Kota Kinabalu: Spa

I have a soft spot for the spa. Kalau orang lain drool tengok catalog LV ke Coach ke, I drool tengok spa menu. Tapi bila holiday je la boleh excited pegi spa sebab in KL mana ada time nak ber spa bagai. Nak curi masa pegi monthly facial pun bercinta! During this KK trip, I managed to squeeze some “me” time with a facial treatment and body massage. Bliss!

These are a few pictures of Chi Spa, Shangri-La Tanjung Aru. Enjoy the view.

The spa view from the pool area – it’s an island own its own. It was a wet evening, baru lepas hujan

The walkway leading up to the entrance of the spa

Masuk je entrance terus jumpa reception. Then there’s another entrance behind this fountain to the mini garden that leads to the mini villas where treatments are done

Ni entrance mini garden tuuu…Saya terkesima kejap. Cantiknye!

Each mini villa ada bath tub sendiri – it’s an open air but very private. Wished I had more time to mandi here but my treatment doesn’t include one. Kena amik full package yang ada massage, scrub,wrap which is about 4 hours! That’s a bit too long for me to leave the kids

Tu je gambar yang sempat amik. Gambar lain in the treatment room semua tak dapat nak snap coz my phone already in the locker dah.

So that wraps my KK trip. Good memories I must say. Would love to come again someday. InsyaAllah.

-Pu3-

Kota Kinabalu 2012: Day 3

Today was the island and beach day.

After breakfast, we went to the Jesselton Ferry terminal to get to Manukan Island. There are 5 neighbouring islands altogether (Manukan, Sapi, Mamutik, Gaya and Suluk) but we chose Manukan coz that’s the most popular and dekat la jugak. About 20 minutes boat ride je. Speed boat tau. Gee at first thought ala2 ferry macam pi Langkawi tu. I said no dear, it’s an open air speed boat!

The fees for the boat ride is RM23 for adult and RM18 for kids. Pastu additional tax is RM7.20 for adult and RM3.60 for kids. We were lucky coz we managed to get a boat all by ourselves tak payah sharing dengan orang lain. Also the boat guy gave us his number for us to contact him bila nak balik dia datang pick up. IY excited naik boat tu. Laju woo angin kuat pukul muka. I was mesmerized by the view. Cantik sangat!

At the ferry terminal

The boat ride

Entrance to Manukan Island. See my sling bag? I managed to squeeze the DSLR inside there! No bulky camera bag for this trip. Yeay berjaya!

It was still early when we reached the island. Dalam kul 9am-ish camtu but the sun was up macam dah pukul 1-2 noon je. Nak masuk island kena bayar RM3 (adult) and RM1 (kids) for island entrance fees. We walked around a little bit nak cari spot to hang out. Dah ramai orang la jugak masa tu banyak spot yang teduh dah di-chop orang. But we found one eventually. Mula2 we wanted to do some snorkelling tapi later dah seronok pulak layan the kids main sand castle and main ombak terus malas dah nak bersalin baju bagai. We are not diving enthusiast anyways. So tak kisah sangat la. There was a place where people could rent the snorkelling equipment. Ramai orang yang pegi snorkeling. I was in the impression that kalau nak pegi snorkeling we naik boat and turun dari boat bila dah sampai jauh sikit tapi rupanya kena jalan sendiri from the beach and swim sendiri to the designated area. Fish banyak kat situ. We were not supposed to feed the fish tau (although I see lotsa people buat jugak..hmm!).

The beautiful island

Z had a great time in the water whilst the putera lilin abang was happy under the shady area building sand castles. Dia tak nak masuk air. Entah apa yang dia takut entah lah. There was this incident masa jalan kat trail leading to the beach tu there was this big baby biawak crossing the walkpath through IY’s feet. Boy he was screaming like nobody’s business. Kesian abang. Terus phobia nak berjalan kat situ. Terus mintak dukung. Aiyakk!

Sun-burnt!

