Saturday, April 2, 2011

Kota Kinabalu: March 2011 Vacation

Our most recent 6-days vacation at Kota Kinabalu during the week long school holiday.

Gorgeous blue sky. Beautiful stretch of white sandy beach. Very private and almost exclusive feel. Luxurious 5-star resort. Feasts. Sun. Swim. Naps. My book. Lots of laughter. Just family time. 



Every morning, we helped ourselves to numerous servings from the hotel's sumptuous breakfast buffet. When I am on vacation, I always insist on a kingly breakfast partaken leisurely. E knows this priority very well, so he always indulges me. 

It is only fair that I am not the only one permitted to savour life's simple pleasures. :> So we made it a point that as I nibbled my plates of savoury and sweet, my kids also got to consume as many pancakes and waffles as they fancied. Hmm..... No wonder they associate holidays with pancakes.


Pancakes and waffles with maple syrup, fried egg, sausage, hashbrown, yogurt and a glass of milk for his first meal of the day. I call this his vacationing appetite. 

My boys love beach holidays. At this charming resort, they spent about 6 to 7 hours of daylight by the beach. Digging, exploring, burying and just taking it all in.
 


A memorable moment. The discovery of a dead squid that was without tentacles. It stank big time and had started to decompose. But the kids were thrilled. 


Video: My 6 years old also spent an hour each day conquering waves. 

Loves how he smiled the whole time. Did you hear his little squeals of delight?  *.*


To the boys, this vacation is extra special, especially to Marcus, who developed a bond with the local hermit crabs. 

Video: Introducing Crabbie and Pincher. This video is so precious! I am so glad E took it. 

The highlight for the boys every morning was walking along the stretch of beach with daddy in search of their crabbie friends. They were sad every evening when they had to release them back to the sand. 




Some days, they would make a 'mountain' by the beach and leave the crabs at the summit, hoping that the crabs wouldn't be able to disappear into the sand. So they could still find them the next morning. No such luck. They had to start the search all over again everyday.

For a change, they had a light workout with a game of frisbee.


When it got too hot and tiring, a little fooling around in the shade with me was always welcome. 


This cheeky fellow tried to bury all sorts of junk he found by the beach. Here he was busy at work burying a plastic bottle. 



After hours by the beach and totally dehydrating ourselves out, the kids headed for a dip by the pool. When they were not indulging in water games and slides, they were stuffing their faces with delicious burgers from the kids' menu. 



He couldn't get enough of this Tong's Burger. Neither could E and I.

For a few afternoons, we also headed to the very well-managed Kids Club at the hotel for an hour, either to escape the brief afternoon showers or just chill. Of all the South-East Asian hotels that we have stayed in, this Kids Club  is probably the most well-maintained and best managed one.



Towards the end of the vacation, we booked ourselves for a 2-hr river cruise which included a non-eventful crab fishing activity and checking out a local village. This was a letdown compared to the more exciting day trips we had taken at Phuket and Langkawi


Some disappointment after the crab fishing. A little sulk. :> But he was cheered up very quickly. 



At one of the huts in the local village. Kind of an eye-opener for the kids to see how some people live. They were surprised to learn that these villagers live without electricity and fresh water supply directly to their homes.


Chip playing his piano piece "Monsieur Mouse'. I love how he was not shy in exploring the place and just tried out the instrument by himself.




As usual, the boys had so much fun during the holiday that they proclaimed their intentions to stay at Kota Kinabalu forever. Haha... 

A few days after our return, they still couldn't stop talking about their crabbies. M even shed a few emotional tears missing his tiny friends. 

One day, we shall be back. 

4 comments:

WaveSurfer said...

Wow looks like all of you had lots of fun! ^^

May I know which resort did you and family stay at? Sounds like a great place to rest & relax.

DG said...

We did. It was the Shangri-la.

Corsage@A Dollop Of Me said...

We were at the same resort sometime back (before becoming parents). I recall a pretty good Italian restaurant there! KK does have plenty to offer, the husband sometimes say we should retire there :)

DG said...

Ahh.. I like the resort for our brief stay, but haven't seen that much to come to same conclusion as your hubby. Should be an easy goal to buy a nice place there for retirement actually. We saw some beautiful places on the way to the airport.

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