Kota Kinabalu: Island Hopping

So aside from some sight seeing in the city, you could do some island hopping when in Kota Kinabalu. Point of entry is here at Jesselton Point.

This is where you plan your itinerary and buy your tickets as well.

The islands are what Tunku Abdul Rahman Park consists of. Basically, there are 5 islands namely: Sulug, Gaya, Manukan, Sapi and Mamutik.

The weather was not so good in the morning, so the staff told us it's better to go to just 2 islands *bummer*. That being said, he recommended Manukan and Sapi (which I think was the most popular out of the 5 islands)

We paid around 125 MYR for our island tour which includes a snorkeling gear.

Once you get to the island, you will also need to pay 20 MYR for conservation fee.

It took us around 20 minutes via speedboat to get to our first destination, Manukan Island.

The water was a beautiful emerald green <3

There are available villas if you want to stay overnight in Manukan Island.

We got here around 10 am already but there were only a few people which is good!

I suggest you start your island hopping early in the morning so you could enjoy the island all to yourselves muahaha

The pine trees remind me so much of Nagsasa and Anawangin cove in Zambales ;)

What I love about most here is that you don't need to swim so far to do snorkeling!

There were a lot of fish you could see just off the shore.

I even saw a clown fish! yea~

Some of them are really friendly too, swimming so close to us ~nice!

Too bad our underwater camera broke suddenly so we weren't able to take more pics after :(

I guess I need to get a GoPro now lulz

Around 12 noon, lots of tourists started coming in so we decided to go to our next island.

It took us around 15 minutes to get to Sapi Island from Manukan.

The bridge divides the beach coast into 2.

You could see the other half with emerald green water while the other half....

is a mix of turquoise to cobalt blue :)

This side of the beach is much longer actually.

Unfortunately, it was already crowded when we arrived. 

There were no available tables or seats we could occupy so we just stayed at the other side where we  placed our things at the stone wall :(

This is why it is sooo much better to start early ok?? =P

Anyway, you could snorkel here as well. 

Not so much fish compared to Manukan but maybe on the other side you could see more lol

While waiting for our speed boat to head back, some kid was feeding the fish from the bridge and they went crazy! Perfect for a photo op! heehee

Anyway before heading back to Jesselton Point, we dropped some tourists at Mamutik island. Gosh, it was so peaceful and not crowded unlike Sapi! Grrrrr. Oh well, I hope we could visit again and go to the other 3 islands!

Kota Kinabalu

So 2 weeks ago, my mom and I had a quick trip to Kota Kinabalu.

It's at the Eastern Part of Malaysia and is quite popular for travelers visiting Sabah.

We decided to rent a taxi to go around the city spots.

For an hour and 30 mins, we paid 45 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR).

We went to Signal Hill Observatory Tower first.

Here, you could have an overlooking view of the city......for free!

The viewing deck is not that big actually so it was good we got there early to avoid the crowd.

Next stop was the Atkinson Clock Tower. 

It's also on Signal Hill road so it's just near the observatory deck.

This clock tower is so historical it has been around since 1905 O_O

back part of the clock tower

The beautiful Floating Mosque of KK

It's considered the largest and the most beautiful mosque in KK.

The mosque is surrounded by a man-made lagoon which makes it look so dramatic when you take pictures of it with its reflection on the water. Quite similar with the Angkor Wat in Cambodia!

No entrance fee here as well but if you wanna go inside the prayer hall, you need to change to proper Muslim clothing and rent an Abaya and Hijab.

#ootd :)

The entrance to the prayer hall.

There were so many children at the entrance by the way, looked like I was in elementary school hehe.

pretty mosaic tiles

prayer hall at the back

Our last stop was Puh Toh Tze temple.

It's a Buddhist temple built around 1980

Upon entering, you will be greeted by this large deity statue

Golden Buddha

There are no fees here as well, LOVE KK!

You could pray and make a wish at this area.

It was around noon already when we finished our "city tour" so we decided to drop by Suria Sabah Mall for lunch.

It's also one of the biggest malls in KK and you could find several fashion outlets here too ;)

We wanted to eat authentic Malay food so we went to the food court and saw this stall.

It's sort of like buffet style where you choose from the several trays of dishes and you put whatever you like on your plate.

Voila!

I don't know exactly the name of our dishes but  it consisted of assorted meat and veggies basically.

Some of it were a bit spicy too.

Drinks were Grass Jelly and Watermelon juice

We had Cendol Durian for dessert! #nom

I don't really eat durian but this was really yum

Outside of the mall in front, we found this burnt(?) building with a lot of graffiti.

I thought it would be nice to take some pics here hehe

After the graffiti pictorial, we headed to the Harbour Walk where you could have some ocean sight seeing.

You could also see some popular hotels around here like Hyatt and Le Meridian.

For dinner, we went to the market where you could get some fresh seafood and have it cooked!

You could choose from a different variety of fish, shrimps, lobsters etc. and have it grilled.

There's also some sea weed, ceviche and green mango salad available ;)

We ordered grilled stingray, lobsters and squid.

It was served with some chilli sauce on top

Total bill was 120 MYR including rice and drinks.

Capped the night with eating choco peanut shaved ice again haha

It was hot in Kota Kinabalu, it's like Philippines too!