Gateway To Sabah And Borneo Island

Le Meridian Kota Kinabalu

2008-03-23T01:50:00.005+08:00

I will post photo of Le Meridian Kota Kinabalu. Its a good hotel, so good I am sure I will be going there again.

Coffee house, living room and bedroom of the suite. Its called Le Royal Club by the way.

Tawau Tour

2007-05-20T14:20:00.000+08:00

Tawau is a town on east side of Sabah. From Kota Kinabalu you can take a 45 minutes flight to Tawau Airport. From the airport take a taxi for 30 minutes ride to Tawau. There are plenty of hotels in Tawau but I stayed in Hotel Emas.

If you need Internet access, Sedap corner has free wifi. Its only 3 minutes walk from hotel emas. Ask the counter staff and they will show it to you. The food is good, the girls are pretty and friendly. If you are lucky you can also ask them out for dinner at the same time ask her to show you around town before you show her around your hotel room :).

From Tawau I went to Semporna. The journey took about 1 hour. At Semporna you can take a boat to go island tour. Go to the Jeti, beside the entry to Dragon Inn there a lot of small challet. Those are offices for tour and boat operators. Ask around and you can get good price for island tour. There are also diving packages there. Maybe you can dive Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai. In Semporna there are lots of hotels. Dragon inn is a good one. As for pub and karaoke there are plenty. Food?? Lots of food here. Seafood especially. For me I dont like to stay in Semporna coz its too small with nothing to do at night except going to the pub one after another.

My advise stay in Tawau and make daytrip to Semporna.

Holiday Villa, Cherating

2007-05-20T13:26:00.000+08:00

I stayed at Holiday Villa, Cherating in Kuantan, Pahang for 5 days. From Kota Kinabalu I took a 21/2 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur International Airport and from there another flight to Kuantan that took about 30 minutes. From Kuantan Airport took a taxi to Cherating Villa that cost RM55.

This time of year Cherating is very warm. Luckily the room has air-condition and its working well. I stayed in Challet by the pool. Its a big room, has good funiture and its comfortable.

Overall the room here are good. There are 2 swimming pool and if pool isnt big enough you can always go to the beach which is very near. There is also a karaoke there if you are looking for something in there but no girls in the karaoke. There is a Spa with reasonable price package. Internet access in the rooms there a none. At the lobby there is tmnet hotspot. Buy the prepaid at the counter and register online. Its RM28 for a 30 day access. If you are not willing to pay, there is a free wifi which not many people knew bout it. Eastern Pavilion has a ballroom. Inside the ballroom there is a wireless router. Ask the staff there to switch it on and you will get free wifi. You can sit at the SPA and surf. Good rooms, good facility and good service.

Unfortunately the food here is not good. Its not bad but try eating it for 5 days str8 and you will understand what i mean. Take a 3 minute walk and go outside. Turn right at the gate and you will find 2 malaysian food restaurant, 2 seafood restaurant and a bunch of shops. You can eat all you want and the price is good. The seafood restaurant also sell beer. The shops has all the basic needs and they even sell clothing. I bought 2 Cherating shirt for RM10 each. If you are looking for disco, The Legend is a resort that have disco. Leisure Villa (if im not mistaken) has a lounge with live band every night. The nearest town is Bandar Chukai which is 15 minutes away if you take a taxi. Bandar Kuantan is 30 minutes away. Along the way there are a lot of stalls selling Keropok Lekor. If you want to buy Keropok Lekor buy the dark ones. The white ones have too much flour in them. Sometimes the dark side is better.

Overall Holiday Villa Cherating is a good place to stay. As for the food you can always find a place to eat within 3 minutes walking distance. The rooms are big with lots of facility to choose. If you a planning a quiet holiday by the beach this is it.

Kota Kinabalu Terminal 2 Airport

2007-05-20T13:12:00.000+08:00

Kota Kinabalu Terminal 2 Airport is finish for about 6 months now. Its now working fully and no more smell of wet paint. If you fly AirAsia then you will be using Terminal 2.

