Kota Kinabalu

First of all, I would like to thank Ruhaizad for inviting me to become the first guest blogger in his Kinabalu Blog. I am honoured that he thought about me when he wanted to initiate this guest blogger in his blog. Most of you may not know that I have actually won a quiz about Mount Kinabalu some months back. In fact I just wanted to try my luck and little that I know I managed to win it.

1. Travel with somebody else. You may need to use the service from local tour and travel operator maybe once in a while, and most of the time, the budget package that they have is quoted for 2 pax (or a couple). If you are a solo traveler, there will be a 30-50% surcharge for you, and that is almost a standard practice to cover the expanses. If you want to save more, travel with more.

Kota Kinabalu, or “KK” as it is popularly known, is a pleasant Borneo surprise, set between lush tropical hills and the South China Sea. It is the state capital of Sabah and a resort-city of exciting contrasts – vibrant, serene and hassle-free, with modern infrastructure and many attractions. Strategically situated less than three hours by air from East Asian capitals, KK has direct flights to/from major cities – Kuala Lumpur, Bandar Seri Begawan, Singapore, Manila, Cebu, Hong Kong, Taipei, Kaoshiung, Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney. KK was granted city status on 2 February 2000. It is the eastern hub and getway to Malaysia.

KK traces its beginnings to 1881, as a tiny British settlement on Pulau Gaya, the biggest of five islands directly across the bay from present-day KK city. In 1897, rebel Mat Salleh and his men fought and burnt the island settlement. The British relocated to the mainland at Kampung Gantisan, a small fishing village. In 1899, the British named the new settlement ‘Jesselton’ after Sir Charles Jessel, the Vice-Chairman of the British North Borneo Chartered Company.

Aiden received an email from one of our friend who is coming with his friends for a visit to Kota Kinabalu. The email sounded like this:

4) Actually KK any other nice place to visit, shop, eat etc?

Aiden have spend half of his sleeping time last night composing the reply email. This is his reply. (I think it it better for me to share with you the email, so that you will have a rough idea if you then decided to spend your holiday here.)

I went to KKIA (Kota Kinabalu International Airport) today with my son, just to see the newly developed Terminal 2 airport. For your information, Terminal 2 KKIA is dedicated to “low cost carrier”, aka LCCT terminal (similar like KLIA LCCT). It is the hub for Airasia and Flysianexpress airlines.

I hereby show you 21 photos taken with my Sony DSC-S40. Not so beautiful. Plan to upgrade to Nikon D40 later.

Anyway, enjoy the photo!

When you arrive in Kota Kinabalu, try to spot this fish. I will give you the direction:

Go to Hyatt Regency Hotel, Kota Kinabalu. From the main entrance of the hotel, turn right. Walk down the slope and again, turn right. Nah… now you will see the fish.

Notice the bus at the background? It’s a bus for tourist who stay in Hyatt.

UPDATE 5th December 2007: How to Get to Kinabalu Park HQ from Kota Kinabalu using Google Maps

I always got request from our fellow travelers on maps of Kota Kinabalu and Mount Kinabalu trail. Well, you can get the trail map from the website, but for Kota Kinabalu City map, I will show you here. I save the map from Google Earth, and this map will include:

1. Sabah Tourism Building

Good news for budget travelers in Borneo Island. I adapted this news from our local newspaper, The Borneo Post this morning.

The Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) will be officailly become an AirAsia hub beginning July 11 (next Tuesday). By establishing KKIA as a hub, the budget airline will commence daily flights between Kota Kinabalu-Miri, Kota Kinabalu-Kuching and Kota Kinabalu-Tawau. Previously, those route was managed by our national carrier, MAS.