Day 2: Treks, Canopies, Hot Springs & Seafood

Reminder: Make sure you’ve read Day 1 before you proceed!
The following took place on Sunday, 19th July 2009:-

I woke up at 6.30am. My roommates were up a little earlier as they couldn’t sleep as well as me for undisclosed reasons. LOL. We went for Breakfast @ Soul Out at 7.30am. Again, the food was INCREDIBLE! There was pastry, toasts, nasi lemak, laksa sarawak, porridge, cereal, salad, juices…*slurps* And at 8.30am we were all set to go off for the day.

Our 2nd day in Sabah was all about Nature. We were headed for Kinabalu Park which was at the foot on Mt. Kinabalu. On the way there, we stopped at Pekan Nabalu (Nabalu Town), about 1 and a half hours away from the city, to buy local and bargainable souvenirs. After about an hour’s stop there we proceeded to Kinabalu Park another 20 minutes away. There we went to the Exhibits and our guide walked us through some interesting facts and folklore about the history of Mt. Kinabalu and the nature surrounding it. After that went on a little trek and saw the world’s smallest orchid!

After that we proceeded for lunch at Zen Garden somewhere in Kundasang. The weather was nice and cool like it was at Kinabalu Park.

After lunch we continued to our next destination – Rose Garden, also in Kundasang I think. LOL. (On the way there we passed by the Kundasang War Memorial.)

Everyone likes flowers, though not everyone is an avid fan. I am the former. But there are some pretty unique sights there! Hehe…

Next we went to Poring Hot Springs…

There we first did an hour’s trek up and down to the Canopy Walkway. It was fun! Was quite stable so it wasn’t as frightening as some felt it would be. I for one felt it wasn’t challenging enough! LOL.

After the trek, we “grazed” at the hot springs. Quite like animals gathering at the waterhole in the Savannah I think. Hehe. Unlike many of the others, this was not my first time to a hot spring, but this was my first time to a “developed” hot spring. I prefer the natural “undeveloped” one. For one thing, there I can really soak in the hot suphur-rich water.

After the hot springs, it was time to head back to the city. It was getting dark already because it had been raining on and off all afternoon. According to our guide it was the Monsoon winds. Anyways, the wind and rain really picked up as we made our way back to the city. We stopped at Pekan Nabalu again on the way back as some wanted to buy some local brown rice and some had to use the toilet. I on the other hand was perfectly content on being dry and stayed in the bus! Everyone who went out was pretty much drenched. LOL.

It was a long drive back though. Felt like we traveled all night! Guess it could be due to the fact that the Monsoon weather made the road more unfriendly and our bus driver had to go down a lot slower than when we came up that morning.

Finally we arrived near the city and stopped at Gayang Seafood Restaurant for dinner. We were hungry but we were too tired and cold to enjoy the fresh seafood much though. So sad…anyways, after dinner we headed back to the hotel. Arrived about 10pm. It was a long day…tiring but fun…but we called it a night. Took our showers and pretty soon were sound asleep…

~To be continued~
Next: Day 3 (Adieu KK)