KK Adventures: Exploring KPark and Poring Hot Spring (Part 1 of 4)

WITH the help of cheap airfares and a couple of internet research, we have finally rewarded ourselves of a few days off to recharge.

Together with my fave travel buddy, Claudette, we have packed our bags and headed straight to the adventure that awaits us in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia.

We stayed there for almost a week and going home with a lot of stories to share, this travel log will be divided to four parts.As always, this is a budget-friendly vacation so watch out for the budget summary in Part four (*wink!).

A short background: Sabah is a Malaysian State located in the northern part of the Island of Borneo with Kota Kinabalu as its capital city. Kota Kinabalu or KK is just a 2-hour flight away from Manila.The city is the home of Southeast Asia’s highest peak: Mt. Kinabalu which was the major reason on why we chose KK.

The beautiful Mt. Kinabalu from the viewing deck at Nabalu Town.

The Tour

Claudette and I arrived at around 2 am at our hotel which we booked on Airbnb, took a short power nap and headed off our booked tour at around 7am. We booked our Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot Spring tour with Amazing Borneo Tours.

Travel time going to Ranau town took about 3 hours and we are thankful of the spacious bus that Amazing Borneo provided for us so we can take some naps along the way. We mostly stayed awake during the trip because of the pretty view especially on the portion where Mt. Kinabalu was already visible.

Souvenirs sold at Nabalu town.

Our first stop during the tour was in Nabalu Town wherein you can grab a quick snack, buy fruits and souvenirs and also view Mt. Kinabalu. The mountain’s cone was surrounded with clouds during our stop but it was still a beautiful sight nonetheless.

Walking on Tree Canopy Walkways.

We then headed to Poring Hot Spring in Ranau wherein we had our first major activity which was the famous canopy walk. Hiking up to where the canopies are located is very exhausting but the experience was worth it. It was not scary at all for us but we felt a little dizzy after since the walkways were shaky. After the exhausting walk, we then soaked our tired feet in the warm hot spring pool.

Inside Poring Hot Spring.

Resting my tired feet after walking.

Our Poring Hot Spring adventure ended at around past noon and we then proceeded to lunch at Kinabalu Park. Going out the bus at KPark, we were instantly greeted by the cold weather it was very relaxing.

Inside KPark.

Our very energetic tour guide from Amazing Borneo Tours.

Another fun fact: Kinabalu Park is Malaysia’s first World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The park also serves as the starting point going up the 4,095 meters high Mt. Kinabalu.

After lunch, we then proceeded to stroll inside the park and went on a short tour in KPark’s Botanical Gardento cap off the tour where we had a glimpse of the different plants and flowers in the area.

Me and my travel buddy!

That is all for the first part of our trip! Read up next week to find out more of our KK adventures!

*Also published in Sun.Star Davao Newspaper on June 22, 2017*

Check out my travel vlog on this trip:

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Comments? Suggestions? Email me at: kriztja.labrador@gmail.com.