Its now bigger and have a lot more room. Easier to park car if you are waiting but beware there are police wathing and will ask you to park the car at proper parking space if you wait too long. As for parking space there are plenty.

Terminal 1 is currently under renovation. Its going to be bigger better and can accomodate a lot more flights because the current airport is at it maximum usage.

Dive into Sabah Waters

2007-05-13T20:42:00.000+08:00

Pulau Sipadan, Sabah
Good for all level of divers, big sea creatures, challenging dives.

The first time celebrity diver Jacques Yves Cousteau visited this island in the 70s, he was so impressed with the island's biodiversity that he stayed on for six months and crowned Sipadan as one of the top five dive sites in the world. Tengku Datuk Zainal Adlin, Chairman of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia and an avid diver, agrees. " You can see everything in one single dive - turtles, giant parrotfish, schools of trevally jacks, sharks, and many species of reef fishes ". What makes Sipadan so unique is its location at the heart of Indo-Pacific basin, which supports a rich marine ecosystem dating back to 100 million years. shaped like a mushroom, the island is perched on top of a submarine volcano.

The list of dive sites in Sipadan is staggering and it is the playground of giants: turtles, hammerheads, manta rays, gray reef sharks and humphead parrotfish. Most of these creatures are hard to come by elsewhere in South East Asia. You get to surround yourself with a vortex of barracudas so huge that they eclipse the sun. Swim into an underwater cavern that sneaks up the 'central pillar' of the islan, or go to the Cleaning Station to see turtles and other big fishes behaving docilely while being cleaned by small reef fish such as moon wrasse and surgeonfish. When you want to take a break from the legendary wall dive, perch yourself at the edge of the Drop-off and stare into the deep blue. Prepare to be overwhelmed as ocean life plays out in front of you. Do like most divers do - group Sipadan together with Kapalai and Mabul in one extended dive holiday.

Lodging: There is none on the island. Divers stay at Mabul and Kapalai, which are just 15 minutes away.
Getting there: Fly from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau before continuing the journey on hired minivan to Semporna for your boat transfer to the Islands.

Pulau Mabul, Sabah
Good for Much Diving, Experienced divers.

Mabul holds the reputation as one of the best sites in the world for much diving (diving in shallow depths with limited visibility). The objective is to spot rare and sometimes bizarre macro species such as vibrant-coloured nudibranches, mantis shrimps, ribbon eels, seahorses, stonefish and ghost pipefish.

Lodging: Sipadan Water Village Resort is one of the premier places to stay.
Getting there: Same as Pulau Sipadan. Its adviseable to arrange for pick-up from Tawau airport for a fuss free journey to Pulau Mabul.

Pulau Kapalai, Sabah
Good for Beginners, night dive, macro diving.

Though it is very near to Sipadan, diving in Kapalai opens up to a completely different world. The island's relatively shallow waters is suitable for beginners, yet a quick dive off the jetty is fascinating enough with the presence of leaf scorpionfish, crocodilefish and lionfish. Kapalai is considered a heaven for macro lovers and a good site to spot rare creatures such as frogfish, blue-ringed octopus, harlequin ghost pipefish and sea moths. Hifzie Hassan, an underwater videographer who has logged in more than 500 dives, highly recommends a dive in the evening to steal a peek at the mating dance of the elusive Mandarin Fish.

Lodging: Sipadan-Kapalai dive Resort is a beautiful gateway tailored for divers.
Getting there: Same as Pulau Sipadan.

Pulau Mantanani, Sabah
Good for Manatee and ray spotting

Mantanani is a faily new dive spot but already, 16 dive sites have been identified along with three wrecks. The dive sites are home to the rare and gentile manatees, known locally as dugong. You'll also be able to spot many different species of rays, including the marbled stingray, blue spotted ray and eagle rays. Muck diving is also recommended, with high chances of finding imperial shrimps, pink-eye gobies and blue-ringed octopus.

Lodging: Mantanani Resort is the only dive resort on the island.
Getting there: Fly to Kota Kinabalu and the make your way by taxi to Kota Belud, which is just an hour away. There are speedboat connections between Kota Belud and the island.

