I woke up with a start as my handphone alarm rang. It was already 7:30 in the morning. I would have missed my flight if my flight was 8:30 as originally planned. But then again, I would have set my alarm clock sooner, won’t I? Duh…
Anyway, about one week before my flight to Sabah, the Air Asia contacted my friend who booked the tickets that the flight has been delayed. Delayed? And they know it one week before? Are they clairvoyant or something? Cancelled was more like it. What to do? We chose a flight to Sabah in a strange month, at a wierd day and in an ungodly hour. So, our 8:30 flight was changed to 12:30pm. It really makes my blood boil that they just informed us that the flight was delayed (for 4 freaking hours!) and did not attempt to do anything to placate us at all. To them, it is okay to delay the flight. Why? Because it was mentioned in the terms and conditions (that no one reads) that it is okay if the flight is delayed no matter what repercussions it would have on the customer's well-laid plans. On the other hand, if I were to inform them that I want to take a later flight, I would most probably end up buying another ticket to get on that plane. We were initially planning to go to the Tip of Borneo to enjoy the stunning ocean sunset. Imagine standing on top of a cliff with caressing wind blowing into your face as you enjoy the view of a fiery orb setting the sea water aflame in orange fire. Imagine the seawater in hues of blue, green, orange, red and yellow. Imagine the sounds of the seagulls chiming along with the soothing, sighing wind, singing praises to the sun for another job well done. All of that lost… lost just because of one phone call. Heck, they should’ve at the very least give some discount vouchers for our next purchase of flight tickets (which I think is a good marketing strategy too). However, all things said, I would still take Air Asia flights next time I need it because it is still the cheapest airline around and someone as poor as me need airlines as cheap as them. However, I would never be a loyal customer to them. The first sign of its prices going up and I’ll be going to sit in another plane.
Of course, these kind of thoughts were non-existent on the day itself. I have already rant and raved for the whole week and thus my mood that day was still good. I woke up to a beautiful morning and enjoyed a beautiful and full breakfast. Then, I travelled to KL Sentral to meet up with my friend, and together we travelled to LCCT on the SkyBus. One thing that intrigues me is that while SkyBus is RM9 (which I think is quite cheap already), there’s another bus, AeroBus that takes its passengers from KL Sentral to LCCT too at a price of RM8. I never knew the difference. I guess if I have the opportunity, I’ll take the AeroBus and give it a try. Anyhow, after meeting up with another two people at LCCT, we were all on our way to the plane.
Anyway, about one week before my flight to Sabah, the Air Asia contacted my friend who booked the tickets that the flight has been delayed. Delayed? And they know it one week before? Are they clairvoyant or something? Cancelled was more like it. What to do? We chose a flight to Sabah in a strange month, at a wierd day and in an ungodly hour. So, our 8:30 flight was changed to 12:30pm. It really makes my blood boil that they just informed us that the flight was delayed (for 4 freaking hours!) and did not attempt to do anything to placate us at all. To them, it is okay to delay the flight. Why? Because it was mentioned in the terms and conditions (that no one reads) that it is okay if the flight is delayed no matter what repercussions it would have on the customer's well-laid plans. On the other hand, if I were to inform them that I want to take a later flight, I would most probably end up buying another ticket to get on that plane. We were initially planning to go to the Tip of Borneo to enjoy the stunning ocean sunset. Imagine standing on top of a cliff with caressing wind blowing into your face as you enjoy the view of a fiery orb setting the sea water aflame in orange fire. Imagine the seawater in hues of blue, green, orange, red and yellow. Imagine the sounds of the seagulls chiming along with the soothing, sighing wind, singing praises to the sun for another job well done. All of that lost… lost just because of one phone call. Heck, they should’ve at the very least give some discount vouchers for our next purchase of flight tickets (which I think is a good marketing strategy too). However, all things said, I would still take Air Asia flights next time I need it because it is still the cheapest airline around and someone as poor as me need airlines as cheap as them. However, I would never be a loyal customer to them. The first sign of its prices going up and I’ll be going to sit in another plane.
