Well, Daniel and I have had a really busy last week. Since I last wrote about our trip on Vancouver Island, we have had a birthday weekend in Whistler for a friend and just used the last few days in Canada to say a final goodbye to all our friends and family there. We arrived in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday and left yesterday to catch two boats to Brunei.
We had a short stay in Kota Kinabalu since we used it as a base to plan the rest of our trip in Borneo. Kota Kinabalu will actually be the only region that we are visiting in the state of Sabah, which is located in Malaysia (on the island of Borneo). If you want to skip ahead to see what we did in Kota Kinabalu then click on the bulleted list below!
Before I get started, I do have to write a bit about our flight over to Malaysia. We arrived at the airport 3 hours early, which was great since I am a true believer in getting to the airport early. I know, just like a typical old man. Spontaneity is not my strength.
When we tried to book in via the booth for Xiamen Airlines, we were told we had to prove that we had an outward bound flight from Malaysia. This is totally common for all flights since they want to make sure you are actually going to leave the country that the airline is flying you to. So, fair enough. However, our plan was to be spontaneous, which we learned Xiamen Airlines was not going to allow. No worries, though! After a quick 20 minute Skyscanner search, we decided and hoped that 2.5 weeks in Borneo would be enough and have booked a flight in a few weeks to Singapore. It was the cheapest flight we could find and Singapore is a great hub.
So, yeah, kind of funny since I have never needed to prove that even though I know it is a requirement. I guess you have to get caught eventually!
Some quick words about Xiamen Airlines: I think they were a great airline. I was a bit skeptical after reading some reviews, but the food was totally fine from Vancouver to Xiamen. The food for the reverse journey looked a little bad though. However, you are flying with a Chinese airline. How weird that they serve Chinese food, right? Heavy sarcasm. We had layovers in Xiamen and Fuzhou. It was nice to be back in memory lane and be in China. I haven’t been there in over 4 years. Even though it was the airport and it doesn’t count, it was cool to still feel the Chinese vibe in the airports that serve tiny villages in China. You know, villages of 1 million or more. Yeap! That is tiny in China!
Finally, after almost 24 hours of travelling, we could see Kota Kinabalu from the airplane. All I could see was lush trees and rainforest. I can’t wait to get to the jungle since we haven’t done that part of Borneo yet.
Ok, so now let’s dive into Kota Kinabalu which is also known as KK. In case you have no idea where Kota Kinabalu is, check out the map below!
General Information about Kota Kinabalu
Kota Kinabalu is the largest city in the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. It is a bustling city of over 450 000 people and there is a very diverse population that live here. The currency is the same throughout Malaysia the Ringgit.
Kota Kinabalu is cheap and flashy. Restaurants are scattered everywhere and the signs bombard you with different colours.
I found Kota Kinabalu safe. Since Malaysia is a Muslim country, people tend to dress more conservative. However, Malaysia is very diverse so I did not feel inappropriate at all wearing shorts in the city centre.
What to Do in Kota Kinabalu
I have to admit that Daniel and I were a little bit lazy in Kota Kinabalu and did not do a whole lot. We were jet-lagged (I still am) and we had to use one whole day just for planning our trip here in Borneo. Alas, we did do a little bit.
The Markets
On Wednesday, we visited the markets in our super jet-lagged state. Be warned, the smells here are strong. We visited a combination of the Filipino Market (Handicraft Market), Central Market (Pasar Basar), Local Fruits Market (Pasar Buah-buahan Tempatan), and Night Food Market. I found it difficult to know where one market ends and the next one starts since they are all linked together.
The markets have restaurants that offer local cuisine (lots of fish!)
Please note that there are fish and meat everywhere and it does smell. So, if you have a sensitive stomach or don’t like seeing animals on display, this may affect you. The smells were strong, but it was really cool to see the diversity of fish that they catch!
The markets are all connected as you can see on the map above
Outside of Kota Kinabalu
Since we spent all of Thursday planning our trip and left really early on Friday morning, we didn’t see a lot of Kota Kinabalu. However, all the guidebooks recommend going out of the city to see stuff. I really wanted to go to Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. It is a collection of islands where you can snorkel and swim. Unfortunately, we did not have time.
We also really wanted to check out Mt Kinabalu. The reviews were really high and the guidebooks made it sound awesome. When planning, we decided that Mulu National Park and going down the river, Batang Rejang, would be a better option. So, we decided to hop over Mt Kinabalu (and thus, end our stay in Sabah) and head over to Brunei (a different country) and then the other Malaysian state on Borneo, Sarawak. A hard decision, but I hope when I blog about our travels in Sarawak it will be clear that we made the best decision!
What to Eat in Kota Kinabalu
I love to write about food! I am going to write about two super cheap places to eat that Daniel and I enjoyed.
Centre Point Basement Food Court
This was recommended in my guidebook and it was cheap! Most of the stalls are Chinese-type food where you get rice, a vegetable dish, and a meat dish for about 6-7 MYR (about 2 CAD/14 SEK) per person. We both got a bottle of water so our total price was 15 MYR (4.6 CAD/32 SEK).
Danne and I both had the same meal (sweet and sour pork, green beans fried in oyster sauce, and rice)—I know, boring!
The food court is in the basement so head downstairs once you arrive.
New Rahmat
This was a random find and you will never find it in a guidebook. We were just walking by and decided to sit down since I liked one of the pictures on the menu. This restaurant only had text and we hadn’t bought a phone plan yet, so we had to talk to the one chef that spoke some English to try to decide what to get.
We ended up getting the following three things:
- Murtabak ayam – This is by far the best thing we ordered. It had such good flavours and was delicious.
- Capati – This is roti with two sauces. One sauce was similar to daal (or was daal?) and the other sauce was quite spicy but good.
- Mee goreng ayam – A noodle dish with chicken that Daniel wanted when he saw a local get it.
(Edit: Thanks to Fatin for the edit on how to spell these dishes correctly–my notes from my phone are apparently not reliable!)
After we arrived, two more groups of foreigners randomly sat down to eat. A local there looked a little flabbergasted that so many locals were there. I am not sure if they sat down since they saw us and maybe thought this restaurant must be good? Who knows! It was just random since it is not a restaurant that is easy to find or even look up on Google!
This dinner cost 16 MYR (5 CAD/34 SEK).
Yesterday we took two ferries to the country Brunei. Goodbye Sabah and Hello Brunei! More on that later!
xx
Jasmine
Sounds like your trip is off to a great start! Can’t wait to hear about where you go next:)
Yay! Thanks for reading!
I’m a Malaysian from Kuala Lumpur & going to Kota Kinabalu on next month. Yeah, you didn’t do much things in KK. Come again soon and experience KK. Btw, it is Murtabak Ayam not ayem. Ayam is chicken. And it is mee goreng ayam. Mee is noodle 😀
I know! We were just so tired and suffering from jetlag when we come in. So, we will definitely have to go back and actually experience the city and Mount Kinabalu. Oh, thank you! I wrote this just from my note mobile phone notes. I will have to edit that. 🙂