KK Itinerary Day 1

We (my relatives) took an afternoon flight from Miri to KK and was later joined by my sister at night. We stayed in KK Times Square Hotel, right opposite Imago Mall on our first night.

The shopping mall was quite big with plenty of eating choices. We spent the evening shopping and it was quite pleasant. Since it was quite close to Christmas, the decorations were up and Christmas carols were on full blast.

We even had dinner in one of the eateries in the mall and was pleasantly surprised. More on my review about our eating experience soon.

KK Times Square Hotel, Kota Kinabalu

I was not overly impressed with the quality as well as the service of this hotel especially in terms of their booking efficiency and also the attitude of their reception. I made a booking on Agoda for two King bed suites with requests on non-smoking rooms. Upon arrival, I found that they only blocked up ONE room for me and could not give me two rooms despite being their mistake of messing up my booking. I ended up in one of the smoking rooms while the rest of us got the non-smoking room. 

It was alright in the room but the mattresses were not very comfortable being pretty hard on our backs. The comparison between both rooms (level 3 and 3a) was quite vast and I was really annoyed with the "no big deal" attitude. 

Rooms looked amazing from photos though. ;) the only advantage of taking the rooms here is their close proximity to the Imago Mall. Oh and taking a cab from the airport would cost you about RM30 using Airport taxi and about RM21-23 using MYTEKSI application.

Shangri-La Hotel Kota Kinabalu

So, I have been staying in this hotel twice now and so far, no complaints...
Their service are quite good, rooms are clean but the only grip I have is they do not provide any shower foam. Instead, bars of soap are given...

Since the room is pretty good, I shall move on to their food. I tried their Ramadan buffet recently as well as quite a selection of their ala-carte, thanks to my being there for quite a few days. LOL

On a whole, food isn't bad but their coffee and Asian cuisine leaves me a little disappointed. Their oxtail assam pedas is a let-down... On a brighter note, I like their French onion soup although I can do without the mediocre garlic/cheese bread on the side and their seafood pasta is quite nice. It comes with quite a bit of seafood mixed in although you probably couldn't see it at first glance. Chicken chop comes in a quite big portion but I guess I can't complain much about it.

I guess if you are going to KK, this could be one of the hotel to consider although the price is probably not as cheap as Tune Hotel and is not as convenient as some as the only nearby food within 5 minutes walking distance is a KFC and some small convenience shop.

Trip: Kota Kinabalu Day 1: 1 May 2010

i have been meaning to get to blogging my travels and stuff bt things had been pretty hectic lately and it's only now I have more time on my hands..right...i tink i've kept a journal-like notebook when i went...
here goes:

the plane touched down nearly 30 minutes before the predicted time, maybe cause it departed earlier from Miri Airport. Thanks to an old friend, i don't have to worry about transportation upon arrival~ She's gonna pick me up at the airport! Thanks Glad!! In our cute lil viva (borrowed from her friend), we traipsed around the quaint little town of KK. Before checking in at Tune Hotel, 1Borneo, Glad brought me to this '5-star-hainanese-chicken-rice' shop but we had nothing made from chicken here. instead, we had charsiew and siewbak. LOL. oyea, did i mention that this shop is in the famous Gaya Street? I think I saw another branch with the same name in one of the malls in KK too...not just one i think...there's a few with d same name..hmm...Can't remember exactly which mall though, all the malls in KK are a blurr to me ><
Previously, during the drive down from the airport, my 'tour guide' pointed out Tanjung Lipat to me which looked pretty beautiful to me (no pun intended,:P). Apparently, it's not as 'classy' as Tanjung Aru or other beaches in KK. *erhem* Plenty of (quote) 'hot scenes' can be witnessed if we're there late at night or early in the morning. LOL. Can't help but wonder why my tour guide seemed to be so familiar with that, hor? *wink*. As fast as I could, I pretty much snapped away with my camera as our cute lil viva whizzed past that area and then my guide stopped the car at d roadside after seeing my enthusiasm. haha. Camwhoring session, babey!







After checking in, we went to Warisan Square and Center Point after what seemed like hoours in the car. KK is definitely a town with a massive jam prob or maybe cause it's Labour Day that day. Urghh. The malls were really close to each other and packed with people! We met a very nice salesgirl at Adidas, Centrepoint; Jojo who was really patient and the service was good as she went through all the shoes we should use etc etc. (Glad wanna get a new pair of shoes for her marathon).

Next, it's on to the Phillipines Market as we browsed through the usual knick-knacks and souvenirs of a tourist attraction would boast of. Glad said one's visit to KK isn't complete without a trip here wor..LOL...As we stepped out of the malls to the market, we caught a strong whiff of the fishy sea breeze and also something else. Guess what??




Yep, it's SALTED FISH and No, I don't mean us! Blerk! There's a lot of salted fish stalls right next to the market. Next, we crossed the dangerous streets of KK again to a night market opposite. Glad wanted to buy a shoes' bag for her brand new Adidas. Hahaha. Then, we left after like a few mins cos second hand/third hand clothes widely available there were not really our thanng~:P

This is followed by a stroll at Tanjung Aru where we initially planned to have dinner but my cute guide suddenly remembered that she still hadn't pointed out the tip of Mt Kinabalu to me. So off we go again to Likas Bay/Tanjung Lipat (i'm not sure as i got confused by the two by this time) and we sat there waiting for the sunset after i've snapped the tip of the Mt. LOL. Sounds romantic huh? Bet someones's wishing that i'm a guy right then..:P (Glad! Right right right???*grins*) The wait was definitely worth it! There's even birds flying home in the orange-tinged skies and some gulls or something flying low near the face of the water, diving in for their kill. Nice~

At Tanjung Aru

a weird sandcastle we saw

At Likas Bay/Tanjung Lipat again

The tip of the mt.

After a while...we were off again. It's back to town again. Arg. I felt like we're going round n round the whole day. Along to way, my guide regalled me with tales of croc sightings in the drainage system(the one in front of All Saints Cathedral) and how the hospital was too mouldy and was about to fall apart hence the moving of patients elsewhere.

We had our dinner at Waterfront and sat out at the wooden jetty-like area. spotted a cafe with shishas while we were there. @@ but we didn't go there. Interesting how Glad's eyes bulged and her cries of 'NO' when i suggested trying. LOL. We ended up at an Irish Bar or something. It is pretty pricey for my wallet but the food wasn't bad...We had the following (the cheapest stuff off the menu..blerk- i know i know, it's a lil cheapskate but...we can't afford to plurge...) Once we polished off everything, it's back to the hotel for me cos Glad got a marathon early d next morning..:P

The Shamrock Irish Bar ( there's a very St Patrick's feel abt this place..haha)

Our Drinks n Food:

The Cottage Pie (RM30)

Bangers and Mash (RM30)


Cranberry Energizer (RM 18)

Happily sipping my drinks..blerk

(Note: More pics in my facebook :D)