Significant Other asked me out of the blue, mau pigi Sabah? i pun, er... ok.
tapi dalam hati eksaited coz this would be my first time going to East Malaysia. and Lan has always been asking me to come visit, but i just didn't have the free time (nak ambik leave lama2 pun rase bersalah... bongok benor). well, i still don't have the time, but i was lucky my boss approved my kind-of last minute leave.
i hate packing. it's either i end up with not-enuff stuff, or wayyy too many stuff. we flew on MAS, so i didn't have to worry about the 15kg limit. it was bad enough that i had to pack for 2 people in two different bags for the sake of fully utilizing the weight allowance limit, i also had to pack clothes for different events which included a Church wedding, the reception dinner, white water rafting (plus extra change of clothes), and swimsuits just in case we wanted to go for a dip in the pool. this also means each person needed to bring at least 3 pairs of shoes. haih.
(tu belum kire Significant Other's camera equipment and my pumping gear. AND tu belum lagi travel with the kids. at this rate i just wanted to pack the whole house and bring it along! haha).
since the kids weren't coming, i had to bring a cooler box and my pumping gear and ice packs and liners and bottles and bottle brush along. haha. previously i pumped and dumped when i went to Jakarta last year, this time i was determined not to dump precious milk down the sink.
our flight for KK was at 9am. we barely made it (biasa la si Significant Other, sukeeee sangat tempt fate) but at least our flight was from KLIA. i found out from my colleague that due to some accident along the road to LCCT that very same morning, he actually missed his flight to Cambodia T_T. call me jakun, but i love boarding airplanes, the adrenaline of excitement that rush through you when you make your way towards the boarding gates... the feeling you get as you board the plane... (too bad i can't afford first class, i've only flown first class once when i went for umrah when i was 14, itu pun the crew graciously upgraded me and my cousin =D). i don't even mind getting stuck in 12-13 hour flights. except for those tiny space-deprived restrooms. they make my feel claustrophobic. and they smell weird.
our flight made a pitstop at Labuan so we were grounded for about 40 minutes before we took off again. (pics)
arrived at KKIA around 12.50pm. disembarked, went through customs, collected our bags.
we found Auntie Kar waiting for us at the Arrivals exit. it was soooo nice of her to drop by to pick us up even after i told her she didn't have to go through all the trouble. ok so Significant Other totally didn't remember she stayed in KK until the very last minute, so he already made hotel and transportation arrangements for our stay. if not we could've save accomodation and just stayed over at Auntie's place. and to further add to things, we had arranged with Lan to pick up the rental car at the airport, so of course he was already waiting for us at the airport too.
whoops.
anyway, after promising to meet up with Lan and co. on Sunday morning, we checked in at the hotel, dumped our bags first and followed Auntie Kar for lunch at the Sutera Harbour Marina. lovely view. lovely yachts, the weather was absolutely lovely (although veli veli hotttt!!! mat sallehs would love to roast themselves into lobsters haha). Uncle joined us not long after that (he had a DUN sitting somewhere so he was only able to join us later). i had the nice oxtail asam pedas ever (pics?)afterwards we went back to the hotel to freshen up and joined Auntie and Uncle for dinner later in the evening for seafood.
we stayed at Le Meridien, which to me is strategically located in the middle of town, it's right opposite the Filipino market by the sea, you can just cross the road to find all sorts of
(le meridien photos)
they picked us up at 7.30pm and took us to a restaurant nearby, for seafood! the food is so fresh, seriously. there are tanks and tanks of live seafood creatures, some i've never seen or heard of before, and you can pick whatever living creature you want, or let them choose for you. we let Auntie choose the dishes. Uncle ordered sayur manis (betui ka nama?), apparently grown at his kampung in Lahad Datu. seriously sedap, it's like an asparagus-lookalike (i'm getting hungrier as i type this T_T). we had soft shell crab, white clams (that looked like lalas but not quite), steamed fish, some weird looking siput that we got to try for the very first time (you pull it out by pulling the sharp end at the shell opening, or you use a toothpick to pry it out), and steamed prawns. the portion sizing was just nice, food was absolutely delish. i have great appetite these days, no kidding. thanks to breastfeeding. hoho.
this was the first time we got to taste kelapa puding, haha. i've never heard of prior to the trip. Auntie Kar ordered one for us, it tasted like dadih perisa kelapa. even Significant Other loved it. Auntie also said there was also kelapa bakar, where they bakar the kelapa before serving. it tastes different from the usual kelapa, she says.
after dinner they took us for a drive along the coastal line. apparently there are alot of shopping complexes in KK. they took us to see Uncle's office, and also the building where Auntie says there's a revolving restaurant (but food was so-so only), passed by UMS (in the dark, the compound looks absolutely HUGE), and drove all the way past 1Borneo before turning back. we really appreciated Auntie's hospitality that day :)
went for a quick night stroll along the waterfront before retiring for bed. not much to do because most of the stalls were closing already.
ok, end of day 1. coming up: day 2 =D pics and minor corrections to ensue later. toodles!
1 comment:
yes u got it right :)
sayur manis and u only get it there
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