Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 2017

Dates of Travel

5 - 8 March 2017

My family decided to go to Sabah, for my sister's and my birthday as our last family getaway was in 2013 I believe.

We stayed at The Pacific Sutera Resort and you can find the review soon.

Pasar Malam - Night Market

My mother wanted to buy dried salted fish and we headed to their local Pasar Malam which means Night Market in Malay. There's a whole stretch of Pasar Malam along Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens where you can buy dried goods to Filipino made handicrafts to a wet market!

fresh and dried goods

 In the wet market portion, goods such as fresh vegetables and fruits are being sold. Look at how beautiful and big the onions are!

Pasar Malam

 There's even an area where they sell non-food items.

wet market portion selling huge chunks of tuna

 Of course, the wet market area sells all types of seafood! The cockles and clams are almost as big as your palms.

selling squid

 We walked on and found a stall that cooks the seafood you've selected.

Clams Vs. iPhone 6

 We had huge clams almost the size of your palms or even about half the size of my iPhone 6.

lobster and prawns

 The stall also sold lobster which is bigger than the regular trays you see in the food court.

Parrot fish

I also had Parrot Fish for the first time. I've always seen parrot fishes whenever I go diving as they're so colourful and pretty, it was pretty weird to see them on the table being served to me for dinner.

We ordered a total of RM190 worth of steamed parrot fish, clams, vege and squid. I would say it is quite expensive for a place like this though it is for 4 pax. I felt quite apprehensive as the whole area was dirty and a little bit dodgy. It is still quite an experience to eat at a place like this as you're eating where the local Malays would eat, but you have to watch out for your belongings!

Island Hopping

Because we stayed at Sutera Habour, we just decided to go to the habour attached to the resort instead of going to another habour/port. This way we could save time on travelling and just sleep in. It is definitely more expensive of course, but we felt it was worth it.

Sutera Habour

There's two ways you can go island hopping. First way to is travel to Jesselton Point Habour. Go to any travel agent located in the terminal to purchase your island transport/ferry.

• Two Islands – RM 33 per adult
• Three Islands – RM 43 per adult
• Four Islands – RM 53 per adult

Beside the speedboat fare, there is also a RM 10 per person entry charges to the island. You can also charter a boat by paying RM 204 for a round trip.

The second way is at Sutera Habour itself! It was almost double the price as compared to if you were to travel out to the jetty. But since we were lazy bums and did not want the hassle of looking for a travel agent at the jetty, we just opted to go with Sea Quest which was located at Sutera Habour jetty. It is RM75 per person (min 2 pax to go) for 2 islands with rental of a mask and snorkel (RM13) and life jacket (RM13). We just rented a mask and snorkel as we knew we were swimming from the beach and it will be quite safe.

Sapi Island

First stop - Sapi Island! The waters were crystal clear and it was so beautiful! Once we disembarked from the boat, the Sea Quest staff will ask you what time do you want to take the boat to the next island. I gave myself 2 hours here and were even late by 5 mins. Good thing we paid top dollar, cos they made the boat wait for us! My sister did parasailing here & we both did jet ski!

Sapi Island Beach

Second Stop - Manukan Island! When we were reaching the island, we noticed there were flying foxes from Manukan to the island opposite! Yes! Flying fox over the sea! We wanted to try it for sure!

Manukan Island

We paid at the counter in the jetty, got allocated a time slot to bring us across to the opposite island and it wasn't easy getting up to the platform where we rode the coral flyer!

We had to carry out own harness & climb up steep slopes, steps and rocky path for about 10 mins! The view was worth it though!

Before you know it, the whole ride was over in about 1 min. The path down wasn't that easy either. Considering that we had to navigate through muddy, rocky and steep terrain in slippers, I would say we did well!

The path down!

