James Mok’s Soliloquy

Day One 19/08/03 Tue

On the 19th this month, we went to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia for a 6 day vacation. Since Sabah is below the typhoon and earthquake belt, there is never any typhoon or earthquake there.

Our plane departed at 8:05am and we were supposed to meet the tour at the airport at 5:50am. We decided to charter a van for HKD$210 to the airport instead of calling a taxi. The order was for 5:30am and the van arrived at our gate 5:20am, very prompt.

Some Snacks at the Airport

Before entering the immigration area, we were scanned with an infrared camera instead of the laser beam shown on the news during the SARS period. There was an LCD screen turned towards the travelers so we could see ourselves in infrared just like the Predator could.

Alec On the Plane

Upon arriving the Kota Kinabalu International Airport, there was a torrential rain in the area which resulted a 30min delay in landing the plane. It took the pilot 3 attempts to finally land the plane even though the entire time was free of any alarming experience.

Immigration at the KK airport was snail slow. Between the 3 of us and the stamping of documents, there must have been at least some 30 chopping sound of some sort over a period of at least 10 minutes to get through immigration. And there was a functional computer terminal with each and every immigration officer. By contrast, it took Hong Kong immigration officers some 2 minutes at the most to clear 3 locals or visitors alike. In short, it took our tour of 26 plus the guide about an hour and a half to clear immigration and custom. Right away, we went to get exchange for the local currency since Malaysia has very strict control over foreign exchange, one cannot get exchange for Malaysian Ringgit (RM) anywhere else in the world but Malaysia only.

Yellow Ginger Chicken Rice

After that we went for lunch for one of the local cuisines - Yellow Ginger Chicken Rice. The taste was alright, but the local guide told us that the restaurant we went to was not considered that “good” by local standard as it was not as spiced up as it should have been, but the less spicy taste was supposed to suit Hong Kongers better.

Temple

Melinda by the Temple

Before we headed to the hotel, we had a city tour. We saw a couple of Islamic temples, and one of which was designed by the heir of the one who designed the Taj Mahal in India. We also saw the tallest suspended glass wall building in Sabah, which is some 30 stories high - which is really nothing to brag about IMO.

Water Houses

On the way, we also saw quite a few water houses built on the river and the beach side, just like those in Tai O, Hong Kong.

Panoramic View off the Balcony of Our Hotel Room

Since our hotel, the Sutera Harbour Resort and Spa - Pacific Wing was fully booked, our tour was spread into just 1 or 2 rooms on each floor. Stanley, Melinda’s brother, his family and our family, 3 rooms in total all got upgraded. At first, I thought we had the best room on the club floor, the 11th floor, with a balcony over looking the golf course and the sea, it turned out that Stanley had a suite on the 7th floor. Well, I really enjoyed sitting at the balcony at least for 1/2 hour each day during the entire stay though. So I have no complaints.

Dinner at the Seafood Restaurant

Alec with Dancers

We met at about 7:00pm and headed to some seafood restaurant by the water side. It was supposed to be the best Cantonese seafood restaurant in the area. Personally, I don’t see why travelers prefer their own cuisines over local cuisines, especially for Hong Kong travelers. I’d rather taste as much local cuisines as I could. The food turned out to be nothing but some poorly cooked prawns, chicken, chicken, chicken, and fish which one could get at any “tea set” restaurant in Hong Kong.

As Islamic custom don’t eat pork, and beef is I guess relatively way more expensive, we had many chicken dishes just about every meal. There was a team of local cultural dancers performing during the meal, and Alec had a picture with the dancers after the performance. Before we headed back to the hotel, we stopped by a local street market for some fruits, which turned out at the end was a waste, as there were plenty of a vase variety of fruits each morning during the complimentary buffet breakfast each and every morning.

Bedtime after that.

Continue on to Day 2.