The Strawbery Garden and Sabah Tea Garden @ Kota Kinabalu

My next stop is to visit the strawberry garden, and I’m so excited about it. The garden is a private own garden, they have hotel, and the strawberry is like an attraction for the tourists to come and stay at the hotel.

The daughter of the owner told us that actually they have a bigger farm, purely for planting strawberries. This small one is just for visitor, so I asked if I can eat these strawberries. She told me that they just spray the pesticide and is not advisable to eat it :(

I like the flowers, the flowers flourish beautifully. Maybe is due to the cozy weather…I don’t know… but surely I can’t see such beautiful flowers around my neighborhood.

Mum likes the flowers very much, she keep on reminding us to stop by the road side if there is any flowers stall, cause she wants to buy the seeds back to plant it. Tsk tsk…. No way mum, it will never survive in that hot weather.

Sabah tea garden

After that, my next stop is the Sabah Tea Garden. This tea garden is the only organic tea garden in the Borneo, back in Kuching I’ve seen this tea selling in the supermarket before, but never try it.

My family and I had our evening tea break at the restaurant here, we ate tea cake, and some of the special milk tea which can only be found here. And the tea taste very nice :) I like the pandan milk tea, it smell and taste really nice.

The weather here is not cozy anymore, and that time is around noon. So most of the workers went for lunch, I wanted to see how they pick the tea leaf and so on.

The view here are breathtaking, they have a lot of mountain views here. We don’t get a lot of mountains view back in Kuching, just jungles and rivers.

The tea garden don’t have much flowers, from here I am very sure that only on cozy weather the flower can flourish beautifully. Not in the hot weather…so tsk tsk…mum bought a lot of flowers seeds back home, so I wish my mum good luck with the flower…tsk tsk :D

Cheers,
Wilson
The flowers are beautiful

From Kota Kinabalu to Kinabalu Park (Part 2 of 2)

The panorama view on top of the Kinabalu Park






We finally reached the Kinabalu Park after hours of driving. We're excited cause able to visit the highest Mountain in the Southeast Asia, the Mount Kinabalu. I'm happy to become the family photographer, and keep on taking good picture with my family.

The weather up there are super cozy, I went to wash my hand, the water are freezing!!! and the mist keep on floating by just in front of me, the visibility are low.

We visited the starting point to climb the mount, and there is a second floor actually, but is under renovation now. My brothers and I sneak into the construction site to have a look to check the workers if they are working or not.

Just as I thought, they are sleeping there. Hey, the weather is cozy, who can resit this right. We took a lot of photos there, cause the view are nicer up there.

Then, we checked in at the place that we stay for that night. Is called the J-Residence. And good thing is that it is just 5 minutes away from the Kinabalu Park.

After we reach, we unload all our stuff. Mum and my brothers are preparing for tonight dinner. We will have steamboat dinner, so that's why today early morning we went to the fish market to buy fresh seafood.

This is the view outside our room, beautiful right! That night, we have a power blackout :( so dad have to start his car and uses the car light.

We laugh, we eat, we drink.... I'm very happy to know that my parent are enjoying the trip so far. This is a place that worth visiting again :)

Cheers
Wilson
the mist, I can touch the mist :)

From Kota Kinabalu to Kinabalu Park (Part 1 of 2)

A video I made from Kota Kinabalu stop by at Nabalu Village

The journey to Kinabalu Park will takes about 1 1/2 hours, there are a lot of tourist attraction along the way.

It was a uphill car ride, and the part that I like most is that the higher we get, the colder we felt. And while driving I even can touch the mist :D

Before we reach the Kinabalu Park, we stop by at a village called the Nabalu Village. Here the village people build a stage looking platform. And we get to enjoy this magnificent scene of hills, all covered by mist.

From far away, we can saw there are also houses all over the hills. The people who live there are so lucky as they get to enjoy the wonderful environment everyday.

There are also plants all over the hills, due to the cold weather here, a lot of beautiful flowers can be seen. They grow like wildfire, spreading here and there.

