223.-2207520000.1515285935.&type=3&theater)
Dried butter prawns image source: (https://my.openrice.com/en/sabah/p-welcome-seafood-restaurant-p379598)
*Babylonia image source: (https://my.openrice.com/en/sabah/p-welcome-seafood-restaurant-p379592)
Steam prawn image source: (https://goo.gl/images/SAQXeB)
Steam bread image source: (https://goo.gl/images/5NZi3s)
Inch cafe image source: (https://goo.gl/images/cuGAHP)
Sunset image source: (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213175333192471&set=pb.1069478223.-2207520000.1515285914.&type=3&theater)