Grace Point, Kota Kinabalu

Grace Point. A high-end hawker centre. So high-end that taxi drivers don't normally know where's this place. There's no taxi stand here. Only people with BIG CARS come here to eat.

We didn't have a BIG CAR at our disposal, so we took a taxi to Grace Point. Where's that, the driver asked. We dunno, but just follow that BIG CAR. Hooi Theng's driving that one, with Yuen Chee, See Keong and their wives. We dutifully followed behind in the taxi.

Hooi Theng's our ex-colleague from Ban Hin Lee Bank. She's now with an IT company and settled down with two children in KK. So again, with old friends in our last night in Sabah.

Nothing exciting about Grace Point, though. When we arrived, we saw this sign on the wall saying: "Grace Point. The City's Secret Garden. A community project for the city of Kota Kinabalu by the Grace of God"

Secret garden? Where's that? In this place? When I looked around, all I saw was a huge car park for BIG CARS, a neat row of stalls selling high-end hawker food, a beverage centre and rows upon rows of tables and chairs filled with people. But a secret garden? Where's that again?



The answer became apparent when we waited for Hooi Theng to come and pick us up after she had dropped off Yuen Chee.

"You must go to the washroom and tell me what you think," a smiling Long Kin told me excitedly. Grinning from ear to ear, that fella. Okay, friend, I'll try the washroom.

So I walked straight in and stood at the urinal. Strange. There's a garden in front of me. Was this the secret garden? Inside the men's washroom? No wall or partition in front of me? Am I supposed to pee directly into the garden? Ah, suddenly I noticed a glass pane separating me from the garden. You can't pee at the plants.

So there I was, standing, doing my business blissfully when it suddenly struck me. Was it a completely see-through glass or was it a one-way glass? Ahh...if you're a man, you'd know that it is almost impossible to interrupt your business in mid-stream. You have to see it through till the last drop.

I waited until I finished. Then I tried to find out more about the huge glass wall. Surprise, surprise, you can actually walk around over to the other side, go into the small secret garden. And watch other men do their peeing business in full view, from the front. :-)


I don't know what to make of it. Did the developer have a wicked sense of humour when he built this place? Was his architect a voyeur? Hmm.... I noticed that people preferred not to use this urinal. They chose the cubicles. These must be the regular patrons. Not unsuspecting, first-time visitors like me who wouldn't be able to interrupt their business until it ends. When it's too late! Ha ha .... that's progressive Sabah. Secret garden? No, just a very big amusing secret.