Pulau Mataking, Sabah
Good for Macro diving

Mataking is linked to Sipadan via the 328ft deep Alice Channel. Of the 30 dive sites available at Mataking, Magic Rick, Mantis Reef and the Alice Wall are firm favourites. The island is known for macro and well camouflaged creatures, such as thorny and pygmy seahorses, scorpion leaf fish, robus giant pipefish and blue ribbon eel. It is also common to find trevally, giant clams, Spanish mackerels and dogtooth tuna in these waters.

Lodging: The Reef Dive Resort is a recommended place to stay.
Getting there: Pulau Mataking is accessible from Semporna via a 45 minute speedboat ride.

Layang-layang, Sabah
Good for Hammerhead shark spotting, experienced divers.

Layang-layang is not an island but an atoll of linked coral reefs that have never been polluted or fished. Hence, the biodiversity is astounding and rewarding to all levels of divers. The highlight is to swim with schools of hamerhead sharks, which gather here in April and May to perform their mating ritual. The visiblity at Layang-layang can reach up to 50 meters. However, ths can also be dangerous because you could easily dive deeper than you think, so check your depth constantly.

Lodging: Layang-layang Island Resort is the only dive operator and accommodation on the island.
Getting there: There are regular flights between Kota Kinabalu and Layang-layang

Pulau Langkayan, Sabah
Good for Quiet dive holiday macro diving

Victoria Hilley of Kota Kinabalu based Touchdown Luxury Yacht Charters prefers to dive in the secluded setting and quiet atmosphere of Langkayan, an island that combines a rewarding cocktail of reef, wreck and macro diving. Jawfish Lair is one of the mostloved dive sites. The resident yellow jawfish is well camouflaged and easily missed by untrained eyes, so ask your dive master to point one out to you. Who knows, you might see one with a mouthfull of eggs. Also try spotting mimic octopus, ghost pipefish, frogfish, devil scorpionfish, stingray and leopard sharks.

Lodging: The resort on this island is run by Pulau Sipadan Resort & Tours
Getting there: Fly from Kuala Lumpur or Kota Kinabalu into Sandakan. The speedboat transfer to Langkayan departs from Sandakan Yacht Club.

Back In Kuala Lumpur

2007-05-12T19:27:00.000+08:00

After 5 days in Cherating, Kuantan now I am back in Kuala Lumpur. The 1st thing I did was go to Low Yat Plaza. Its a place to buy computers, handphone, PDA, Camera and all electronic gadget. I upgraded my laptop RAM which is quiet cheap now. I spend RM150 on a piece of 512MB DDR 333 RAM. Then bought a new battery for my laptop cost me RM290. All of it come to RM440. Very reasonable comparing the price when I first bought this laptop.

It seems now that PC business no longer belongs to the chinese. At Low Yat Plaza now there are quiet a few Pakistani shop competing directly with the chinese. Most of the sell laptops and I upgrade my laptop at one of these pakistani shops.

I will be returning to Kota Kinabalu tomorrow. Hopefully I can post pictures and article of Cherating, Tawau and about Diving in Sabah. Now I am in Pandan Indah at Steven Corner. Its a coffee shot with free wifi access.

Working in Tawau

2007-05-06T10:44:00.000+08:00

Currently I am in Tawau Sabah. I am staying at Hotel Emas. I have been staying here for 3 days now. My flight back to KK will be at 2:40pm. Tomorrow morning I will be going to Kuantan, Pahang. Hopefully I can post pictures that I have taken of the places here.

In Tawau I am using a free wifi provided by Sedap Corner near Hotel Emas. Yesterday I was at Semporna for the whole day. The rest of the group went on island tour which I didnt go coz done that a few times already and to me only Sipadan Island is the best. Its cool its beautiful compare to other islands that are hot like hell.

There are a few internet cafe in Semporna but unfortunately no free wifi. The only available wifi is provided by an internet cafe called Email Express but its lock. Semporna also have a lot of good hotels now. The latest one is called Sipadan Inn.

