Hey all, I recently returned from my holiday in Malaysia during New Years, and I thought I’d share with you what I’ve been up to.
So a bit of a disclaimer, I was travelling with family and they all took a billion photos of us, so I decided to focus a bit more on the photography side of things.
Kota Kinabalu
My first stop on this holiday was to Kota Kinabalu, located on the northern part of Borneo. We stayed in an AirBnB in the city near the river.
The Quad Biking tour
Our family went for the Borneo Quad Biking tour. A bus drove us about 90 minutes out of town to a station near Tamparuli, where the tour begins. Once there you get a practice run on the quad bikes before driving them to various small villages. I’ll just quote the itenary from the website:
Begin your exciting adventure early in the morning, with pickup from your hotel and arriving at Kiulu Valley Hub. Receive a tour and safety briefing by your in-house guide as well as practice run before starting your quad bike ride. Have a short photo session and depart to one of the villages where the locals will regale you with stories of the village’s legendary tempayan (traditional crock) known for the supposed medicinal and mystical properties of its contents. Stay refreshed under the tropical sun by drinking locally made drinks and sampling stingless bee honey, all while being entertained with an exciting traditional Silat (a local martial art) performance!
Then, embark on a two-hour guided scenic quad bike ride, passing through several villages and beyond with splendid views of paddy fields, plantations, forests and the iconic Kiulu River along the way.
Afterwards, proceed to a local village to try your hand at several cultural activities with the local villagers, including fire-making, playing traditional musical instruments, learning about traditional traps, and blow pipe and slingshot demonstrations, among others. Once you’ve sated your curiosity about the locals’ unique way of life, make your way to a Bamboo Hut, a secluded home situated in a beautiful waterfall garden, where you’ll be having some delicious lunch specially prepared by the local family there.
Overall it was fun driving a quad bike on the main road but off-road was a completely different story. Most of the bikes had really worn clutches and despite having four wheels I felt like I was going to fall over when going downhill 🙁
The Beach
Next stop was a day trip to Manukan island. The main activity here was snorkling in shallow areas, but you could do some diving or parasailing if you wanted to. Sand, sun and water don’t mix well with me, so I pretty much just lazed around and took photos.
While the main touristy side of the beach is fairly clean, there was a lesser travelled area that was filled with plastic bottles and trash. There were also alot of tourists from Korea and China who were just dropping their rubbish on the floor instead of disposing of it properly. It was kind of sad to see 🙁
Mari Mari Cultural Village
Our final stop in Sabah was the Mari Mari Cultural village.
Mari Mari Cultural Village tour is located deep in the countryside away from the modern and developing Kota Kinabalu city. The village operates as a museum that preserves Borneo ethnic culture. It aims to share the knowledge, history, culture, and tradition of Borneo with you so that it is not forgotten.
The tour offers you the opportunity to see and experience the culture and lifestyle of how the indigenous ethnic groups of Borneo used to live in the olden days when electricity had not yet been introduced in their land.
The village features 5 different ethnic tribes in one village. They are the rice farmer Kadazan-Dusun, the longhouse resident Rungus, the hunters and fisherman Lundayeh, the cowboy and sea gypsey Bajau, and the famously feared headhunting tribe Murut.
The Hotel
After the whole Borneo experience, we returned to KL to rest for a few days before returning home. I don’t normally get to stay in fancy hotels, so I had to post pictures of this room. Thanks to my brother-in-law who got us upgraded to the suite at the Westin in KL!
The Food
This trip was a bit of a mixed bag with food, during my time in Sabah the food was pretty average.
Most of my other time was spent eating at the Hutong food court in Lot 10. Sadly I did not manage to eat any good Char Kueh Teow this time, every single one I tried there just wasn’t enough “Wok Hei” (charring).
A big surprise for me was Marybrown fried chicken, a local fast food chain. The fried chicken was somehow very tender whilst not being too oily.
The Haul
Of course the real holiday was to do some Gunpla shopping. I visited one shop in Kota Kinabalu, and a few in KL.
I was rather dissappointed at the lack of P-Bandai kits, especially in KL. In fact, the small, singular shop I went to in Kota Kinabalu had more P-Bandai than all of the shops I went to in KL combined, and more variety too.
Also the IT Center in Berjaya Times Square closed down, shutting down one of the largest Gunpla stores I visited during my previous trip. In the end most of the shops I visited ended up being in Sungei Wang in KL, so my previous shopping guide will need updating.
- MG Barbatos
- MG Astray Noir
- MG Impulse Blanche x2
- MG 00 Qan[T] FullSaber
- MG Duel Gundam
- MG Build Strike Gundam
- MD Asra Archer Aoi
- RG Nu Gundam w/effect parts
- RG Banshee Norn Final Battle
- HG Veeto Gundam w Weapons pack
- RG 00 Raiser
- HG Build Strike Plavsky Wing
- Exexbein
Avid followers might notice that most of the kits are ones I already have. I actually feel the need to re-do some of these as I feel I would actually have the skills to do them justice now. Others like the RG 00 and the HG Build Strike I got as I need them for commissions later this year.
