Diyanazman Travel Blog

We arrived at Kinabalu Park at 3.30pm after driving for about 2 hours from Kota Kinabalu. Kinabalu Park is already about 2000m above sea level, so..it was quite cool up here.

3.40pm – we registered at Sutera Sanctuary Lodges Office that was  situated just beside the main gate. We need to pay RM144 for climbing permit fees, insurances & guide.

Climbing permit fee for Malaysian – RM30 x2

Insurance – RM7 x2

Guide – RM70

Total for 2 person : RM144.00

Finished with registration, the staff brought us to our room at Peak Lodge. Peak Lodge was actually for 4 people. It cost RM250 per night and this cost have already been included in reservation payment with Sutera Sanctuary Lodges.

Diyana and our rented car in front of Peak Lodge

“We will be there tomorrow…..”

We settled at Peak Lodge at 3.50pm. It is a very nice and beautiful place with the view of Mount Kinabalu in front of it.

5.00pm – we walked to Balsam Cafe to eat. The cafe is situated just in front the Sutera Sanctuary office. We had to walk for about 10 minutes from our room and got there at 5.10pm.

Fried rice

6.00pm – Sutera Sanctuary Lodges conducted a briefing session to all the climbers at the cafe. The briefing was about the schedule for tomorrow and tips & advices during climbing. We just listened to the session from the back seat while eating expensive fried rice.

The session finished at around 6.30pm. Its already dark. So, we went back to our room before calling the staff to light up the fire.

After that, Diyana prepared tuna sandwich for tomorrow climbing.

When everything was settled… we went to sleep! Tomorrow would be so exciting…

On the 3rd day, I am wake up at 7.30am (Diyana still sleeping..) and at around 8am, Azlan call and he is waiting for me in front of EON Bank. As agreed, I pay him RM360 for 4 days rental of Sky Blue 1.6l Proton Wira.

9am – We go for breakfast at Aieza Cafe & Catering that situated just outside our apartment building. We have nasi lemak and after that, we go to nearby 7 eleven and bought a Kota Kinabalu map.

9.15am – we check-out from Promenade hotel apartment.

10am, I am driving to Sunday Market or Gaya Street Market. We bought pearl necklaces, shirts and also key chains. All the stuff in this market were really cheap. We would love to buy a rabbit but I worried that Airasia won’t let us bring it into the airplane.

12pm – We take lunch at McDonald CentrePoint Sabah. Then, we go to supermarket and bought Gardenia bread, tuna and mineral water as preparation for tomorrow climbing.

Since I also would like to celebrate Diyana’s birthday at the top of Mount Kinabalu, I bought cup cake. When I request for small candle, salesgirl in that bakery were smiling and some even laughing. cis!.

1.13pm – we started our journey to Kinabalu Park. On the way to Kinabalu Park, we stop at the famous Tamparuli Suspended Bridge at 1.57pm to see around and take pictures.

Along the way, we can see a very beautiful scenery of Mount Kinabalu’s peak in the mist.

2.49pm – we stopped at Pekan Nabalu Art Craft.

3.30pm – we arrived at Kinabalu Park. At the gate, we need to pay for entrance fee, RM3 per person.

I woke up at around 8.30am. Diyana just could’t stop expressing her dissatisfaction in almost everything about the hotel and her stomach this morning.

10am – we go out and take a look at the view just behind the hotel. The sea view is quite nice however it is very HOT.

Our next target is to find a rental car. Before we come to KK, we were informed by a friend that the rental car was very expensive there but with the help of his local friend, the best price he can get is RM150 rental per day for Proton Wira. In the internet, the rental cost for Proton Wira is RM250 per day.. it is very expensive so I decided to find it by myself at KK by searching at building walls and notice boards in town. After a long search, at last I found car  rental ads at one of the buildings’ wall near KK Plaza.

The rental car guy’s name is Azlan and he offered us RM600 for 4 days. However, after long discussion, he agreed with RM360 for 4 days and he promised to sent the car at 5pm.

11.40am – we took our late breakfast at Coffee Culture.

1pm – we go to Sutera Sanctuary Lodges at the ground floor of Wisma Sabah and completed the payment. Previously, we just pay 50% for the booking. They will prepare the shuttle bus just outside their office early tomorrow morning, 7.15am to pickup the climbers to Kinabalu Park. The fare is RM45 per person. However, since we already decided to rent a car.. I just asked about how to get there by car and not where to wait!

1.35pm – we have lunch at KFC Segama Complex. Go to nearby park. Take some picture and go back to our room.

We arrived our room at 3pm and go to sleep until 5pm.

5pm – still no news from Azlan, so we just walk along the seaside. There are many restaurants there and the view was very beautiful. We wait until sunset at 6.15pm and took some beautiful sunset pictures too.

7pm – Azlan still didn’t send the car. So, I just asked him to send it tomorrow morning at 8am. He agreed. After that, we just take a peek at Filipino market for a while then we go to Night Market just behind it.

The Night Market selling a lot of unique stuff. Diyana bought plenty of pearls, beautiful seashells and also head cover because my friend said it is freezing up there at Kinabalu peak.

At 9pm, we took our dinner at a seafood stall near the night market. It is only open on Saturday nights and we’re quite lucky to have been there. We ordered a huge grill prawn, squid and fish with rice. The total cost is only RM28.

10.30pm – we go back to hotel. Have a bath and sleep..zzzzz…

We started our journey to Kota Kinabalu on 6 April 2007. Diyana’s friend, Dina was the one who sent us to LCCT  using our own car and took care of the car until we came back from KK.

We arrived LCCT at 7.40pm. After check-in, Diyana bought mineral water and we go straight to gate P5 for boarding.

We boarding at 8.45pm and flight take off at 8.57pm.

Flight to Kota Kinabalu from Kuala Lumpur take around 2 and half hours and we arrived at Kota Kinabalu Terminal 2 at 11.40pm.

Since it’s already midnight, we just take the airport taxi to hotel that cost us RM30. Very expensive but I did not much choice at that time.

We arrived hotel at 12.20am and go to sleep at around 1.30am.

Our room at Promenade is Room No. 2508 and the rate is RM80 per night.