Visiting Kundasang

I am bringing my family to stay a few nights at Kundasang, Sabah. We are not climbing Mount Kinabalu this time. Instead we plan to explore the area around Kundasang. We have 3 nights and 2 days exclude the days we arrive and depart.

I am really excited about it and now I am doing research on where to go and what to do in this area.

In my past travelling to Kundasang I had only stayed at Kinabalu Park to climb the mountain. The only place outside Kinabalu Park that I had been to in Ranau District is Poring Canopy Walkway and its nearby hot spring pools that looks more like a few children swimming pools.

Walking on the canopy walkway.

Looking up to the canopy walkway. This is the lower part of the walkway.

Initial Thoughts For the Plan

We have booked our accommodation, rented a car and ready to explore Kundasang and the places nearby. The first few tourist areas come to mind. We must visit the famous cattle farm which many say it looks like farm in New Zealand. A search on the net returned the farm name Desa Cattle Dairy Farm. I hope my son will like it. The Kundasang War Memorial seems prominent in the Google map. I would like to go Mesilau Nature Resort to explore for my next climbing trip.

Of course we must spend at least half a day at Kinabalu Park. But first I have to find out where in the park that we can explore and do we need park guide like we climb Mt Kinabalu. And yes, I found from the net that there is a daily guided walk in Kinabalu Park. Here are the daily schedule of Kinabalu Park's activities.We should go. From the map, it seems there is a tea garden nearby, called Sabah Tea Garden.

We must visit the vegetable wholesale stalls and local market place. This will require further research.

For food, we will try Liwagu Restaurent. Maybe I should bring my family to Balsam too. Not that it is great but to let my family to experience my experience as a climber. I had tried and was not particular fond of the mee noodles at Tuaran. But I will definitely try to bring my family there since it is famous.

A few more hours should be spent to produce a more concrete travelling plan. But for now, this should be okay for a start.

Are you familiar with Kundasang? Will appreciate if you can recommend some nice places at Kundasang for a family to visit. You are welcome to comment. :-)

Choosing The Right Season to Climb Mt Kinabalu.

How to Book a Trip to Climb Mt Kinabalu.

How Hard Is It to Climb Mt Kinabalu?

Terrain of Summit Trail. KM by KM Photograph Series from Timpohon Gate. Start Here.
More photos on the Summit of Mt Kinabalu.

Is It Dangerous (or safe) to Climb Mount Kinabalu?

Training to Climb Mt Kinabalu. Read to Prepare. Download Checklist.

 
 
 
 

This website is about climbing this majestic mountain located in Sabah state of Malaysia, Mount Kinabalu, arguably the highest mountain in South East Asia.

You can find checklist, guides and tips on preparing and evaluating your trip. There are guides on:

• choosing right season to climb the mountain,
• making booking of your trip,
• evaluating safety and toughness to climb,
• training to climb
• Pictures of the terrain of Mount Kinabalu, KM by KM. Start the journey here
• and more...

There is a useful checklist on things to prepare for the climb and a selection of photographs.

Guides on Climbing Mt Kinabalu

Preparation
Planning Weather and season Flights and road transports Booking a package to climb Mt Kinabalu DIY tour: Booking to climb Mt Kinabalu Overview of the climb journey Training Prepare your body for a long uphill walk Descend: walking downhill	Getting Ready To Go Clothing to climb Mt Kinabalu Shoes & slippers Gear & equipment First aid & medicines Full checklist for climbing Mt Kinabalu Travelling Luggage arrangement Telecommunication on Mt Kinabalu
Journey
How to Get There Flights and road transports Getting there, Kinabalu National Park Analysis Of Terrain & The Journey Is climbing Mt Kinabalu easy? Is it safe (or dangerous) to climb Mt Kinabalu? More about the terrain and the climb Climbing the terrain (Part 1: Ascending) Climbing the terrain (Part 2: Descending) Photograph of Timpohon Trail's terrain (before rearranging) Photograph of Summit's terrain (before rearranging) Low's Peak, the highest point of Mt Kinabalu Photograph of descent from summit before Sayat Sayat (to be ready) Photograph of descent after Sayat Sayat (to be ready)	Accommodation And Food Grace Hostel (Grace Lodge) Laban Rata Rest House Panar Laban Huts Balsam Buffet Restaurant Nepenthes Lodge Journey to climb Mount Kinabalu Increasing odds to reach Low's Peak Altitude sickness Food & drinks while climbing Personal hygiene, toilets and bathrooms My Journey Of Climbing Mount Kinabalu Why do I climb Mount Kinabalu? Our experience on climbing Mount Kinabalu: 18th~19th September 2010 Our experience on climbing Mount Kinabalu: 15th~16th September 2011 (to be ready)

Rock formation right after Sayat Sayat checkpoint during our descent.

