Kota Kinabalu - New Year Road Trip

December is the most favourable holiday season globally. It is a time when people take things slow, enjoy festivities, make time for one another and celebrate the hope of a new year dawn bringing new opportunities and positivities in life. Many of the offices are closed, children get school holidays, and with the occasion, the travel fares and tariffs increase worldwide.

We narrowed down our December holiday plans to Kota Kinabalu, a small town in the state of Sabah (Malaysia). There were multiple reasons behind the choice.

1) It is not a common or a popular destination. People have been swarming to Europe / US post covid to fulfil travel fantasies. This leads to lesser crowds even in the most touristy locations.

2) Because of its low popularity, the airfares and hotel tariffs were comparatively lower.

3) It was winters! I am a big fan of enjoying cold weather, and I cant resist wearing winter wear and enjoying cool breeze on my face. Temperatures dipped to 10-12 degrees in the night at the Kinabalu National Park.

We planned to spend 3days on the mountains and 3days at the beach to enjoy the variety of landscape and provide our children with some uniqueness during the holidays.

About Kota Kinabalu: Home to Mount Kinabalu, the place is a huge national park and a World Heritage Site. Mount Kinabalu stands tall at 4,095 mts and the mountain trek is a total of 8.9Kms. Mountaineers from all over the world visit Mount Kinabalu to trek. This is the highest peak of South East Asia.

Ready to board the flight from Changi Airport, Singapore

Day 1: The day arrived when we had to pack our bags and head to the airport to catch the flight. There are direct flights from Singapore to Kota Kinabalu (BKI) via Air Asia. It takes about 2.5hrs and the time zone is same as SGT. On arrival in Kota Kinabalu (it was 3pm), we picked our rented car (it was booked earlier) and drove off to the mountains. The journey is approx 100kms and takes 2hrs if you don't stop along the way.

We made some wise decisions and picked up basic essentials, food and water en route to the national park. During winters, the sun sets earlier and the sky tends to get cloudy which makes visibility very low. We were in luck as we reached our resort (Sutera Sanctuary) inside Kinabalu park at 6pm. Rain is common in the season and it can make sightseeing a little tough. It rains mostly in the evenings so it is wise to capitalise the mornings to enjoy the nature.

We checked in and immediately went for dinner at the Liwatu Restaurant within the park. Food was good but slightly over priced given that this is the only restaurant inside the national park. Upon return to our room, the villa staff helped put on the fire - and this was the best feeling in that wet and cold evening.

Accommodation in Mountains: Ours was a beautiful 2 bedroom villa in Sutera Sanctuary - Nepenthes Villa. The property is huge and they have collaboration with Kinabalu National Park. Their property consists of hostels, villas and huge bungalows for group stays. The villas are self sufficient with bedrooms, living room, fireplace and a kitchenette. Larger villas have dining area and balconies too. To avoid disappointment, travellers must book early if the plans are firmed up.

There are many home stays, farm stays and resorts outside the Kinabalu park as this place is home to many travellers.

Nepenthes Villa, Sutera Sanctuary

Kinabalu Lodge, Sutera Sanctuary

Day 2: Mount Kinabalu is majestic and is visible from every part of the town. There are many photo spots for tourists to take pictures but my personal favourite is the spot inside Kinabalu Park.

After breakfast, we drove further north towards Poring Hot Springs. This is inside Kinabalu Park but another entrance which is 40kms away. There is another branch of Sutera Sanctuary near the hot-springs. Unfortunately, due to the holiday season, the hot-spring was crowded and we decided not to dip ourselves in the water.

Majestic Mount Kinabalu

Mount Kinabalu at the backdrop

Instead, we walked up further to the enchanted butterfly park which is house to 1000 over butterflies and close to 600 over species of butterflies (home to Sabah). Once Ivaan (my younger one) stopped chasing butterflies, we moved up further to do the canopy walk. my memories of canopy walk dated back to 2011 (during our 1st Kota Kinabalu trip). It was a simple walk and we could finish it in a few minutes. I was confident that my children would be able to do.

We bought the tickets and started our walk...The walk was endless. Correction: The steep climb was strenuous and and it was nothing short of a trek. We climbed the steep hill for 1000mtrs (yes, it was this far and this steep) and finally came to the starting point of the canopy walk. My children actually walked the entire route and as a family, we pushed each other to complete the walk. Canopy walk itself was quite fun (and it was long). The downhill walk was definitely much easier but made us realise how "not-ready" we were for that mini impromptu trek.

At the end, we decided to eat the long overdue lunch and head back to the villa for a rest. Lunch was at the Rainforest Restaurant of Sutera Sanctuary and the place had some decent options. There are vegetarian options too.

Little did we realise that in the pain of climbing up and down, did we miss the thought of seeing Rafflesia flower. For those who are not aware, it is the largest flower in the world. It's lifecycle is about 4 years and it decays 5-7days after a full bloom. So yes, we visited a Rafflesia farm and saw 2 fully blooming Rafflesia flowers.