Anyway if you happen to be in Tawau do stay at Hotel Emas. A bit far from the town center but for an internet addict like me, free wifi is just 2 minutes walking distance. Plus its a cafe. U can eat and drink here while wasting time surfing and looking at people.

I will be updating this blog if I have the time to upload some pictures form my mobile phone. Btw Tawau is a heaven if you are looking for night entertainment.

Some Pictures of Places

2007-04-14T13:14:00.000+08:00

1st picture is Mount Kinabalu taken from Kundasang. I was on a trip that day and i drove from Kota Kinabalu to Kundasang in 1 hour. Stop by at a small restaurant and took the picture. Btw that small car is not mine. No way I can do 1 hour with that car.

2nd picture is taken during sunset of a landmark in Kota Kinabalu. Its a big sword fish or I think it is in a middle of a roundabout. Its located near Hyatt Hotel.

What happen to Sipadan Island

2006-05-23T11:12:00.000+08:00

It has been a few days since the incident. Someone with the genius mind park a very big boat full of constuction material onto Sipadan Island. What were they thinking to put such a load on the island. Furthermore federal government is currently trying to preserve the island. Its a treasure and shouldn't be destroyed this way.

How big do you think the barge is? I have few pictures and you will be surprised as I am when I 1st saw these pictures. Its huge they got a bulldozer on top of the barge. See for yourself.

The construction material they are carrying is believe for a construction of an office. For now there are no hard proof or evidence pointing this to anyone. Everybody is playing dumb in this. Soon the person who is incharge of Sipadan Island will be coming and all party will have to answer. Someone will have to pay for this.

The sad thing is most of the construction material is dump into the sea. They are believe to be carrying over 60 tan of metal and over half is in the sea. It will surely destroy the beautiful coral Sipadan Island is famous for. Some of the divers now have volunteer to clean the coral. Thank you for those people who care and someone have to pay for this damage.

Hopefully the construction material can be clean up before it caused further damage. I cannot wait to get on the island. It really made me sad looking at the damage they have done to the island.

Welcome to Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Sabah.

2006-01-28T02:19:00.000+08:00

Gateway to Sabah, the land below the wind.

The Kota Kinabalu International Airport is the main gateway to Sabah from the outside world. Kota Kinabalu International Airport is located 10 Km from the town centre. It is the second busiest airport in Malaysia. For those of you traveling from Europe, you have to go through Kuala Lumpur International Airport to get to Sabah. From Kuala Lumpur International Airport there are a lot of flights to Kota Kinabalu International Airport. Mostly the flights are by Malaysia Airlines System and Air Asia. Air Asia offer cheap airlines ticket but my advise go for Malaysia Airlines System. Air Asia tends to delay their flight sometimes up to 24 hours. You will end up paying for food, hotels etc.. more than what you save in the first place.

Due to its central location, the Kota Kinabalu International Airport is less than three hours flight from most of the ASEAN capitals. There are direct flights to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Cebu, Davao, Brunei and Labuan linking Kota Kinabalu with the outside world, especially the BIMP-EAGA and the Asia-Pacific rim. The Kota Kinabalu International Airport is well equipped to take the B747, A330, MD11, etc. Airlines.

