Beauty In Darkness: Borneo In Nature

Again, we woke up as early as 5am. We bought a bottle of drinking water and a pack of buns (tak sedap!). Masih hujan rintik-rintik. Alahai…nampak ke nanti Gunung Kinabalu ni…

The hotel staff drew us the way to Kundasang on a free map. We had to follow the path to Tamparuli before we reached Kundasang. I was asleep all the way dek kesejukan bukit-bukau sepanjang jalan. Sian hubby drive sorang-sorang tapi dia dah biasa sebab I memang suka tido dalam keta. Hehe!

After 1 and half hours, we reached Kundasang. Hubby woke me up and shouted,

“Dah sampaiiiiiii! Bangun! Bangun!”

I opened my eyes wider than his right after I saw one big mountain on my left.

“Wahhhhhhhh cantiknyeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Hubby looked at me and said,

“Ayang…tu bukan Gunung Kinabalu…tu baru anak-anak dia…”

I terdiam and cakap…

“Tak kira la bukan Kinabalu ke ape ke, I nak amik gak gambar! Cantiknyeeeee! Banyak kabusss!”

Maklum la tak penah pegi Sabah, so tatau la yang mana satu Gunung Kinabalu nyer. While mesmerizing and fascinating no-name-mountains around me, hubby started to tell a story. He told me that a guy named Akinabalu had a deep heartbreaking after he lost his wife and kids. He later brought his duka lara heart and went to climb Gunung Kinabalu and lost without any track. Vanished. And that is where Gunung Kinabalu got its name. Ooooo…

We stopped at one place called Ferata since I insisted hubby to do so. A couple of guys were there to ‘melunaskan hajat’ di tepi dinding belakang pokok. Cis! We started to snap few pictures before we headed to Kundasang, the right place to view Mount Kinabalu. Terasa nak terkencing pulak! I urged hubby to find a place for me to you-know-what. He started the engine and looked for one resort that he used to stop…but dari naik bukit dah sampai nak turun bukit, tak jumpa-jumpa jugak resort tu!

We turned back and tried our luck at one new resort called Kinabalu Pine Resorts. It was located exactly in front of Mount Kinabalu. This could be the resort that hubby datang dulu. We parked in front of one of the room. Lepas ke toilet, kitorang tuju ke satu tempat hoteliers lepak, dari situ, bleh view Mount Kinabalu! MALANGNYEEEEEE KABUS MELIPUTI GUNUNG ITU YANG MANA KITORANG TAK DAPAT NAK TENGOK PUNCAKNYEEEEEE! Sakit hati tak? Datang awal-awal, tapi tak dapat tengok puncak…sigh…

We snapped few pictures kat area resort tu termasuklah kat area bawah resort tu. From there, memang nampak sayup rumah-rumah penanam sayur di kaki gunung. Sangat aman dan damai. Peacefullll sangat! Kekadang, nampak jugak awan yang bergerak laju, kira nampak gak la puncak tu skit-skit di celah-celah awan tu. Jadi la…

We really had a short time to waste here as we had to return back to hotel and fly back to KL. Kereta patutnyer hantar jam 10am, tapi I dah extend to 2pm. Hotel plak problem sebab tak bagitau nak checkout lambat! Details semua kat dalam bilik! Arghhhh! I straight away call my sis in Perak, forced her to logon to Internet and find me the hotel number! Thank god, my bro in law tengah surf Internet! Terus dapat number and we managed to let the hotel know that kitorang nak late checkout! At most diorang kasi was 1pm. Nasib baik cekap!

Later we turned back to Kundasang, the place we they put vegetables on the market, means they plant and sell veges la. Semua fresh gile and sangat cantik! I chosed 3 types of mushrooms and I got it for RM10, a pack of three of capsicums for RM3, and hubby got a pack of daun bawang yang sangatttttttttt gemuk dan besar + carrot + kacang buncis for RM5. Melampau kan? Beli sayur kat KK bawak balik ke KL macam kat KL tak leh dapat! Memang tak leh dapat, especially daun bawang yang besar gedabak tu!

Then we saw one makcik selling air panas yang dibancuh disitu jugak bersama bihun goreng and nasik lemak dalam plastic kecik. Menarik nih! Bleh breakfast! We approached her and ordered for one milo, one teh tarik, one bihun and one nasik lemak. Total for all was only RM3.40!!! Nasik lemak and bihun goreng tu Rm0.50 each! Ya Rabbiiiiii! Murah gile! Tapau!

“Nak makan kat mana ni?”

