The distance between Kuching and Kota Kinabalu was about 805km, and I’ve read a blog about driving from the said destination, and it took about 26 hours! So far, I haven’t heard anyone mentioning about a public bus. But I heard there’s a bus from Kuching to Brunei and from Brunei to Kota Kinabalu.
If you feel like passing your time, then you are welcome to try it out, but if you come for another reason and want to save your time, my advice is to take the flight. It only takes about an hour and twenty minutes.
After the trip to Kuching, we didn’t go straight to Kota Belud, my hometown. Instead, we stopped by Kota Kinabalu and stayed for two nights in the Shangri-La Hotel. On our first night, we had our dinner at Upperstar Restaurant & Bar, it’s about 1.1km away, and it took us a 15-minute walk from the hotel. We didn’t stay out late because the next day, we had to get up early for our snorkelling trip!
The next morning, while we were having breakfast in the hotel, we overheard the staff talking about an earthquake that struck Ranau with a magnitude of 6.0 and they felt the building shook. However, we didn’t feel the tremors at all.
Before leaving the hotel, we checked the tsunami alert, and it seemed like everything was fine so, we proceeded to Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal and got the boat ticket.
We chose two islands, Manukan and Sapi and the cost was about RM33 per person including the terminal fees. However, it excluded conservation fees of RM3 which you need to pay it on the island; and RM10 for a foreigner. Luckily, Mike had his BC ID with him, and they charged him with the local price.
The boat ride was about 20 minutes, and we only spent a total of 3 hours on both islands. We enjoyed lazing by the white sandy beaches and snorkelling with the colourful fishes. However, one thing was for sure, I still prefer Koh Lipe over here!
At night we went to The Shamrock Irish Bar at Waterfront Kota Kinabalu and watched the beautiful sunset sink beneath the horizon. It’s a great place to watch the sunset!
The next morning we travelled back to my hometown and spent four nights barbequing and embracing the nature around us.
Driving from Kota Kinabalu to Kota Belud town took about an hour fifteen to an hour thirty depending on the traffic.
On the 10th of June, we flew back to Penang at 1:35 pm and reached 4:15 pm.
Travel Date: 04th ~ 10th June 2015