Monday, January 18, 2010

Day 3 in Kota Kinabalu on 2 Jan 2010 (Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park and Treasure Hunter (2009) Movie)

We decided to visit the Tunku Abdul Ahman Marine Park before another round of fishing the next day. I'm glad we did and found it a pity my family missed it last month. We had breakfast at the same coffeeshop as yesterday morning and I had the Sarawak Laksa this time. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. The soup isn't spicy or rich like Singapore Laksa but of a rather thin sourish strain. The prawns were fresh but tasteless and over-cooked. The wanton remained as good as ever though so I had a bowl of that on top of the laksa.

After checking around at various tour operators (including those operating out of Tune Hotel (which charged RM 100 for 2 islands tour and pick up and return from your hotel) and Cititel Express KK (which charged RM 140 for the same (extra RM 20 on weekends))), we concluded that it was best to go the Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal and buy the tickets/packages from the tour operators there. This is a picture of the ferry terminal which I took - parking for motorbikes the whole day is free of charge so we left ours at the entrance.

Inside the terminal, there were many ferry operators lined in one straight row and one can purchase ferry tickets to and fro Labuan from 1 of the operators here too. Like many other tourists, we were drawn to the tour operator nearest the entrance. Here is a picture of the three-island package (the park is made up of 5 islands) that we took for RM 67 each which included a life jacket and a snorkelling mask for each person. After purchasing the tickets, one has to line up at the counter next to the operator's counter to pay for taxes/some govt fees.

Here is a picture of the speedboats used to ferry tourists to the islands. It is apparently compulsory to be provided with a life jacket before boarding and it can be rather confusing if one doesn't speak Malay because there are hoardes of tourists and everyone has a different package (1 island, 2 islands (and the diff combis of islands) or 3 islands).

For those who want more information on the marine park, I thought this picture below might be helpful.

There are signs on the islands which says "No menancing" ie No Fishing. The sign below showing the various species of fish that one may chance across can be found at the jetties for the islands. It came in useful indeed when I was trying to identify the fishes that I came across while snorkelling on the first and third island we visited.

This is a picture of me at Pulau Mamutik, the first island which we visited. I have never edited any of the pictures I've posted (other than cropping the edges) because I don't know how and have no time to. So, you can be sure that this picture below is exactly how beautiful the waters of the marine park are.

We went to Pulua Manukan next - before leaving the boat on Pulau Manutik, the boatman informed us what time we had to be at the jetty (11am) and he was very punctual indeed. Pulua Manukan is the most popular of the three islands and the most commercialised too. There is a resort/hotel on the island but it isn't the 5star kind ( gaya resort and bunga raya resort are the high ends one). Just a note here too - there are plenty of fishes like these below around the jetty stilts (hoardes of them actually) which are visible due to the clarity of the water. If you are minded to feed them, you should bring bread from the hotel or purchase bread crumbs stuffed in a 200ml waterbottle at the jetties for RM3.

It was blazing hot from 11.30 to 1.30pm, the time we were on Pulau Manukan and I had absolutely no wish to do swim or snorkel in the sea without any sort of shade. So, I took some pictures instead - you can see the coastline of KK city center from Pulua Manukan.
Food on the island was also ridiculously priced (and more so if you elect to have the buffet lunch at RM 70/pax) so we had bread which we bought in the morning. Oh yes, and one more thing, bring your own towels from the hotel. There aren't any for loan on the islands. I found open-air fresh water showering facilities on Pulau Manutik and Pulau Sapi (the last island we visited) near the toilets to wash off the saltwater after snorkelling. Be warned though for Pulau Sapi, the toilets stink to high heaven and one should avoid a visit there if one can. The picture below is of someone reading a book on the beach at Pulau Sapi (various tourists were doing that) and is my favourite picture of the islands.
Spotted the sign below on Pulua Sapi which seems to be a really appropriate summation of our visit to the lovely marine park. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Crystal clear unpollluted waters, beautiful scenary and a great place to go snorkelling - there are indeed many fishes in the reefs and corals near the shore.

The next picture is self-explanatory - that's me and the third (yes, 3rd) durian which I had after we had gotten back from the islands and showered in the hotel.

Because of our feasting on the durians (we overate cos we were starving after all that exercise - yes, snorkelling can be tiring), again we were too stuffed for dinner and so we headed for 1Borneo again. It isn't the only shopping center in KK (there is Centerpoint, Warisan Sq, Wisma Merdeka) but it certainly is the most modern and is the largest too. Along the way there, we passed by this mosque (KK is a muslim country overall) and I took a picture of it as it reminded me of the "floating" mosque I saw in Terengganu in April 2009 (haven't written about that).

Plenty of time to kill at 1Borneo so we decided to catch a movie at the cinema there. We caught the 7.05pm screening of the Chinese movie, Treasure Hunter. The cost of each person's ticket was only RM 9 (SGD 3.70 - where on earth can you watch a movie for that price in SG?!). The Slog Reviews: 0/10 - The movie was a waste of time and money (even SGD 3.60 haha) although the cinema was nice and new (see pic below I took of the entrance). The seats are a tad smaller than those plush seats we have at the Cineleisure though but there is sufficient leg room. Anyway, about the movie, it sucked sooooo absolutely bad and made absolutely nooooo sense that I can't even bring myself to waste 1 more minute reviewing it except to say that life is too short to be wasted on anything like that. Even my companion who is Chinese-movies biased went away saying that this movie had nothing to it.

We went for dinner at Hua Hing Seafood restaurant at Sedco Square again about 9.30pm. The lady boss was inside and we requested specifically for her help. As I wanted to try another type of seafood, I settled on having these two live prawns which cost RM18 (SGD 7.20) each. If you think that's expensive, I'll tell you that at Sai Kung, Hong Kong, I paid SGD 20 for 1 of these prawns. The lady boss reassured me that Sabah is the place to be have these critters for a decent price.

Here is a picture of one of them steamed and peeled (you have to peel the prawns yourself). The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Big, fat, fleshy and fresh. Could have been sweeter though.

What made my night though were the crabs. I ordered exactly the same crab dish as I had the night before (see my previous entry) but this time, the crabs had even more roe...here is a lcose up pic of the eggs which I relished each morsel of. The Slog Reviews: 9.5/10. Ahh..crab heaven!

We also ordered another dish which was served to us way after the rest of the dishes because I couldn't resist the promotion (RM 22 for 1kg) for these live prawns. They are supposed to be from the sea as opposed to being reared in a farm. The lady boss will explain the differences as she is showing you the prawns. The Slog Reviews: 4/10. The prawns were salty and tasteless. Not worth having.

The cost of the entire meal below and drinks (about 3 glasses of lime juice at RM4.50 each) including the prawns above was RM 130 (SGD 52).

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