Of course, these kind of thoughts were non-existent on the day itself. I have already rant and raved for the whole week and thus my mood that day was still good. I woke up to a beautiful morning and enjoyed a beautiful and full breakfast. Then, I travelled to KL Sentral to meet up with my friend, and together we travelled to LCCT on the SkyBus. One thing that intrigues me is that while SkyBus is RM9 (which I think is quite cheap already), there’s another bus, AeroBus that takes its passengers from KL Sentral to LCCT too at a price of RM8. I never knew the difference. I guess if I have the opportunity, I’ll take the AeroBus and give it a try. Anyhow, after meeting up with another two people at LCCT, we were all on our way to the plane.
Since Air Asia put us in a 12:30 flight, I did not have any lunch. I mean, I need to be at the gate at 12 noon (or so they said)… so if I had lunch before that, it won’t be lunch (not to mention I was still full from my breakfast)... and I could not have lunch in Sabah which we were scheduled to arrive at around 3pm because by then I would be a mad cannibal, feasting on the passengers. So, I was forced to eat in the plane. Needless to say, everything was overpriced (even more than Genting). Air Asia had already said that they would gain revenue from the sales of food to cover the rising cost of fuel. Anyway, one of my friend claimed that their nasi lemak was top notch… well, it’s RM8… so it had better be… and I was disappointed. Although not the worst nasi lemak that I ever had, it came close. But then again, what choice did I have? After finishing my ‘lunch’, I took a small nap, and suddenly, the captain announced that we were going to touch down! Yay! Since I never listened to the announcement made during the flight, I didn’t know that we were not allowed to use electronic products in the air field. So, I flipped out my super camera and took pictures of us coming down from the plane. I was reprimanded, of course, but the result is a rare picture that no common mortal would possess!
Red Sky Bus
Getting onto the plane...
The really expensive and limited selection of food...
My lunch... RM10 for that???!!!
Us coming down from plane... illegal picture :P
Anyway, the owner of the lodge that we were going to stay in came and pick us up. Yeah, very good customer service! However, it started to rain :(... and the plane captain announced that the weather in Kota Kinabalu was fair… really, one cannot trust those weather forecasts nowadays. The Kota Kinabalu city center is actually located very near to the airport. I think it took us only about 15 minutes to reach our lodge… City Park Lodge. There were five people in our group. Three boys and two girls. The lodge owner offered us a four person bedroom to the three of us. Hmmm... I wonder if we will have unwanted visitors tonight. You know, there is a rumour that all hotels would keep a few rooms unoccupied for some of the... erm... not paying guests... and so one should neveer ever force them to give you the rooms when they tell you that there is no room available. And it was also rumoured that sleeping alone in a room with two beds will attratct some of these non-paying customers... well, I supposed they won't dare to come since there are already three people in the room :P. Continuing the story, it was rather unfortunate that I forgot to take the picture of the bathroom… it was really huge, not lavish, but extremely huge!
The place that we are staying in KK...
Rain or not, we were soon in front of the lodge trying to decide where to explore first. Being the only one who actually bothered to do some research online in the group, I suggested to them to have our lunner (lunch + dinner) at a restaurant located at the street just behind the lodge. Actually, the City Park Lodge is in a very strategic location. The famed Gaya Street is just behind the lodge and other attractions like Filipino Market and shopping complexes are just a stone throw’s away (if the stone is thrown by the Incredible Hulk or Superman :P)… anyway, a lot of places are just within walking distance.
So, we went to this Gaya Street and found this restaurant called Yu Kee. I saw this restaurant’s name in Wikipedia listed as one of the must tries. So, I figured that if it is listed in Wikipedia, then it should not go wrong. Oh, by the way, Yu Kee is a restaurant that serves Bak Kut Teh (BKT)... don’t know how to describe it for those who do not know about this dish… it’s basically pork simmered in strong Chinese herbal soup.
