It was my first visit to Sabah Tea Garden after having heard so much about this place. Sabah Tea Garden or plantation is located in the district of Ranau, about 3-hours drive from Kota Kinabalu and about an hour drive from Mt. Kinabalu Park.
The Sabah Tea Garden reception area which house a restaurant and a handicraft shop.
Sabah Tea Garden offers 2 different types accommodation - The Rungus Longhouses and Cottages. With the accommodation and facilities, events like social gathering, team building programs, annual dinner, and school holiday educational trips can be easily organised. 
These Longhouses are of the Rungus design. There are exhibits of seven ethnic cultures of Sabah - Bajau, Rungus, Kadazandusun, Murut, Lundayeh, Lotud and Melayu Brunei on the walls of these long houses.
The long houses provide small dormitory style rooms equip with 3 beds + mattresses, mosquito nets and bamboo flooring. 
The Sabah Tea Garden reception area which house a restaurant and a handicraft shop. A good place for visitors to enjoy some refreshment and local cuisine - overlooking the part of the tea plantation. 
An ideal place to shop for Borneo handicraft and Sabah tea products. 
It is the largest commercial tea plantation in Borneo with 1000 acres planted with the natural and superior Camellia Sinensis tea. It is also one of the very few tea plantations in the world that produce organic tea. The whole area is surrounded by tropical rainforest.
Mt. Kinabalu view in the clouds from the tea garden. On a clear day, the mountain view would be magnificent according to my guide.
An ideal place to shop for Borneo handicraft and Sabah tea products. It is the largest commercial tea plantation in Borneo with 1000 acres planted with the natural and superior Camellia Sinensis tea. It is also one of the very few tea plantations in the world that produce organic tea. The whole area is surrounded by tropical rainforest. Mt. Kinabalu view in the clouds from the tea garden. On a clear day, the mountain view would be magnificent according to my guide. .
Sabah Tea Garden welcomes visitors for an hour guided tea factory tour available from 08:00 to 12:00. The tour provides information pertaining to tea cultivating, harvesting, and processing. The guided tour can be arranged upon arrival but preferable if booking is made in advance. 
The guided tea factory tour.
The end product - pesticide-free tea with no artificial colouring. 
Sabah Tea Garden offers 2 different types accommodation - The Rungus Longhouses and Cottages. With the accommodation and facilities, events like social gathering, team building programs, annual dinner, and school holiday educational trips can be easily organised. These Longhouses are of the Rungus design. There are exhibits of seven ethnic cultures of Sabah - Bajau, Rungus, Kadazandusun, Murut, Lundayeh, Lotud and Melayu Brunei on the walls of these long houses.The long houses provide small dormitory style rooms equip with 3 beds + mattresses, mosquito nets and bamboo flooring. Plenty of rooms.
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The other accommodation is the cottage style with air condition and bathroom attached. 
The facilities in this accommodation include a small lounge with Satellite TV channels. 
This hall can be used by groups for cultural activities, like traditional native dances and batik painting.Sabah Tea Garden is an ideal place for education, family outing and social gathering. Visitors can do recreational activities like jungle trekking, jungle survival, mountain biking and many other nature related activities because of the large forest landscape there.
It was a surprise to many of us that the Government of Malaysia has decided celebrate 16 September as Malaysia day this year - 47 years after the formation of Malaysia. It is also the first time that this day, 16 September has been gazetted as a National holiday. Sabah was chosen to host the inaugural Malaysia day celebration. Many young Malaysian do not know this historical date as the government has all these years been promoting 31 August as the National day and claimed that Malaysia is 53 years old! 
The same Mederka padang was set-up for the inaugural Malaysia day celebration a day before.
According to the program in the evening, there would be cultural dances and entertainment by local artists in the presences of our Prime Minister and other dignitaries. My wife and I decided to join in the celebration. On the way to the "padang" we were caught in a massive traffic jam and had to park our car one kilometer away from the venue.
Obviously, the organising committee for this celebration did not do a good job. They only took care of the VVIPs, VIPs, politicians and high ranking government officials by building a grand stand for their comfort. For the ordinary folks, they had to suffer - going through the hassle to catch a glimpse of the show. In my opinion, a better venue could have been the Likas stadium as there are ample parking lots and comfortable seats for everyone. 
Mt.
