I was invited to the wedding dinner of aunty Ting in Kota Kinabalu, and that was my first time to be in the beautiful Borneo land.

There is a common misunderstand. People keep saying seafood there is very cheap, thats for years ago. Nowadays the demand of seafood from other countries is increasing causing decreasing in availability and increasing in price.

I had been there for 7 days and 6 nights, and here's the itinerary.

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11th Dec Departure from KL to KK

Departed from KL to KK, check in to Marina Court, and get ready for dinner at Promanade hotel.

Their dinner 'tradition' is different for us, the new couple only don't have to go yum sing for each table after the yum sing ceremony on the stage. Less tiring for the couple and they had more time to eat compared to KL style.

FYI, Anthony Chang, the ex-Astro Star Quest winner is the cousin of the groom. I saw him in person!

12th Dec Sabah Tea, Kg Luandi Fish Spa, Kinabalu park, Poring hot spring.

I had witnessed the process of making Sabah Tea. I can't deny that it is quite special but I don't really like the smell of the tea. Also, they should promote more on it because it is so special and there are a lot of tea lover out there who don't know the existence of Sabah Tea! That's why Malaysia tourism ain't earning money.

The fish spa was very different with those in KL, it was a natural fish spa. We put out legs into a river, and the fishes will come and bite the dead skin of our legs. I'm extremely scare itchy kind of person, and I screamed like a mad kid when the fishes bite me. Anyway that was a good experience.

We went through a canopy walkway in Kinabalu park, it is longer but narrower than the FRIM's, and also less regulations. Poring hot spring was very near to the park. It is not like the hot spring we had in Selayang. There were pipes to connect the hot water into many small swimming pools. Turn on the pipe and you can enjoy the hot spring. But as all of us know, the Bumis always enjoy in 'their way', so we only put our legs inside.

We had seafood for dinner. Their seafood restaurants were like our Dai Pai Tong, few restaurants under a big roof, having their own tables and chairs. Another thing different there is the lai liu ha in KL are all in an aquaruim, that of KK is each in a big mineral water bottle, and the bottles are stored in an aquarium. The reason why is they will fight and eat each other if all in an aquarium. I think we kena potong there, the dinner cost RM700++ for 2 tables.

13th Dec Manukan and Sapi Island

The sea water there was clear and a lot of beautiful fishes there. We even saw small sword fishes! But it is not a good place for snorkelling and swimming because there were a lot of big stones and corals, and the visibility in water was low. We cannot really land properly and most of us got injured by the corals, and watching the fishes from the surface was clearer than watching them in the water. I went for a '3 generation fishing' with my grandpa and dad. All of us got nothing but the boat driver got 3 small fishes. It was really hard to fish there because there were a lot of corals and stones. The bait got stuck between the stones all the time.

14th Dec Kiulu White Water Rafting

We were supposed to go Klias wetland on this day but because of the rain yesterday made the water 'cantik sekali', the plan was changed. There was a stereotype in everyone's heart that it is a very dangerous sport, especially when we had to sign 'sang sei zhong'. But trust me, IT'S FUN!!! My 5 yrs old cousin also rafted! Of course, we played the 1 and 2 levels which is for below 10 and old folks. It was an unforgettable experience and I'm going to try higher levels in the KK trip with tkd buddies in Febuary.

Nothing to do after back from the activity, sister and I went to the shopping centers near to out apartment to do some shopping. I bought a dinner dress at 90 bucks in the one of the shop! XD

But honestly, everything in EM is more expensive than KL, we only bought those that we need in hurry or can't get in KL.

15^th Dec Klias Wetland

Since we have to gather at 2pm, we went to foot and body massage in BUNCH of 10. Guess what the foot+body massage that last for 1.5 hour only cost 53 bucks!

