Trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (Day 3)

*caution: this post is extremely long*

Date: 14 August 2009, Friday

Venue: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

So what's on the schedule for Day 3? We managed to cover Tamu Penampang at Donggongon, Monsopiad Cultural Village, & even the small Marine Museum at UMS :D Lovely lovely day!

We left the hotel around 9a.m., & headed to Tamu Penampang, a morning market area where many local items are sold (around 40minutes drive from 1B). I didn't really know how that place looks like nor know how to get there from the hotel, but the hotel staff was really nice to draw us a map to the place :)

Ruth's Breakfast: Salted Veggie with Dry Kuey Teow (RM4.00/bowl)
Verdict - Wergh...not nice...

Aaron's Breakfast: Char Siew- Siew Yoke Rice (RM5.00/serving)
Expensive & not nice also :(

At Tamu Penampang
Top left (clockwise): Scene at the market, packets of eels sold, yellow-colour soursop, packets of mix green for stir-frying

Loads of food stalls
Fried finger food of all sorts were sold...we didn't buy any to try except for some currypuffs. Both Aaron & I just can't resist those :D

There wasn't much to see, actually. A little disappointed, but the experience was alright. We managed to see how the bambangan & tuhau looks like, & got to see many other "kuih-muih" (fried cakes/finger food) that we have never seen over in the Peninsular.

Bambangan! Found it!
The brown-skinned fruit on the bottom right is the bambangan. It looks like a mango on the inside, but the taste is very different from mangoes. The ones that we tasted the night before were preserved & very sour :S

Caught the Tuhau too!
Those 'pink sticks' are called the Tuhau. It's actually ginger shoots, which the locals used to preserve & eat. We didn't like it.

Bottles & jars of preserved tuhau & bambangan

Monsopiad was next in the list. From Tamu Penampang, it took us only around 15minutes to get to Monsopiad. I just wanted to see the cultural part of Sabah, so some friends told me to visit the Monsopiad CV.

On the way to Monsopiad

When we landed there, the Cultural Show has already started. It's a very common cultural show, as seen in TV :P but the experience was not too bad. Aaron wasn't as fascinated cos he has seen all these when he was in Sarawak a few years back. We got to witness the House of Skulls, the traditional games that they play, the cultivation of sago worms, a sample of their house, & the local fruits that are available in Sabah. Too bad we didn't get to try their Linsing *sigh* We went there a little too late & missed the Linsing tasting part :( *sob sob*

Cultural Dance at Monsopiad

Kadazan Warrior Dance

Traditional Bamboo Dance

Photo with the dancers & 'warriors'

House of Skulls
This is apparently an actual house of a head-hunter where the skulls were kept...one has to say a phrase, seeking for the 'ancestors' permission to enter the house.

42 skulls in a row, around 300 years old

Skull of an orang utan

Tangkong - 'Hip Belt' for single women
This 'belt' is worn around the hips of a woman to indicate to her community that she is still single. Married women will have a different 'belt' worn around their hips.

Siga Tondu - Leader's Head-Dress

Jars to store dead bodies

Traditional Game

Sago Worm!
I managed to hold a sago worm! Cute!

How Sago Come About
The sago worms are found in the tree trunk as below. People grate the wood for their husk to make the sago.

Fat, grubby sago worm

Sumpit - Traditional blow-pipe
The Kadazans used this as a weapon

Local Fruit: Tarap
Tarap is like the jackfruit, but its taste is more milky/creamy, less pungent than the jackfruit, & it's much smaller too! You can hardly find it in Peninsular Malaysia.

Ingredients to make Linsing - Rice Wine
The locals love drinking rice wine, just like how the Japanese have their sake & the Koreans have their Soju. Drinking too much can make one drunk!

In front of Monsopiad Cultural Village

It was a very hot & tiring day on the road, so we left for our last stop, the Marine Museum at UMS. Aaron loves museums & likes the marine-life, so this was one of the places that he would love to drop by for a visit.

Entrance fee to the Museum is RM5.00/person for locals. It's quite a small museum & doesn't have that many species of marine life, but it's sufficient to keep kids fascinated. It's not informative enough though...

Skeleton of a Curved Beaked Whale

A display of corals
I didn't realize that we have so many different types of corals on our Malaysian waters!

Chocolate-Chip Starfish
That's really its name!

Seahorses
So cute...they're all sleeping...

Giant Clams
I didn't know clams can be so pretty! Aahh....looks like a flower...

Blue Starfish
Very unique :)

Angel Fish?
Reminds me of the "Finding Nemo" animation

Beautiful corals

Nemo!
Clown fish & lovely-looking corals/anemone...

Remora/Sharksucker
Reminds me of yet another animation "Shark Tales"

After the visit to the museum, we went to have our extremely late lunch at the Manhattan Fish Market in 1Borneo Shopping Mall. Aaron hasn't tried it before, so we decided to pop-by that restaurant. It was around 5p.m., so we're the 2nd customer there...the food tasted SO good!! Much better than the one I had in Mid Valley, KL!

Happy Aaron

Satisfied Aaron
Very satisfied with what he had...fresh seafood (again!)

Next, we went back to rest & waited for Guang to come over to the hotel to pick us up for dinner at Gaya Seafood Restaurant, Inanam.

Deep-Fried Soft Shell Crabs
Very crispy & delicious!

Stir-Fried Sabah Veggie with Sambal Belacan
This is our 1st time tasting the Sabah veggie. Very crunchy & yummy too :)

Garlic Rice
This is one super-duper delicious rice!! You HAVE TO try it if you come here...extremely fragrant rice, drizzled with garlic oil & fried garlic bits.

Sapak with Ginger & Spring Onions
Fresh & cheap clams cooked in a very simple Chinese style
Steamed Prawns in Wine & Ginger
Awesome, fresh, mouth-watering, irresistable...

New Gaya Seafood Restaurant, Inanam

They have a 'club' too!
Mostly uncles & aunties go there...

The seafood there was good! We had a great dinner & a wonderful catch-up session with Guang, whom I haven't met for years!! We ordered 4 dishes & paid only RM99.00 (inclusive of taxes)! We had 3 seafood dishes & 1 veggie...fuh....awesome-possum!!

Map to New Gaya Seafood Restaurant, Inanam

View PerutBesi in a larger map

New Gaya Seafood Restaurant
Lot A & B, Wisma Lucky Centre
Jalan Kianson
88450 Inanam
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Malaysia.
Tel: (+6088 426 075/76/77 (3 lines)
Halal: Yes


Ratings:
Presentation: * * * *
Price: * * * *
Environment: * * * 1/2
Taste: * * * *
Service: * * * *


Overall:

We were SO full, but Guang said we had to try out the avocado juice at Tanjung Aru Beach. So there we went again (for the 3rd time), but this time to get the famous avocado drink. It's a very milky drink, like some shake, with the smell of fresh avocado & the ones that we had was a tad too sweet for my liking cos they put too much condensed milk :P

Day 3 ended all too fast...fantastic day! Our last day came too quickly :(

- Ruth