Anyhow, this shop serves BKT in a slightly different style. The dishes were served separately instead in one big claypot as practiced by shops in Klang, Selangor. One thing that you should take note of is that this is not the Sabah serving style because I saw other shops serving this dish just like that in Klang. Since this is only a lunner, we ordered only a few types of meat just enough for us to last till dinner. Well, the soup they used is a little bit different from West Malaysia style. I am no expert in herbs, so I could not identify which different herbs they used but the resulting soup was something sharp. Yeah, that’s right, the taste was sharp. I think it has lots of 'dong guai' in it... said to be very good for females. Unfortunately, the BKT falls short of expectations. Heck, it could not even be called good. One of the reason that a lot of people eat this dish is because it stirs up one’s appetite. However, the BKT served in this shop was not very appetizing. Also, since they separate all the dishes into small bowls, the meat and soup became cold very fast. But we were silly and stupid enough to have thought that each bowl contains different kinds of soup... after numerous tries, we found out that it is the same soup :(. Moral of the story… never ever trust everything the internet says… or I suspect that the article in Wikipedia was written by a foreigner kua… so since they have not tried Klang BKT before, they thought that this BKT is very good already.
Anyhow, this shop serves BKT in a slightly different style. The dishes were served separately instead in one big claypot as practiced by shops in Klang, Selangor. One thing that you should take note of is that this is not the Sabah serving style because I saw other shops serving this dish just like that in Klang. Since this is only a lunner, we ordered only a few types of meat just enough for us to last till dinner. Well, the soup they used is a little bit different from West Malaysia style. I am no expert in herbs, so I could not identify which different herbs they used but the resulting soup was something sharp. Yeah, that’s right, the taste was sharp. I think it has lots of 'dong guai' in it... said to be very good for females. Unfortunately, the BKT falls short of expectations. Heck, it could not even be called good. One of the reason that a lot of people eat this dish is because it stirs up one’s appetite. However, the BKT served in this shop was not very appetizing. Also, since they separate all the dishes into small bowls, the meat and soup became cold very fast. But we were silly and stupid enough to have thought that each bowl contains different kinds of soup... after numerous tries, we found out that it is the same soup :(. Moral of the story… never ever trust everything the internet says… or I suspect that the article in Wikipedia was written by a foreigner kua… so since they have not tried Klang BKT before, they thought that this BKT is very good already.
Remember the name... avoid at all costs
Small, cute, but unappetizing...
After a particularly unappetizing and dissatisfying lunner, we went to a nearby shopping complex called Milimewah (which is actually the Store) to purchase some tid-bits for our supper! Still haven't have dinner and we were thinking about supper. Fortunately for us, by this time, after a million tries, one of our group member finally managed to contact their friends in Sabah. The most important thing is that, they have transportation!!! Initially, I was suggesting another restaurant to have our seafood dinner, but since our rather unfortunate incident of following the internet’s advice for our lunner, we decided to follow the advice of a local. Thus, we were whisked away in a half an hour ride towards one of the various famous seafood restaurants near KK. The place that we had our seafood dinner was called Fisherman Village… it doesn’t sound very modern, but hey, we are having seafood in fisherman village… there’re no fresher seafood than that!
Since I am no expert (again) in seafood, so I left it to the locals to order the food while I enjoyed myself goggling at half naked men… yup, you heard it right… one of the Fisherman Village main attraction is live show/dance by the locals wearing in their traditional gear. I had not touch geography or history ever since I left secondary school so you must forgive me that I have no idea which tribe it is. And sorry, no pictures because it is unsuitable for children who might browse the net and accidentally stumble on my website :P. So, you have to settle with some brief description from me. There were half naked men dancing with FULLY CLOTHED women on the stage and then they would also show their skills in using blowpipes by bursting balloons placed high up and far away on stage. Customers are also allowed to try it though I gave it a pass.
