Continuing from the last post...
29 December 2009
The day started a bit late than planned. However, I was determined not to be bothered by delays or non-compliance to plan. That was my strategy for this trip. Though I was still wearing my watch to keep track of the time, I realized that I could still tolerate with myself and loosen up, when I want to (at least it works this time).
Before I went to sleep the night before (exhausted but still managed to do some homework), I have set the Garmin in my phone for the first location of the day. It's time for me to see if my investment is going to benefit me or not.
It was about 25 minutes drive from Kolombong (from where I stayed) to the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park. 'He' was a bit a confused to hear the GPS (on my phone) driving instruction with his own instruction. There was a point when he said to me that he was about to follow his 'road' so when my phone rang, I answered. The funny thing was, he immediately asked me the GPS last instruction of the road direction. (By the way - 'He' in this piece is still referring to my dear friend, Mr B, who was with me on this trip).
As mentioned earlier, we started the day quite late. So by the time we reached the park it was almost lunch time. JBorneo Cafe was nearby (just in front of the compound). We decided to have our lunch before going to see all the animals in the wildlife park. It was a simple and satisfactory food. Except for the owner who wanted to entertain us, but somehow keep on saying, "Please wait, I don't know this. I will ask my staff..." Me and him laughed each time we heard the answer.
It was when we were eating lunch when I realized that there was motorcycle rental services here. Kinda cute, but my intention to rent the bike for both of us was turned-off when I immediately realized that I would be in front riding it, instead of him (you know what I mean, right?). The sun heat was intense since it was already 12.30pm when we started walking to the park.
Amazingly, our walking journey (and sweating) around the park was extremely fun. We saw quite a number of 'famous' animals in the zoo. Of course, if I were to compare this zoo with other zoos that I have visited, there are less animals here, but the land area is spacious, I must say, for the animals to roam around. To be honest, I insisted to come to this zoo so I could see the Orang Utan, originally from Sabah (alternate plan since I cannot go to Sepilok in Sandakan). There are two highlights here worth telling;
1) We were entertained by an elephant's dance, and
** This jumbo came to us, and keep on dancing (at least that was on our mind). After more than 5 minutes snapping pictures and recording video, we decided to leave for another animal, but the baby elephant continues with his/her entertaining dancing moves.
2)We saw a handicap Orang Utan.
** It amazes me when I saw how full spirit and skillful an Orang Utan without one arm. Seeing this makes me feel somehow angry with a people (with similar condition) who refuses to do anything, blaming to their disabilities for not being productive.
We hurried at leaving (around 3pm) the zoo to head for the Monsopiad Cultural Village. The next journey will always be our laughing memory - an hour driving for a journey which was supposed to be a 10-minutes drive. The map that we had was not that comprehensive, which caused us to lost our way in the search of the traditional Kadazan village. We ended up almost reaching to Papar (way off the road) and had to make a turn back, only to realize that we were still off track. LOL..!!!
Anyway, when we reached the Monsopiad Cultural Village, I supposed the luck was still on our side. We managed to catch the last cultural performance and was given the honour to have the last guided tour of the day. The Monsopiad Cultural Village, was named after the notorious Kadazan's head hunter (in fact all the skulls of the slaughtered enemy were still preserved at the village). It was nice to learn about a native's history and culture, but more important in this visit was to see how 'he' was curious about wanting to know more of his ancestries (FYI, my friend is sino-kadazan, partly Kadazan).
By 5.20pm we are already on the way to Tanjung Aru, hoping to be able to capture the beautiful sun set on camera. I used to visit Tg Aru for whenever I need to distress myself during my university years. Obviously the beach has been cleared up and beautify for the comfort of public and tourists visiting. It was a magical moment to be able to sit down with him, casually chatting and of course share the moment - seeing the horizon, sea and sun. What else can I ask more?
Our last stop for the day was our dinner at Salut Restaurant. It was a feast to us - seafood all the way. I heard that Kota Kinabalu was shown on TV in a Hong Kong and Taiwan drama, the city has been swarmed by tourist ever since, so as the demand for seafood. We drove about 20 minutes to reach Salut only to find that many of our favourite shell fishes are still waiting to be delivered. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed our selection of prawns, crabs, mussels and another shell fish. I supposed we were tired enough and excited, all 5 plates of dishes were 'cleaned' in about 2 hours.
Determined to wake up early the next day for our Island Hopping agenda, we head home straight after dinner. It was time to do more catching up at home, so we talked and talked and talked (heart to heart about so many things) - only to realized that it was already pass mid night by the time I rush up to my room for my beauty sleep.
To be continued...
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