Compleanno 2023: Short Trip To Jesselton

 I had bought ticket to KK as early as six months before my birthday. It was to be a short trip and I decided to book to stay at different hotels for each night. Rooms were secured in May and it was just a matter of counting the days and praying that dad would not require medical attention (he was warded for five nights in June and was discharged on the Day of Arafah).

I flew out on my birthday on the mid-morning flight. There were a lot of clouds as we neared Borneo that there was one or two turbulence. I saw rain drops outside my window as we descended into KK. The city was under a dark layer of angry black menacing clouds. I attended to my emails before ordering a Maxim car. My last trip to KK was back in November 2019 (just months before the pandemic) and even though it was dark and grey and raining heavily outside, I could see many new buildings in the city on the way to Hyatt Regency.

We arrived at Hyatt Regency and was making my way to my room at 11th floor within minutes. The hotel gave me a choice of hot beverage or gelato at Mosaic Café and another choice (which was alcoholic) so after depositing my bags in the room, I went down and had strawberry gelato. Yes, on a rainy day, but I figured I could always make my own cuppa in my room anyway. After that, I returned to my room to perform prayers and rest. Oh and my room! It was superb! My friend upgraded me to a Seaview room – bless her heart! – so I enjoyed a rain streaked view of the waterfront. The day cleared finally and I enjoyed a beautiful evening view. Alhamdulillah.

My mates arrived at 8 for dinner and we had dinner at Tanjung Ria Kitchen. We probably should’ve just ordered ala carte because there was no way we could’ve sampled everything on the buffet menu and the buffet was generous, unlike in KL where some hotels have cut down on the menu.

After chitchatting and dinner, suddenly two staff came out with a mango cake to my great surprise and they even sang me Happy Birthday. Oh my! Bless my two mates for making my birthday so special and memorable ;’)

We then went for a short night drive before returning to the hotel to take photos. I was concerned because they had to work the following day.

On Friday, I woke up early to shower, perform prayers and finish packing. I went down at 06:20 to check out then head for Tanjung Ria Kitchen for breakfast. I had another tummy upset though and had to use the facilities which made me run slightly late. It slipped my mind to pre-arrange a Maxim car and the car I ordered would take ten minutes to reach the hotel. I had planned to catch the 07:45 train to Beaufort from Tanjung Aru station...

Well, we made it somehow despite the traffic lights determinedly turning red for us. We arrived at the station at 07:43 (I was too afraid to check my watch at this point) and I practically leaped out of the car, ran to the ticket counter, paid for the ticket and grabbed the change and ticket and made my way around the rain puddles into the train. The doors closed seconds later. I huffed and puffed as I sat down.

We arrived at Beaufort after 10:00 (ETA was 09:45) and I hopped out, bladder bursting. I had sighted two petrol stations near the train station and swiftly made my way over. I then returned to the station to buy the ticket for the return trip at 11:01 – had to wait at least ten minutes before the counter opened – before I walked out again to explore the town. I visited the Starcevich Memorial Monument and then walked to the Tamu for a quick browse, the District Mosque before making my way back to the station.

The train left on time but stopped less than five minutes into the journey for at least 15 minutes. I’m not sure what was wrong and I didn’t feel like asking so I just continued reading my thick book. It stopped at many stations and more and more people got on. Well, there are only two services in a day and if you miss the train, you’d have to take the bus or something to KK.

We finally reached Sembulan, the terminus station (strange why the train didn’t depart from Sembulan but terminated there) and walked to Sabah State Museum. it had started raining then. I spotted a bridge and a gate opened partly and decided to cross the bridge and walk through the gate and yes, it did lead me up the stairs to the museum. My mate had brought me to the museum the evening before and I knew it was atop a hill. I paid RM2 for the ticket and went in. It showcased the history of the state and when it joined Malaysia, the local culture, the native animals, the items recovered from shipwrecks and the most impressive of all, the largest Bryde’s whale skeleton. I spent an hour there. Really, rainy days are especially perfect for spending time in a museum. After that, I walked to the nearby Islamic Civilisation Museum. You can use the same ticket to enter this museum. RM2 for two museums! What a bargain! All those trips to KK before and this was my first time of trying out the train and visiting the museums! Well, better late than never, eh.

I tried ordering Maxim car and after a while, I decided to perform prayers first. I tried ordering Maxim car again after prayers but after some time, decided to walk down to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, figuring I stood a better chance of getting an e-hailing vehicle there. Well, I forgot it was a working day and a Friday too. The traffic had built up and it’d take too long to wait for a car and then endure the traffic. I checked Google Maps again and saw it’d take 31 minutes to walk to Hyatt so I decided, ‘Let’s Do Dis!’ and set off.

It started raining again as I was nearing my hotel and to avoid getting too wet, I took Jalan Sugut and walked along the shops. Suddenly, a big rodent appeared and I shrieked out. I don’t know who was more surprised, me or the rodent. I reached the hotel a bit wet and retrieved my bag and set off for Le Meridien. Well, what do you know, I came across another big fat rodent – probably the same one as I saw earlier but I didn’t stop to make acquaintance as I was too shaken up by the sight. I reached Le Meridien within ten minutes and checked in.

After depositing my bags – just like at Hyatt Regency, I was allocated a room at the 11th floor and the room was so huge it could comfortably fit a family of four – I went out to get dinner. There was a night market across from the hotel which I was told operated every evening. I had some soto and bought fried rice and fish sausages to go. I returned to my room smelling of smoke and grill – ugh! Good thing I decided to shower only after getting dinner. I stayed in for the rest of the evening.

On Saturday, I woke up early. After showering and performing prayers, I packed before making my way down. After breakfast, I walked to the dried seafood market and bought anchovies, shrimps and some local food before returning to the hotel. I checked out soon after and waited for Maxim car to the airport.

The flight took off on time and we landed at KLIA Terminal 1 at 14:10. I was the first one out of the plane and hurried as fast as my legs could take me and made my way to KLIA Transit station where I boarded the train with less than five seconds to spare. Alhamdulillah! I would have hated missing it and having to wait another 30 minutes for the next train. And thank God, I remembered to buy a return ticket on Friday. I got down at Putrajaya and performed prayers before taking the MRT to Ampang Park.

And just like that, my long-awaited trip was over... and it was back to real life.

Short Trip To Tawau

I was browsing for air tickets in mid-November 2022 and ended up buying return ticket to Tawau. It usually costs a lot to fly all the way there so I was chuffed when I managed to bag the ticket for less than RM480. The only ‘drawback’ was the early departure out of KUL of 07:30. It took me a while but I managed to get my nephew and niece and dad’s caregiver to help out in the end. Alhamdulillah.

My niece kindly agreed to send me to KL Sentral in the early morning of Sunday, 5 February 2023. I went to bed early the night before but sleep eluded me. I was already up at 03:45 and after a quick shower, we left. I bought bus ticket to KLIA and we arrived at 05:55. I went in immediately and headed for the lounge (I upgraded myself in mid-January) to perform prayers and then have some food.

I rushed to the gate and was the last to board (there were people ahead of me still boarding). I had my book with me and read it during the flight. We were given earphones to tune in to inflight entertainment (different earphones for iOS and Android) and we needed to use our own devices to access the inflight entertainment.

We landed at around 10:20 and after the immigration process, I browsed my options. I decided to take Grab to my hotel and the driver was already at the airport so I didn’t have long to wait. There were fruit sellers along the road and the fruits sold included durians! Not long after leaving the airport, we came upon a roadblock. I guess it was set up to weed out illegal immigrants.

