Vacation in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo - Part III

On the third and fourth day of our vacation in Sabah, we headed off to the northern part of KK called Karambunai, about 40 minutes drive from the city centre. We checked into the 5-star Nexus Resort Karambunai, reputed to have a rather long and beautiful beach area which "some say it's heaven" or something along those lines.

The room we had was nice, clean, cosy and very much equipped with what you'd expect for a 5-star accommodation. Even the TV channels were pretty good and clear, plus the internet was smooth and fast. Strange feeling for me to have things in an almost perfect state since most hotels I've stayed in (even 5-star ones) would not have most things in order.

Food at the restaurants in Nexus Resort is splendid, nothing to complain there. The portions were obviously not meant for normal Asians, as there was enough for two to share for each meal ordered. Cool innit?

Things get pricey here though. The room I booked, called Ocean View Room, costed RM450 per night including breakfast, and that's the special rate when I booked through the net in September 2008. Normal rates would be in the range of Rm800-900 per room per night. And don't expect food to be any less than RM40 per meal, that'd be a hard thing to find here.

The beach - well, to me it's not really something to die for, I think the beach at Mamutik Island is better, the sands were smoother and fluffier. The Nexus beach is long, wide and quite flat, excellent for swimmers and beach games. The waves were a bit strong during the two days we were there, but then again that would be expected at this time of the year.

I'd recommend this place for beach lovers who enjoy a good swim, sunbathing, beach games and barbeques, plus couples who want a really private getaway where they can enjoy very, very long walks on the very, very long beach.

Let these photos help you decide if Nexus Resort Karambunai will be your next holiday destination.

Vacation in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo - Part II

This is Part II of my Sabah island excursion.

After Manukan Island, we took a 5-minute boat ride to the island of Mamutik. Mamutik is more suitable for swimming and snorkeling I feel, because the water is muc much more clearer than Manukan and there's amazingly less people there. Strange coz I think Mamutik is cleaner and more natural than Manukan. The waves are gentle and the sandy beach is just perfect if you want to laze around in your shorts and get a moderate tan. Crystal clear waters enable you to view the coral fishes as clearly as if they were in your living room aquarium. These photos are just some of those I took of Mamutik. Have to be there to savour the beauty, folks.

Vacation in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo - Part I

My family and I spent a wicked 5-day vacation in Sabah, Borneo Malaysia on 16th - 20th December 2008, just over a week ago. We had planned to go visit some of the well-known islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park located just on the fringes of the blue-green waters off the coast of Kota Kinabalu (or KK as it is lcoally known), the capital of Sabah.

The first two nights, we put up at a rather minimalistically dressed-up hotel called the Imperial Boutech Hotel, located on the 7th floor of Warisan Square building, in the heart of KK.

On the 17th December, our 2nd day in KK, we went off to the islands. To go there one needs to get to the nearest jetty, i.e. located at Jesselton Point, some 20-minute walk from Warisan Square. There you will find a potful of what I would refer to as island taxi-hopping service operators, who provide various island getaway packages. There are altogether 5 islands in the Park, namely Gaya, Sapi, Manukan, Mamutik and Sulug. We decided to visit two, i.e. Manukan and Mamutik. It costed around RM68.00 for 2 adults and 1 child, including jetty fees for 2 adults of RM6.00 per person. The Park charges RM3.00 per entry per adult which you pay upon reaching the first island. The boat ride takes a mere 20 minutes to Manukan and Mamutik from the jetty.

It was a great day out for us, and the images here captured some of the best views I've seen in these parts of the country. All of the images here are taken of Manukan.

In my next post I'll upload images of Mamutik.

Top 3 Places to Visit in Malaysia for Nature Getaways

Finding a hard time deciding where to go for your next adventure? For those of you looking for a holiday with a challenge (and some education) in Malaysia, then check up on these top three places in both West and East (Sabah and Sarawak) Malaysia:

1. Sabah, Borneo Island, East Malaysia - Now where does one start? Sabah is rich in natural flora and fauna, both terrestrial and also marine. It has South East Asia's highest peak, Mt. Kinabalu, and also one of the world's most unique rainforest basin, the Maliau Basin in Danum Valley. One can always start with Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the state. Kota Kinabalu is the largest city in East Malaysia. It's a pretty popular resort destination due to its proximity to tropical islands, lush rainforests and Mt. Kinabalu.