The airline operating within the major towns in Sabah is the national carrier, the Malaysia Airlines System or Malaysia Airlines. Other airlines which operate in and out of Kota Kinabalu are Air Asia, Australian Airlines, Dragonair, FAT, Malaysia Airlines, Northern Airlines Sanya, Royal Brunei, Transasia, Transmile Air Services, UNI Airways, Vision Air, Xiamen Airlines.Once you are in Kota Kinabalu International Airport, you have to go through the normal procedure of luggage, custom, passport etc you know the drill. Once you step out of the building, you are in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. For me the first time I step out of Kota Kinabalu International Airport I feel the airport is too small compared to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport that I step in. Kota Kinabalu International Airport is not very far from the Kota Kinabalu city, infact if you feel like it you can actually walk to the nearest hotel. The nearest hotel is Airport View Hotel. Very near to the airport (about 2 km J).
If you donâ€™t feel like walking, then there is airport taxi service. The fares depend on your destination roughly about RM10++. Just tell the girls at the counter where you want to go and she will tell you how much then you just pay. If you don€™t know where to go then ask her for what ever information you need. Generally people in Sabah are very friendly. If u got the time ask her name and phone number, if you are lucky you got a partner for dinner that is if you are traveling alone or with male friends. If you donâ€™t want to take airport taxi you can always take mini bus which is actually a van. Take a short walk to the main road and raise your hand when you see these mini buses. From airport to Kota Kinabalu town only RM1 last I check. My advice is, when you are in Kota Kinabalu find a local person to show you around. The taxi/bus driver would be a good start. Make a deal with him if he wants it or he can recommend you to another driver. There are a lot of freelance drivers, just hope you find a good one. I can even recommend you to some good drivers.

The reason why you need local tour guide is that people here tends to overcharge when they see foreigner / tourist. Donâ€™t get offended, I go through the same thing when I was here the 1st time and my hair and skin is the same color as they are just that my dialect a bit different. Nowadays even the local people think I am local. If you donâ€™t have local people to help you then everything will be more expensive. I mean everything such as the food, market item, local souvenir, shirt etc. The only place where you can get fair price is the hotels and supermarkets. No fun in shopping at supermarkets when you travel so far away. I got supermarket just across the street where I am from btw Iâ€™m from Kuala Lumpur.

Next time I will give you info about hotels. Lots of hotels here from high price with lots of stars to those cheap hotels. My style I prefer cheap hotels coz even though itâ€™s a cheap hotels some of them have good clean room, good room service and situated near everything. Easier to dine and shop also easier on the pocket. Even better there are lots of small resorts located out of Kota Kinabalu. Most of them have their own private beaches. They are about 10 km away from Kota Kinabalu International Airport. Very quiet, peaceful and a chance for you to see the local people. You can rent a car but donâ€™t go for those car rental services at the airport or hotels. They are way too expensive. Go for outside car rental. A small car usually cost RM 70 / day. If you rent longer the price can go down a bit more. With a car you can learn the roads in Kota Kinabalu in just one night. Trust me, Kota Kinabalu is not that big. It took me one night to drive around and remember places. Better drive during midnight. Less cars you can go anyway you want just watch the road signs and the police. If you are lost just turn back. Lots of place to do U turn.

For now its time for me to bring my baby turbo for a spin. I like to drive around at night. Sometimes at 2 am I just drive around at those night spot looking for leftovers or left behind. Just looking btw.

The Learning Process

2006-01-22T03:10:00.000+08:00

About 5 years ago, I used to have a website. Its a small website in Bahasa Malaysia created to generate money on the internet. It does generate money eventhough not that much. Hey who was so lucky back then to generate $500 to $600 a month on their 1st website. Nowdays lots of people are selling ebooks and stuff claiming they can teach you how to get income from the internet of up to $5000 a month. It is possible if you know where and how to do it but I'm not going to talk about that here.

5 years ago I was in Kuala Lumpur, then I have to move to a place where internet connection is very hard to get and I have to leave the world of internet for a while. Now I am building this blog and suddenly I have to start all over again. The things that I have learned before suddenly become so difficult. Its so easy to forget yet so hard to learn. Now I have to learn new things and tricks of the internet. In 5 years lots of things have changed. The internet have grown so big, this page is virtually invisible.

That was 5 years ago, what happen to the things that we learn in school. How is it some people have good memory and some like me forget things easily. In the modern world we have to memorize a lot of passwords and username. How many passwords can we remember? How long before we all get lost in passwords? Oh .... I think I need new DDR2 RAM for my brain and also bigger harddisk so that I can store a lot more and never forget (wish it was that easy).

