DUANWU FESTIVAL

To day is the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese Calendar and it's Duanwu festival or better known as the Dragon Boat Festival to many people. The Chinese around the world celebrate this double "fifth" with feast and dragon boat race including eating " Zonzi", a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings, like meat and peanuts and wrapped in reed leaves. These "Zongzi" are cooked by steaming or boiling. In Japan, these "zonzi" are called "Chimaki".

A "Zonzi"

My family has been celebrating this occassion with home cooked dinner for years and there is no exception this year even though our children are not with us. My wife prepared a few of our favourite dishes.

Steamed Chicken

Stir-fried beef with green peppers

stuffed Eggplants and Tofu

Dinner followed by fresh cut mangoes from our mango tree in the garden. It was a quiet but delicious dinner. I wish everyday is a festival day!!!

WATER FRONT PROJECT KOTA KINABALU

The ongoing Kota Kinabalu Waterfront project which is expected to be completed in 2010 will be one of the longest city waterfront with boardwalks in Asia. To date, the boardwalks in front of the Hyatt Regency Kinabalu has been completed. It is now a favourite spot for people to enjoy the cool sea breeze, the island-view and beautiful sunset in the evening. Mamutik and Sulug islands in the distance

The boardwalks all the way from Merdeka complex to the Central market

Waterfront is also an ideal place to watch aircraft lining up for landing at Kota kinabalu International airport

A Maswing ATR 72-500 turboprops aircraft

MAS B777 from Narita
Sunset view

ATOMOSPHERE RESTAURANT AND BAR - KOTA KINABALU

Atomosphere Restaurant and Bar is situated on the 18th floor of the Yayasan Sabah building. It is the the highest and the only revolving restaurant in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo The aerial view of Yayasan Building.

Yayasan Sabah Building is a 30 storey circular glass building supported by high tensile steel rods throughout its structure. This building is one of only four such buildings in the world. It was built in 1977 with bold architectural and engineering concepts . Over the years, it has become one of the most famous and admired landmark in the country. A stopover for our city tour itinerary.

The Bar areas

It is a great place to enjoy modern dining and also gives a 360-degree view of the city, Likas Bay, University Malaysia Sabah, State Legislative Assembly and the islands fronting the city.

The sunset is breathtaking on a clear evening. This restaurant provides fusion cuisine, perfect for leisurely lunch, cocktails and dinner.

SPAGHETTI BOLOGNAISE DINNER

I was surprised that tonight's dinner was spaghetti bolognaise with mushroom-potato soup and garlic wholemeal bread. I have not had this for a long long time. Our dinner at home has been mostly fish and lots of vegetables.

I never order this dish from any restaurant in Kota Kinabalu because they could never get the taste right. My wife knows exactly what I like and she cooked it according to my taste. Close-up of the spaghetti bolognaiseThe wholemeal garlic bread was great.
It was a wonderful dinner and we finished it off with the ice cold "lychee" jelly.

SUKAU - TAWAU - KOTA KINABALU

We continued our journey to Tawau. The weather was good. I estimated to cover the 350 kms drive in 4 hours and get into Tawau for lunch .

Leaving the Kinabatangan area.

Forest Reserve by the road side after Lahad Datu . The Danum Valley's Borneo Rainforest lodge is located 77 kms from the main Lahad Datu-Tawau road Oil palm country all the way to Tawau Entering the 31 kms dual carriage ways of Tawau.

We checked in the new Promenade hotel after lunch. My wife and her sister were busy meeting their old school mates while I was picked up by an old friend. Hospitality of the hotel

I rated this hotel as 3.5 star.

TAWAU, The third largest town of Sabah after Kota kinabalu and Sandakan is situated at the south-east coast of Sabah, facing the Celebes Sea. It is an agriculture base town with a population of about 300,000. Tawau is the land of agriculture. Main products are Cocoa and Oil palm. It is also a place well known for its fresh, delectable, and moderately-priced seafood. In term of tourism, it is the gateway to the famous scuba diving paradise of Sipadan and Mabul islands.

