The higher side of Kota Kinabalu (KK), Sabah
Hello again! Been busy and haven't been able to post anything lately. So here's one! Oh, and sorry if the pics are disoriented, not sure how to adjust them here :(
My older sister married a Sabahan and her family currently resides there. I went and paid a visit recently to also welcome my newborn niece. Sabah has been somewhere that has a soft spot in my heart. It has the best of both worlds, the island life and the highland life. I have visited KK probably over 5 times, and have only been familiar with the island attractions. This trip though, I made it to the highlands that somewhat resembles the landscape of New Zealand! It felt like I wasn't in Malaysia anymore. Here are some pictures so you see what I mean:
We rented a van, approximately RM300 for a 2-day rental and near 2.5hr drive up to Kundasang. The drive up is beautiful, as you get to see the lush greenery of KK and the air is cooler the higher you go. This was our view when we were nearing the dairy farm.
Once we reached the dairy farm, known as Desa Dairy Farm is RM5 per adult for entry, and RM4 for kids, below 3 is free. This was the view from the farm. The air was so fresh and the grass, immensely green!
One of the main attractions at the farm was of course the feeding barn for the calfs. You get to feed them bottles of milk, RM2.50 each I believe and to feed grass is RM1.50 for a batch. It can get messy! They also had kids you could feed (baby goats, not the humans, lol). It smells so be prepared if you ever visit! The place opens at 8.30am and most of the activities end around 4.30 so be sure to make it before then! They also sell its own dairy products, gelato ice cream and cheeses (starts at RM8).
Then we headed down to our stay, Kirim's Village. REally cute cottage-like vibe going on with gardens of various flowers species that greet you. It looked like where the smurfs lived! Our room was RM120 a night and fits 4 people. Pretty basic, pillows were kind of hard for my liking, but still value for money.
This plant, no idea what it was, but it looked like....you decide!
The view behind the cottage was of the mountain, very humbling once you walk up the road to catch a glimpse of it. And at night, you can catch the stars clearly but we had a full moon so that was all we saw.
I would definitely recommend visitors to go up to the highlands if you have the chance. Enjoy it and t hen head down to the beaches for the full Sabahan-experience! Hope this post helped any future travel plans you have :)