World's largest flower - Rafflesia

We ended the day with a nice hot meal at the Liwatu restaurant and settled down by the fire at our villa.

Day 3:

This day was a planned itinerary and we had decided to make it a "farm" day. We started our visit with Desa Dairy Farm. I highly recommend people to pre-book the tickets (it speeds up your entry). There is a large queue of cars waiting to enter the farm and parking spots are limited. The cow farm itself is beautiful and one can mistake it for a scene from Switzerland. The weather, mountain backdrop, greenery and the cows against the backdrop is mesmerising. The dairy farm also sells milk products such as cheese, yogurt and gelato. The queues had a waiting time of about 30mins for each of the counters selling dairy products.

Desa Dairy Farm

There is an Alpaca club about 0.5km from the Dairy Farm. There is also a farm stay at the alpaca club. The viewing session is only for 20mins but it is sufficient to take some good pictures with the animals. The alpacas look very similar to lama and many people mistake them to be lama.

Alpaca Club

Next, we headed to farmville @ Hooga Cafe. There is a hydroponic farm that grows lettuce and strawberries. Inside the farmville, there is a kids playground for the children to enjoy while the parents look into the farm. Once done, most visitors enjoy a meal at the Hooga Cafe or grab an ice cream from the ice cream bus stationed outside the cafe. Personally, the food itself is quite highly priced and had a long waiting time.

Farmville

This was our last day on the mountains so we decided to follow one of the recommended forest trails inside the Kinabalu Park. We chose the Bukit Tupai trail which was quite a steep climb for about 350m each way. The forest is dense and it had been raining leaving moist and dampness in the air. Definitely a recommendation to people staying at Kinabalu park, please make time to follow a few trails. They are beautiful and the nature will surprise you positively.

Bukit Tupai Trail

Day 4:

Our last day on the mountains and we were sad to leave this beautiful place. Just before check out, we decided to take the children along for a forest trail - Silau Silau. The walk was relatively flat and easier than the previous ones. The trail had a numerous variety of plant species and colours for us to admire. My children loved the walk and it was their 1st hand experience close to nature.

Silau Silau Trail

We checked out and started our drive towards the next destination - at Kota Kinabalu town. 15mins into the drive, we were caught in a bad traffic jam and found out about an accident that caused road closures and potential 3-4hrs delay. We made a u-turn and started our own adventure trip via a small road to Tambulan and then to Kota Kinabalu (followed google maps). The road was smooth with some parts being bumpy and with narrow lanes. With a few missed turns, almost getting stuck at junction with no 4-G signal, getting barked by dogs, and seeing animals along the way (goats, snakes, turkey, etc), we finally reached our destination - Shangri-La Tanjung Aru. We settled down at our resort and enjoyed the amenities for the rest of the day.

Accommodation at the Beach: We opted for a luxury resort for this segment of the family stay to ensure the children are well occupied and there are enough activities to keep us busy for the next 3days. Shangri-La Tanjung Aru is a luxury family resort that has its own water sports, its own private beach, spa, multiple bars and restaurants , recreational centres and a kid's club. Activities are hosted throughout the day and the resort is sufficient to keep families engaged.

Did you know that the Sunset Bar at Shangri-La TAH is one of the world's top 7 places to watch sunset? Pictures below to entice you.

Shangri-La TAH

Day 5:

Shangri-La offers a sumptuous breakfast with too many options to choose from. With a heavy stomach, we set out to explore the resort for various activities. My children headed to the kid's club to enjoy the activities while we explored the rest of the resort. There are popular lunch options at Joe's bar & grill and most of the crowd can be found here. Because, it is close to the beach as well as close to the swimming pool. In evening, the ambiance of Joe's grill changes with live band and bbq options being offered to the guests.

We settled down at Sunset bar to watch the sunset and enjoy a relaxed evening.

Sunset Bar

Day 6:

Tunku Adbul Rehman national park is a stone's throw from Shangri-La. The national park consists of 5 islands that are popular for diving, snorkelling, parasailing, etc. The 5 islands are: Manukan, Mamutik, Gaya, Sapi and Sulug.

The resort houses Star Marina, its own speedboat and water sports centre. We booked our island hoping tour from Star Marina and headed towards Manukan Island for a day activity. Beach is clean but was quite crowded with tourists. There is a Sutera Sanctuary at Manukan island also which offers a beach stay. There are some restaurants, bars and even snack shops and souvenir shops.

Manukan Island

Upon return to our resort, we rested before getting ready for the new year eve's party. The resort had multiple parties arranged at different restaurants. Our personal favourite was the sunset bar. The vibe of the place was energetic and was full of happiness. There was DJ playing some really good music and couples were dancing away to glory.

DJ for New Year eve's party

At the stroke of midnight, there were fireworks for almost 15mins and we could get a clear view from Star Marina jetty. This was a happy and a wonderful way to start the new year.

Day 7:

We woke up early morning to witness the 1st sunrise of 2023. It was a glorious sunrise and beautiful morning. We quickly got ready, enjoyed our breakfast and checked out to catch our flight back to Singapore.