Date: 4-6 June 2019
Venue: Sabah, Malaysia

Sabah is still a hidden gem for Indians. We recently discovered this treasure trove of fun travel activities in Malaysia when we were invited to attend a conference here. Sabah offers a ton of options to adventure lovers with a host of options like Jungle Camping and white river rafting in Kiulu or Scuba diving in Sipadan. This could be an experience of a lifetime.

But what if adventure activities are not your thing? You may not want to indulge in physically taxing activities or maybe you don’t like being in the water… Well, Sabah lives up to almost all kinds of travel goals from obvious to offbeat and from adventurous to laidback.

We spent the first two days in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah doing absolutely such laid-back activities. Roaming around the city on foot, in cabs, and exploring the touristy places to nondescript pizzerias and Udupis comprised our initial days in Sabah. Given that there is not much familiarity with this place among Indians, here are some options for a simple and relaxing holiday in Sabah, Malaysia

Getting around Kota Kinabalu in Sabah

Grab is their most reliable cab system. It’s like Ola or Uber here in India, only much better. Apart from that, no one canceled on us. The cabs were clean, the drivers were professional, and above all, it was quite pocket-friendly. From our hotel in Kota Kinabalu to most of the city attractions we did, it cost us 20 to 40 Ringgits (RM – 1 Malaysian Ringgit is approx 16.7 INR) and since it was 4 of us who were traveling together it came to approximately 4-5 RM per trip.

Things to do in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Kota Kinabalu City Mosque

Also known as Masjid Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu, the City Mosque is the most famous tourist attraction in Sabah. This is a white and blue structure spread in acres and is a great example of modern Islamic architecture. The mosque is surrounded by water on all sides and hence called the Floating Mosque as well. Quite popular with tourists, it’s a great place to click selfies when you are on a city trip to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia. If you want to go inside, you are supposed to change into coverall clothes provided by the mosque (valid for men as well as women). The entry charge for international visitors is RM 5.0. Entry is free for Malaysians.

Sabah Museum – A walk through the history of Sabah

It took us around 15-20 minutes to reach Sabah Museum from City Mosque. The Museum looks beautiful from the outside. It is surrounded by a water body and pelicans. Giant size baskets, that are typical of Sabah basketry, have been placed on both sides of the gate. The tickets are priced at RM 15 for international visitors and RM 2 for Malaysians.

The showstopper opens the show here at Sabah Museum. The moment you enter the museum you are welcomed by a gigantic skeleton of the Bryde whale. The 18.6-meter-long skeleton is tough to capture in one frame. The skeleton also featured in the Malaysian Book of Records.

As we moved to other parts of the Museum we saw handicrafts, textiles, burial jars, weapons, and ornaments as well. The Museum is well-kept and spacious. Though we couldn’t find any guide to take us on a tour, to be frank, we didn’t try very hard as we were pressed for time and wanted to squeeze in more places in a single day.

Tanjung Aru Beach for a breathtakingly beautiful sunset

Tanjung Aru Beach at Sabah is famous for being home to one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. Hence we saved the beach visit for the evening. We went back to the hotel, changed into beachwear, and rushed for the beach as it was close to sunset and the roads got busier with traffic during evening peak hours.

The first look at the beach was jaw-dropping. The water was a beautiful shade from the icy blue palette. It was still time for sunset and a lot of locals and tourists were chilling at the beach. Yet the beach was very clean and the crowd well behaved.

Gradually, we saw the sun going down the horizon changing the water from blue to gorgeous golden. In fact, it was an assortment of colors – a blend of orange, red, and yellow. As the sun sort of receded into the water, it looked as surreal as it could get.

When we turned towards the beach from a distance, it looked magical. The couples on the beach making soap bubbles, heart signs with their hands and standing under umbrellas with fairy lights were straight out of Hallmark Valentine’s Day greeting cards.

After sunset, we tried coconut water, pancakes, and fried bananas with cheese and chocolate at the shacks on the beach. The stuff was fresh tasty and super affordable (everything between RM 1 to RM 5). There was a lot of humidity in the air and by this time we were covered with sand. Left with no choice, we had to return to the hotel and change.

Waterfront – The most happening place in Sabah

We saved the best for last. Waterfront is Sabah’s famous hangout zone for locals and tourists alike. It’s a hub of cafes and bars around a waterbody where folks sit in the cafes or mostly out in the open, chill, have a beer, and enjoy live music. A band performing at a cafe was belting fantastic music and we spent good 2-3 hours there. It is a perfect place to let our hair down after a hectic city trip and just relax, talk, and eat. It would have looked great during the day and the light would have been more suitable for pictures. But the place comes to life only in the night. We had girls in our gang and not for once we felt unsafe or out of place even when we partied here till late. The Waterfront is highly recommended for people who are in Sabah to just relax and have a good time.

