There are only 2 states left in Malaysia that I've yet to set foot on. Sabah and Kelantan. I recently got the chance to finally cross Sabah out of that list. After 6 years without the annual company trip, they finally decided to bring it back in 2024. Initially, the plan was to go to Da Nang, Vietnam. But due to this ongoing "Cuti-cuti Malaysia" campaign, it would seem counterintuitive and perhaps a bit hypocritical should Malaysian Association of Hotels, the most prominent hotel association in the country, be orchestrating its staff trip overseas.
We landed and stayed in Kota Kinabalu. I must say, KK wasn't as busy as Kuching. It had less traffic, less people walking the streets and I bet the size of the city is much smaller. We stayed at the Pacific Sutera Hotel, a 5 star luxury hotel overlooking a beautiful harbor where ships and yachts come and go. This hotel was built on a man-made island. The rooms were spacious. It housed the 3 of us perfectly fine. The bosses got their meetings out of the way while we had a buffet lunch at the coffee house and it was free and easy until dinner. Me and the boys chilled by the beach watching the sunset. We then went for a Chinese seafood dinner in some building at the city center.
The next day was exciting because we were going to spend the whole day in Kundasang. The journey took nearly 3 hours by bus and the temperature there was comparable to Cameron Highlands, at an elevation of 1,800 meters above sea level. The bus brought us to these vans which we then took through steep hills. We first visited the Desa Dairy Farm where they had cows imported from New Zealand and basically this is where the Sabahan company Desa produce their milk. When they said Kundasang is the New Zealand of Malaysia, they weren't kidding. The view here is breathtaking. Endless fields of grass, black & white cows feeding on them, trees sparsely spread all around with foggy Mount Kinabalu as the backdrop. You can feed the baby cows with bottled milk, buy dairy products from the shop, enjoy freshly made gelato and eat them in the cool mountain air. I just wish I had taken more photos than I actually did.
The next destination would be the ATV adventure located not far from the dairy farm. We got to this shack where all the ATVs were parked. We first had to register our names and other personal info then put on our helmets, elbow pads and knee pads. After a 10 minute briefing by the employee, we lined up our ATVs on the roadside along with a few other people from other groups. For safety reasons, we had to ride in a single line with 1 guide at the front and another at the back. We rode through dirt roads and gravel, some villages, forests, farms and beautiful scenic spots. We reached the end point after 30 minutes. Here we get to snap photos, do Tiktoks and just chill. I must say there was nothing special about this spot other than the magnificent view of the hills of Kundasang. After catching our breaths, we started the engines once again to make our way back to the shack. All in all, I really enjoyed it. In fact, I consider this short ATV adventure to be the highlight of the whole trip as it was my 1st experience riding an ATV.
Next was a late lunch at a tea plantation before we begin our journey back to KK. We reached KK just in time for dinner at a very nice Chinese seafood restaurant with cultural performances by the natives. I volunteered to participate in this dart blowing challenge on stage where we all blew darts to pop hanging balloons. Thankfully I managed to pop my balloon.
We spent the next day at the Mari Mari Cultural Village. This interesting tourist attraction features the 5 major indigenous tribes in Sabah : Kadazan-Dusun, Bajau, Murut, Lundayeh and Rungus. It was really educational as much as it was fun. You get to see different cultures, architectures and clothing of all these different tribes. The Muruts were notoriously known for their head hunting history. Back in the day, they used to chop off the heads of their rivals, enemies, strangers and even members of their own tribe. Cutting off heads were then considered mandatory for validation, manhood and to inflict fear onto others. If a man of the tribe wants to get married, he can only do so after presenting a human head to gain respect and validation. They believe that when a hunter cuts off the head of a person, that person's soul belongs to the hunter. It becomes his power and it keeps evil ghosts at bay. They no longer perform this tradition today but you can still see real human skulls placed in and around some of the Murut households. Can you imagine living in a time when taking a wrong turn in the jungle means certain death by beheading?
To enter the Murut section of the cultural village, they did a good job recreating this fear. Our guide said despite this being just a sort of a role play, he reminded us firmly to not make eye contact with them and to keep a modest, humble behavior at all times. The eldest in our group would have to speak with their chief at the gate before granting us permission to enter. It was a really tense situation. While they speak, two other tribe members appeared out of nowhere to inspect the rest of us, all with serious, almost angry faces. One of them yelled out something in their own language. I was sweating like hell. After quite a lengthy chat, their chief finally agreed to let us in. They have huge long houses with some prop skulls placed in and around it. They have this mid area where we could perform this jumping dance with them and some of them turned out to be very friendly.
Finally when we exit the Murut territory, we find this outdoor hall full of chairs and a stage where we get to see many awesome performances by all 5 tribes, accompanied by live traditional musicians. It was awesome and I highly recommend this. Once they finish their performance we move on to a dining area right beside the hall for a buffet lunch. They serve authentic Sabahan cuisine. I was highly impressed with the roasted chicken in particular. It had this smoky flavor I have never tasted before. I forgot to ask them what that was but it was so damn good. It's things like this that I look forward to when travelling. These unique experiences you can't get elsewhere.
Next on the itinerary was the Filipino Market. This place was huge. It had a dedicated building for groceries, another building for arts and crafts, and another for clothes. Somewhere in the area there is also a section for street food at night. I explored these places as much as I could. I broke off from the group as I wanted to find t-shirts for my kids and we were given only an hour. I did not find any good, cheap t-shirts. They said you can bargain here but it appears no shop here does that. The first shop was adamant with their t-shirt price of RM20. The second shop and every other shop I approached mark their t-shirts at RM20 as well. So it seems to me all the prices here are pretty standard and similar which gives the impression that they're all a tight-knit community who have fixed all the prices in advance. I ended up only buying a big pack of the famous Sabahan snack, amplang. We returned to the hotel right after.
A few hours freshening ourselves up and we're bound for an awesome sunset dinner cruise on a boat. With a white theme planned in advance, we all showed up all classy in white. We departed from the harbor behind the hotel. As the boat began making its journey, we were all amazed at the beauty of the boat itself. Right at the bottom deck was the dining area with a stage for a live band and there is the buffet spread as the centerpiece. 1 floor up or the main deck is where we got to when we first boarded the boat. There was this huge room with black tinted windows which I assume was the cockpit where the captain was. Then there was this upper deck which I would call the rooftop. This place had long couches surrounding the area where people can enjoy the view, the wind and just party. It reminded me of Jho Lo's party yacht. Anyway, the food was great. The band was awesome. The vibe was dreamy and luxurious. One of the most beautiful sunsets I personally have ever seen in my life. We had a great time. Some sang, some danced, sweet memories for sure. When we reached land, we all left with a heavy heart, but more notably, with a heavy belly. We were full and exhausted from a full day of activities that when we reached the hotel, it's immediate bedtime for most.
The next day, we checked out at 10.30am, made our way to the airport and caught the 12.30pm flight to KL. Sabah was awesome. I sure had a great time. Now the only state I haven't been to yet is Kelantan. I will probably plan for that in the near future. Cheers!
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