My KK Story (Day 3)

My Borneo Story: Labuan & KK (Day 1), KK (Day 2), KK (Day 3), Sandakan (Day 4)

After a day of sun and beach, day 3 was shop and relax.

Basically, we had a makan-makan tour around KK town. Started from 9am in the morning till around 5pm, nothing more than shop, talk, eat, and drink! In fact, no much picture of ourselves. Most of them (should i say all) are photos of the food we had!

1. Fook Yuen

Fook Yuen is easily found in KK town. It is situated next to Old Town in KK Town. We visited this modern kopitiam of Fook Yuen. 

 The one with two colours, that's teh madras. It was tea with evaporated milk. Half a cup of milk and half a cup of tea. Hmm...if you like your drinks with more milk, you will like it.
As for Teh C, that's the usual Teh Ais in Peninsular Malaysia but less sweet.
RM2.30 for each of these.

Roti Kahwin. I insisted to have breakfast in Fook Yuen due to the highly recommended Roti Kahwin. Anyway, this is just steamed white bread with kaya and butter. >.< Still....DELICIOUS~

RM1.30 for each set. (picture shows 2 sets of it)

Besides this outlet, we also visited the main outlet of Fook Yuen for tea. It was packed with people! The only difference between East and West Malaysia is that, kopitiam in every edge of KK is packed with people in the evening, during tea time. (3-5pm). They enjoy traditional kopi, toast and a group of friends chatting in the kopitiam. We were shocked to see coffee shops all packed with people in the evening. Anyway, that's the culture. Make yourselves into the old classic coffee shops and enjoy the sound, taste, scent, and faces of KK evening.

2. Suria Sabah.

We walked to Suria Sabah, which is around 5 minutes from Fook Yuen. Suria Sabah is one of the latest shopping mall in KK. So, it's shopping time!!!! Woohoo. Suria Sabah has TGV cinema and KTV as well. Anyway, you wont want to spend your holidays doing things you can do back in Peninsular Malaysia.

3. KK Plaza

Next, KK Plaza for Har Mee. A local recommended us to this claimed to the authentic Penang Har Mee. It was on the 3rd floor if I remember it correctly. Anyway, to get there, just follow the direction food court.  It's right in front of the escalator and elevator. You will never miss it.

Penang Har Mee!

The reason we traveled to KK Plaza. Anyway, probably because we were in KK eating Penang Har Mee, it didnt taste the same although it claimed to be authentically from Penang.

Kuey Teow Soup was ok too. Just OK.

RM5.50 for each bowl

3. Warisan Square

Warisan Square is also good for shopping. It is more like street shopping in KK. 

4. Yoyo cafe

Yoyo cafe can be easily found around KK town. basically, they are not really cafes. Most of them are kiosk selling bubble tea. A local claimed it is better than Chatime. Anyway, in terms of variety, Chatime wins. But in terms of taste, based on the Pearl Milk Tea we had that day, I would say, the tea was smooth, and the pearl was good. There are some cheap Pearl Milk Tea sold out there with uncooked pearl, but for Yoyo cafe, I would say cheap and good! @RM3.80

5. Filipino Market

Locals advice: Do not enter. Nothing much than just handicrafts made by Filipino. This place can be very dangerous and the locals do not have trust in these Filipinos. Most importantly, BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS.

So, we didnt dare to enter. All locals told us to keep out of that place. We only look from far. >.<

You can spend a day shopping in KK town. Just walk around the town. Everything is within walking distance. Great place for backpackers. 

It was almost time for sunset. Everyone awaits for the beautiful sunset. It was gorgeous. The best view? From Hyatt Regency. Anyway, you can sit somewhere near Hyatt. While enjoying sunset, you can also count the number of airplanes landing and departing from KKIA. 

As for night life in KK, you can find a whole row of pub at the waterfront, right opposite Warisan Square. Besides pub, they do have restaurants serving western and local food too. We had Ampang Yong Tau Foo that night and it tasted very much like those from Ampang. Finally, something that carries the exact taste from Peninsular.
If you are craving for seafood, there's no good seafood at reasonable price in KK. The famous Ocean View Seafood is overpriced! Local's advice; "Never enter unless you are really rich."

Anyway, we didnt managed to climb mount KK, visit the hot spring, travel to Kudat to visit the Borneo's most north tip and water rafting. I would visit KK for more of these excitements!!

As for food, Lime Juice and Iced Lemon Tea is common in KK. They served with lemon and not lime for Iced Lemon Tea unlike in Peninsular where lime is used in Teh O Ais Limau! Iced lemon tea are available in kopitiam too, at regular price. Lemons are cheaper in KK?

for more of My Borneo Story: Labuan & KK (Day 1), KK (Day 2), KK (Day 3), Sandakan (Day 4)

My KK Story (Day 2)

My Borneo Story: Labuan & KK (Day 1), KK (Day 2), KK (Day 3), Sandakan (Day 4)

On Day 2, we decided to do some island hopping. However, we only stopped at Pulau Manukan.

Repeat photo? Nah....this jetty is also jetty to get to Pulau Manukan. So, we're back to Jesselton Point.
Tickets are sold in the building on your right at the entrance, just like bus tickets. All vendors will be shouting, it reminds me of Pudu. Haha!
Boat tickets to Manukan is RM17. You can opt for island hopping with an additional charge of few bucks for each island.
Additional charges: Life jacket and goggles RM15, Jetty charges RM7.20

A 5-to-10-minutes boat ride will bring you to Pulau Manukan! Woohoo...blue sea and white sand! Beautiful. From the jetty, you can actually see fishes in the water!

