Kota Kinabalu adventure part II - Poring hot spring & Manukan Island
Upon leaving Mount. Kinabalu Park after the descent (from part I) from mount Kinabalu on the third day, we headed to poring hotspring intended for a refreshing hot bath. However, the trip proved to be a major disappointment as the so called hot spring is rubbish, even the one in Kuala Kubu Baru (Ulu Selangor) is way way better.
The hot spring was some 30km from the mount. Kinabalu national park and it is really secluded. The accomodation we stayed sucks to the hell (it looked kinda like a haunted house more than a "hostel" *really don't know what category of accomodation that is, it's so fucking run down) and four of us were their only customer that day! Anyway, can't blame anybody as we signed up for super budget package.
The thing that really turned us off was the hotspring itself. It was under renovation when we got there and they tweaked the pump to allow the construction to proceed but leave us with hot water that need at least hours to fill up! The design of the spring is not like the one you see in Japanese movies, no, not at all, don't even think about it. It's like a water tank with four individual cubic where hot water is lead in by pipes and taps. It just felt so bathroom...no hotspring feel at all. As if that was not enough, the tank was leaking!!! wtf??? with so little water and yet the plug did not fit the drainage system!!! I tell you, my tank water level never get pass my ankle level! So there we were, sitting in a pool, waiting for our hot water to get ready, waiting, waiting...surrounded by construction workers and materials in an ambient of noisy drilling sound from the construction work....what a great bath, don't you think so?
we were so pissed that we didn't explore around the area. It was told that the scenery of that park was gorgeous with a lot of fauna and flora to be found, even Rafflesia flower (the biggest and smelliest flower in the world) can be found there. But i guess we had enough of that for the past 2 days. We slept early that night after dinner as like previous 2 days, this place is so fucking ulu that you'll get mad staying there for > 1 night.
We went to Manukan Island the next day. We need to get a ~20 min boat ride from Sutera Habour to the island itself. Along the ride you can see rubbish like plastic bags, empty bottles floating over the sea...well, it just make you hate those fucking tourist who destroy all these natural assets...
We went for snorkeling for the morning. For lunch, we had a fucking expensive buffet here and the food was only s0-so. The buffet cost about RM45 per person with a variety of food - satey, lamb chop, BBQ chicken wings, crabs, fried rice, etc. Look nice but taste blunt, that's what I would say.
barbarians feasting on meat, meat, meat!!!
After lunch, we went for banana boat ride! whew, that's really a great feeling to get toast into the sea! Then we went for further snorkelling before we decided to head back to Kota Kinabalu at about 3.30pm. Unluckily, the sky was turning dark and it started to drizzle. We boarded the the boat in such condition but as soon as the boat departed, the weather turned worse and there was a storm. Wa, me so big boy first time sit board in a storm, feel so nice, like in hollywood movie :) but the rain drops hitting your face on a high speed boat that is open air was not a pleasant feeling, it was so painful! Alas, halfway on our journey, our boatman felt worry and turned back to the island. Hence, we were forced to wait at the jetty for nearly half an hour for the storm to settle down. We finally reached Kota Kinabalu this time and this end our trip to Manukan Island.
*More high resolution pictures (1024*768) here