The most iconic view of Mount Kinabalu, South Peak.

Islands Hopping in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park

What to do in Kota Kinabalu when you are not climbing the mountain?

If you have a day in Kota Kinabalu you may want to try out islands hopping at Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. The national marine park consists of 5 beautiful islands located at South China Sea not far away from Kota Kinabalu. It takes less than 20 minutes boat ride to reach the islands from Kota Kinabalu city.

Looking at Pulau Gaya (Island Gaya) from Pulau Sapi (Island Sapi).
I love the crystal clear ocean water and relaxing white sandy beach of Pulau Sapi.

Tunku Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park located at the West Coast of Sabah state. IT consists of 5 islands:

1. Pulau Sapi (Sapi Island)
2. Pulau Manukan (Manukan Island)
3. Pulau Mamutik (Mamutik Island)
4. Pulau Gaya (Gaya Island)
5. Pulau Sulug(Sulug Island)

Let's put it this way, these islands provide little marine wildlife experience to begin with. These are popular tourists locations. But these are relaxing places to go with comfortable (and short distance) boat rides, beautiful beaches, well maintained facilities, food stalls on the islands, clear ocean water, etc. The islands hopping activity is perfectly suitable for people who loves and enjoys nature yet desirous of conveniences provided by our "over-civilized world". ;-)

Boat ride to the islands.

In September 2011, we spent a day in Kota Kinabalu after our Mount Kinabalu climb. We made the booking for islands hopping just one day before the trip. We started the trip next morning at probably 9.00 am and reaching the first island, Pulau Sapi, within 20 minutes. Later, we had our lunch at Pulau Manukan. We finished our island hopping trip at Pulau Mamutik before reaching Kota Kinabalu city by 4.00 pm.

Whether it is a half day trip or one day trip depends on the number of islands you want to go and how long you spend in each island.

Sapi Island

We spent long hours at Sapi Island to swim and snorkel. There were fishes in the water. The beach at Sapi Island is beautiful, especially you can over see the other island beach, i.e. Gaya Island. But for lunch, we need to move to another island.

Beach of Sapi Island. Gaya Island in sight.

Looking at Gaya Island from Sapi Island.

Manukan Island

Manukan Island has the most beautiful park and chalets among the islands at Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. I am guessing that this island is being maintained by Sutera Sanctury Lodges (the same company that operates Kinabalu Park) since these chalets are managed by them.

Clean and beautiful park on Manukan Island.

Crystal clear water at Manukan Island.

Mamutik Island

This island has less to offer other than Malaysian food. You can find many food stalls operate by different people. It is still a nice island, but with too many uncoordinated design of food stalls.

Mamutik Island.

Here are a few really useful websites:

• Sabahparks.org.my (managed by Board of Trustee of the national park) provides some basic geographical and administrative information of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park
• Wikipedia: overview of the 5 islands located in Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park
• Lonely Planet on Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. It is a very messy website. The sightseeing tips are grouped into card format and arranged like the images of Pinterest. You need to click on "SEE" or "DO" cards and then scroll down the pages to see those tips. Very messy but useful. If you hate messy websites, don't bother to look at this website.
• Trip Advisor: You can find many reviews on islands hopping in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park
• WonderfulMalaysia.com has a very concise and useful write up about visiting Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. It has practical information on transport, accommodation, attraction, pricing, etc. Check it out.
• TrailOfAsia has a DIY tour write up on Day Trip to Tunku Abdul Rahman Park
• DiyDetour: A good travel notes by Marcos Detourist sharing personal experience with beautiful photos travelling to Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. Remember to scroll down to check the photograph gallery.