So I'm back from the land below the wind.
Landing at the airport, it was raining heavily. The forecast, which I learnt later turned out to be accurate, predicted showers for the following days. Beach life and sunsets were ruled out in an instant.
The drive to the hotel in the cab was refreshing. Although the hotel was a mere 10 minutes away, we passed by much of the town to get there. A lot has changed since the last time I went seven years ago. Passed by Sutera Harbour. I miss it much. A lot of memories there (remember, sho? syikin?). Then there was the Phillipino Markets as well. They look the same, except that it was nighttime now. I have only been there during the day. A new shopping centre called the Warisan Square is right across the road from it. Interesting concept. It's a shopping centre; but it's comprised of inter-joint blocks of shoplots. Not many shops opened yet. Could get good.
After dinner, I'd take a walk outside the hotel by myself. The first night, I walked around the city centre. The streets are quieter than I expected. I found one nightclub. And it was empty, with duff-duff playing so loud you can feel the vibrations on the outer thin walls. Just pubs and bistros, mainly - standing out thanks to their awkward locations. KK feels a bit like Ipoh. Most of the buildings are old. So when you see neon lights and modern deco in the midst of all the other old-looking shoplots on the same block, it feels a little out of place. Oh, and singers singing songs from the 80's like hotel bar entertainers? They're everywhere.
I found one mamak too.
On Day 2, dad rented a car and we drove up to the highlands. Impressively, he still remembers the roads quite well (we used to frequent to kk a bit, when we were still living in sabah almost 2 decades ago). We headed up to Kundasang and journeyed on a little till Poring's Hot Springs. Up the way, the scenery was beautiful. Could've been better due to the weather - Mt Kinabalu was constantly blanketed with clouds - but still, amazing.
I noticed there were many churches up the mountains. Mostly Catholic and Seventh Day Adventists. But there were many. Like mushrooms.
Dogs too. Suicidal ones. They walk and sleep by the side of the roads so close to where our wheels would tread as if the existence of road vehicles were of another invisible dimension. Sometimes you'd wonder if that dog lying on the road was roadkill or merely sleeping.
At Kundasang, we dropped by the Kundasang market. We used to buy our groceries here last time (as we lived in an estate, deep inside the jungles). We also headed up to a hotel we would have stayed at then, just to visit. I remember it so clearly. It was (and still is) minty green. Hotel Perkasa Kota Kinabalu isn't very well received these days apparently (looking at the colour scheme, you wonder why). Apparently, a rather famous murder case involving a female minister occurred in the hotel, and ever since then, some people believe it's haunted. Driving up there, I was suddenly reminded of The Shining, minus the snow.
It was creepy inside.
We proceeded later to the Hot Springs at Poring. Dad and I climbed up over 100m to a Canopy Walk there as thin as a plank. Mum and grandma didn't make it a third way through, so they waited at the foot. The scenery wasn't that impressive. But the climb was memorable. We were hanging at over 40m above ground level.
When we got back to the city, it was dinnertime. So we had some seafood by the beach.
Again, after dinner, I went for a walk outside the hotel by myself. This time, I decided to hit the beach, which the first proper one I could find was about 2km from the hotel. But it was well worth it. The waves were strong, hitting the rocks hard and breaking into pieces of foam. A lone boat would chug along under the moonless sky almost secretly from time to time. A few locals were fishing along the coast ignoring the flashes from my camera.
The night was mine.
On Day 3 it rained the whole day. Ruined a lot of the plans as we were pretty much just meant to explore the nearing beaches. We went hotel-hopping as most beaches (or at least the prettier ones) were secured by 5-star resorts. From Tanjung Aru's Shangri-La, to Nexus Karambunai (sp?), to Sutera Harbour in the evening. The clouds stole the sunset away. What a disappointment.
After dinner at the harbour, we left for the airport to catch our flight home.
I liked the getaway very much. But at the same time, I'm glad I was heading home too. After all, I ran out of space in my camera and I didn't bring my laptop along.
Now, for kl again next week...
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p/s: for more photos, click here