After feasting our eyes, it’s time for the real feast! First, there’re prawns! Well, to be frank, I have never been a fan of prawns (though I really would like to try the legendary lobster!). Mainly it’s because I need to work before eating. I have to peel of its shell before consuming it and I hate that. I prefer food that I can immediately put into my gaping maw. As expected, the prawns were very fresh and the meat was actually sweet even though it is just steamed prawns. Next, we had a clam like stuff… well, my friend’s friend did tell me what it is, but I forgot already mah… these clam like thingy were also quite fresh and sweet and succulent (hey, I’m commenting on seafood mah… so there’re only a few words that can describe them loh… fresh, sweet, natural…). Please note that I am also not a fan of seafood. I prefer chicken, pork, lamb over seafood anytime of the day. Seafood must always be cooked in a way that one can taste its freshness… in other words, tasteless-style cooking loh… I really don’t know why people can eat seafood just so that they can taste its freshness. If you want fresh, go eat sushi lah… I have always preferred lots of spice, lots of sugar, lots of oil, lots of everything in my dishes.
Well, enough of my blabbering, the third dish that we had was the so called Sabah Vege. Seriously, I can’t tell the difference. Although I really did not eat anything like that before, a lot of other kinds of vegetables that are available in whole of Malaysia are better than it loh… but of course, it’s sweet, fresh and juicy. The fourth dish was actually a soup… although the meat and vegetables are more than the amount of water. It’s a sea cucumber soup… Again, sweet, fresh and natural :P. Then, the fifth dish came and it was the first proper food that night… here comes butter fried crabs!!! Imagine the salty butter mixed with the sweet pearl white meat of crabs… add in some spice, dip it in boiling wok of oil… and voila, golden brown heavenly crab nuggets are served. Since it was soft shell crab, I did not have to go through the hassle of peeling off the shell. I popped the crabs into my mouth as I would have KFC’s popcorn chicken… and it was amazing… the butter, the oil, the calories… aahhhh… this is what we called food my dearest all. Not just only the Fisherman Village, actually, this dish is famous throughout the whole of KK and you must order it if you ever find yourself in a seafood restaurant in Sabah.
After the crabs, the next dish was another Sabah only (or East Malaysia only) available dish. Again, I have not a whit on what it’s called, but it looks very similar to seashells. The most unique thing about this dish is not the taste (although it is an acquired taste), but rather the method to be used to eat it. First, one must locate a black tail that is peeking out of the shell. Then, one would need to stick a fork into its tail (ouch), and pull its whole body out. Then, we have to discard the black tail, dip the meat in a special sauce (special meaning different here, not tasty) and throw the whole thing into our mouths. If it’s not for the sauce, which is like chilli plus lime and plus other unknown stuff, the meat would be tasteless. So, why would anyone eat a meat that cannot be consumed without any additives? I have no idea. But it was an eye-opener.
As for the finale, it was a what I’d call thai style fish. Well, I don’t know if it’s thai style or sabah style, but the sauce placed on top of the fish was sour and spicy… and it was the best dish the whole evening… even better than my calorie-filled crabs! Yay! The fish, needless to mention, was fresh and sweet (again…) but it was the sauce that made it a winner. We were already at the end of our feast and yet, my appetite was suddenly perked while I eat the fish! It doesn’t look much, but it really was the best dish of the night. Finally, the bill came, and it was RM456.38 (inclusive of all those taxes, of course)… and as I said, I am no expert when it comes to seafood, so you be the judge whether it’s expensive or not… and oh, the meal was for 8 person loh… I apologize for the pretty uninformative dinner, but hey, when I eat, I eat loh, I don’t bother to remember names especially when they don’t have a menu to get the official English translation of the dishes and since I don't like seafood, I don't have many adjectives to describe them. However, in conclusion, it was quite a nice meal even if I don’t favour seafood. The seafood was fresh and it was not overcooked, I got to eat some special stuff and also some really good food. Thus, this restaurant’s food quality is acceptable and even recommended. The only glitch is that it is quite far away from the city center loh… and oh, by the way, there are several quite famous seafood restaurant in the city center too, but it is rumoured that they charge almost 40% higher than if one were to eat at the outskirts of the city.