Waterfall seen from a far distant.

Here not just souvenirs, they also sells a lot of pineapple, watermelon, and honeydew, as well as fresh vegetables.

There are two rows of coffee shops, but we didn't stop for coffee. We will have a long way to go before we can reach the Kinabalu Park.

Will update more in my next post...

Fish Market at Kota Kinabalu Sabah

This is Day#2 on my Sabah trip, and today we will be going to Kinabalu Park which is about 90KM from Kota Kinabalu town. And tonight we are going to have steamboat as dinner.


This is how the fish market looks like

Wake up at 6am, and reach the fish market before 7am. I seldom go to the fish market, don't like it there. Kerry is a big fan of seafood, so he's excited when we're there. He bought a lot of fish, clams, crab, squids, and prawns.

Is a busy market, and one thing that surprise me is that a lot of small kids are working here as well.

Pity when seeing kids working at the fish market here, they should be in school studying not here working.

I can't stand the fish smell, so I opt to wait outside the fish market, while my parent continue seafood shopping.

Basket of fish keep on loading into the market, it looks very scary on the amount of fishes they have here. And this is just a small part of it, as there is more still in the fishing boat.

What will happen to the ecosystem in the sea if they keep on catching this amount of fish? It worries me...

The fisherman must have work the whole night, and only can rest when reach shore.

Dinner @ Gaya Seafood Restaurant

First Day at Kota Kinabalu was fantastic, and we went for a place called Gaya Seafood restaurant for dinner. When at Sabah, my brother keep on reminding us that we the seafood is a must have in our menu.



It was a huge restaurant, and just beside the restaurant is a building specially for gambling slot machines.



L-R: Jason, Ah Hee, Kerry, Mum and Dad.



I don’t like seafood, only ate a little bit. So I ate almost 80% of the bean curd.



And ate most of the vegetable as well, and I’m slowly learning to become a vegetarian now.



We had this delicious fried rice instead of normal white rice. I didn’t eat the shell food, it looks discussing.



My brother keep on asking me to try the lobster, so I had one.
Overall our total bill came out not more than RM150, and this is not what we expected. It should be more than that, but hey, Sabah is loaded with seafood.

My brother was happy about that, but next time I would prefer we all go for vegetarian.

Cheers,
Wilson
Don’t like seafood…

Visitation to the Aquarium and Marine Museum of University Sabah

Click here for the recap of the previous story when I reach Sabah.
That evening, after finish shopping at Center Point Shopping Mall, we went to the University of Sabah. It is situated just near the One Borneo Shopping Center Sabah.
The University of Sabah.


Check out the beach just on the back of the University of Sabah.


Back at Sarawak, we also have University of Sarawak. And at the back of the university is just trees.

Behind the university, there is a beautiful beach, and an Institute of Biomarine. While next to it, is an Aquarium & Marine Museum which belongs to the university of Sabah.



Inside the museum, they have a few big fish tank, inside the tank they have...Hard Corals, spiny lobster, Remora fish, and more :)



They build a large model of a diver going up the water surface, they really did a great job on the surrounding view, there are fish, shark, stingray, and more.


Both of my younger brother, Kerry and Jason

We seldom get to see large scale underwater aquarium, so we're excited, and took a lot of photos. Check out my video below on my aquarium trip :)



Wilson
Love underwater animal

Road Trip from Limbang to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah :)

06.08AM, from Limbang we have to by pass Brunei, the Temburong District to reach Sabah. And we stop at the immigration to have our passport stamps for arrival into Brunei.

07.04AM, reached Lawas the most eastern district of Sarawak. Where we have our breakfast at the Yong Siang Restaurant. My parent and I had kolo noodles as breakfast, the taste….2 out of 5

08.08AM, reached Spitang a small town at Lawas, and this is the bridge that link Sarawak and Sabah together.

08.54AM, train track. Yep, we reached Beaufort, a small town at Sabah. And the train station still operates until today, and this might be the only running train station which is still running at East Malaysia.