We continued on and reached town centre after about 25 minutes. There was a Sunday market so there was heavy traffic leading to City Garden Hotel. We finally reached the hotel just after 11:00 and I was relieved and thankful that I managed to check in immediately. A RM50 refundable cash deposit was required at check-in. After a brief rest, I ventured out to check out the Sunday market (it would last until around 14:00). It was getting very hot, so hot that my bucket hat wasn’t sufficient. Alhamdulillah, I had the presence of mind to pack my small brolly and it helped somewhat to ward off the fierce Tawau sun. I noticed some van buses in front of Grace Plaza and found that one could ride in it to the airport and Semporna (fare cost RM25 and RM20 respectively even though Sempurna is much further). I returned to my room just after 14:00 to perform prayers and rest.

Van bus from Sabindo to the airport and Semporna

I went out again after 17:00 and seeing some smoke, headed there. There was an evening ‘open air food court’ near Jalan Persisiran and trust me, you won’t starve in Tawau! I continued on to the Tawau signboard (the name of town spelt wrongly in Jawi as Ta Wau instead of Ta Alif Wau Alif Wau or ﺗﺎواو). There were two people dressed up as Mickey Mouse and Pokemon and you can take photos with them and donate too. Ingenious way of earning money.

I walked from one end of Sabindo beach to the other end. There were anglers, people on rented bikes, there were people selling fruits and water, there were the visitors all out to enjoy the evening walk, and there were also some homeless people there (I suspect they were foreigners). The traffic on the road by the waterfront was also heavy. I then walked across the road to Masjid Al Khauthar before walking to the State Library, Tawau. The latter was a somewhat odd-looking building.

I had dinner at a restaurant diagonally across the street from my hotel. The moon was beautiful that night.

On Monday morning, I left the hotel and walked to Tanjung Market. The market sells everything from pots and pans to spices to Sabahan snacks, with sections for vegetables, fruits, poultry, fresh seafood, eggs and coffee on the ground floor. Dried seafood can be found on the first floor, and clothes and souvenirs can be found on the second floor. I spent an hour there.

I then walked to a pearl shop and spent about twenty minutes browsing but left empty-handed. I had spotted a beauty centre across the street and headed there. I told the girl at the counter that I wanted to do blood cupping and opted for ten cups (with two complimentary cups). Despite doing it when I went to Bintulu in June 2022, I still had a lot of ‘bad blood’ ;’(

After that, I went to find Mee Tauhu. I had seen a few restaurants advertising this on the way to the hotel the day before. I didn’t do any research and was expecting a bowl of noodles in clear soup with tofu in it. Well, I couldn’t be more wrong! After lunch, I headed back to Tanjung Market to buy some anchovies and coffee before returning to my room to perform prayers and rest.

I ventured out after 16:00 and braved the intense Tawau afternoon sun. It was insanely hot and bright. I wanted to find Pasar Gantung but it must’ve relocated and even after asking a couple of local women, I wasn’t satisfied. I returned to the open air food court, walked a bit along the waterfront but decided not to walk all the way along the waterfront. I must’ve been bitten by sandflies the evening before and was starting to get itches. I stopped at a small market and had some pandan coconut drink and beef balls. Dinner was had at another restaurant diagonally across the street from my hotel. It was better than the previous night’s dinner but my dining pleasure was interrupted by an annoying hovering fly. I didn’t sight the moon this evening – it was probably hiding behind the buildings.

On Tuesday morning, I left early and headed for the market again to buy some amplang. I then went to find breakfast and finally had a bowl of Makassar chicken soto. I then returned to my room, finished packing and checked out. After getting back my deposit, I walked to Grace Plaza for the van to the airport. We left after 15 minutes (after there were seven passengers). The driver stopped for petrol and we were stopped at a roadblock and one passenger was told to get down when he confessed he left his MyKad behind.

I didn’t remember there being a junction to the airport. Well, there is and it’s another three km from the junction to the airport. We reached the airport at 10:20 and after getting my boarding pass, I immediately went through security check and immigration.

The plane took off on time and we landed at 14:00, just enough time for me to catch the 14:22 KLIA Transit. Alhamdulillah for the rezeki and opportunity to visit a new place.