Kota Kinabalu

Introduction

The floating mosque at sunset

© All Rights Reserved Spinky

Kota Kinabalu is the capital city of the Malaysian province of Sabah, on the island of Borneo.

Kota Kinabalu is unlike any other Malaysian city. The architecture and ethnic mix of people is quite distinct from other places in Western Malaysia.

Neighbourhoods

A quick ride on a speed Boat from Jesselton Piont, north of town, will take you to the TAR Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park A bunch of Islands off KK's shore. 23 ringitt return to Manukan Island plus Park admission fee 12 ringitt.

Other 4 island are grouped around. Pulau Gaya, Sapi, Mamutik, Sulug and one can buy a tour of the islands or choose to camp either on Gaja and Manukan.

It is a good escape from the heat of KK; on Pulau Manukan and can lay on the nice beaches, walk on a trail around the island or hire finns and snorkel to see some coral fish or indulge under shady trees with the Beach Restaurant's delicacies.

Sights and Activities

Most of the activities in Kota Kinabalu are centred along the corniche, where most of the restaurants and shopping malls are located.

• Pulau Gaya
• Mount Kinabalu (Malay: Gunung Kinabalu)

Events and Festivals

• Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon - First to the summit of Mount Kinabalu wins. A gruelling race, with competitors aiming to complete the 21km course (up and down the mountain) in under 3 hours. This annual event is usually held in the month of August or September.

Weather

Kota Kinabalu, like the rest of Malaysia, has a tropical climate with hot and humid conditions year round. Temperatures usually are around 32 °C during the day and around 24 °C at night. Although there is no distinctive dry season, the months of June to December, in general, are wetter than January to April. Torrential rain is possible at anytime and sometimes up to 500 mm of rain a month is not unheard of.

Getting There

By Plane

Kota Kinabalu International Airport (IATA: BKI) is Sabah's international gateway and is located 8 kilometres from the city of Kota Kinabalu. It is the second busiest airport in Malaysia. Airlines with flights servicing Kota Kinabalu include Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, Dragonair, Korean Air and Silk Air.

There are many daily flights to Kota Kinabalu from Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru in the peninsula; Kuching and Miri in Sarawak; Sandakan and Tawau in Sabah. The flight duration is approximately 2.5 hours from the peninsula. Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia service these routes but book at least a month ahead to get good rates. AirAsia and other budget airlines operate from the Terminal 2 of the airport.

By Train

There is no train service going into or out of Kota Kinabalu.

By Car

By Bus

There is a regular bus service to Sandakan from Kota Kinabalu, and there are also regular connections southwards towards Sarawak and Brunei, sometimes with a change of buses (or boats).

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

The public buses do not serve a large part of the city, so taxis are better - but also more expensive. Still, if on a tight budget and fancy a walk,from the Airport the cheapest ride to town is by bus. Walk about 600 mt. to the right out of the airport and at the junction take right again. About 60 mt and across the street there is a bus stop. It will cost you2 ringit to the bus terminus on jl Hail Salman in the core of KK

By Train

Take the famous local toy-train, originally built by the British to haul sugar cane, from Kota Kinabalu to Tenom.

By Foot

One can probably walk around the corniche as most of the shopping plazas and the coffee shops are located there.

By Bike

Eat

One dish that you should definitely check out while in Malaysia is satay, which is pretty much the national food. Start the day with a breakfast of "roti canai" and kopi (coffee).

On Sunday mornings try cheap local taka away food and fruit at the Bazar or local market along Jalan Gaya or in the late afternoon on Jalan Sembilanbelas (between the waterfront and Jl Tun Razak) where, with 5 ringgit, one can walk away with bags of food such as bananas fried in front of you and rice with various sides.

You will constantly smell a sweetish scent in the air where food is been cooked. It's the odour of the Palm oil used in every Malaysian preparation for deep frying and cooking.

Try the local small "lady finger" bananas. One can buy a bunch of 6/7 of them at the Bazar. The flavour is sweet and tasty as no other bananas you have ever tasted and the colour of the pulp is yellow almost like its peel.

Drink

Sleep

Budget

• Aunt Lucy's hostel is located in the centre of the town. It's a good, cosy place, but quite small. It has great views of the city from the balcony.
• Akinabalu Youth Hostel is highly recommended. Good location, clean, friendly and plenty home comforts. Book ahead.
• Borneo Global Backpackers provides dorm and private rooms. (Location: Lot No. 29, Karamunsing Godown, Jalan Karamunsing. Ph: 088 – 270976)
• Summer Lodge is clean and well run. Rooms/dorms are quite small.
• Borneo BeacHouse Bacpacker Convenient if arriving late, you can spare the 15/25 ringit taxi ride since Is located 10 mins. by foot from the airport 30 mt. past the junction with the main road. It is clean and with a nice garden, Veranda and living room. Big kitchen for self catering. A large double bed room with fan and woodden floor for around 55/60 ringit. Ph+60-88218331 borneo.beachouse@gmail.com

For more information about budget accommodations in Kota Kinabalu including travellers ratings:

Mid-Range

Upscale

A lot of upscale accommodation can easily be booked into with most of the top hotel chains open.

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

Pos Malaysia is the national postal service of Malaysia. Rates for sending a standard letter locally is 30 sen (20 gram) to 40 sen (up to 50 gram). International airmail has minimum rates ranging from RM1.00 to RM2.00, depending on destination. It costs 20 sen to send a postcard or aerogramme locally, or 50 sen to send a postcard or aerogramme to anywhere in the world.

Expedited Mail Service (EMS), branded locally as Poslaju, is available for both domestic and international destinations. Domestic EMS has a next day delivery guarantee. International EMS guarantees mails and parcels to be delivered out of the country by the following day. The time required to arrive at its destination will depend on clearance by authorities and the postal service of the destination country. For most countries, delivery of documents can be done in 3 to 5 days.

Generally, post offices are open from 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday to Saturday, except the first Saturday of the month. They are closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.