Sabah Trip Jan 2008

Kierra on her first flight
Kieona looking pretty....
Kieona and Kierra at the "big house"
Little Ian
Mommy, Kierra and Auntie Elsie

After the flurry of activities around Christmas, we welcomed 2008 in a quiet way. Countdowns are out for our family at the moment as Daddy and Mommy are not very keen to bring Kieona and Kierra out so late as they are still too young to appreciate it. Truth be told, Daddy and Mommy are just plain lazy to squeeze with the crowd and get all sticky. Well, Mommy had a better excuse - we were leaving Singapore for a 6-day trip to Sabah, East Malaysia.

As this was the first trip (other than the cruise we took in 2006) together as a family by air, Mommy was in a flurry packing for the girls. Thank goodness Sabah's weather is the same as in Singapore only slightly less humid, which was good. The flight was rather easy, as Kierra slept most of the way. Kieona was easy to manage, as she was enjoying the food and just reading the magazine on board the plane. The plane was rather small, and the trip to Sabah was tougher as there wasn't a direct flight on the day we flew, and we had to stop over at Kuching and disembark before continuing the rest of the flight journey to Sabah. That took more than four hours.

The objective of the trip was to attend Auntie Gloria's wedding and visit Auntie Elsie. Auntie Gloria was Daddy's ex-colleague at Accenture and my, was their wedding elaborate. We all went to the church wedding as well in the morning, and both Kieona and Kierra fell asleep during the two hour ceremony. The wedding dinner was held at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru. We were told it was a nice place, but we opted to stay at Promenade Hotel as Shangri-La Tanjung Aru was not within walking distance from Kota Kinabalu town where all the shopping is. It was rather pretty when we went to the hotel for the dinner, but Daddy and Mommy said to leave early as Kierra was having her usual "poo-poo" problem so we didn't quite get to explore or enjoy the meal. You see, Kierra asks to go to the toilet every 5-10mins throughout our stay at KK, during almost every meal when she feels like passing motion. Kierra has not successfully managed the potty training part for passing motion yet when we left for KK.

Auntie Elsie, Uncle Nash and Ian have been very hospitable. They had just came back from their holiday in Hong Kong and Auntie Elsie was still nursing a cold when we met them for seafood dinner the night we arrived. The seafood where they brought us was very good, and there was also the Kadazan dance performance for the dinner crowd which wowed all the kids that they forgot about dinner. The second day we were there, Auntie Elsie took time out to show us around town, including one of their showrooms. It was interesting knowing how they live and work. It was pretty much like Singapore, except that the pace was much slower. We had the black colour pork noodle which was supposedly a local food. Boy, the portion was huge. We were told that Sabahans like their food black, and anything that is not black is tasteless to them. How strange!

Dinner that night was at a place called Little Italy. The pasta there was fantastic. We all loved it so much that Daddy said we'll be back for pasta if we go to KK again. Kieona polished off her portion of pasta and loved the freshly baked bread they served. and she ate them all by herself whereas she had to be fed for most meals while at KK. It was that good that even Kierra insisted on feeding herself part of the meal.

Apart from getting together with Auntie Elsie's family and attending Auntie Gloria's wedding, we also went up to Mount Kinabalu (which was included in the tour package we booked). Wrong move. Well, we weren't really adventure people and the climb up to the hanging bridge was the worst as Daddy and Mommy climbed up steep slopes while carrying Kieona and Kierra in our reliable baby carriers. The climb was about 1 km up and down, and the slopes were slippery as it was wet, and we were wearing slippers! Argh... and Daddy sprained his ankle while coming down in his last step. Mommy really wondered how it would have been if she did not have her Patapum carrier when carrying the 15kg Kieona over 1km climbing the mountain and walking along the narrow hanging bridge.

The poring hot springs was alright and Daddy had to soak his feet a little longer as the minor sprain was hurting him already. Kieona and Kierra also soaked their tiny feet in the sulphuric water, and Kierra actually jumped into the pool thinking it was a swimming pool. My, of course she got very wet. Thank goodness Mommy had a pair of panties and pants for her so that she could get changed. We proceeded to the Kinabalu Pine Resorts which Auntie Elsie said was the best at Mt Kinabalu. Well, it wasn't fantastic as the food was so-so, the television had no programs and there wasn't a pool or anything. Worse still, the hot water wasn't on demand and there was no air-con. In the middle of the night, we heard some loud hissing noises and we thought something was about to explode. Daddy turned off the heater before the sound went off. It is like Auntie Elsie said, the resorts are like chalets. Although we were only supposed to leave the resort after lunch the next day, Daddy and Mommy requested to head back to Promenade Hotel early after breakfast. The only thing we enjoyed up to Mt Kinabalu was the small scale shopping we did where we got some bags, batik cloths and T-shirts, and Mommy got a good price for them.

Back at Promenade Hotel, we felt so lazy that we called room-service for dinner. The food wasn't great but it was the first time we had room service for dinner. Wow, refreshing idea from Daddy.

All in, the Sabah trip was just a small get-away for us and we did have a little fun along the way although it would have been better if Kierra didn't have her "poo-poo" problem. The direct flight back was easy as it was only 2 hours. Kierra slept throughout and missed her lunch again, but we were soon greeted by Grandpa, Eugene at Yee Yee at Singapore Changi Airport. Home sweet home....