A memorable vacation/roadtrip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (Day 1)

Its been a week since my last roadtrip to Kota Kinabalu (KK), Sabah with my buddies; Petrus Kalom (Alom), Raihannah (Yan), Hazlinda (Alom's girlfriend), Bobby and Lydia. This is my third time driving up to KK, the first time was with my brother and alom and the second time was with my schoolmates.

Driving to KK would take about 6 to 7 hours drive (depending on the traffic and speed). There are few checkpoints throughout the drive, Miri-Brunei, Brunei-Limbang, Limbang-Brunei and Brunei-Lawas.

Our roadtrip begins at 6.30am on 31/01/2014. We used 2 cars, my brother's Myvi and Bobby's Saga BLM.

Lucky for us, throughout our drive, the weather was fine and sunny. So we manage to stop at several places just to relax and sightseeing. The first stop was at Lawas for lunch and forced Yan to take picture of Lawas's buffalo statue. She refuses at first but since we forced her, she got no choice but to follow what we said.

Above photo is taken by Lydia 

Just in case you were wondering where is this statue at, see the background, that is the Seri Malaysia Hotel, Lawas, which is also located in front of the Lawas Waterfront. Its really easy to spot.

So, after done with lunch and photo taking session with the buffalo, we continue our journey to KK. Before entering Sabah, we reached Sabah boarder, Sindumin. Unfortunately for us, we were stuck in a heavy crawl. This is due to the Chinese New Year holiday. Since all of us are from Sarawak, we are not required to get our passport stamp at Sabah boarder. Luckily the RELA officers, let us through by cutting the line and straight to Sindumin. After that, it was smooth all the way.

Before reaching KK, as we have to wait for Linda's flight from Kuching, which arrives at 5pm. We decided to take our time and rest at Sipitang. We reached Sipitang about 2.45pm. The ocean view from Sipitang is just awesome. There are several stall open along the seashore and according to some, the 'satay' is to die for. But we didn't give it a try cause all of us are still full. I'm pretty sure that Sipitang has a lot to offer other than its beach and 'satay' but I don't what are the attraction. Will do some research on it aite!.

 Beautiful view of the ocean

After a short break, we continue. This time its straight to KK. Reached KK at 4.30pm and stop at the airport to pick up Linda. We arrived early and me and bobby, as the drivers, get the chance to sit in the massage chair while waiting for her flight.

After checked in our inn, Stay Inn, located at Kampung Air, or in the middle of KK city, we rest and head out for dinner at 7.30pm. At first, we wanted to have our dinner at the famous KK seafood food court, which basically located next to our inn but we didn't manage to get our orders as there are too many tourist around. So, we walked to Old Farm Restaurant, also a seafood restaurant. Old Farm Restaurant is located in front of KK District office, a white building that looks like a court house.

Pre-dinner photo session

Had our dinner and since we are in KK, our trip won't be complete without boozing/drinking. Well, its a must 'to-do-thing' when you are in KK (only for non-muslim). The place of choice is definately, BB Side Walk & Cafe. This place offers live band and DJ, similar to some clubs, but its completely open. Its a must go to place for me and alom whenever we are in KK. While we were there, we meet up Lydia's friends from her matrix days, Ms. Daphne and Ms. Cynthia. At the end of the day, since I'm single, Bobby decided to take my phone and asked for Daphne's phone number (credit goes to you Mr. Bobby). So yeah, I got her phone number. We head back and call it a night.

Yes, Lydia's phone was hijacked by us

That is our first day in KK. More to come in my next blog.

P/S: all of the photos are taken by Lydia with her iPhone. Some are edited through her phone and some are not edited at all.