“Dalam keta je la…kita gi tempat lain, bukannya nampak puncak pun, kabus tebal…”

Dengan perasaan yang sangat frust, kitorang gerak ke Kinabalu Park. Before that sempat singgah ke Kundasang War Memorial tapi tak bukak lagi. Tangkap gambar kat pintu je la ye. Pastu gerak ke Kinabalu Park. Bayar RM7 and we entered the park. Naik kereta je pusing park tu. Sampai satu area ni, we saw one mat saleh dok tangkap gambar. I asked hubby to park at the pedestrian and kitorang makan dulu. MasyaAllahhhhhh sedap gile kay bihun ngan nasik lemak tadi!!! Menyesal tak beli sorang 2!!! Dah la air panas, cuaca sejuk, dah macam kat oversea! Hahaha!

Lepas abis makan, kitorang turun. Amazingly, I tak pakai baju sejuk langsung tau. Hubby je pakai. Untuk menampakkan kesejukan di dalam gambar, I pakai jugak la sweater Eskimo I tu. Hehe! We walked down the trail and saw ONE BIG RAFFLESIA (buatan). Ape lagi, tak dapat yang real, yang tipu pun jadi la. Sampai kaki I termasuk dalam kawasan yang lecah sebab ada air kat situ. Eiiiii! Hubby plak panjat bunga tu, amik gambar. Comel! Haha!

Then we walked down the other trail, this time jumpa jambatan plak. So macam biasa, amik gambar sana sini. Bunga tah pape jadi subject untuk photo session macro. Bukannyer cantik pun. Takpe la. Lepas dah bosan, kitorang ke Botanical Garden plak. Nak masuk kena bayar. Tapi sebab budak tu kata takde pape, just bunga/pokok hutan, takde rafflesia sebenar pun, kitorang tak jadi la masuk. Just amik gambar kat luar-luar tu je.

Tetiba hubby nampak Cawan! We quickly hide behind the building, konon nak surprisekan diorang. Tapi hampeh, lama gile tunggu, diorang tak masuk pun. So hubby and I continued to take pictures. While we ducking at one small jambatan, amik gambar sungai, baru diorang lalu. Buat-buat tak kenal tapi diorang kenal my sweater! Hahaha! Kantoi! They paid and went inside but diorang cakap takde pe pun, buat rugi je. Nasib baik tak masuk!

Lepas tu kitorang berpecah. Diorang baru nak gi Kundasang, while kitorang dah nak gerak balik. On the way out from Kinabalu Park, we stopped by the entrance and snapped few pictures. Ada satu kawasan tu, dapat la tengok puncak Kinabalu kejap sebab awan dah start clear sebab nak tengah hari skit. Dapat la amik gambar skit. Patu kitorang gerak ke Ferata tu balik.

Sampai Ferata, cuaca makin cerah. Turun, amik gambar. This time, ramai orang dah kat situ. Macam-macam aksi dah. Siap ada satu pompuan ni dok buat video clip lagu Sabah. Hahaha! Miming! Ada gak orang Semenanjung kat situ dok amik gambar. Tak tau la Low’s Peak ke, Ugly Sister’s Peak ke, kitorang belasah je amik gambar puncak tu. Janji puas!

Then kitorang gerak balik. On the way tu ada satu stop, tak tau nama pe, ada banyak jual souvenirs. Hubby beli satu t-shirt. Me too. But I belikan 3 helai t-shirts for my bro and bro in laws. Padahal dah suruh Na beli kat Jalan Gaya esok sekaligus ngan baju my nieces and nephews. Nak sms, handphone Na and Cawan dua-dua kong. Tawakal je la. (Dah balik KL, nasib baik Na tak beli baju untuk my bro and bro in laws, mahal katanya! Fuh, telepati sungguh!)

Sampai hotel, terus kemas and check out. Nak makan, takut kang terlebih masa kat airport. So kitorang singgah ke Tanjung Aru for sightseeing. Tu pun tak masuk dalam sebab kena bayar, gile. Takpe la, tak cun pun. Then we headed to KKIA Terminal 2. Lepas hantar kereta (we got charged RM15 per hour instead of RM30, hasil daripada kegaranganku di dalam email sebab tak puas hati ngan harga diorang…hehe!) kitorang gi lunch kat Asia Café. Then lepak kejap sampai tertido hubby dibuatnyer. Before that elok je dok bergambar kat bendera Sabah. Haha!

Masa check in, mintak seat sebelah-sebelah siap-siap. Takut nanti jadi macam masa nak datang haritu. Nasib baik dapat. Naik flight, tido. Sampai LCCT, amik keta, kena RM107. HAMIK KO!