Moving around Kota Kinabalu

Our last full day in Kota Kinabalu was initially meant for island hopping around the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park but Saw See and I didn't feel like it. Bloody 'ell! The driver that took us from Timpohon Gate to the Liwagu Restaurant at the Kinabalu Park said that was our prize for climbing the mountain! It wouldn't be complete without aching limbs.

So there we were, two days after coming down from the mountain and we were still hobbling around in great pain. Instead of the island hops, we decided to stick to our alternative plan of going around KK in search of our elusive bowl of fish head beehoon soup. Two years ago, we had partaken one of the most delicious bowls of fish head beehoon soup around the Gaya Street area but for some reason, we couldn't find the coffee shop again. Long Kin and Boon Hock were our companions in our search, while Yuen Chee and See Keong and their wives went island hopping.

Eventually, we ended up in a coffee shop which could only serve us fish fillet beehoon soup. Better than nothing, I suppose, but we voiced our disappointment to the coffee shop's proprietress.

It so happened that sitting right next to us at an adjacent table was a couple who struck up a conversation with us. They opened up to us and we to them. The lady, Jenny, offered to take us around KK and promised to take us to Inanam for what she said would be the definitive fish head beehoon soup in town! We didn't hesitate for long before taking up the offer.

Myself with Jenny and Cliff

Guess what? It was half a day of sightseeing thrown into the trip to Inanam. First, we toured the Universiti Malaysia Sabah campus (Jenny arrived at the gate, confidently informed the guards "tourists" and then drove straight through without any hesitation) and went up to their fisheries pier. The water there was clear as a bell.

Saw See with our host, Jenny Yap

Jenny Yap with the rest of us...

Our next destination was the Puh Toh Si temple but along the way, we stopped briefly to admire the KK city mosque and gawk at the floating wooden houses along the river (more like slum houses to me). We even had time to visit Jenny's husband's family factory producing steel rods.

Our elusive search for fish head beehoon soup took us to the Dat Seng coffee shop. I tell you, life could not be more complete at that point in time. Generous chunks of fish head in our bowls of beehoon soup. A nice bowl of tomyam prawns, Sabah style, thrown in and washed down with a special blend of lime juice. Ahh..... Now look below, this is an expression that's worth a million!


By the way, you may want to know that you can find Taliban food right here in Inanam itself. Ahh...maybe I'm kidding you but surely, I'm not deceiving you with this photograph. I suppose it's only in Malaysia that the people can be so bold and get away with it. The state authorities obviously don't care much about what the coffee shop is called as long as the business is legitimate.


Our final destination with Jenny was Tanjung Aru. It was a vast expanse of sand, sand and more sand. Wonderfully clean beach with exceptionally clear, blue water. Sabah is indeed blessed to have such beauty.


Stay tuned for Part Six.