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 Traveller's Tales: Places to go and see in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Take a tour of the top places to go in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. You may read about must see places and activities in the area. Also, you might want to read our
Kuala Lumpur city guide,
Langkawi city guide,
Melaka city guide,
and Penang city guide.
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| G Diane erceg |
09 February 2005 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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Borneo is fabulous and I urge everyone to travel through as much of the country as possible as the people alone make the trip a worthy one. The Mt Kinabalu climb is beautiful, but tough, do not underestimate its ability to reduce your muscles and mind to jelly. The surrounding area of the national park is beautiful and a stay at the Mesilau Nature Resort, which presents climbers with a different start to the mountain trek, is highly recommended. Poring is a welcome rest point after the mountain with its calming pools and hot springs. The canopy walk here is interesting and the staff are helpful. For a great meal here venture outside the Poring Resort gates and head down the road to the Tropicanna Restaurant for some of the best meals in Borneo.
Sandikan is a city that gets under your skin and eventually brings a smile to your face. Agnes Keith's House is a must, along with the Chinese Buddist Temple on the hill. The English Tea House is better with a group of people and the clean Mayfair Hotel in the city centre is fantastic (depending on budgets, this is lower end) for its friendly owner and his extensive range of Kung Fu DVD's! I could go on but you get the idea - I will be going back first chance I get. The people in this country are some of the friendliest I've ever met.
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| R Murray |
28 December 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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We found Kota Kinabalu a good location in Sabah. The town wasn't much, but the people were all friendly and good to meet. The hotel advised us of a restaurant in town serving Malaysian food which was very good - the 3 of us ate well for RM 85! We went on several trips including a 3-day 2-night trip to the Borneo Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley. This is worth more detailed comment. I'm sorry to say that this Lodge is very poor, and we felt it was totally self-serving. It was expensive. The food was very average (I can cook better!) and the accommodation (we stayed in a luxury chatel) was dirty, very poorly maintained and full of insects. It was an unpleasant place to spend 2 nights. The 'guides' kept to set trails, and we found that they had absolutely no idea where the wildlife was!! Frankly, my wife was a better guide, and it was only with her that we saw a glimpse of Orang Utan.
Parts of the trails were very wet and slippery, and the bridges and canopy walkways looked to me to be in urgent need of serious maintenance. The guide was very reluctant to use one bridge, and insisted that we cross one at a time because it was in such poor condition. Leaches were common and a continual nuisance. The Lodge provides no clothing or equipment. We found that they were totally disinterested in the guests. I asked the guide what he would do if someone slipped and was injured. He didn't know. He had no mobile or radio, and I saw no signs of any awareness of first aid provision. This Lodge is a place to avoid!
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| J Spiller |
27 December 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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We booked through the hotel travel shop a trip to the Orang Utans. The trip itself to see them in the wild is good, but I would not recommend buying a package from the hotel as it is incredibly over priced. Instead, a couple of days before you want to go to Sandakan go to Kota Kinabalu airport and book your flight at the Air Malaysia desk (checkout how much it is to upgrade to business, we paid 5 pounds per leg - well worth it). When you get to Sandakan negotiate with a driver to hire him for a few hours. The Orang Utans get fed once in the morning at 10am (I think) it is all over by 11am and you can be back on the 1 o'clock flight, so you need to negotiate a half day rate for a driver.
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| K Chua |
07 December 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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Sunday market, Manukan Island trip, Kinabalu National Park and the Canopy Walk at Poring Hot spring were worth visiting. Borneo steam engine train was moderate, the stop at the market could have been longer. Go for the seafood located opp Centrepoint. Night markets are disappointing.
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| J Van der graaf-pauli |
04 November 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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The Nature Reserve of the hotel is fabulous and worthwhile visiting. The tour operator
"Wildlife Expedition" in the hotel can tell you a lot about the different tours and they are well-organized!
In case you play golf, it is a "must" to play at Dalit Bay Golf, in our opinion the most beautiful golfcourse I have seen (and I have sen a lot!). No need to bring all your stuff yourself as you can rent everything (even shoes) at Dalit Bay! The equipment is OK!
However, be careful while playing as there are some people (gardeners and others) who take your ball away and try to sell it back to you! (It happened to us twice!!)
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| Y Lim |
20 September 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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As the Air-Asia Boeing plane approached the KK airport and I could see patches of light greenish coral formation covered by crystal-clear water, I knew I was going to have a great holiday here. As the taxi drove me to the hotel, I could see wide stretches of nice beaches of Tanjung Aru. This is my first time in KK. I have read so much about it while I was in Miri ( I am from Miri, Sarawak ). KK or Sabah really lives up to its legend, the mysterious Mount Kinabalu, the many species of fishes, corals etc at the many islands of Manukan, Sapi, Tunku Abdul Rahman and the friendliness and warmth of the Sabah people. Hotel staff and leisure activities staff were ecstatic and excited upon learning that I was from Sarawak, one of their Borneo brothers. I booked a trip to the Kinabalu Park, Mt Kinabalu was always surrounded by or at times covered in thick clouds. The park houses many varieties of strange plants, animals and birds. Weather condition was cold, windy and cloudy and always changing. From afar, Mt Kinabalu really conveyed a sense of awe and divinity. Made a lot of friends with the Australian tourists here. I really forgot all my work and life problems here. Would attempt to climb Mt Kinabalu next year after I have trained up.
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| T Lou |
08 September 2004 |
Stayed at Berjaya Palace Hotel - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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Good for a day stop-over from hectic activities, e.g. white-water rafting, Mount Kinabalu, etc. Gotta go to the Monsopiad Cultural Village where countless skulls were stacked up by the villagers.
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| P Hearn |
05 September 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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Kota Kinabalu is not an exceptionally interesting city, although you can find some things are very cheap. If you like seafood (and you like to see your food beforehand!), try the Ocean Seafood Restaurant - not especially cheap by Malaysian standards but very nice. Also, take a trip to Sandakan to see the orang utans, although even better than this in my opinion is the Mangrove Forest trip by boat where you see proboscis monkeys in the wild. Whether you want a relaxing time or eventful time there are plenty of good trips from the resort
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| J Cheung |
16 August 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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The coral reef in the Manukan Island is so amazing. The island is very beautiful also. The white water rafting for the beginner level is quite boring. I recommended others to join a difficult level even you are the first time to play.
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| M Hart |
08 August 2004 |
Stayed at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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Do visit the Tunku Abdul Rahman islands. They are only 10 minutes away by boat and offer much nicer beaches than can be found near Tanjung Aru.
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