Kinabalu Park & Pouring Hot Spring

How can you visit Kota Kinabalu without visiting Kinabalu Park or Mt. Kinabalu?! Of course I did not climb Mt. Kinabalu, I'm not ready yet and I did not train for it - obviously. Look at how round I am!

Mt. Kinabalu

 Of course, I have to kick my sister at every chance I have. I mean, what are little sisters for, if not for kicking. ;) I must say yoga paid off well. Look at how straight my legs are! Haha. We drove for about 2 hours to get to Kinabalu Park from the city.

The hike through Kinabalu Park was very refreshing and easy! It was cooling (bloody sister was cold so she took my jacket) and there were lots of flora and fauna to admire! We took about an hour and really just admire the beauty of the forest we were hiking through!

Next, we had lunch and proceeded over to Pouring Hot Springs where we had to hike up (steep rocks and stairs) to get to the canopy walk! If you're from Singapore, it's very similar to the tree top walk at Macritchie Reservoir - just not as short and not as safe...?

hauling my fat ass up

I think the entire hike took us about 20-30 mins and I was panting my head off by the time we got to the top. There are about 4 board walks to cross and once you're on it, there's no turning back!

 The canopy walk was very high (obviously) and it was SUPER SHAKY unlike the Singaporean counterpart. I have a teeny weeny bit fear of heights or things that are unsafe (but I do it anyway) and the way the canopy walk was shaking... I just left everyone behind and just walked on hoping it will be over soon.

canopy walk

 Basically it's just ropes, planks and a net..? The net is not even high. It was just about waist high so imagine a really large Caucasian man on it. The net will probably just reach till his... butt?

Getting down was easier, but not as fun. You have to watch out for the tree roots, rocks and weird insects that leap out at you. At the end of the trail, it'd lead you to Pouring Hot Springs which is basically tons of bathtubs/huge basins for you to soak in hot sulfuric water in the scorching hot sun. Erm, no thanks! I didn't even bother to take a picture of it!

Dad trying to be a hero

 Well, was it worth it? I'd say I'll hike through Kinabalu Park anytime. I mean, who doesn't like hiking through temperatures like that? It was so nice and cooling and made everything so easy to enjoy. But going for the canopy walk? Maybe I'll pass on that.

Rapids

 At least we saw some nice rapids on our way down!

Foggy

Somewhere in the middle of heading down the mountain back to the city, the fog came in and I just had to post this. It looks like something right out of a horror film!

Kama'a Rejuvenation & Wellbeing Spa

Kama'a Spa

 Well, a holiday isn't a holiday without a spa session! First, we were picked up from our hotel, driven for about 15 mins to the space location which was tucked away at a quiet corner of a shopping mall. The access though, was from the multi story carpark. If I were just wondering around aimlessly in that shopping mall, I would have never seen this spa. So, it was a good thing my mother found this spa on TripAdvisor and booked it!

soaking of the feet

The session started off with a questionnaire of how we like our massage to be. I like my massage light to medium for my arms and legs and really strong for my back, shoulders and neck (Office Lady Syndrome). Then, a good soak of my feet with lime-infused warm water. I know, sounds so hipster with the lime-infused water. It smelt great though!

Watermelon juic

 They even provided us with watermelon juice to refresh ourselves while we got our feet soaked! We all had hot-stone massage and it was absolutely amazing!!! It was one of the best massage I've had in my entire life. Sometimes you fill up those questionnaires about how you'd like your massage to be and halfway through the massage the therapist will forget about your preference and just use her brute force anyway. Not this spa though! I sometimes get ticklish when they massage my thighs, but I felt the pressure was just right for my legs and really really hard for my shoulders and neck, just how I like it.

After the massage, they provided hot tea while we waited in the lounge for our parents to finish up. They even dropped us off at a Bah Kut Teh Restaurant after that! Impeccable!

Yu Kee Bah Kut Teh

If the Malaysian, herbal style of Bah Kut Teh is your cup of tea, you should give Yu Kee BKT a visit! Super authentic BKT with a rich herbal taste!

