igoiseeishoot: A day at Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort and seafood dinner at Suang Tain Seafood Restaurant

5 July 2022

We finally caught a sight of the famous mountain of Kota Kinabalu from the balcony of our room in the Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort early in the morning. Mount Kinabalu is usually shrouded in monsoon clouds by noon this time of the year.

View of Mount Kinabalu from our room at Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort.

Day 2 of our stay in Kota Kinabalu was spent mostly within the resort. I was contemplating whether to make a day trip to one of the islands off Kota Kinabalu. A 15 minute boat ride from the Star Marina, located within the hotel, could bring us to one of the islands (Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan or Pulau Mamutik) in Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park. After reading the reviews about the islands’ dead corals and dirty beach on the internet, we decided to skip this activity and swim in the hotel pool instead. We also booked a sunset cruise from the Star Marina.

After a hearty buffet breakfast at the hotel, we spent the rest of the morning chilling by the massive hotel swimming pool.

For lunch, we tried the Grab food delivery service and it worked! One of the local dishes we wanted to try is the Tuaran Noodle or locally known as Mee Tuaran. Like Kolo Mee to Sarawak, Chicken Rice to Singapore, Mee Tuaran is probably the noodle representing Sabah state. Tuaran is a town in Sabah and this traditional handmade egg noodle is born in that Tuaran town.

Using the Grab app on my son’s mobile phone, we ordered Mee Tuaran from the aptly named Tuaran Mee Restoran located at Inanam, some 15 minutes away from the city center by car.

Our Tuaran Mee delivered to the hotel lobby by Grab food delivery service.

We ordered one topped with seafood and the other with chicken. The fried noodles are springy to the bite. Both tasted great even though they are not piping hot. It would have tasted even better when eaten freshly cooked at the restaurant. In any case, this beats the lunch we had at the Coco Joe’s the previous day by a mile.

It was about 3.30 PM when I received a call from a staff from the Star Marina. Bad news. Apparently the wind had picked up and the sea would be choppy. Not a good idea to be out at sea in the evening. The staff also mentioned that there are low clouds on the horizon, so we would probably not get to see a nice sunset. With our Sunset Cruise torpedoed, we went to make a reservation at the Sunset Bar again.

We explored the vast grounds of the hotel in the early evening. We could indeed feel the stronger sea breeze and see the more choppy sea from the beach.

Tanjung Wing of the hotel is next to most of the hotel’s amenities like the pool, mini golf course, koi pond, and main building with the restaurant and lobby. A better choice than the Kinabalu Wing but the rooms would cost slightly more as expected.

Koi pond behind the Tanjung Wing.

Playing games by the beach.

At 5.30 PM, we headed to the Sunset Bar for a sundowner. This time, we did not manage to get a high table next to the sea since we made our reservations late. Nevertheless, we still manage to get good views of the sea and sky and it was another relaxing and enjoyable evening with good sea breezes.

The Sunset Bar at the Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort is where we want to be at about 6 PM.

Watching sunset from the Sunset Bar.

A group of people with the Stand Up Paddle Board off the Tanjung Aru Beach.

Another evening with nice sunset to be viewed from the Sunset Bar, despite the cloud cover.

For dinner, we went to try out another popular seafood restaurant. The Suang Tain (Double Sky when translated from Chinese) Seafood Restaurant is not as crowded as the Welcome Seafood Restaurant.

Dining area at the restaurant

Once again, we picked our seafood from tanks of live fish, crabs, prawns and lobster, with prices per kg clearly stated. I noted that the prices are only slightly higher compared to the other seafood restaurant.

Live seafood area of the restaurant where we get to pick our dinner.

We skipped the lobster priced at 380 MYR/kg since it is about the same price back home. However the prices for the mud crabs, live fish and live prawns were very much cheaper than back home.