Kota Kinabalu with the Girlaloos

Last October 2015, I had my first out of the country trip with the Girlaloos! We went to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia.

We stayed at a house that we booked through Airbnb called the Kinabalu Cultural Vacation home. It has 5 bedrooms, 4t&b, kitchen, living & dining area, and wifi. It was a really big house, but it was quite far from the city centre.

Going around Kota Kinabalu is pretty difficult especially if you're a big group. Only way around the city is by taking a taxi. Taxis in Kota charge a fixed rate of 10 ringgit per person.

If you want to buy souvenirs, visit the Central Market in the city centre. They have rows and rows of souvenirs! There are a lot of Filipinos manning the stalls so don't be afraid to haggle.

If you want to go to the beach, go to Jesselton Point and book a boat that will take you to the different islands in Kota Kinabalu. I only recommend going to Manukan Island. It's not too crowded, water is clear, and the sand is fine. The beach in Sapi Island is smaller compared to the one in Manukan so it gets crowded easily. If you're into adventure, try the Coral Flyer zipline. It's Borneo's longest zipline that takes you from Gaya Island to Sapi Island. 

Manukan Island

Sapi Island

Gaya Island

We booked our Kinabalu National Park and Mari-Mari Cultural Village tour with Amazing Borneo Tours. The Kinabalu National Park tour was one whole day and inclusive of lunch buffet. We visited the Botanical Garden and took a 30-45min hike just for the fun of it. We also did the canopy walk inside the Poring Hot Springs compound. The canopy walk was really fun! It was extra exciting for our group because it was raining so hard when we crossed from one tree to another (kaya wala akong pictures hehe).

We were very lucky to see a Rafflesia flower in full bloom. The Rafflesia is the largest flower in the world. It takes 9-21 months until a bud flowers and it only lasts 5-7 days when it is in full bloom.

Rafflesia Flower

The Mari-Mari Cultural Village showcases the different houses of each tribe in Kota Kinabalu. The houses are similar to the bahay kubo that we have here in the Philippines. It only takes half a day to go around the cultural village. I only took a few pics again because of the rain :))

Yummy traditional Kota Kinabalu snack

All the girls had free henna tattoo!

Last stop for our trip was the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque. You have to observe proper attire when you visit the mosque. Just make sure that your shoulders and legs are covered up. 

We bought our tickets to Kota Kinabalu a year in advance. It was during the P 0.01 sale of Air Asia. My airfare was about P4799 round trip with 20kg luggage and the accommodation was P2515/person for 4 days. 

My first international trip with the girls was amazing, but sadly, we weren't complete. We're planning another trip this year and hopefully we'll be complete then. 

'til my next adventure!