dot dot dot: Sabah

Okay, so on 14^th of April until 16^th of April 2015, I went to Sabah with Sifa to finish up our assignment in Orchid Culture subject. For that subject, we were paired up and we have to look for 20 species of wild orchid. Well, we just have to take pictures of those orchids, not sample it or those stuff. Anyway, so with that ambition in mind, Sifa and I decided to go to Sabah, just the two of us. We took about two weeks of thorough, at least as thoroughly as we could be, on planning this trip. None of us had gone there before, so, we decided to ask friends from there and those who went there of the places we’re going to visit.

And of course, Mr. Google helped a lot too :D

Okay, enough with the ‘introduction’, I’m separating the posts by days. So,, here goes.

14^th of April 2015

KLIA2 àKKIAàOrchid de Villa, InanamàRumah terbalik,KundasangàPekan NabaluàKiram’s Village, Mesilau

KKIA

We arrived estimately around 9.30a.m. Had a slight problem with transport(the person in charge was sick so he couldn’t send the car). So we decided to rent car from the airport, from KK Leisure and Tour Company. We rented a manual Saga BLM for 2 days. I prefer and would like to recommend driving manual, since the road to Kundasang is curvy…..emm...is that an appropriate term?haha. Anyway, senang cerita macam ular kena palu jalan dia, like Genting Highlands a bit.

Rate: RM313.76 - RM260(2 days) + RM53.70(insurance+tax)

---it is more expensive when you rent car from the airport, but at least the company is trustable- you know you’ll get the car and mostly cars are in good condition. I don’t travel a lot yet, so am not really sure how good are airport cars :D

the morning sky when we took off

upon arriving Sabah

ORCHID DE VILLA,INANAM

The journey took about 20mins. The road was all fine until about 8mins away from the farm, I was like, are you serious this is the road Sifa….. Ouh yeah, Sifa was the navigator, I was the driver, as usual. Not a good idea to make it the other way round.haha. We continued anyway and when we saw the signboard,, ouh my god….a sharp turn towards an uphill road. Memang waktu tu kitorang cam,, serious ahhhh, serious ahhhhhh.huu.

Once we get there, we met the person in charge, who was very friendly, helpful and welcoming. We paid the fee, and he took us around the farm. The size of the farm, I wouldn’t say so big or small, perhaps intermediate size. Mainly, there are wild orchids here and the uncle knows his orchids well. It was very interesting as it’s not usual to see wild orchids. Wild orchids are usually tiny in size. Most of the orchids sold nowadays are hybrids. The uncle helped us with naming, and even taking photographs. He would hold our group’s sign(as a proof we didn’t take pictures of the internet).

We walked around for almost an hour, and nature never fails to amaze. There’s always something I never saw, or even imagine. His dog was our companion as well, the dog followed us at a distance, and chased a squirrel later that time.

The farm is like a small jungle if I were to describe it. It has trails for us to follow, there’s a huge pond in the middle of the jungle with colourful lotus, a deck near the pond, you go up and down the track with trees surrounding you. Orchids are on trees, above ground, in hanging pots and there's like this small rocky pond for the orchids. And there’s even an observation post up the track.

Sad to say, I think more attention could be given to this place. It’s a shame the place looks kinda shabby when if taken care of, it could be a really nice getaway.

At the end of the visit, we got chrysanthemum tea, on the house.haha. Quenched our thirst, padahal uncle to relax je. :p

For those interested in doing research or perhaps a fan of orchid, a visit here would be nice :)

Fee: RM50 each person.

proof we made it to Orchid de Villa - we're from group 3

pink flowers against clear blue sky, can't help but to love it!

RUMAH TERBALIK, KUNDASANG

It was situated I think about an hour or less from Inanam. Well, as the name goes, everything inside of the house is upside down. The guide was bubbly and nice. There’s fee of course, but if you’re curious how it looks like on the inside, why not? Btw, masa tengah sibuk2 selfie dekat luar rumah tu, the guide called “ Aa,,siapa yang belum masuk rumah,boleh masuk sekaranggg” Okay, kitorang lah tu.

Ouh, and there’s a restaurant there,but we didn’t eat there.

Fee: RM 10.60 each person.

that thing in the middle is called Gong. it is used as doorbell back then. you hit it 3 times before going in. that is some kind of an entrance if u ask me.

you can only take pictures outside of the house, perhaps to retain the interior layout

PEKAN NABALU

Pekan Nabalu is just on the way to Kundasang. We stopped by for a while to look at the view and buy some food and tshirts for ourselves. Sorry kawan2, no souvenir for you guys, budget lari sebab kereta tuu.gomen ne. After that, we continued our journey to Kiram’s Village.

KIRAM’S VILLAGE

Now this is one of the best parts. :D

The way there was so amazing, though sadly I was driving, so I couldn’t really stare out. And Sifa kept on screaming and exclaiming “Waaaaahhhhh! Cantiknyaaaa! Woooooo! Waaa!” pastu amik2 gambar. I’m like aaarghhhh,tak boleh menikmatiii, I can just glance overrrrrrr.hesh, mengundang betul Sifa nih. -..- O yeah, jalan dia for about an hour or more memang bersimpang siur je. Kalah Cameron Highlands. Alhamdulillah tak cepat pening.haha.

I thought that road was that lah, turns out,, Kiram’s Village is deep in the hills. O_O . Jalan dia…dahla kona patah, naik bukit. Ada tu lalu rumput tinggi2. Menguji skill betul. Tapi, IT WAS MOST DEFINITELY WORTH IT. Seriously.

The view was so picturesque, so mesmerizing I can’t even describe it. The only way I can describe it is “ Cantiknyaaaa, boleh terbabas kalau tengok ni” , a perumpamaan which shocked Sifa.heheh.

Imagine this, a clear blue sky with mountain in the distance which is Mount KInabalu, and there’s greeneries as far as you can see. Pine trees and blooming flowers around, I can’t help but to smile while writing this. XD And lambat pulak tu kitorang perasan Gunung Kinabalu tu.sebab kena tutup dgn kabus mula2 nya.

And of course, being nature lovers who rarely go out into nature, it was just AMAZINGGG~ We can’t help but to scream inside the car.haha

Once we arrived to Kiram, we were once again, taken aback by the beauty of it. There were flowers EVERYWHEREEEEEE, andddd, the Mount Kinabalu was sooooo close and magnificent at the back! When we got our chalet(or perhaps a small house) again we were filled with excitement. Rasanya agak embarrassing lah kalau orang tengok sebab we were like “ UUUU~ waaa~ o my goddddd “ all the way up to the house.kihkih.

Later that night, we ate at the café inside the Kiram area. It was practical, since the Pekan is quite a distance away. Plus it gets dark quite early there comparing to Semenanjung.

At 8.00p.m, we went down to eat, ordered food and sat at a table. After about 5 mins, cool breeze starts to blow against us. A sudden chill crawls on our skin. Dah boleh agak la malam nanti mesti sejuk. Tapi tak disangka sejuk macam duk dalam freezer.

The food was nice, the café was nice tough service is quite slow, perhaps because not many people are there that time. Kalau kedai biasa kan dah prepare everything.

BILL :

Nasi goreng ikan bilis + Teh O panas (yg jadi sejuk in just minutes) = RM6+RM2

Nasi goreng ayam + Teh O panas= RM6+RM2

After eating, we walked to our house and when I looked up, MasyaAllah,, cantik sangat langit. The sky was pitch black, full of stars glimmering and winking at us. And the place has lotsa pine trees, which made it even prettier. We stargazed later that night. Definitely my best stargazing moment so far~

That night, we slept and suddenly, terbangun. IT WAS FREEZING COLDDDD. Sejam je kot tidur and then, tak senang duduk dah kitorang duk cari source of heat. Ended up makan maggi just to panaskan badan. Which,, didn’t really help sangat pun.huu.

Here’s a tip of what I did, masukkan air panas dlm bottle, and ‘iron’ kan mattress and pillow, then letak that bottle inside the blanket. It helped us. Boleh la tidur malam tu, tapi static je tidur, sebab sejuk sangat.haha.

And, Sifa keeps on hypnotizing herself “ Ladang tomato panas. Ladang tomato panas.eeii,panas. Okay. ladang Dr. Hajar panas. Hah,rasa dah okay sikit” Pun boleh laa Sifa. XD

FEE : RM100/house

--- Fee varies with which house you chose. Here’s the website of Kiram: http://kirams-village.com/