Malaysia - Sabah - Ranau (Sabah Tea Garden / Poring Hot Spring)

One of the must try food when you're in Kota Kinabalu would be Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap.

Their beef noodles are delicious. However according to our expert food critic princess Nicole Lee, it was so-so only and you can have a nicer one somewhere in KL or Selangor. According to her la kan.

 Location: Block B, Lot 14, Kedai Plaza Grand Millenium, 

Jalan Pintas, Donggongon, Penampang, 88200 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

We started our journey to Ranau right after our late breakfast which is around 11.15am.
The entire journey to Ranau was quite long due to the bad road condition.
It's only roughly about 100km away only but it took us more than 2 hours drive.

That's their ONE AND ONLY 'highway' which is more like a lorong/one lane road to me. So imagine if there's a couple of huge heavy vehicles before you, then u slowly slowly drive la har until vomit blood.

Despite the long drives, the scenery is to die for! Well the scenery is of course referring to Mount Kinabalu only la. hehe

Just take a look at that majestic looking mountain. 

 Mount Kinabalu checked!

Tak payah panjat gunung. Ambil gambar dari jauh dah cukup.

Before heading to Sabah Tea Garden, we stopped by our hotel to check in and to drop our luggage as well.

We stayed a night at this hotel called Mount Kinabalu Heritage Resort & Spa.
The moment we reached there, the weather was so nice. The temperature was about 23-27 degrees and there is no fan or air-condition in our room.

The temperature will hit lower than 25 degrees during the night.

 The view from our hotel room.

After unloading our stuffs back in our hotel, we continued our road trip to Sabah Tea Garden, which takes roughly another 30 minutes drive. By the time we arrived, it was about 3.30pm. There's a package to tour around the tea factory for the price of RM44 which includes lunch set. However the best time for such activity would be around 8am to 12pm.

Too bad we got there pretty late, therefore we did not tour around the tea factory.
It's not that bad though, because we managed to chill around their cafe/restaurant which is quite enjoyable as well.

 Everything is made out of  Sabah Tea Leaves.

A pot of Sabah Tea (H) - RM10.0

A pot of Sabah Tea (C) - RM13.00

Sabah Tea Pancakes - RM11.00

Sabah Tea Waffle - RM14.00

Sabah Tea Ice Cream - RM7.00 

Next stop was Poring Hot Spring.

The operating hours are from 8am to 6pm everyday.
The time we reached there was already 5pm. Hahaha so much of a plan. Timing all out.

Entrance fees are as per stated above. 

 Dipping our feet in this natural hot spring water.

Hahaha! Left or Right?

We were having a hard time finding a suitable place to dine in.

The area is totally a dead town at night.

So that's all to sum up my trip to Ranau, Sabah.

Up next - Kundasang post.

Malaysia - Sabah - Kota Kinabalu (Tanjung Aru Beach & Restoran 3 Rasa)

In my previous trip to Kota Kinabalu Sabah, I took the chance to stay in this Capsule by Container Hotel just for the sake of experience. I wanted to try it out for quite sometime already but normally it was fully booked (walk-in). So this time around, I've pre-booked it like a week before my flight.

I took the 9 hours single size bed for the price of RM100 which includes a 'goodie bag' filled with a bottle of mineral water, towel together with toothbrush and toothpaste. For those who rented the capsule, you may use the locker and shower without extra payment. The separate price stated above are meant for outsiders who basically wants to either rent a locker or only take shower to freshen up.

I prefer to stay at the lower bunk (ground floor bunk) 

Welcome to my crib.
As you can see, the space is quite small but it is just nice for a short nap.
The capsules are divided into 3 categories. You can either choose ONLY FEMALES, ONLY MALES or MIXED.

The bed is quite comfortable too. Overall it's a good experience. You should give it a try too. YOLO!

Up Up and Away. 

Flight from KLIA2 to Kota Kinabalu is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. Even further than Bangkok yo! Sangat sangat OVER-THE-SEAS.

The 'tourist shot' with whichever full length mirror

 that you can find in any random toilet. 

Our first stop was at Imago Mall. We had our lunch in Upperstar (one of their hype franchise which is only available in Sabah, Kota Kinabalu to be precise).



Tanjung Aru Beach

Our next stop was to visit their beautiful beaches.
Thanks to our local driver - Mark for taking us to this awesome private beach called Shang Ri-La Resort & Spa, Tanjung Aru Beach.

One word to describe the place. AWESOME!

We spent couple of hours there witnessing the beautiful sunset.
Just for your info, Borneo sun sets about an hour earlier. The place gets darker around 6-ish.

The skies look like cotton candy. I kid you not! 

Restoran 3 Rasa

We had our dinner at this '3 flavour restaurant' as per direct translation. It's located around Jalan Tun Fuad Stephen (if I'm not mistaken) whereby the place was covered with a whole stretch of seafood restaurants for you to choose from.

If you're in Sabah, SEAFOOD IS A MUST EAT because it's damn freaking cheap compared to the price in Peninsular Malaysia.

We were having a tough time deciding which restaurant to choose but at the end of the day, we settled down with Restoran 3 Rasa. The reason was because, their restaurant seems to have like the most customers. So it must be better compared to others kot? Lol, but I think most of the restaurants served delicious food and most importantly they are all fresh.

We had prawns, fishes, fried squids, lato mixed with agar-agar and clams. 

All those for less than RM150.

More updates on what to eat and where to go in Sabah in my upcoming post.
Until then.