Klagan Hotel Archives - Sengkang Babies

We explore Sabah Street Food in this post.

Kota Kinabalu (affectionately known as KK) will be our base for our vacation in West Sabah. One of our initial objectives was to discover Sabah Street Food. (Pineapple Bun from Keng Wah Hing)

We stayed at Klagan hotel, which is centrally located, and walking distance to nearby food joints and tourist spots. Do pop by our Sabah Itinerary for a list of actions over our 8D7D stay.

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Earlier in Singapore, we arrived at Changi Airport in limousine comfort and style. We were invited to try Blacklane’s VIP service. Our luxurious Alphard can comfortably fit “bigger” families, and we did not have to commute in two cabs. You too can book a ride from Blacklane website.

We reached Kota Kinabalu after another 2.5 hours flight. Klagan hotel is in the city center, rooms come with basic amenities and our package came with daily breakfast buffet.

View from our room, you can choose either sea (harbour) or city view.

Shopping malls, supermarket and food court near our hotel. We noticed there are a lot of pastries stalls (both upmarket and coffee shop) around. Kids do not have an excuse to go hungry 🙂

Do take note shopping malls close by 8.30 or 9pm, too early for Mummy Mengchoo.

View of KK from Signal Hill Observatory Tower. You can walk from East to West in about 45 minutes.

Some of the Landmarks in Kota Kinabalu, (L)Sabah State Administrative Centre and (R)Kota Kinabalu City Mosque (also known as The Floating Mosque).

Sabah Welcome restaurant seafood — Sabah seafood

Mention Sabah, and seafood comes to mind. Even friends from Western Malaysia find Sabah’s seafood cheap 🙂

Tuck in, yummy prawns and crabs. Price is indeed cheaper but we still prefer West Malaysia (and Singapore)’s seafood. Sabah’s seafood is slightly bland. Infact, we found most of the “famous’ food in Sabah so-so only. Decent and tasty, but nothing spectacular.

Good traditional coffee (Kopi) is hard to find too, you might want to consider bringing your own 3-in-1 stockpile. You can find good Teh Tarik everywhere 🙂

We did not really explore hard enough to find the best Sabah Street food, but we can assure you that Sabah has tons of family friendly activities!

Do pop by our Sabah itinerary and photos below.
– Sabah 8D7N itinerary
– Sabah Day 1 – Street street food discovery
– Sabah Day 2 – White Water Rafting!
– Sabah Day 3 – Twin Islands Hopping
– Sabah Day 4 AM – Desa Cow Farm
– Day 4 PM – Kinabalu Park
– Day 5 – Poring Hot Spring + Waterfall + Canopy walk
– Day 6 – Gaya Island Resort – Luxury Villa
– Day 7 Gaya Island Resort Family Activities

More photos have been uploaded on our Fanpage album :
– Day 1 and 2 – Klagan hotel, White Water rafting
– Day 3 – Water sports, Island hopping
– Day 4 – Desa Cow Farm and Kinabalu Park
– Day 5 – Poring Hot Spring and vicinity
– Day 6 – Gaya Island Resort
– Day 7 – Snorkeling and private beach
– Day 8 – Hiking, Home sweet home

Presenting our Sabah family itinerary. To be honest, Sabah never crossed our minds when we were planning for seaside vacations. Philippines (Cebu and Boracay), Indonesia (Bali) and Thailand (Krabi) are the more popular options.

As our kids are now older and more active, we wanted a sporty and adventurous itinerary for them.

Under the sea, high up in the mountains. Island hopping, snorkeling, hiking, white water rafting and even flying fox. These activities are all available within 2 hours from Kota Kinabalu city center. We were sold at a Tourism Malaysia exhibition 🙂

…… ……Sabah family itinerary 8D7N, A trip of many firsts.

Island Hopping with kids. Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park consists of 5 islands, all 20 minutes from Kota Kinabalu city.

Parasailing, Banana boat and snorkeling. I had always wanted my family to be adventurous 🙂

We even did a flying fox between two islands Gaya and Sapi! (Coral zipline).

Exploring Kota Kinabalu city on foot.

Food, glorious Food. Seafood in East Malaysia is even cheaper and fresher than West Malaysia. Generally, we still prefer street food from West Malaysia and Singapore, but we still had fun hunting down some of the famous food in Sabah (生肉面 pork noodle, pineapple bun etc).

White water rafting is one of the highlights for us. Rapid along Kiulu is milder, and harder to topple the boat. Nevertheless, it offers thrills and spills for my family 🙂

Enough of water activities, we headed up the hills. Majestic view of Mount Kinabalu.

Summary of locations in West Sabah. (A-City KK, Island hopping), (B- White Water rafting near Tamparuli), (C- Kinabalu Park, Desa Cow Farm), (D- Poring Hot spring, Canopy walk, waterfall)

Desa Cow Farm is up in the mountains. From certain angles, and with the low lying clouds, we might believe this is a valley somewhere in New Zealand. Kids were eager to feed the hungry animals or taste some fresh ice cream.

Garden Lodge is our bungalow at Kinabalu Park. This lodge is huge, enough for 3 families and it even come with a fireplace! (pricey tag of RM 3000 per night!)

After a refreshing night (where temperature drops to 15 degrees, we drove to Poring Hot Spring vicinity.
Over 3 hours, we did a mini hike, cross a tree-top canopy and enjoy some fish spa at the waterfall. We did not soak ourselves in the hot spring but kids did enjoy some swimming at the pool (non hot spring).

The last two nights of our vacation is spend on luxurious Gaya Island Resort. From our boats, we could only marvel at the magnificent villas constructed on hillside.

Every meal on Gaya island offered us a glimpse of South China Sea. We just need to take our time to enjoy our cuisine 🙂

Guests will enjoy Gaya Island’s swimming pool or snorkeling at their house reef. We love both!

After all the hiking and walking from the earlier part of our itinerary, Gaya Island Resort offers an opportunity to relax and enjoy some slow moments. Massage and spa indulgence for Mummy at Spa Village.

Disclaimer.
1) All expenses on Gaya Island Resort had been sponsored.
2) Amazing Borneo Tours provided some discounts for our itinerary.

Do pop by our Sabah itinerary and photos below.
– Sabah Family Itinerary 8D7N
– Sabah Day 1 – Street food discovery
– Sabah Day 2 – White Water Rafting!
– Sabah Day 3 – Twin Islands Hopping
– Sabah Day 4 AM – Desa Cow Farm
– Day 4 PM – Kinabalu Park
– Day 5 – Poring Hot Spring + Waterfall + Canopy walk
– Day 6 – Gaya Island Resort – Luxury Villa
– Day 7 Gaya Island Resort Family Activities

I hope to climb Mount Kinabalu with Boon Wee (perhaps with Boon Kang too) in a few years time 🙂