Manukan island. Who you pointing that finger, huh?
Kota Kinabalu also holds other attractions other than the Kinabalu Mountain itself. If you are into water sports or am longing for some underwater scene after that long long trek up the mountains and forest, there’s this Tunku Abdul Rahman Park which comprises 5 islands. We were only able to visit 1 island (yeah due to budget constraints) which is Manukan and spent most of the day there. It’s only 15-20 min by speed boat and cost us like 15 RM per pax and 10 RM entrance fee. Manukan Island is the largest island in the park. It has very nice guest rooms and restos and quite a number of fish if you are into snorkeling. It has powdery beach but not as fine as Boracay. But I love the ambience here, it is simple and elegant and not commercialized as Boracay.
This is the hot spring?… ah … ok… it’s Japanese inspired!
But before we went there, we stayed at Poring Hot Springs after our descent at Mt. Kinabalu. We stayed at the cheap lodging Serendit which is around 12 RM per pax. It has a communal bathroom and when we were there, there were problems flushing our toilet. Yeow! And something’s floating in it. That morning I have to go to the farther bathroom to pooh. And there’s this big hairy spider on the outside wall! Still the place was quite nice. But I didn’t expect the Hot Spring to look like that. I was expecting something different. Still, we tried dip in each tub which you have to fill with a balance of hot (water coming from the spring) and cold water. Took some time to fill in but the water was refreshing at the least. The place was said to be inspired by Japanese hot spring tubs.
Why do we have to walk through these?
After which, we went to the Canopy Walk which is said to be 600 meters from the spring. Well ok. It turns out we had to hike up again 600 meters up to reach the Canopy. Oh crap! Well we did climb and managed to reach it. A bit of exploitation here. There’s a fee of 5 RM for the entrance and another 5RM for your camera! Anyway it was a fun walk at that height but a short one. After these we’re off to the city!
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