Shopping in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Malls In Kota Kinabalu

We visited the iMago mall here for shopping. The mall is huge, beautiful and a great place to shop for branded stuff and grocery alike. Given the influx of all multinational brands here in India and malls swarming in almost every tier 1 or 2 cities as well, there was hardly any novelty. But the fun part was the pricing. A lot of stuff here was tax-free and when we compared prices, many of the gadgets and luxury items worked out to be cheaper than in India. We bought luggage, some accessories, durian candies, packets of Teh Tarik (Malaysian milk tea), and Malaysian snacks from the mall.

Souvenirs from Sabah

The souvenir shop outside the museum is a great place to buy gifts and handicraft items from Sabah for friends and family back home. Basket weaving and beadwork are popular handicrafts from Sabah. We bought some key tags, small baskets, bookmarks, and beaded necklaces typical of the Borneo region.

Kadaiku is another store that sells authentic handicrafts of Sabah. Most of their products were handcrafted by local artisans and reflected the natural resources and rich ethnic heritage of Sabah. We bought bookmarks in the shapes of sea animals and a proboscis monkey (part of the Sabah logo). Also, they had a host of Sabah teas in all sizes and flavors. We bought mint and lavender-flavored boxes for friends in India. The best was the amazing beaded necklaces typical of the Borneo region. These were priced between RM 40 to 47. We bought 4-5 of these necklaces and now back home we are being asked from the connoisseurs, why didn’t we get more of these?

Where to eat in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Fried noodles are a staple at breakfast here. From our hotel in Kota Kinabalu to our camp in Kiulu we found fried noodles in breakfast everywhere almost every day. And we are not complaining. We love noodles, morning, noon, or night. And of course, fish is also another fixed item in food here. It’s heaven for seafood lovers. Sweets included puddings, mostly subtle in taste, and often had coconut or mango flavors.

On our first evening in Sabah, we had dinner at JomPenyet – a small restaurant in Kota Kinabalu. We tried their signature chicken and Inka (fish) platters, tom yam soup, and a coffee and tea-based cold beverage. We would recommend this place for a fuss-free casual dinner.

Though we are all for having famous Malaysian dishes like Nasi Goreng and Mi Goreng some of us started craving Indian food in Sabah after a couple of days. Therefore, we went to the Indian restaurant Banana Leaf for dinner one evening. This restaurant was close to the Waterfront. We loved having chicken masala with roti akai and parotta here. We finished off our dinner with Malaysia’s Teh Tarek. This tea is very similar to Indian chai (milk tea) but still unique with some froth on the top.

Malaysia has a strong Indian presence given the old history of immigration mostly from southern parts of India. Hence Indian food is a familiar cuisine with our dosa almost being a food ambassador. We tried the Malaysian dosa or “tosai” at Udupi and it is somewhat different from what we get in Delhi. The Malay dosa is thicker and tastes somewhat different from the Indian variety. This could be one of the few places where you can get vegetarian food in Kota Kinabalu.

Other than that, being a perennial pizza patron, we had to try this item. We ordered a slice of Hawaiian pizza at the pizzeria Prezzo where pizza is sold by slice just like the USA. This was one of the finest pizzas we have had.

Last but not least, 7-Eleven and Orange convenience store chains at Sabah are really what it proclaim – convenience. It helped to manage our post-party late-night hunger pangs or quick need for a travel bag padlock when one of us lost one. We would frequently buy beer from here during our stay. 7-Eleven and Orange, almost at every corner are something we wanted to get back with us to India.

Adventure Sports in Sabah

Scuba diving in Sipadan

Sipadan is another beautiful island in Malaysia. This island is located on the east coast of Sabah. We had heard legends about the marine life of Sipadan. Since we were finally in this part of the world, we wanted to visit Sipadan as well.

Known as one of the best scuba diving spots in the world, we took a flight from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau, the closest airport to Sipadan. One needs a special permit from the Sabah Government for entering Sipadan and a limited number of permits are issued every day. It is best to go with a travel aggregator and we used the services of Sipadan.com. Scuba diving in Sipadan is the most popular activity. In the course of scuba diving, one can spot rare water life that we could not even identify. It was a whole new underworld! If you are a laidback traveler, and not into scuba diving, you can just enjoy the nature and serenity of this zone from the resort. In fact, if you reach Sipadan Island, a leisurely walk on the beach may lead to sightings of rare green turtles. And that itself could be worth the trip.

Site diving map of Mayasia. Source: Sipadan.com

Conclusion

It is already our second piece on Sabah. We barely had one and half days free to ourselves and yet we did so much! The cool part is that places are not very far and commuting on public transport, as we mentioned, is easy. Kota Kinabalu is one of the most tourist-friendly places we have been to and nobody gives you that look as if you are an alien.  In terms of costs, it is as affordable as holidaying in any Indian city. In terms of fun – Kota Kinabalu is sheer variety. One can do the city, the mountain and the beach all in the same day. All the right reasons to make your next holiday destination Sabah!

 

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