After that the women went for a quick shopping for Sabah t-shirts and lunch. Women always choose shopping rather than meal. LOL

We went Klias Wetland to see monkeys and fireflies. They are 3 types of species there, the unique species there was the Proboscis monkey. They have long nose, they live in group, and they do not practice monogamy. The male always own more than 1 wives, sometimes even more than 10. The best part of the monkey is when they ngek ngek, the females will line up and the male will 'go through' one by one. The boat driver said the ML process can last 'berjam-jam'. WHOAAAA!!! XD We did not have the chance to see the impressing process of Proboscis, but I witnessed the ngek ngek of other species of monkey! LOL

BTW, it was a black water river, so the existence of crocodile is guaranteed. We did not see any, but our boat knocked one crocodile.

We went back the jetty for dinner and headed for firefly. Fireflies in Kuala Selangor are like bees flying here and there. Fireflies in Klias were disciplined kind, they stayed on one particular type of trees, making them like hristmas trees!!! The moon was VERY bright and the visibility of the fireflies were low. The driver told us, if there was no moon, the trees will be very bright. INDEED! The moon covered by the cloud after he said so, and WOW there are Christmas Trees!

16^th Dec Karambunai Resort

We left Marina Court and headed to Nexus Resort in Karambunai. It is a must-go resort (if you can afford it) that many Hollywood and Hong Kong superstars like to go. Karambunai beach is soooooo nice! 99 times better than Manukan and Sapi because the sand was so soft, no hurting seashells, stones and corals, and the water was shallow even we played during the ebb tide. The waves were quite big because of the rain, but still safe for children to play. We played monkey game there with the children. We played until exhausted.

After shower, we gathered and search for restaurant for dinner. We went for a 'resort tour' and found a Chinese restaurant. It was at a hidden corner and we wont find it if the waiter didn't tell us. We would have went to the expensive buffet. There were no customer when we enter, we thought that the food was not nice. Surprisingly the food there was awesome and the waiters were very friendly! My little cousin finished 1 bowl of rice (normally he can't even finish half bowl)!

We went to the beach again to hunt crabs. The kids wanted to catch crabsssss. So we went with them and had a walk. The stars were WOW, the sea were WOW, and the crabs were WOW!!!

17^th Dec Departure from KK to KL

Some of us purposely wake up early in the morning to walk along the beach, especially the children. Some kind of small insects like those among the bushes were flying around, I thought they wont cause any harm so didn't bother. Mana tau a lot of itchy bumps appear on our uncovered part the day after we back. OMG we are scratching like monkeys!

We had to say bye bye to Nexus, even we didn't manage to enjoy all the facilities in one night stay. Should stay at least two nights to fully utilize the facilities. Bye to Sabah too!

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This was a really enjoyable trip. I gained quite a lot of experience and the thing that I appreciate the most is the bond of the family. This is my first trip with whole bunch of family. In this trip, we helped each other, tolerated and cooperated to make things work. No need to wear any mask. Besides, I always wanted to bond with the trio but they were being too shy. Being together for around 1 week, they accepted us and willing to play with us. They even came to my room to kacau! When I went to my grandma's room to kacau, she asked me to sit beside her. Now the grandparents really accepted us and treat us like their own grandchildren. I don't know how long the good relationship will last, but I never want the bond to break.

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Here's some jokes of the trip.

1

The trio cousins of mine are English ed and are learning mandarin. They don't understand Cantonese. My grandma speaks Cantonese.

The grandma asked: 行来行去累不累？(running here and there, tired or not?)

Then the mother asked them whether they understood or not.

The eldest one noded and said: grandma said 跑来跑去看到鬼 (running here and there and see ghost)

2

My another 2 little cousins never been to beach before, apparently. When we were leaving, their mother asked whether they want to pee or not, if want faster pee in the sea. Then the brothers went to the sea, and take off their one-piece swimming suit, squad down in the water and pee.

3

My father, the kaufu (uncle) of the kids, was the leader of one of the raft during water rafting. He commanded: head down! head down! when passing under the trees. Then, he lower down his head and knocked on the paddle that he holding.

One of the trio can't sleep at the night, his father told him to keep thinking of something and he will fall asleep. The son suddenly laughed because he thought of kaufu's incident!