 Upon reaching at the jetty, you will first need to pass through this entrance where you will need to pay an RM3 entrance fee. According to local, this is because this place is now a preserved marine park and it is under the care of Sutera Harbour.

Manukan Island is claimed to be the dirtiest island around KK but has the most number of visitors. -.-"
We departed from Jesselton around 10 and requested our boat to come back at 1pm.

Fishes are everywhere in the water. Go near the jetty, you will find more fishes nearer to the shore. We were kind of swimming away from the fishes because some of them are really big. Whenever something touches any part of our body, we starts to get panic. Haha. Girls :P

Anyway, it is sad to see some of the corals are bleaching. You will still see colours, but you will see some white spots on them. Some have half of the white. It's sad to see that.

I promise, I'll love the earth more today. Preserve, Conserve and Reuse!

Before we leave, we had lunch at Manukan Island. We ordered Manukan Fried Rice. It's actually seafood fried rice. Sad to say, tasted awful! Seafood was not fresh! Kota Kinabalu is famous for its seafood and yet a 5-star resort selling this kind of food. Totally disappointed. BUT, the satay was GOOD! Probably because the chicken was marinated for a long long time, the satay was really tasty. Side dishes were so-so. And this plate costs RM22!!

 After leaving Jesselton Point, we traveled uphill to the Observatory Tower. Somehow a must-go when you go to KK. It's half way up the hill, you can walk there, locals jog there everyday though! The road is narrow there, cars need to be careful if you are not familiar with the area.

The view from Signal Hill Observatory Tower of Kota Kinabalu. A 5-minutes stop will do. :) Haha. Nothing much other than views. This is probably the second best place for sunset.
It was raining when we went there. So, dark clouds, not much pictures. :-/

We called it a day. We were totally exhausted after a half-day snorkeling at Manukan Island.

For more of My Borneo Story: Labuan & KK (Day 1), KK (Day 2), KK (Day 3), Sandakan (Day 4)

My Labuan & KK Story (day 1)

Finally, here comes my KK Story.

On someday in 2010, a group of 5 girls decided to go on a trip to Labuan and Sabah. Since we have a friend who studies in Labuan back then, we decided to pay her a visit at the so-claimed-pathetic-and-boring university. So we bought flight tickets from KL-Labuan, KK-Sandakan, Sandakan-KK, KK-KL at just RM45 including taxes. Anyway, the booking was made in Oct 2010 while we were expected to depart in May 2011.

After much anticipation, we ended up flying with just 2 members while others couldnt make it. One of them will be working as an intern in KK so she will only join us after work. Anyway, it's good that she's there in KK, because, we'll get free accommodation! Yeah!

Well, we got ourselves a morning flight to Labuan. Only one flight per day from KL-Labuan. Once the plane touches down, it'll take passengers from Labuan-KL right away. That happens everyday. So, we start off with McDonald's breakfast that morning. *Yawn*

 From the pitch dark sky, then dawn, then sunrise! We were there at LCCT. *Yawn* It was pretty awesome! Woohooo.

 Fly...let's fly with me...we witnessed it all from the cotton-candy-cloud view, to sea-view then landing! Woohoo. We flew more than 2 hours from KL-Labuan. We slept for 2 hours in the plane. Not comfortable but there aint anything else to do. :'(

We flew in AK5176! Thanks Captain!!

Due to the reason that the internship duration was forwarded, our friend in labuan has left her university to prepare herself in KK. So immediately after we touched down, we took a cab from the airport to the jetty terminal to catch the last ferry ticket to KK. Taxi fare from airport to terminal jetty was RM12.50. Last ferry to KK is at 1 pm daily. Ferry from Labuan to KK was RM34 each. Each ticket is registered with the passenger's name just like bus tickets in the TBS. ^^

The first thing to do in Labuan was to get duty-free products! Woohoo.
Where to get? According to my friend, the best will be the on opposite Terminal Jetty. From the terminal, look for Sykt Tai Seng, it's a corner shop; around 100m from the jetty and it is visible from the jetty. They sell liquor, cosmetics, cigar, fragrances and other duty free products.

We bought some liquor and chocolates. Please be reminded that duty free liquor permitted upon exit is only 1 litre. I am not a fan of strong liquor, so I bought 1 litre of Bailey's Irish Cream at RM55 and chocolates. 300g Daim was only RM13.50 (normal price is around 39.90-43.90).

 Hungry!!! Let's eat!
This is a very Sarawak dish. But was found in Labuan. I guess, good food is not limited by geographical borders. Haha. Anyway, it tasted awful.

 We were disappointed with the Laksa, but the Kolo Mee was much better.

3 hours later, we reached Jesselton Point, KK, Sabah. Woohoo? Not so soon. We were lost of direction, do not know where to go. Our friend who said will provide accommodation was occupied with her landlord problems.

We spent our time dealing with her landlord that day. Anyway, if you need cheap backpacker-style accommodation in KK town area, Lavender Lodge is a good choice.

We thought of renting a car to loaf around KK, but it is not advisable as the car rental expenses is not economical friendly. According to source, it costs RM100 a day for a kancil. O.o

end of day 1: miserable

for more of My Borneo Story: Labuan & KK (Day 1), KK (Day 2), KK (Day 3), Sandakan (Day 4)