About noon we made a move back to town. Z was a little cranky by then coz he missed his morning nap. We headed back to the city centre for lunch at the restaurant at the ferry terminal. Makan nasi ala2 Sari Ratu. Then singgah the Filipino Market to get the pearls and fridge magnets I wanted. Memang rambang mata! Tapi masa tu we were in a hurry la jugak coz it was already raining and Z pun dah lena. Gee waited in the car while we had a quick shopping spree!

On our way back. Adik dah lena dibuai angin laut. Nasib baik bawak spare susu dia in a bottle. I wouldn’t know how to bf him on the boat!

Rows of rows of pearl brooches, pearl butang baju, pearl accesories at a very good bargain. Oh btw, IY wanted that monkey. Tiba2 je nak beli soft toy sejak dah besar ni. Tak penah2 mintak. Tapi comel la monkey tuu. Bila tekan perut monkey tu ada bunyi kiss then it says “I LOVE YOU!”.

Hohh! Banyak nye gambar in one entry! I guess I’ll continue my spa story next. Till then.. toodles peeps!

-Pu3-

Kota Kinabalu 2012: Day 2

6am++ dah cerah! Memang terasa jet lagged sikit. Konon la. Keh keh keh!

Waking up to this view..Subhanallah!

It’s day 2 and my parents wanted to drive up to Kundasang. Sebab my dad nak pegi ke kaki Gunung Kinabalu. Since it’s a 2-3 hours drive away and activity hanyalah menikmati pemandangan alam sekitar, we opted to stay at the hotel. Nak bawak the boys naik kereta drive macam balik kampung? With no car seat somemore?? Are you kidding me? Kejung tangan saya nak pegang little Z tu yang macam ulat beluncas kalau tak duduk car seat.

My sis sent me breathtaking pictures while they were on their day trip

So what was our activity? Waterplay of course! Dengan mak nye sekali turun padang. Lepas gian! We had breakfast in our room before heading down to the mini theme park and pool area. I got a few stares from the anak mat salleh. Mesti depa ingat what is this lady wearing kan? Macam nak turun scuba je. Oh I don’t care with the stares (eh rhyme!). I had a great time going down the slides with my  boys.

Breakfast in bed – one big American breakfast boleh share 4 orang

Waterplay was fun!

Later we went out for lunch kat town. First we went to check out the Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal for our next day boat ride. Survey dulu ticket price, boat schedule and destination. It was blazing hot! Zayyan was sleeping soundly in his stroller kesian pulak kalau nak makan outdoor dalam panas terik tu. So we went to Suria Sabah Mall just right beside the jetty. Dalam mall sejuk la sikit kan nak makan dengan tenang dan aman. Eh tapi tak aman sangat la sebab Ilhan sibuk main bawah meja. 😛

Jesselton Point – jetty for boat rides to the neighbouring islands

After lunch, I wanted to go to the Filipino Market to get few souvenirs but most of the kedai was closed sebab Hari Raya Aidiladha. Takpe lah, we will come again tomorrow. Filipino Market or the Pasar Kraftangan located in front of Le Meridien hotel is the bazaar where you can get the handcrafts and souvenirs especially the Sabah pearls. I dah set target nak beli the pearls brooches. We didn’t go to the malls along the street like 1Borneo or Warisan Square pun. We had no shopping plans. So just lalu je.

When we got back to the hotel, IY dah ajak turun beach. Unfortunately, it rained. Gee wanted to nap for a little bit so I took the kids out for a walk – to my parents’ room. We didn’t get a neighbouring room masa check in. Kena jalan jauh sikit nak pegi their rooms. Terperap la dalam bilik sampai Maghrib. The kids had fun tho.

Activity dalam hujan

Malam after Isyak the kids dah lena tido. I took the (rare) opportunity to the spa. Sempat la ber facial kejap sejam dua. Thanks to hubby for babysitting the (sleeping) kids. Will story more about the spa experience in my next entry k? To be continued!

End of day 2.

-Pu3-

Kota Kinabalu 2012: Day 1

The departure

We started the day early. Wayyy too early. Our flight was at 825am so we had the taxi to pick us up at 530am. I was up since 4! Waking up IY was easy because he has been briefed over and over about our beach holiday. If only it was this easy to wake him up for school everyday. Haihh!

