Which ultimately became an awesome sponsored trip to Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia from 29 Sep to 1 Oct 2009! :D
Let the story unfold with 156 pictures in total...
Wait wait! Before everything, I'm supposed to show how best I can spend the RM60 allowance given to us (cos we flew jetsaver light and saved on the checked-in luggage fee!) on 5 things, but I think there are more than 5, so I'll just list them here and you can spot them in the following entry!
1) Shopping at central market, filipino market, handicrafts market - RM5 for very yummy keropokes
2) Buying a pair of beautiful sunglasses at RM10 after spending nearly an hour in the shop chatting with the nice sales girls.
3) Devouring Bak Ku Teh at the famous shop on Gaya Street - RM15 (inclusive of Bak Kut Teh, rice, you tiao, veg, mushrooms, tao fu, meatballs and delicious chinese tea) not bad right?
4) Speedboat ride to Pulau Manukan for snorkelling - RM15 for the snorkelling equipment
5) Whisky dry drink at BED pub @ the waterfront - RM15 (excluding taxes)
Total: RM60 exactly! heh. of course I spent much more than that =/ but that's basically the highlights. :)
Queuing up to check-in at an unearthly hour of 5.20am. but it's good in a way, we get to have an extremely long day ahead.
smile, you're on camera!
i have this fetish of taking photos of boarding passes. guess it kind of certify that i'm actually flying. :)
introducing the main leads for the story... we are a lucky team 7!! that's shuhui, my kai xin guo!
and mornings make me hyper. it's me, jing!
aww... we spotted a pair of elderly couple holding hands and immediately acted like paparazzi, trying to get a photo of their hand-holding activity. :P so sweet!
shuhui had that 'i'm in heaven' look, which is literally true, in a way. haha!
thank you sabah tourism board! for the stuffed proboscis monkey, countless of maps that made my dad a very happy man, and the lovely hospitality bestowed on us!
Imperial International Hotel, our sleeping quarters for the trip. it's a super deluxe room, which is just one level lower than their suite, and is HUGE. check out that lounge chair/sofa, I almost fell asleep just lounging on it. I almost wanted to cart it back to SG, but my luggage allowance won't allow for it. =P
spacious area with tv and a study table.
beautiful bathroom!!! I feel like Her Majesty here.
that's the court jester wahahahaha!!!
full length mirror! we're sooo pampered
a very cool all-in-one drinks making machine. the tiny kettle is damn cute
see how far our door is? and I took this photo from halfway across the room, not even at the end of the room
and that's the other half of the room. heehee
my first purchase - a rather bland double choc ice blended at centrepoint mall
a hearty lunch that costs RM7.50!
a very hungry shuhui
they allowed us to pick and choose the quantity of various dishes available. so i can get one piece of cai xin, and one piece of curry chicken, and one piece of potato and one garlic... you get the gist. :) don't really know how they count though. maybe it's just a rough gauge
fresh corals for sale!
how their dry market looks like
i bought a packet of keropoke here though I know it's a rip-off. well, i'm easily swayed by nice service. :)
BOO
toad bags - they were once alive - 'nuff said
to quote shuhui: "no wonder they all look different from each other!" will you carry a dead toad around with money inside? I guess i can post the same question to people who carry genuine crocodile leather bags
cute guitars at their central market
the filipino market had me feeling like a prey being hunted while we strolled down the narrow aisle while trying our best to ignore all the "pretty girl, come buy!" "konichiwa??" in the end i bought a fish which I didn't bring back. wanted to use it for our starjump shot, but didn't manage to. haha
this place is picture perfect in an unique way, but it stinks
our beloved sunglasses shop!!! all for RM10 each! will definitely go mad in here
the cool us
i like their lamp posts
state council
mandatory clocktower visit - looks just like the one in the guide book -.-
this is more exciting - the court house! hee hee. we sneaked in (or rather, walked in with a "blur" look) but kena chased out after awhile. boo.
huge packets of chrys tea!
was so excited to see a kit-kat cone cos i love kit-kats but it turned out to be rather disappointing
see the kit-kat stick? it doesn't taste like one at all. haha
the only dog i saw in the entire trip
a very popular chinese yam cha place. people do nothing but sit there and chit-chat or play farmville on their laptops. i'm dead serious. keke. it's called fook seok yue or sth along those lines. found it at the asia city complex
there were a lot of hand-crafted bags but all at a very high price =(
guess who
it's a toilet roll holder.
me lah
siew, this is for yew :D
oh oh i love this shop - so dainty and flowery
i wonder how much do i have to pay if i knock it over....
we found a gem! a korean mart hidden in the midst of everything
i bought plenty of instant noodles again hahaa
our welcome dinner by the sabah tourism board - i love this place, with all the wacky performers and fantastic dishes *drools*
quite romantic eh?
clam-clam-clam
it's simon in yellow! he saved us girls by telling us to participate in the first on-stage activity because the rest are scarier. phew
shuhui loves her coconuts
the performances
blissful looks cos our tummies were happily filled
ATTACK!!
prawns - my fave!
that's the sabah choy (aka sabah asparagus 'cos they look alike) on top
chicken with sesame - yum!
