Kota Kinabalu day 2!

October 15, 2011

We had to go to a money changer the next day, so we waited for the mall to open at 10:30am. Supposedly, we were leaving for Park Kinabalu, a 2 hours bus ride from the city, at 7am. But we didn't have money yet, so we waited, and had breakfast at, guess where ---

They have grape jam! But their sausage mcmuffin and even the drinks tasted like it had curry in it. yech. The air smelled like curry, the people smelled like curry- curry was written all over KK. It wasn't mabaho, it was an ambiance. :) 

After we had our money changed, we went to this bus station just 15 mins away from our hotel. Btw, we walked around the city proper because it was walkable. It was like Shoppersville Katipunan to Mcdo. Yes, it's far, but we were exploring and it was fun! We asked around how to get to Park Kinabalu (the travel guide online said to take the bus in Wawasan Bus Station to Park Kinabalu), AND NO ONE UNDERSTOOD US. Are you serious. Even our jeepney and trike drivers in Pinas know their English. We asked a local how to get there, and so she told us she was also going to that direction and that we should go with her. She looked like a nice lady, so we went with her. 

We took that big sosyal "City Bus'' as they would call it with the lady for 50 cents each. Dolly gave Singaporean money by mistake, and the konduktor just stared at us. Haha. So we went on, thinking the ride would last for 2 hours. But no. 3 mins later, the bus stopped in front of the mall where we had our money changed. The people took a bus from the station to that mall, 3 mins away. Yung kaya namang lakarin, pero kung gusto mo i-trike pwede rin. Yes, they took the bus. Almost half of the bus went down the mall. Wtf? We were so proud of ourselves, we could walk this far. So anyway, we went on, and then stopped again. The lady said, we go down here. WHAT?!  

We ended up in this park just 5 mins away from our hotel. wtf. We walked all that way to the bus station, just to go back a few blocks away from the hotel. The lady said we had to ride a mini-bus (mind you they call it "bas") going to Ranau, and we just have to tell the bas driver to drop us off at Kinabalu Park. She was so nice, she even left us her number in case we got lost. :) She was the only accommodating Malaysian we met. Make me realize even more that we are so hospitable. 

2 hours later, we arrived at Kinabalu Park around 1:30. We were so hungry, so we decided to eat first at the restaurant outside the park.

Entrance of Kinabalu Park

Fries and Tom Yum Soup. What a combination. haha

Lemon Chicken!

Food wasn't delicious, but we didn't care, we were just so hungry. We paid 15RM to get inside the park. We were given a map, and, that's it. 

Map of Kinabalu Park

Mount Kinabalu behind us!

 Mount Kinabalu was a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and since the climb to the top usually took 2 days, we just decided to stay at the foot of the mountain, the Kinabalu Park. There were museums, botanical gardens and gift shops around the park.

First stop was the Kota Kinabalu museum. It was a display of plants and animals you usually find in KK. We found this funny sign amongst the leaves.

shhh. 

The Rafflesia Flower.
 Malaysians are extremely proud of this, it's the biggest flower in the entire world, and I think it only grows on their soil! It doesn't have a stem, and it's really huge. I also think it's very smelly. hehe

 There were more displays like animals, plants, rocks etc. Nothing you couldn't find in the Philippines. Even this Bahay Kubo was similar to ours. Their tools, utensils, weapons, musical instruments-- feels like home. haha!

rock termites! cool!

and other animals. 

We walked around some more, found ourselves in the middle of the forest, so we went off the trail and went down the river just so we could take these shots. haha

We found the botanical garden, charged us another 5RM for the entrance. There was no tour guide available for us, since we had to book it daw before, soooo. we just read the signs. Plants, plants more plants.

Pink Maidens from the Botanical Garden

 Then we stopped by the gift shop, where they sold canned oxygen.

Gift shop selling canned OXYGEN.

for 35RM!!!!! The air you breathe for 35RM!! (P490)
Before, people used to laugh at bottled waters. Don't be surprised if canned oxygen becomes the next in thing.

 After the gift shop, we went straight to this road, because the map said exit. Well the map wasn't clear, so we didn't really get it. We realized there were no more signs, no more street lights, no more cars or people in the road we were on, so we thought, maybe we're lost. And look, fog! We could reach the clouds! haha

 Finally, a car passed by so we asked if we were in the right direction. Number 1, they laughed at us first before they gave us an answer. haha. Number 2, yes, we were in the wrong direction. and last, 3, we realized, that people usually took cars to go around the park. That's why no one was walking around with us, and that's why people came in cars and buses. Because no one walks. kanina pa yan!! no one walks around here! Everyone takes cars and buses! We were just so proud of ourselves. So to celebrate, we rolled around and planked.

After all that walking, we were just so tired, good thing the same mini-bas driver went back for us and brought us back to the hotel. We slept, and then went out at around 12mn to party in the Best Entertainment Destination everr! haha no really, the name of the place was BED (Best Entertainment Destination). Lots of foreigners, young and old, lots of jologs also, drinks were expensive, we spent 100RM that night. haha