I was nervous coz it’s Z’s first plane ride. But he behaved so well through out the journey. He slept mostly the whole time when I bf him so that was a huge a relief.  There was a point he was already restless masa lagi 1/2 hour nak sampai. What I did? Took him for an isle walk. Jalan ke depan ke belakang 2-3 round. IY on the other hand was being like himself la. The usual him – loud and hyper and tak reti duduk diam. Tak tido pun dalam plane. He was all excited about the plane ride. Although ada TV but he was not so interested. Maybe sebab tak de headphone kot. He kept asking kenapa takde suara Phineas and Ferb ni? Headphone just for international flight only. Nasib baik la 2 jam je.

We just landed. Ini adalah IY yang tengah kemaruk dengan Ninja Warriors. Dia siap cakap “I’m at stage 2 mom”. Thanks Disney XD! *Haihh!*

Spot IY!

We kept drilling him on emergency situation like if he got lost and couldn’t find us. Just stop and shout and shout “Mama! Ayah! Mama! Ayah! Abang kat sini!!!”.  Also to look for the polic/security with the unifom. At KK we kept asking him “kita duduk hotel mana? kalau abang tak jumpa mama abang kena buat apa? Nama mama apa? Nama ayah apa?”. I think at one point maybe he got bored with this little “game”. Macam main pop kuiz gitu.

The arrival

We arrived KK 11am and went straight to the car rental company. Rented 2 biji Hyundai Matrix and drove to the hotel. Oh by the way, our luggage got stuck in KL (it was on the next flight to KK). Bags my family lain ok je. Dunno la what happened. I decided not to freak out (which probably I would on normal circumstances!) coz this was a holiday. I promise myself not to stress myself out. Coz this was a holiday. On a holiday kita tak boleh stress kan? Kan? Anyway, MAS crew was super efficient. The next flight touchdown KK at 3pm and they send it straight to the hotel. Hotel pulak send it straight to our room. Thanks!!

At the immigration, we just need to show our IC and will be given  a slip. Keep this slip and masa balik nanti kasi balik kat immigration. But if bawak passport, they will stamp on it lagi senang dan cepat. Next time bawak passport je lah. Next time? Eh?

While waiting for other bags yang selamat sampai ke destinasi

The hotel

We stayed at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru. Got a super deal 50% off the normal rates. Best gile! Even Agoda couldn’t beat that! Nasib baik hati ni tergerak nak call hotel and ask if they had any promo going on. The hotel was great! Sangat cantik! Ada mini waterpark with slides, spa, private beach and kids zone. Kids zone tu macam playroom but they have activities for kids. Ada babysitters sekali if parents wanted to leave their kids there. Kat area pool/beach ada service to braid your hair and foot reflexology. The slides can be enjoyed by the adults too. Interesting!

We had lunch kat hotel while waiting for our room. Sempat la jalan2 kejap checkout the hotel surroundings. During the check-in process kat lobby, adults were served lemonades and kids were given a welcome pack. Dalam tu ada Milo sekotak and crayons and coloring sheets. IY was quite occupied for a while. After makan lunch, our rooms were ready, we had a quick nap. Penatss! All 4 of us terbongkang tidoq! Ye lah, bangun 4 pagi kannn! Sepatutnya petang tu after Asar we wanted to play some sand at the beach since the weather was nice. But the kids slept through sampai Maghrib. Dah la kat sana 6pm dah sunset. So nothing much we could do lah on the first day tu. Biasala kalau travel with kids tak boleh nak plan too rigid sangat. Mesti ada yang terbabas jugak. Kena ikut rentak depa jugak. If not nanti anak stress, mak bapak lagiiii stress! Apakah ertinya holiday kalau stress sebegitu?

Shangri-La Tanjung Aru – Thumbs up!

After Maghrib we drove around town to look for dinner. Tapi tak jumpa yang berkenan di hati. So pusing2 town je la and balik hotel makan. We called it a day and lepak bilik je. First day tak de apa sangat la yang happening. Nasib baik hotel ni best so tak keluar pun takpe. We still enjoyed ourselves indoor.

Will continue lagi nanti. Day 2 and 3 coming up!

-Pu3-