The town view from 12th floor of the hotel.

In the evening, I joined my friends for a seafood dinner at the Sabindo Hawker Center, They offered a variety of seafood with very reasonable prices (for the catch of the day). It was at least 35% cheaper than Kota kinabalu. ( Sorry....no pictures !. My camera was left behind in the hotel) The next day, after a heavy breakfast , we did some "sight-seeing" around the old town area before leaving at noon for the 572 kms journey back to kota kinabalu. We were held-up for about 25 minutes near "Balung village". There was an accident near the narrow bridge.
Catching up time....speeding "occasionally" at 120 kms p/h.

With Mt.Kinabalu in sight, we were approaching Mt. Kinabalu park after 5 and a half hours drive. We had our dinner at Fairly Garden before continuing on to Kota kinabalu. Home sweet home at 20:30.

I clocked a total 1265 kms in the 3 days/2nights trip. It was very tiring but worthwhile. We had some exciting time in Kinabatangan - Sukau and enjoyed the fresh seafood with old friends in Tawau.

SUKAU - KINABATANGAN RIVER

Last weekend, my wife and her sister wanted to go to their old school re-union dinner in Tawau. I offered to drive them there with a night stopover at the Kinabatangan river in Sukau. Using my Pajero, we took 6 hours to get to Sukau via the Kota Kinabalu - Tawau " highway" covering almost 325 kms of mountain and lowland road. Our first stop was the old Tamparuli town for breakfast.

Traffic was heavy all the way to Kundasang (Mt.Kinabalu area) and Ranau.

A stopover at "Mile 32" market near Sandakan.

The road into Sukau has been upgraded from gravel to tar last year.
Entering the gravel road leading Kinabatangan river
Crossing an old wooden bridge Transfering by boat to our accommodation at the opposite side of the river.
Small boat like this one is a common sight .

Kinabatangan river is popular for foreign visitors Approaching the lodge We put up a night at the Bilit Rainforest lodge. This lodge has 12 semi-detached and 6 detached chalets. All rooms are equipped with air-conditioning, private bathroom with hot & cold shower, toilet and confortable queen size beds
One of the chalets

2 queen size beds in each room, there is plenty of space for an extra bed.
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The lodge has a restaurant to cater for all meals of the day. Coffee and tea are available 24 hours.

Courteous and friendly staff

Coffee/tea corner After check-in and some refreshment at the lodge, we took the river cruise which was the highlight of our stay Kinabatangan river - the longest river in Sabah, Borneo where one can relax and explore the incredible diversity of plant, mammal and bird life.

A fig tree with fruits - one of the Orang utans' favourite

We spotted an Orang utan. According to our guide, it's a male. He moved so fast and I could only managed to snap this picture with my small digital camera.

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From the Kinabatangan river, we porceeded to the Menanggol River, a tributary of Kinabatangan river where the unique Proboscis monkeys, hornbills, kingfishers and many others could be found.

Probosic monkeys were spotted ! A Darter or Snakebird showing off it's wings

Long lens cameras are the ideal equipments for capturing pictures of wildlife.

A herd of Borneo pygmy elephants were spotted in the oil palm plantation near the river. It was rare to see these animals in the open with their youngs. It was an exciting cruise. We saw some beautiful hornbills, silver leaf monkeys and other bird species. I tried to take their pictures but unfortunately did not turn out well. My sister-in-law was so excited when a crocodile was spotted near the lodge just after sunset.
Dinner was ready at 19:30 Early next morning, a simple breakfast was served. A beautiful morning as we were leaving the lodge to continue our trip to Tawau.

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I wish I could stay there for 2 more days so I could explore more, like jungle trekking, visiting the Oxbow lakes and wetland in search for all the wildlife. I was told there are eight species of hornbills, kingfishers, owls and many others. I shall be back. This time, I will arm myself with Long lens camera for close-up and better quality pictures.