Since I am no expert (again) in seafood, so I left it to the locals to order the food while I enjoyed myself goggling at half naked men… yup, you heard it right… one of the Fisherman Village main attraction is live show/dance by the locals wearing in their traditional gear. I had not touch geography or history ever since I left secondary school so you must forgive me that I have no idea which tribe it is. And sorry, no pictures because it is unsuitable for children who might browse the net and accidentally stumble on my website :P. So, you have to settle with some brief description from me. There were half naked men dancing with FULLY CLOTHED women on the stage and then they would also show their skills in using blowpipes by bursting balloons placed high up and far away on stage. Customers are also allowed to try it though I gave it a pass.
After feasting our eyes, it’s time for the real feast! First, there’re prawns! Well, to be frank, I have never been a fan of prawns (though I really would like to try the legendary lobster!). Mainly it’s because I need to work before eating. I have to peel of its shell before consuming it and I hate that. I prefer food that I can immediately put into my gaping maw. As expected, the prawns were very fresh and the meat was actually sweet even though it is just steamed prawns. Next, we had a clam like stuff… well, my friend’s friend did tell me what it is, but I forgot already mah… these clam like thingy were also quite fresh and sweet and succulent (hey, I’m commenting on seafood mah… so there’re only a few words that can describe them loh… fresh, sweet, natural…). Please note that I am also not a fan of seafood. I prefer chicken, pork, lamb over seafood anytime of the day. Seafood must always be cooked in a way that one can taste its freshness… in other words, tasteless-style cooking loh… I really don’t know why people can eat seafood just so that they can taste its freshness. If you want fresh, go eat sushi lah… I have always preferred lots of spice, lots of sugar, lots of oil, lots of everything in my dishes.
Well, enough of my blabbering, the third dish that we had was the so called Sabah Vege. Seriously, I can’t tell the difference. Although I really did not eat anything like that before, a lot of other kinds of vegetables that are available in whole of Malaysia are better than it loh… but of course, it’s sweet, fresh and juicy. The fourth dish was actually a soup… although the meat and vegetables are more than the amount of water. It’s a sea cucumber soup… Again, sweet, fresh and natural :P. Then, the fifth dish came and it was the first proper food that night… here comes butter fried crabs!!! Imagine the salty butter mixed with the sweet pearl white meat of crabs… add in some spice, dip it in boiling wok of oil… and voila, golden brown heavenly crab nuggets are served. Since it was soft shell crab, I did not have to go through the hassle of peeling off the shell. I popped the crabs into my mouth as I would have KFC’s popcorn chicken… and it was amazing… the butter, the oil, the calories… aahhhh… this is what we called food my dearest all. Not just only the Fisherman Village, actually, this dish is famous throughout the whole of KK and you must order it if you ever find yourself in a seafood restaurant in Sabah.
After the crabs, the next dish was another Sabah only (or East Malaysia only) available dish. Again, I have not a whit on what it’s called, but it looks very similar to seashells. The most unique thing about this dish is not the taste (although it is an acquired taste), but rather the method to be used to eat it. First, one must locate a black tail that is peeking out of the shell. Then, one would need to stick a fork into its tail (ouch), and pull its whole body out. Then, we have to discard the black tail, dip the meat in a special sauce (special meaning different here, not tasty) and throw the whole thing into our mouths. If it’s not for the sauce, which is like chilli plus lime and plus other unknown stuff, the meat would be tasteless. So, why would anyone eat a meat that cannot be consumed without any additives? I have no idea. But it was an eye-opener.
