Trip to Sabah Day 4

2nd June, Gawai Festival Day 2 in Sarawak.

TAMPARULI 

Our plan today is to get our rented car and drive to Ranau, and do several stops at any interesting places.

Around 9am, our car arrived. small one.

cost: RM90/day.

car info: Perodua Kelisa Automatic. 1000CC. Fuel Saving engine! yea, pm me to get the phone number. Fill your fuel FULL! its just RM60 or so..

Our first stop, Tamparuli. From Kota Kinabalu, follow Tuaran signboard then find Tamparuli signboard. No need for map, its quite straight forward. Its easy to learn the roads here. 9.30am

FOLK SONG

Lagu Rakyat Sabah: Jambatan Tamparuli

Translation? in Bahasa Malaysia: Terjemahan Lagu 

We were just lucky to get the chance to visit Pasar Tamu Tamparuli (Tamparuli Flea Market).

 Tamu viewed from the Tamparuli Suspension Bridge.

Were you waiting to see the famous bridge? Hahaha!

This is the bridge.. :D 

Unfortunately, it starts to rain so we decided to go to our next stop. Kinabalu Park. Its 10.00am. After Tuaran town, the road starts to ascend.. up, down.. and up.. down.. and up.. and up.. and up..

BIG PINEAPPLE
1 hour later, its 1st stop. sorry i dont remember the name of that place.. but you can see the big pineapple from far.

SOUVENIRS
dont forget to buy your souvenirs here. same printed t-shirts are 50% cheaper than in KK's pasar malam. find anything you'd like too here. BUY THEM! or else u'll end up regretting it!

HALAL FOOD

im not sure about Halal Food here but we bought some in KK before we start our journey. Menu: Fried mee and nasi lemak. coke for hubby, chrysanthemum tea for me (banned from drinking soda.. huhuhu)
There are places to eat here of course, but you can't tell they are Muslims' or not just by looking at their appearance. On the way here, you can see many church signboards, and my hunch said there's no way a Muslim eatery is around.


KINABALU PARK
Then off to next stop: Kinabalu Park. Left: 12pm. Aim: to go to the 1st hike point, Timpohon. Keep driving following the signboard, then you'll see a huge parking space on the right with breathtaking view. And on left is Kinabalu Park gate.

Arriving12.30pm. Pay RM3 for one adult Malaysian, DONT THROW IT AWAY YET! Keep it. You can later go to Poring Hot Spring for free with that ticket. believe me, its worth it!

We met a family (mom, dad, daughter and son) who just arrived after their climb up. Not sure if they ever reach Victoria Peak (the highest peak), but they sure look EXHAUSTED! i think they did reached the peak because they received some paper from the counter asking them to get their Certificate from Kinabalu Park office. *Whew..

On our way back to the main gate, went to rest stops. To the toilet, transfering pictures into laptop, clear up memory card, check for miscall/sms.

We decided to go to the Mini Kinabalu Museum, not far from the main gate still in the area. Pay another RM3 to go in there. Just go, you'll get more information about the mount & its rich mineral soil. Leaving 2.30pm

Kundasang
2.35pm. The beautiful Kundasang (not so beautiful at that time because of the construction- new big hotel) not so far away from Kinabalu Park. You will realize you arrived when you see wooden shops/stalls on the left n the right of the main road. They sell fruits, vegs, drinks etc. You can find a place to eat for Muslim around here. But me and hubby just buy fresh fruits, keropok amplang (fish crackers, round shaped) and drinks. And I beg my dear hubby to buy me a ROSE. hehehe.. 

Then, continue our journey to Poring Hot Spring. The road will get confusing now as the signboard are not consistently available. If you cant find signboards, just keep straight. If you're not sure, ask the locals. In Bahasa Malaysia of course. Their slang might sound weird to you.


Kinabalu Pine Resort

2.50pm. We were distracted by Kinabalu Pine Resort. Hehehe.. Ive been here once and I really want 2 show this place to my husband. You should go too. Rent a room for better experience, we just couldn't afford .. hehe. Leaving 3.00pm.

Poring Hot Spring
3.40pm There.. At last, here's our last stop. Poring Hot Spring. Use your ticket here. There's a surau (Musolla/ Muslim Prayer Room) here. You can soak your feet, or swim in the pool or sit in a small blue marbled 'jacuzi'. Haha! Those one, under the green roof. You can also go for Canopy Walk or Butterfly Garden (Bird/Butterfly, cant remember which one..). They close the Canopy Walk on rainy day. You need to wear hiking shoes too. The step gets slippery.

During our visit, there's a Muslim cafe right across the main gate. Go there, try out Sayap Ayam Madu the original Sabah style. Unfortunately too many dogs around. Argh! 


Almost keep on going to Tambunan. Its 6pm so we head straight back to KK. Arriving around 8pm, flash flood in Tuaran. Especially at KKIP zone (KK industrial park).


Tired, but mr. hubby wants to go see Pasar Malam Sempelang. Waduh!