more prawns!!!
mingle mingle
kena hijacked halfway through the meal
me: can i wear your headdress?
guy: sure! but don't bring it home
me: i am so gonna bring it home
guy: then you have to bring me home too
HAHAHAHA!
coconut jelly - it's my fave kinabalu food i swear. the texture and the smell.....
together with our new friend, elaine!
whatcha lookin' at!
and so, here goes my attempt at the star jump shot because i love the coconut jelly so.
i was extremely happy, as you can see
take two after a bout of immense laughing from both shuhui and i. i'll leave her to post the jump shots of herself in case she wanna censor some pics haha
DAY 2
Breakfast!!!!
donuts! *grins*
it was a scrumptious spread i must say. :) thumbs up!
man, the potato gratin rocks! muffin was quite bad though =( not chocolate-y enough
fibre was badly needed
peach crumble i believe. tastes really great. :D :D too bad they don't have it on the third morning
setting off to manukan island! (at the rather smelly place)
riding in the speedboat was fun!
where's rose?
and there's issac thinking that he's not in the pic hahaa
i really like this picture, cos it has depth of field. hahaa! that's winston teaching the rest how to starjump
ready?
GO!!! that's our best starjump shot. so here's this for you, jetstar! :)
the whole lot of us trying the impossible
nope, didn't make it =(
it's okay, we had fun :D
as you can see, the waters were not very clear that day, so when we went snorkelling, we couldn't see much stuff actually. and i was terrified at the fact that schools of fishes were surrounding me trying to get food. =/ okay i don't like slimy scales. i would much rather look at you all from a safe distance. plus the fact that i totally can't trend water and i'm in the open sea with only a life jacket to save me. gulp. but it was quite an experience hahaa!
yay i'm finally in the air!
our unicyclist friend :)
the not-so-nice hazelnut ice cream. i think both shuhui and i gave up on finding nice ice cream in KK.
while we were chatting, we did each other's hair! hahaa
trip back
aiya, should have photoshopped the guy out. i'm in control of the speed boat!
look at my coconuts! :P
winston, trying to earn money by selling coconuts because we only got RM60 to spend for 3 days hahaa
trying to take some artistic shots
pippin hot buns!
that's our bak kut teh place :)
they say it looks like singapore's coffee shops 30 years ago
our pot of chinese tea
disinfecting the utensils
meatballs!!
it's a really nice feeling to drink tea while eating bak kut teh
to feed a whole army. now you see them...
now you don't! hahaa
while shopping at wisma merdeka, we saw this shop selling miniature stuff and i couldn't resist but to take a few shots
delectable!
mini nodders
aren't they cute!
more cute stuff :D
shuhui looks murderous hahahaa
RM2.70 takoyaki!
oh this was hilarious. we wanted to see if winston's in front waiting for us, but with our naked eye, we couldn't really see him, so we decided to use binoculars instead. hahahaha! and that's xiao li, our model!
try the takoyaki! though it's erm, fried using dubious looking oil, it still tastes great :D
they put wasabi sauce on it! and chili powder. and all kinds of stuff
fake vodka in a supermart. hahahaha
Jim Berry.
night market! the place whereby the cockroach incident took place. a gigantic flying cockroach flew to xiao li's arm (i think) and we all screamed and created quite a scene haha. i would die on the spot if the cockroach dares to even lay a leg on me. Grrr.
as they say, you'll find the best food in the worst places
take a seat!
tiger prawns at RM7 per piece (~$3 sing dollars)
did you see the teeth?!
all puffed up
they are crabs
mega huge watermelons
BED pub
my whisky dry
:D
cheers!!
chin chow with honey :) i bought a whole block of chin chow for only RM2! we camped in xiaoli's & winston's room for supper + late night chats.
i wish i could find that in singapore. maybe i can haha
how our room looks at night - super cosy!
greeted by the sea every morning!
third day's breakfast - the bee hoon is 5-star quality man. i took seconds and thirds. haha
da girls! i'm really glad to know you all and spend a wonderful three days together!
the great guys too!
bye bye kinabalu! i'll be back to climb your mountain soon!
nemo!
nemo! dory! and that chief!
whatcha lookin' at? grumbles
i'll headbutt you
back to reality soon...
back to projects, fyp, tuitions, and my home sweet home. :)
to sum it all up, i never ever regretted clicking the 'send' button to submit my application because the yearn to travel overpowers most stuff haha. it was a wonderful trip filled to the brim with really friendly people who clicked though we are all from different backgrounds and are of different age. :) i really cherish the times whereby we cracked jokes on how to earn money to offset our expenditures (sell honey in sticks and sugared chin chow water hahaha) and also just having the time of our lives. :)
Thank you everyone, for the unforgettable memories, and maybe one day Jetstar will fly us all to some other place again for free!!!! hopefully taipei! *crosses fingers* (I'll gladly do a twenty-page blog on that)
speaking of which, I'm still in the process of creating my travel-only blog filled with tibits of useful info on all the places i've been to, plus my itineraries for all to use, and of course, truckload of pictures! do stay tuned for it! :D
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