09.43AM, the track seems to be linking the Beaufort town and the Kota Kinabalu town. Cause we’ve been driving for almost an hour, and still can see the train tracks along the road.

10.10AM, alright, the beach. We’ve reached the Kota Kinabalu town! Now going to check in and have a rest before we go for shopping.

11.36AM, After our lunch, we checked in at this very unique hotel. Is a bridal but it also have rooms for rent.

11.48AM, finally they found our room key. Checking in…

12.32PM, first stop the Center Point shopping mall at Sabah, crowded with people

01.26PM, I bough a very delicious chicken pancake, and took a picture of my brother Jason. I wanted him to pretend to push the Christmas tree, but he did it very fake :S
That evening, I went to the University of Sabah, and even visited their very own Aqua Marine Museum. Update in my next post.

Wilson
Is a long but happy ride

From Kuching to Miri with Malaysia Airline

Finally I’m back at my home (Kuching) sitting in front of my lovely laptop, and browsing the photos that I took throughout my trip from Kuching to Sabah. I had a wonderful trip with my family to Sabah, and the most important thing is that my parent enjoyed the trip. Haven’t went home for almost two years, I can’t wait to get back home.

I’m having a bit sore throat, hope I’ll get well soon. Note to myself, Have to drink more water. Ok, back to my trip.

I’ll be staying at Miri on my first night, saying with my brothers. That day a heavy down pour, but fortunately I manage to get to the airport on time, despite I have to work on that day.




Air Asia plane taking off


This is MAS Airline taking off, it moved too fast, so didn't manage to take the plane took off shoot.

It was raining that day, when the plane is speeding on the track for taking off, and it leads a trail at the back and I think it is very astonishing. If my car can get that effect, that will be super cool.


Kuching town was surround by mounts, the mount was covered by mist. Breathtaking scene up in the sky.

My plane arrives at the airport on time, two thumbs up to Malaysia Airline. I like the view on top in the air. I can see most of the Kuching city, and if I look hard enough, I even can see my own house.


Now where is my home???


I got a chocolate as present, is good to take a plane during Christmas eve :)
Tomorrow I’ll be at Limbang, then we will use drive from Limbang all the way to Sabah, then to Kota Kinabalu.

Click here for More Photos on Kuching Airport

Cheers
Wilson
The airport photographer

Visitation to the Gunung Gading Waterfall

View Larger Map

Check out the place that I always wanted to visit.
This is the Gunung Gading National Park, situated near the Lundu Distric, Kuching.



I wanted to see the famous world's largest flower the Rafflesia Flower. But unfortunately, along the way to the waterfall, no giant flower to be seen. A bit disappointed though.



So basically when we visit the park, we can choose either jungle trekking, visit the waterfall, or camp at the site.



For me, I like jungle rather than the beach. I don't like to swim in salt water, more to stream water, cold and refreshing. So let's check out the waterfall at Gading.



Is not as huge like what I had in mind. It just has a small space for us to dive in, and soak.



Its a good place to go during the weekend, way nicer than facing my computer from 9 - 6 everyday. Have a nice weekend guys.

Cheers
Wilson

Sunrise at Buntal, Santubong, Kuching

For photographer lover at Kuching, Buntal is the famous spot for Sunrise photography. And I had the opportunity to follow a few of my buddies to shoot sunrise photos last weekend.

Reached the place around 5.50AM, and it was still dawn. But slowly I can see the sun climbing up, and releasing that powerful sun-ray, shine on us. A very magnificent moment.

Here are some of the photos I took during before and after dawn. Enjoy :)

Cheers,
Wilson



This is Buntal Village, it a fishing village, and have a few seafood restaurant here.


One of the drawback are this place are full of litter. A LOT....


Looks like the sun starts to rise slowly, I'm getting ready my camera, tailor the settings to capture this moment.


A fishing boat, this will make a perfect scene.


Another fishing boat, and the time are now 6.47AM. Within just one hour, the sun have give brightness to all of us.


Enjoying the scene with my buddies :)


Last but not least The top photographer. Wilson Chin