Advertisement
Published: March 5th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Kota Belud
beautiful mosque Su and I took a dilapidated van to Kota Belud, for 8 ringgits each, we just lucked out since the van after us was really nice but nevertheless it got us to our destination about 2 hours later. The old Chinese guy sat next to me kept putting some minty oil in his belly and it smelled like camphor, I don't know what it's for but made me queasy. Arriving at hot KB we asked where the hotels are located, some guy pointed us to the street where most hotels are, we found KB Travellers lodge, took us awhile to find the entrance it's at the other end of the building. The cheapest they have is 65 ringgits for 2 a 2 person room, but the receptionist actually took us to Amber Lodge across the street above a busy restaurant, its nice and clean and 2 double bed rooms, fan for only 48 ringgits but there is no water at the moment, they both don't speak good English so from what we can understand it should come back by 5pm otherwise we will smell and not able to use the toilet at all.Oh there is another place we found it's called
KB lodge house and the prices look cheaper but the place does not look nice from the outside.
There is a mosque behind us and it looks cool, call to prayers are frequent but not so loud and annoying. We went to lunch at this halal place, they have delicious food and so cheap, I made a mistake of asking for beer, of course they don't have one so i settled for coke, the lady owner is very nice and asked us where we are from, Su this time is the popular one with the girls, they were guessing where he is from, with his chinky eyes they thought he is Japanese. After a sumptuous lunch we headed back to the hotel and what do you know they have wifi! We decided to call several people about our planned homestay or longhouse stay for tomorrow near Kudat. I called Maranjak first and all they said was no other activity other than the cultural dance which you have to pay extra for, all those advertised at the Sabah tourism website were false! So I told the guy there is no reason for us to come there then so I hang
up.
Next up is the Misompuru homestay, this is a bit expensive though they do all that is advertised and the guy was pretty helpful and honest with us, but we decided it is too expensive at 170 ringgits per person so we thought of just heading to Kudat and look for things to do there ourselves. But for now it's sieta time!
We both slept in, and woke up almost 9am, we hurriedly got ready and walked to the Sunday market, we followed the sign that says to the hospital and we ended up climbing a small hill then on the roundabout, just straight out and down a hill, cars are everywhere, already crowded but there were no tourists, just me and Su, we had great time taking pictures of people, the veggie market, the handicrafts, some making baskets as well, very colorful some of them, then there is a stall where you can buy the local cigarettes, tobaccos of different grade and paper they used is actually a natural fiber or leaf of some sort, the guy rolled a cig for us but we only took fotos as we don't really smoke. There is a
Kota Belud
tasty morsel wet market with all types of fish and crustaceans, yucky looking cat fish and some weird snils and slugs. there is so much variety here of shrimps as well big and small, the people are nice and friendly, they let us take their fotos, some are shy and cover their faces but never yelled at us or anything. Then we got hungry so we made our way to the little stalls with food, but all they have is noodles but oh how delicious they were, Su said it's Chinese style and the owners spoke chinese. After having our fill we went around for the last time then we went back to the hotel.
We chilled out for awhile then around 11am we checked out and started looking for a van or collectivo taxi to Kudat, we got directed to the taxi stands going to Kudat and they quoted us 100 ringgits per person! Ridiculous price we said no and looked around again, we went back to where we got dropped off yesterday when we arrived here, we saw our driver from yesterday and he himself told us no van for Kudat we need to stop in some town and
Kota Belud
traveller's lodge catch a van from there but we still have to take an expensive taxi to get to that town, we both decided in the end to go back to KK since it's only 8 ringgits a person. before you know we are there and immediately transferred to a 4 wheel drive for Kudat, Su asked if there is a van leaving for Kudat, of course the 4 wheel drive driver will say no, we are tired so we went with him for 25 ringgits each, it was a long trip and many stops, one for pee stop another for food shopping, the people in the car wanted to buy crabs and clams and veggies on the side of the road, they were all Filipinos, I did not tell them I am too cause I was annoyed at this 2 dudes in front of us who keep smoking in the damn car and passing on the smoke to us. Anyway we dropped everyone off at their destinations, right at their front doors, then our turn to be let off in downtown Kudat at Sunrise hotel.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 10; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0491s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb