I Love Holiday Travel » Travel Guides

Kota Kinabalu: Manukan Island

nana — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:54:50 +0000

Manukan Island is off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. Ferry departs from Jesselton Poing Ferry Terminal.

Manukan island is beautiful with good toilet / bathroom facility. Although there are no lockers on all the islands.

There is good spread of buffet from the restaurant on the beach. This island is quite big and I would rather spend my whole day here than to go to other islands. Marine life is interesting and lot of them can be spotted near the jetty.

Kota Kinabalu: Gaya Sunday Market

nana — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:54:43 +0000

On every Sunday in Kota Kinabalu City, Gaya Street comes alive in the morning with lots of stalls.

Central Market

nana — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:46:44 +0000

At the central market along Jl Tun Fuad Stephens, lots of dried seafood and local snacks are sold here in Kota Kinabalu city. But the dried shrimps & small fish don’t look top grade. Salted fish and dried sea cucumber are plentiful here. Bargain for a good price.

Hotel Capital & Wisma Merdeka Mall

nana — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:58:44 +0000

After a hot day of swimming & snorkeling at 2 islands, we make our way back to our hostel – Hamin Lodge. While walking back from Jesselton Ferry Terminal, we passed by a big shopping mall: Wisma Merdeka Mall. There are supermarket, pharmacy, food court, shops, travel agency located here.

We have been eating at the noodle shop on the 3rd / 4th floor (can’t remember) which is near the big food court. This small noodle shop has two specialty – prawn noodles and curry noodles. We love both & have gone there every day for 3 times. The broth is thick and full of goodness. 100% worth the walk all the way from my guesthouse ! It took about 30 minutes just to walk from Hamin Lodge to Wisma Merdeka Mall.

Directly opposite the Wisma Merdeka Mall is Hotel Capital. It is just across the road.

Behind Hotel Capital is Gaya Street where the famous Sunday Market is held.

Walking along the Gaya street, there is a BBQ restaurant that seems interesting. Have not gone there in the night though … was so tired from the hot day.

A pizza hut is also located here with several eating stores.

Eating, Kota Kinabalu City

nana — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:01:29 +0000

Some of the food that I have tried in Kota Kinabalu. Walking along Jln Pantai, we came across a Hainanese Chicken Rice store. This store served noodles in the morning & from 10am / 11am (can’t remember exact time), they serve chicken rice. Tables are quickly filled up. The Hainanese Chicken Rice is nice but cannot be compared to Singapore’s. Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice is still the best.

Directly opposite Hamin Lodge or next to Lavender Lodge, is a Malacca restaurant. Menu is available before entry. Weather was very hot & we needed aircon. So we went in to have our lunch (it was our first day and we have just arrived in Kota Kinabalu). Food looks delicious but tasted awful. We didn’t like it and I had stomachache after eating the food.

Along Beach Road, many food stores are set up in the evening to cater to dinner crowds.

These stalls on beach road caters to locals and tourist around this area. But if you have the time, go to the evening food stores behind the Handicraft Market (along Jl Tun Fuad Stephens). Rows of food stalls await you which are cheap and good !

The seafood are all fresh from the day’s catch. Sold at the wet market section just next to the BBQ section. The prawn was a giant ! Take my pack of tissue on the table to estimate the size of this giant prawn ! It was much better than a lobster and it costs RM20 for 1 prawn but two person can eat one prawn.