2. Sarawak, Borneo Island, East Malaysia - For Sarawak, do not miss the opportunity to visit the unique caves at Mulu, north of Sarawak. The Gunung Mulu National Park is situated close to the southern border of Brunei with Malaysia, about 100km east-southeast of the town of Miri. The Park has a number of world record-breaking caves such as the Sarawak Chamber - largest cave chamber in the world, Deer Cave - largest cave passage and the Clearwater Cave - longest cave in Southeast Asia. There are at least 300km more of explored caves, which provides a spectacular sight.

3. Pulau Perhentian (Perhentian Islands), West Malaysia - Glittering gems off the East Coast, the Perhentian Islands are a small group of captivating coral-fringed islands off the coast of northeastern Malaysia in the state of Terengganu. The Islands are one of the most beautiful places on the earth, but unexplored by mass tourism yet. Activities on the islands are limited to scuba diving, snorkeling and sunbathing. The islands are ideal for peaceful vacations.

I've only been to some of the places in Sabah and also Sarawak, but will soon be adding more to my portfolio of adventure holidays!

Tawau, Sabah - Seafood at its Best

I was in Sabah just a couple of weeks ago. Kota Kinabalu to be exact, the capital of Sabah, north of Borneo Island. My how the landscape has changed. My last visit to Kota Kinabalu (or KK for short) was back in early 2006, while I was working on a project in Tawau, southeast of Sabah. They are now building (or have completed some parts of it) a fly-over which crosses over the main road leading to the city centre towards Centrepoint shopping mall, or something like that. Sutera Harbour Resort still looks good, since it was first developed in the early 2000s. There are a couple of new shopping places again, one of them is City Mall I believe it's called, and another one just sort of next to Centrepoint. I don't remember what that one is called now. For the shoppers among you, you can find out more in a fellow shoppers' travel blogs of KK.

In less than 50 words, Kota Kinabalu is a modern city with a rather impressive road network and is fast expanding, thanks to the developments on the reclaimed land to the coastal side of the city. It's best for quick shopping trips because they do have good shopping places in KK, much much better than Kuching I would say.

Tawau - What I remember best about this town is the excellent and very affordable seafood. it's also the gateway to one of the region's best coral reef areas and diving areas, i.e. Semporna and Sipadan island. Check out other similar places in this region in coral reef diving travel blog. In Tawau you can get escargoes and lobsters for half the price you pay in the cities, cooked that is.

Food area to visit will be the stretch from Sabindo Seafood Night Market (Pasar Malam) which will take you through dozens of Chinese and Malay coffee shop to open air cafes that serve anything from beef noodle soup (Ngiu Chap or Soup Tulang) to fish and chips. Best part to me is it's fresh, delicious and very very affordable - you won't break your wallet even if you bring 10 of your most carnivorous buddies along to feast.

How to get there? First fly yourself (from wherever you are) to KK, then get a connecting flight to Tawau. That would either be MAS or Air Asia.

I've not been to Sipadan myself, but would like to go there someday. Gonna need to take good pictures to make a good travel blog.

Forests of Borneo & Mt. Kinabalu

In case you don't know, Borneo is primarily mountainous, with dense areas of rain forest mainly in Sarawak. The highest peak in Borneo, Mt. Kinabalu, stands at 13,455 ft. That's in Sabah. With a generally hot, wet climate, rain is more common than not, with some portions of Borneo receiving between 150 and 200 inches of rainfall annually. Between October and March, monsoons buffet the island. Given the abundance of rainfall, it makes sense that Borneo's flora is among the most diverse in the world. Borneo has nearly 11,000 species of flowering plants, about a third of which are indigenous. How dense is the vegetation? In one 16 acre area of Borneo's lowland forest, over 700 species of trees have been recorded. In comparison, there are only 171 native tree species in all of eastern North America. That's enough to tell you that to be lost in Borneo jungles would really give even the most experienced of trackers a hell of a hard time.