Enough bout me and my old harddisk. The picture above is Tanjung Aru beach before sunset. Why I like sunset? Coz its beautiful,the colors are different and soothing to the eyes and the girls normally go out during these times. Some are jogging, walking, eating (mostly) or just sitting there wearing short t-shirts and stuff exposing little part of their body making U want to look more. Why do they go to the beach? I dont know but I like looking at them just looking btw.

Tanjung Aru have very long beach. It is divided into 2 main public area and also not so public area ( where its dark and lots of cars park at night). The main beach have restaurants and hotels and the 2nd beach have a restaurant and some playground for kids and their moms. The beach is not very clean since lots of stuff push ashore by the wave. The sand is very smooth and I just love it walking bare footed on the beach. Its normally pack with people especially on weekends.

At night 2nd beach is better since less people, free parking and the restaurant there serve variety of foods eventhough the servis can sometimes be lousy but who cares. If the bill doesnt come after 5 minutes, I just walk away. If you want to go places in Kota Kinabalu, its better to have a car. This is because the city is divided into many small parts and walking to all of the places is a challenge with the hot weather. I dont know bout you but I prefer driving but then there is the headache of finding a place to park. Any problem must have a solution and I have come up with one for the parking. Go park inside big shopping complex. U pay as little as RM2, they have security guards, roof parking space etc and you know the rest. Sometimes I even park at hotel basement. Just pay RM2 and let the security guard watch over your car. End of story. See you later.

The Beginning

2006-01-19T23:08:00.000+08:00

Everything must have a beginning. There is nothing that can magically appear out of nowhere. The world doesn't work that way unless of coz its god will but to think about it again, god doesn't interfere with human life. We are on our own to shape what we want and how we do it.

To tell you the truth, this is a beginning for me in terms of blogging and from what I understand I can write about anything I want. After giving it some thought, I most probably will write about my journey in life, what I see, what I think, where i go, U know the usual stuff when u go places. Hopefully some of U will find the information usefull just incase some of you decided to go to places I have been to and the best part is this I am giving this info for free. Think about all the money you could save just that remember to buy me a drink when you are here.

This is because from where I am, information about places is hard to find on the internet. I have been to Indonesia and I am lost. Very little information can be found on the internet since I am the type of person who like to prepare for my journey. Hopefully I can post enough details in here so that none of you will ever be lost like me again.

The picture above is Pulau Sipadan. Taken on the printed date. It was a year ago when tourist operators on the island is still operating. Now the island is closed to public. Government of Malaysia is trying to preserve the island from human activities since we human tend to destroy things. Its in our nature. The existing chalet will be demolish and new more enviromental friendly structure will be build. For the time being U cannot stay overnight on Sipadan Island but what U can do is dive around the Island and maybe take a rest on the Island although U are only allowed to stay on the beach.

I stayed there for 3 weeks. Its a small and beautifull island or should I say Island of Paradise. The thing that make Pulau Sipadan unique is the marine life. U can find all sort of marine life there and it is a heaven for divers. Unlike Pulau Mabul & Kapalai, Sipadan Island is cooler since its in open sea and cool breeze blowing all the time to the island so U can stay out in the sun longer and doesn't get sun burn. I was in Mabul once and most of the time I was trying to hide from the sun and was sweating like crazy. 1 hour on the island and I turned from brown to black. Its hot and I dont wish to go there anymore. As for Kapalai, its more like floating chalet. When the tide is high, all U can see is water so U just stay on wooden walkways or in your chalet. No sands = No fun.

Pulau Sipadan is going to be reopen soon. This time it will be under the supervision of Sabah Park I think. Hopefully I can go there again and stay there for a few more weeks. It is very relaxing since U are away from everywhere. No mobile phone coverage, no internet, no traffic jam, no annoying bosses and u know the rest but they have satelite phone and satelite tv there. Just that people cannot bother u with phone calls when U are there (I can call u but u cannot call me so dont bother me ok .. im on vacation).

I wish I could post more pictures but some genius technician decided to format my harddisk without 1st consulting me. Hopefully in my next blog I can tell you how to get to Pulau Sipadan since the journey is a bit challenging and require communication skills and of course money. See you later.