By the time we got there, they had ran out of intestines! Super sad about that! Nonetheless, we had liver, pork belly and so much more!

all those food for 4!

 So if you're intending to try it out, go early! They'll even give you your own personal bowl of soup!

pork belly

 It will be a meal you'll never regret going for!

Pork Liver

Lexis Hibiscus Port Dickson Resort Review

Dates of Stay:

2 - 3 Jan 2016

Address: 12th mile jalan pantai, 5, Jalan Pantai, 71250 Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Phone:+60 6-660 2626
Website: http://www.lexishibiscuspd.com/
Email: reservations@lexishibiscuspd.com

sunrise on the beach

We travelled to Port Dickson over the weekend to attend a friend's wedding in the resort. We took Golden Coach Express from City Plaza (Paya Lebar) straight to the resort. It was hassle free as it was direct all the way! No need to figure out how to get to the resort from airport or bus terminals!

Our bus departed at 8.30am from City Plaza and arrived at about 2.30pm at Lexis Hibiscus. There's a large lobby, but only one word to describe it. Chaos.



hotel lobby

This photo above was taken in the evening after dinner when it was less crowded. When we arrived, there were hordes of people waiting in line and all around the lobby. People waiting for family, people waiting to check in, people lounging on the limited sofas. Luckily, our friend has already checked in for the wedding entourage and all we needed to do was look for him and take our keys from him.

additional lounge area in the lobby.

After getting our keys, we waited in line for a buggy to bring us to our villa! Although the line may seem long, the wait was fast. The buggy line may seem like an eyesore in a resort (where serenity and bliss is essence), it does keep all the guests in an orderly fashion and the staff will be able to serve guests base on first come first serve basis. Once on the buggies, the drivers will actually note down which villa numbers you're going to! It always seems like there's a long line waiting for buggies always and I really want to applaud the drivers for doing such a fantastic job!

queue for buggies!

ROOM

Finally! We're at our villa! We got Villa 21 which is near enough to walk to the lobby, but not facing the walkway or lobby area. Our villa faces the private beach where you can see families playing in the water.

Apparently all villas comes with 2 king sized beds fit for 4 persons. Too bad we were only two and had the whole villa to ourselves!

two king beds

writing table and TV

I was excited to find that items in the minibar are complimentary... until I opened it. Considering that Lexis Hibiscus is a newly opened property, there's visible signs of wear and tear.

Two complimentary bottles of water in the mini bar.

items in the mini bar

Here comes the most exciting part of the villa! The bathroom! There's a square glass in the middle of the toilet floor to allow you to see what is beneath your villa! Too bad the waters aren't that clear or we might have seen fishes swimming. Also, it will be very hard to clean the glass in a few years time. The cleaners will have to row boats out under the villas to clean it! We already spotted 3 spiders spinning their webs on the corners underneath the glass. Usually, I'm quite squeamish when it comes to insects and their many-legged friends, but the glass was so thick and stable, that I just enjoyed sitting on the toilet floor and watching the spiders spin their webs.

look! seaview!

The bathroom has a rainshower and the hand-held shower head. Sadly, the shower kept flooding to the point where the water overflowed the shower area and into the toilet. We had to keep in mind not to shower too long and had to use the bath towels to soak up the flooded water.

closet

The bathroom is large and spacious with potentially a good view! Too bad, we were facing the beach instead of the sea. The counter tops were stained though, with old water marks and were not as clean as I liked. I had to use face towels to lay on the counter tops, next to the sink and lay my stuff out. Too bad.

Sauna

Walking through the bathroom, there's a sauna located outside next to the plunge pool. It's a nice touch, considering that not a lot of resort rooms come with your own personal sauna! However, just above the sauna, there'a an aircon unit. The cage that contains the aircon unit is wide open and even the cover of the aircon unit itself is not covered! That's so dangerous! Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of the aircon unit.