As for the finale, it was a what I’d call thai style fish. Well, I don’t know if it’s thai style or sabah style, but the sauce placed on top of the fish was sour and spicy… and it was the best dish the whole evening… even better than my calorie-filled crabs! Yay! The fish, needless to mention, was fresh and sweet (again…) but it was the sauce that made it a winner. We were already at the end of our feast and yet, my appetite was suddenly perked while I eat the fish! It doesn’t look much, but it really was the best dish of the night. Finally, the bill came, and it was RM456.38 (inclusive of all those taxes, of course)… and as I said, I am no expert when it comes to seafood, so you be the judge whether it’s expensive or not… and oh, the meal was for 8 person loh… I apologize for the pretty uninformative dinner, but hey, when I eat, I eat loh, I don’t bother to remember names especially when they don’t have a menu to get the official English translation of the dishes and since I don't like seafood, I don't have many adjectives to describe them. However, in conclusion, it was quite a nice meal even if I don’t favour seafood. The seafood was fresh and it was not overcooked, I got to eat some special stuff and also some really good food. Thus, this restaurant’s food quality is acceptable and even recommended. The only glitch is that it is quite far away from the city center loh… and oh, by the way, there are several quite famous seafood restaurant in the city center too, but it is rumoured that they charge almost 40% higher than if one were to eat at the outskirts of the city.
Shouldn't it be Fishermen's Village?
Prawns... fresh and sweet...
Clams... fresh and sweet...
Sabah Vege... fresh and sweet :P
Sea cucumber soup...
The amazing butter fried crabs... must try!!!
Seashell like thingy... (not available in normal restaurants in West M'sia)
This is what's inside...
The most delicious dish of all... thai style fish
RM456.38 for the above dishes...
So, what do we do after we eat? Eat again, of course! One of my our Sabah friend offered to drive us around to have a peek at Kota Kinabalu and pretty soon, we were at one of the numerous beach in KK. If you don’t know, KK is near the seaside and most of KK are actually reclaimed land. However, as it was very dark and there are no streetlamps at the beach, we were unable to take any breathtaking pictures of the sea… and since it’s a public beach, so it wasn’t really that nice. Anyway, there is a food court near the beach and pretty soon, we were seated at one of the tables. Our Sabah friend once again introduced us to a drink that I have never encountered in West Malaysia… avocado. Huh? Isn’t avocado used in those facial washing products? Called ‘buah susu’ by the locals, the avocado juice was smooth and milky. Tasteless by itself, the avocado is supposed to be consumed with condensed milk. I must say that for anyone visiting Sabah, they really should try this avocado juice. It’s almost like yogurt… full-bodied and sweet… not to mention good for skin complexion (as if I need any help in that area).
Avocado juice... really must try it!!!
After recharging our youthful skins, we proceeded to one of the 5-star hotel available in Kota Kinabalu. There, we visited the toilet (sorry, no pictures), and also the famed seaport where rich people from all over the world parked their ships here. It was said that the rent here in one month is more than enough to cover for one year rent in a 5-star hotel! Well, I could not confirm this rumour since I don’t have any rich friends… well, you all should really work harder so that I can have some rich friends!
Rich people's ships... sigh when can I get one?
It was way past midnight when we finished taking our pictures of the ships. Since we are supposed to be taking part of some extreme sport the next day, we decided to retire for the day. We went back to the lodge and found that the door was locked! We were planning to scream “Fire! Fire!” when we noticed a bobbing head at the counter. So, we press the bell at the front door (what? Didn’t noticed it earlier mah) and we went to our respective rooms. It was around 1a.m. when darkness enclosed over me…
3 comments:
Hah! I KNEW it had something to do with your blog when you asked me about claypot and sea cucumber :P Anyway, interesting post and I wanted to tell you AirAsia now has RM200 voucher for the customers if they delay their flight for more than 3 hours and inform you in less than 24 hours. :) Also, I'm not sure about AirAsia, but for Fireflyz, if they inform you that their flight is cancelled, we could actually switch to another flight. :) For free of course.
The seafood dinner is quite expensive leh... the prawns did not look big at all also.
What a waste having you eating and not appreciating all those seafood.:P
All in all, it sounded like quite an eventful day.
iamthewitch: AA did give us another flight, but it was their disregard to the disruption of other people's plans that angers me.
cy lee: not a waste lah, I did have the heavenly crabs and the unbelieveably delicious fish... besides, having seafood is a must when one visit Sabah
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