Sabah is a beautiful place.
Anyone who has been to or stays in Sabah knows that this is a fact. You will be amazed by her spectacular natural beauty: the forest, mountainous terrain and sea view.
Although I have left Sabah for 2 weeks, the memory is still well kept in my long term memory. Well, how can I forget something wonderful like this? Right? How can I?
Lol….
I am not good in describing a place using words. Not much bombastic words. Anyway, I have pictures which I can show you how I see and capture the beauty of Sabah at one of the islands, which is Taman Tunku Abdul Rahman, Pulau Manukan.
Yessssssssssssss!!!!!!!
Finally, I am blogging about this island. Sorry for keeping you guys waiting. I can sense that your necks are getting longer each day. lol.. my bad.. Blame my new-semester-adjustment… =P
25-12-2009
During Christmas morning, my relatives, my family and I went to Pulau Manukan as our first stop. Uncle Khoo had rented 2 cars; one Prado for him and one Waja for my dad. Both families can fit in to these cars pretty well (gam gam). Wait! He didn’t rent but borrow from his friends.
Ahhhhh.. now I remember. We are so lucky! :)
One of the good thing about having a car/cars in Sabah is that, we can drive and go wherever we want with lower cost. Since Sabah is located in Malaysia, everyone who has license CAN DRIVE! I CAN TOO!
Excitement to the max.... :D
Anyway, I didn’t get the chance to drive. Dad was worrying that I might hurt the car (which is ridiculous because I WOULDN’T ok!?). I have good skills in driving. Emmm.. except side parking. Whatever..
So, that morning, both families reached the mentioned placed at around 11am. Seriously, it was hot at that hour! Like EXTREMELY! I know immediately that I will have sun-burnt problem if I allow my skins to be exposed barely under the hot, scorching sun for hours without any protection. Fortunately, Ary and I were smart enough to bring sun-block and olive oil along. I know my olive oil wouldn’t be that helpful as it will tan my skin even more. At least, I have something lah… =_=
This is what I called: Clear sea water
Well well well, I couldn’t care for my fairness anymore if I want to do water-sport activities at the island. It will be so stupid if I just hide under a big shady, tree in order to take care of my skin. Wouldn’t it be better to just stay at the hotel or maybe at home? Wasting time and money.
The best thing about this trip is, I have found my main-kaki. That’s mean, people who have same interest and excitement like I have. They are my cousins: Ary and Alice. Both of them can play pretty well, especially Ary.
Both of us are CRAZY!
Yes. You read it correctly. I MEAN CRAZZYY!!!
Ary and I who are not good swimmers with no life jacket did our snorkeling quite far away from our parents when each father was busy teaching their own wife breathing and floating on the water surface using the rented mask and jacket. We enjoyed so much, watching the beauty of the corals and small fishes which swam passing us. We swam quite some meters away before we realized that we’d almost forgotten the adults behind us.
I could catch Uncle Khoo’s worried look as he was swimming towards us when we decided to return to our group. Luckily, no one was being scolded. In fact, some lectures was given – for our own safety. Thank you uncle. I will always remember your advice after this: that is to have life jacket with us!
Haha..
After the 40 minutes of snorkeling activity, we then moved on to Banana boat. Again, this is my another 1st time experience. They cost RM40 per person for 10 minutes of Banana Boat ride. Well, it was kinda expensive but we still except the offer as we believe it will be FUN!
True enough.. the Banana Boat ride was really FUN! In fact, it was the best excitement and surprise I had so far. Firstly, we got a good offer after some discussions between Uncle Khoo and the staff in which we’re given another 10 minutes free ride, that’s mean 20 minutes per head. COOL isn’t it!??!!!
Next, the ride will be held in the middle of the ocean. That’s mean, few kilometers away from the Island. My heart was beating furiously during in my first ride because I was sitting on a yellow-in-colour rubber boat, floating on the surface of the dark blue ocean. I could barely see the coral under the water anymore. Some scary movie scenes which related to the sea suddenly struck my mind before the noise from the motor started to tremble.
Well, once the ride began, my worried for shark or legs pulling were no longer in my mind because I got distracted by the speed. I felt like I could fall off any second whenever the speed boat make a steep turn.
IT WAS SCARY BUT FUN AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
Wait.. is it fun, then scary.. or scary then fun? Ok. Now I am confuse.. >.<
Whatever the feeling I had earlier (scared, worried, fun, happy) turned into something disastrous. Something which I frightened the most. All of us were thrown into the sea water when the last steep turn took place. Well, we all have to pull away our hands from the handles no matter how because THAT IS BANANA BOAT! Lol…
Same thing happened for 4 times in a row: Ride, speed, scream, fall, choke and wet.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the feeling of riding on the yellow boat. However, I dislike the falling and choking parts because it was so painful, especially when I hit the person in front/behind of me and sea water rushed into my nose. Painful!
I feel like knocking this driver’s head when I saw this picture (of him yawning). Was it too boring for him when we were screaming out loud till both our lungs were almost falling off? I wouldn’t know this if mum didn’t snap pictures of us that frequently. Hate him..
Anyway, the experience of riding on the banana boat is so fantastic. All of us shouted and screamed so loud that it triggered the driver to ride faster and scarier. Guess what, our 3rd and 4th ride were the best of the best. Better than roller coaster. Lol…
We thought of going to parachuting but our bodies were too tired and could no longer support other extreme activities. So exhausting.. :(
Even if the staff allowed us to ride for another 5 minutes, I don’t think I will accept the offer because I had no more voices to scream nor energy to float on the sea. Thank you very much.. lol..
In the end, we went back to our grandmas who were taking care of our belongings under a huge tree. We had our lunch on the provided straw mats. Besides, Ary and I did do some photography moments where both of us were busy snapping pictures in almost every corner of this island..
For more picture, visit: Sabah I Album
We left Pulau Manukan at 3pm sharp when there was a speed boat waiting for us at the jetty. I just couldn’t wait to return to our room in the hotel and have a good bath. Then, dying on the bed. Lol..
Can you feel the strong winds like I do?
This is how my 2009 Christmas ended in Kota Kinabalu. It was marvelous! Thank you uncle, daddy and mummy for the trip.
You can see that my skin was red in the end of the day.
As for my suggestion, visit Sea Quest if you are interested to go to Pulau Manukan as they provide good services. All payment are done here before you leave (if I am not mistaken because Uncle Khoo was the leader. He paid everything and I play anything. lol)
Coming post, Mount Kinabalu’s majestic view.
P/s: Amazing incident happened among us. Our acnes were all gone (on face & body) in the end of the trip. I realized this when I was washing my face at a public ladies and found out my 2 big zits disappear! It must be the clean, unpolluted Sabah sea water.
Now, I am regret for not taking back few bottles of ‘magic water’.. =(
P/P/S: For more pictures, visit: Sabah I Album