In room amenities

Mini bar and tea bags come complimentary, but it's so sad looking right? 1 green tea bag, 1 packet of white sugar and 2 english breakfast teas.

In the morning, we realized we could open the blinds at the top to allow natural sunlight to filter into our room. I felt that it was a nice touch and it's so beautiful to see the colours of sunrise while still in your own privacy.

F&B

IN-ROOM DINING

I'm sorry I don't have any photos of my In-room dining meal, but let me tell you about my experience. I pressed the in-room dining button about three times, and all three times the phone rang and rang and no one answered.

I called Operator and spoke to a very lovely lady. I told her I'm trying to make an order but no one is picking up. So, she tried to contact me with the department, to no avail too. She took my order (finally...) and told me she will relay the message to IRD. 15 mins later, someone from IRD called to reconfirm my order and told me the order will take 1 hour or less. At this point, I was irritated and hungry. I was HANGRY.

The food came 1 hour 15 mins later and it was lukewarm. You can't imagine my disappointment.

We ordered Oxtail soup and chicken wings. The oxtail soup is delicious, if only it was hotter. There's generous chunks of oxtail and the broth is so flavourful. Chicken wings was a generous portion as well about 6 pcs of both wings and drumstick. The chicken wings were well seasoned on the outside but it was quite bland on the inside.

ROSELLE COFFEE HOUSE

roselle coffee house

roselle dining area

After our IRD meal, we were still quite hungry and were deciding between Roselle Coffee House or the Japanese Restaurant. Both were serving buffet dinner and we couldn't really decide. We scoured TripAdvisor and decided that Roselle had more and better reviews as compared to the Japanese restaurant.

beef wellington

Roselle Coffee House served grilled meat and other types of local and international cuisines. Grilled platter consisted of roasted lamb, beef, chicken, you name it. They had all kinds of salads, vegetables, satay and even beef wellington. 

The meats were cold, tough and just simply quite a nightmare to eat. The satay was tough, the bread was stale and the mushrooms were salty.

Not to mention, we were consistently attacked by houseflies. We were ushered to a table for 2 covered in about 30 houseflies. I kid you not. We didn't want to sit at the table allocated to us, so we requested to sit at an area where there's more people and less houseflies. We even had to take our own insect repellent that they were burning from another table who had left.

insect repellent

The only saving grace of this restaurant was the dessert buffet. The desserts were delicious and the pastry chef was outside often enough to explain to us what the desserts where! You could see the passion of the chef and how proud he was when we told him the desserts were fantastic!

dessert buffet

You have to try the bread pudding and the tarts!

dessert

We paid RM196 for 2 persons. That is a lot of money for a grill that serves cold hard meat. We should have ordered In-room dining for dinner. At least the food will come lukewarm (not cold) and we could have saved the money.

HOUSEKEEPING

So before we went out for dinner, I called housekeeping to come in and change the towels and bathrobes (due to the flooded shower) and clear our IRD dishes that we placed outside while we are out for dinner. When we came back.... nothing was moved. I left specific instructions to enter the room and change the towels and even clear the tray. Of course, I had to call and wait for about 30 mins again.

SUMMARY

I would rate the whole experience 2/5 stars. The 3 stars which I took away is because of the bad dining experience, bad housekeeping experience and the bloody flooded shower.

And the only reason there's even a 2 stars is because the staff are so friendly and nice! The pastry chef, the buggy drivers, staff controlling the buggy queue. They're all so wonderful and friendly and Lexis Hibiscus really need to buck up their game or else, it's such a shame to have such wonderful staff, but their own basic products are lacking.

I actually emailed the hotel regarding the shortfalls, like the flooded shower, the bad food at the restaurant and even how long IRD takes. No one bothered to reply me even after about 2 weeks. It just goes to show much commitment and how much they value their guest's feedback.

Will I come back here again? Probably not.