Hopping Across North Western Sabah
Introduction
For the May school holidays, we picked Sabah as our holiday destination, initially because we thought we would be ready to conquer Mount Kinabalu (not this round, but hopefully in 2 years time). I had quite a bit of expiring Enrich miles that I exchanged for our flight ticket over, but the rate wasn’t great as school holidays coincided with the Kaamatan festivals. That said, thank God that it was enough to cover all our tickets. We experienced many first as a family, during the 11 days spent zipping from Kota Kinabalu – Kundasang & Ranau – Kota Belud – Kudat – Kota Kinabalu. While we took back many memories, we left behind a pack of (Abigail’s clothes) and a cap that I just got for my birthday!
Am splliting the post to 6 different sections, coinciding with the 6 different lodgings (apartment, homestay, hut, tent, container) we stayed at for the duration of our trip.
Arriving at Kota Kinabalu
The 1st post will center around mainly the island hopping we did at Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, just offshore from Kota Kinabalu town. We had boat load of fun parasailing & snorkeling around the 3 islands we managed to cover, while squeezing in a little bit of exploration of Kota Kinabalu town.
Adventures in Kundasang
The 2nd post will cover the few inland adventures that we covered in and around Kundasang. We made our way over from Kota Kinabalu to Kundasang, and had our first experience “glamping”. Its also the girls’ first time waking up in the dead of the night for a sunrise hike, and celeberated Kaamaatan with the locals at the peak of Maragang Hill.
Exploring Ranau & Vicinity
The 3rd post will cover our exploration of Ranau, a town west of Kundasang. This is where we experienced eating in a bus, treated ourselves to fish spa, enjoying the canopy walk at Poring & camping at one of the best campsites we’ve stayed at thus far.
Sulap by a River in Kota Belud
As we headed up north to Kudat, we pitstopped at Kota Belud for some time in the river. The 4th post will cover our short time here. This is where we went our separate ways for a few hours. I went for another hike, while the others enjoyed a little bit of river play.
World Under the Ocean off Kudat Shores
Girls loves the beach and the sea. Kudat looked like a nice quiet spot up north away from the crowd as we looked to experience our first dive. In the 5th post, I will be covering our time here, where we witnessed a beautiful sunset, while getting a nice tan playing in the waves and sand.
Experiencing Local Culture at Kota Kinabalu
Finally, our last 2 nights was spent back in Kota Kinabalu. We experienced a 5 star cultural experience, and sampled more of the delicious local cuisine as we prepared to head home. Oh yeah, while the girls slept in, I went off to explore a couple nearby trails as well.
Links
Links to all the six posts will be posted below as and when I complete it. Please click through to follow (in depth) our adventures and experience as we explored north western Sabah.
- Arriving at Kota Kinabalu
- Adventures in Kundasang
- Exploring Ranau & Vicinity, Part 1 & Part 2
- Sulap by a River in Kota Belud
- World Under the Ocean off Kudat Shores
- Experiencing Local Culture at Kota Kinabalu, with a separate subsection on Mari-Mari Cultural Village
