4 July 2022
I felt that the seats on the A320neo budget airline were designed to torture its occupants, with the awkward protruding headrest giving me a stiff neck. Thankfully, Kota Kinabalu was only a short two and half hour flight from home. We arrived on schedule, at about 11 AM, with nice sunny weather.
This was my first oversea travel after a hiatus of over 2 years due to Covid. Covid-19 restrictions had recently been relaxed for travelers to Malaysia, so we (my wife, son and I) breezed through the arrival procedures at the airport.
Our accommodation for the first 2 days in Kota Kinabalu (KK) is the Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort. We chose this hotel because this is one of the best resorts in KK and the Sunset Bar located within this hotel is reputed to be the best place to watch the amazing Sabah sunsets. Nothing beats relaxing by the beach, with cool sea breezes, cold drinks, good company and waiting for the evening light show to occur.
Getting to the resort from the airport is easy. A standard rate for airport taxi service from the airport to any place in the city is 30 MYR. We used Grab taxi for about half the cost since Tanjung Aru is nearer to the airport than the city.
Our taxi ride to the hotel took less than ten minutes. Upon arrival, a bellhop took care of our luggage while we went to do our check in.
I was hoping to have early check-in but our room in the Kinabalu Wing was not ready till 2 PM. The lady at the front desk tried to so some up selling by offering us immediate check-in to a Sea View King Room in the Tanjung Wing at a slightly higher cost but I declined.
View of the garden from the lobby. The Kinabalu Wing is on the left of the picture above.
We had some time to kill before our scheduled check-in so went to get some pasta and pizza for lunch at Coco Joe’s Bar & Grill, the poolside restaurant in the hotel.
Coconut for 28 MYR!
Food is pricey and the taste does not match the price we paid. Nevertheless, Coco Joe’s offers some nice views of the Kota Kinabalu promenade with the mountain range in the back.
We finally got to our room in the Kinabalu Wing after lunch. Not much of the mountain (Mount Kinabalu) could be seen from the balcony as it was a cloudy day and the 4,095 meters (13,435 feet) mountain is often veiled by the clouds in the afternoon.
The rest of afternoon was spent at the impressive swimming pool at this seaside resort. One zone is dedicated for adults, whereas the other zone is family orientated and is next to a fun water slide and water play area that kids or even adult (I was tempted!) would enjoy.
A bridge through the centre of the pool sort of divided the pool into two zones. This is the kids’ zone.
Water play area in the kids’ zone. The large blue pail will discharge tons of water regularly.
I was somewhat amused to see some hotel guests donning hotel-issued lifejackets while using the swimming pool. Some parts of the adult pool are actually between 1.7 to 1.9 meters deep in the adult zone.
After a shower and a change of clothes back in our room, we headed for the Sunset Bar at 5.30 PM. Kota Kinabalu could be in the list of top ten places to watch the sunset and the best place to do it is at this popular Sunset Bar located at Tanjung Aru beach.
Sunset Bar at the Shangri-la Tanjung Aru is the best place to watch the sunset.
At this time, the sky over Kota Kinabalu was rather cloudy. This is still monsoon season, so rain was forecasted every day. With luck, we could still watch a nice light show as the sun sets.
Tip: Make a reservation for a lounge or high table right next to the beach as this bar is popular!
My wife and son ordered Borneo-inspired cocktails, namely the Lepa-Lepa (Havana Club Rum, Mango Juice, Coconut Cream, Ginger and Coriander Leaves) and the Sabah Sling (Beefeater Gin, Rice Wine, Grenadine Syrup, Lime Juice, Lemon Grass Tea). I went for something simpler - a pint of Tiger draft. And some chicken satay – BBQ marinated chicken meat on a skewer.
12 skewers of perfectly cooked, juicy Chicken Satay to go with our drinks. The sun sets at 6.30 PM at Kota Kinabalu, so we did not have to wait very long for it. Due to the monsoon clouds, we did not get to see the famous red glow in the evening sky but the sunlight projected onto the monsoon clouds did gave some dramatic views.
We ended the evening with seafood dinner at a popular restaurant located in the city centre which was a short taxi ride away. Fresh seafood is abundant, and hence relatively cheap, in Kota Kinabalu as compared to back home.
Welcome Seafood is a very popular seafood restaurant in Kota Kinabalu for both locals and tourists. We chatted with our taxi driver on the way there and he said that choosing this restaurant for our seafood dinner will not be wrong.
This restaurant is indeed popular. And huge! It occupies almost the entire ground floor of the Asia City shopping complex.
Tanks of live fish, lobsters, prawns, mud crabs, flower crabs, shellfishes were on display. There are even exotic critters like the stone fish and mantis shrimps. The aggressive mantis shrimps were kept separated in their own plastic bottles. We are to pick our choice of seafood, get it weighed and the staff will recommend the best way to cook them.
We ordered 2 mud crabs cooked Kam Heong style, 2 large mantis shrimps to be fried with salt and pepper, a large grouper steamed with ginger and soya sauce and a plate of sambal kangkong. The mantis shrimps were the most expensive items we ordered at 280 MYR per kg. Mantis shrimps are not readily available back home. So this is a must-try dish for us.
Two Kam Heong Crab at Welcome Seafood Restaurant.
Our dinner for three persons cost MYR365 (less than half of what it would have cost back home!). I will be back!
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