BORNEO ISLAND
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this was supposed to be my farewell trip with friends - well it is a beautiful place. i would really recommend BORNEO/ SABAH/ KOTA KINABALU to anyone who wants a quick vacation from singapore - you get to have the best of both worlds - not so bad island/ beaches (manukan, mamutik, etc) and still get to see mount kinabalu (2 hours drive away), really good food - from italian, to grilled seafood, wide array of markets and stalls, and shopping. i really did enjoy my trip, and it was a great way to spend my last few days in singapore before heading back home.



this was our room in jesselton hotel along gaya street in the town center. my share was roughly S$178 for 3 nights, which means it was around S$120 per night. of course there are better 5 star hotels - hyatt, etc, but i like this boutique hotel.

on the first day, we decided to head off to jesselton point or their ferry terminal which would take you to the different islands around Borneo - paid around MYR40 for both ways.


nice boat, and the good thing is it takes less than 30 minutes to be there, so i didn't get sea sick.


the water was the saltiest i ever tried, i don't understand why, i get a throat-ache whenever i would taste the water. the beach was okay, the corals are not that great, i have seen better.


the island is beautiful especially the water, i wish we could have stayed longer though.


i am not sure f this is mamutk island - we just went to 2 islands since they are the best ones.


it was also good that the water is calm and the weather was fantastic, we were a bit worries since weather forecast says it there will be thunderstorm and things of that nature. fortunately, there wasn't any on that weekend.


mamutik island is very serene and quiet. a cool place to reflect and do any "sabbatical" sort of things. HAHA!


i ordered fresh watermelon juice and fried rice for lunch. now more than ever, i am really enjoying fruits, not in its whole form, but in liquid. manang made me pear and orange juice yesterday, and today was mix of pineapple and apple. she asked me whether i want to put celery, bellpepper in it, and i said no.


we headed home around 4pm, and slept a bit since we were all tired. we headed to the filipino market to get dinner. we had fresh grilled seafood, yum!

next post will be on our trip to mount kinabalu, and some more interesting stuff.