To Those Who Shine

Apologies for the delay in posting about the trip to Kota Kinabalu. Those who laid their eyes on the East malaysian state for the first time could be forgiven for wondering how this dilapidated town can be safer than Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. Truth is it is, and it is a place with absolute awesomeness.

Day One: Lucas Lim's father always satisfies my hunger for speed in his Toyota Wish, ultimate imbar power. 4 years after I set foot again in Terminal 1. For once i thought I was still in Bali or Cambodia when I saw how old the place was. It was the 1st time I took a budget airline and I'm surprised at how good Jetstar Asia is.

The cabbies there are real scam, but sadly you don't have a choice. The Grand borneo hotel proves to be our first major nightmare. Though highly rated with boutique rooms, our rooms flooded when it rained that evening. You mean rain in your room? Well yeah =)

Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park. We faked ourselves as Malaysian students so we could get discounts. Thanks to our boat agency, we were forced to stay on a beach for 3 hrs. The clear water with fishes is probably the only good stuff on that island. The speedboat is a mean bitch, 90km/hr. Feels cool.

Hotel Bar. I swear the lady at the counter will miss us. The first time i tried GIN, good taste. But the moment Daniel Tang ordered GIN coke I almost puked.

Day Two: Daniel Tang told me to buy slippers in a mall, which i did, only to realize the Sunday market is 5 times cheaper. Doesn't matter cos i finally got a pair of illegally replicated sunglasses by Ferrari. Had lunch at 5-star chicken rice, which tasted awful compared to Singapore (I'm surprised). Went to Green Connection aquarium+zoo+science center. Very dilapidated but cool. Again we fooled them into believing that we are malaysians, got another discount ^O^

I swear the swimming pool at our hotel is the coldest I've been to, probably only 18 degrees. None of the others stayed past 3min in the pool except us. The towel man is a real pain, which is why he won't even let us bring up the hotel room.

Day Three: My first time in a World War 2 era train, feels damn nostalgic. The Padas river rafting is a must if any of you were to go KK next time.

Day Four: Snorkelling, if you see me tanned, you know why

Day Five: Mount Kinabalu park is a real scammer. we were preparing to say some malay to convince the toll that we are malaysian students for a 2RM ticket. But our face turned black when our driver went up and introduce us as Singaporeans. First time in a 80km/hr car driving in a deep dusk fog, exciting.