Thursday, August 30, 2007

Borneo Tour

Part 2

Labuan

After few days in Kota Kinabalu city, we return to Labuan island by ferry.....and of course some of us scared get into ferry anymore cause the journey is bored and frustrated due to the rough sea condition.....and as usual....not feeling good bout that.....this time we guaranteed have a place to stay cause Peter's friend already booked in advance.....local people said that we can travel around the island just in 2hrs by land transportations......I myself initially do not believe that....."Is that true?" keeps on playing in my mind.....until our friend's boyfriend took us to travel one round of the island by car at night.....and after that 'Yeah, it is true." .......so the next morning we visited some of interest places by using Clement's aunt's car who live in Labuan......managed to go to Bird Park where a large variety of tropical birds exhibited.....that's one thing very interesting bout this park......all the birds live together in few very huge cages where we have to go inside as well to watch the birds which means that we had direct contacts with the birds.......fewer parks in the world have this kind of attraction for tourists......it's pretty cool.....Recreational Park....with old trees and some spectacular landscaping......however very poor in the maintenance such that no repairing and cleaning has done.....we also found a house tree in the park(pic on the right).......World War II Memorial......Malaysia's largest war grave......Peace Park......built as memorial and renunciation of the horrors of war.......Labuan Marine Museum.......exhibits a variety of marine life and sections on fishing and scuba diving.......Chimnney(pic on the left).....most well-known landmark in the island but the actual prupose of the chimney is still a mystery.......besides that, took a shourt tour in town.....visited a chinese temple......passed by some of the beaches, Surrender Point, Labuan Square, Financial Park and etc......as I mentioned just now......this island is small and thus we travelled the island just for overnight.......

Brunei Darussalam

So now we return to Brunei where we stayed for another day.......once we arrived......checked in into same hotel that we stayed before, Traders Inn......evening is approaching.....decided to check out Jerutong Park.......once a popular and attractive themepark with free entries and offered lots of games facilities......now becomes quiet and poor maintenance themepark with no more free entries and less games facilities since they changed the management there......however we managed to play some and had fun till midnight.....went for few rides in somekind of water-ride where definitely get wet in the themepark.....frankly speaking, really dissappointed with that.....nothing much to do here......before we leave the city, we went shopping for a while.....and headed back to north Sarawak, Miri city.......

Photographer : Johnny, Peter, Jui, Clement and Gary

Friday, August 10, 2007

Borneo Tour

Part 1

Travel around Borneo island.....five members in a group by a car and ferry.....for bout two weeks time.....

Clement, Peter, Gary, Jui and I (pic above : starting from left to the right) were traveling from town to town in Borneo island.....in the beginning, merely four of us started the journey from Kuching city in the morning straight to Bintulu town at night.....stayed overnight and continued our road trip to Miri city in the next morning......met up with Peter in Miri ......and now five of us together moving on to Brunei Darussalam on the same day.....

Brunei Darussalam

Once we crossed the border through international custom......something unexpected happened on the way to Bandar Seri Begawan......one of the car tyres punctured.....the only choice we had on that moment was.....change the tyre under humid, hot sun......luckily managed to find tyres workshop within half an hour.....did some checking and tyre replacement......no damage....no panic.....we moving on.......reached the city bout two hours later.....struggled to search for an accommodation cause darkness is approaching.....not easy cause the rates are too expensive......however we managed to get transportation to the international jetty for next morning and reasonable rate for our accommodation, Traders Inn......on the same night we went to one of the luxurious shopping mall in Brunei, The Mall (pic on the right) and night market nearby which housing more than 50 stalls selling local food such nasi katok, local desserts, and etc...... just one night in Brunei for the moment and we took a ferry to Kota Kinabalu city in Sabah through Labuan island on the following day.....

Kota Kinabalu

Reached in the late noon....after a long journey on ferry trip.....some of us felt dizzy and uncomfortable because of the ferry was facing strong waves.......once arrive, checked in Capital hotel located in the center of the city......took a short snap and we went for dinner in seafood foodstalls.....a simple but costly dinner.....merely short tour in the city cause midnight is approaching......the next morning we rent a car......quick tour in the city.....to Sabah museum (pic on the left) which consists documents and galleries of history of Sabah state.....Heritage Villages (pic on the right) which housing different kind of accommodations of different cultures .......Signal Hill Observatory where the view of the city can be seen here (pic above)......we also took a short tour in Sutera Harbour Resort and Tanjung Aru Resort cause their luxurious resorts are excellent in terms of interior designs, regular maintenances and offer lots of facilities.....Australian Place where merely two rows of shophouses which consist majority of backpacker hostels......and one more thing.....we had dim sum as breakfast (pic on the left) for two days in a row in Asia City Complex cause the dim sum are sold at reasonable prices and of course delicious......I just like those for my breakfast......finally at last but not least......handicraft market opens daily especially for tourists to grab some local souvenirs......


Photographer : Johnny, Peter, Jui, Clement and Gary