June 2011 – Beautifulkk

Hotel City Star

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Olombon

Hotel City Star is a mid-size accommodation with a total of 40 rooms. Providing a comfortable and convenient stay are the main aims of this hotel. All the rooms are fully furnished with modern facilities. Spilt-units air-conditioner, attached bathroom, television set with Astro channels, coffee and tea making facilities are provided for the ease and comfort of the guests. Being centrally situated at the heart of Sandakan town, guests will find that many commercial establishments, government offices, banks and shopping centres are with in walking distance.

This hotel is a five storey building, and it is serviced by a lift. Only two categories of rooms are available, namely standard and deluxe. Standard rooms are available in single or double, while the deluxe rooms have single, double and triple occupancy. These rooms are moderately spacious. Decoration is kept simple. Quality mattress are used. The main different for the two room types is the deluxe room comes with a mini bar. Compare to other nearby hotels, the room rates here is very affordable too.

Taste Chinese Restaurant

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Olombon

The Hakka Clan is a resilient and hard working group. Many of them were invited by the missionary during the late 19th century to come and open plantations in North Borneo, present day Sabah. Today the Hakka forms one of the largest clans in Sabah Chinese community. Like the rest of the Chinese community wherever they go, they will bring along their culinary skills. The Hakka is well known for some of their dishes like yam pork, stuffed tofu, and fried rice, to name but a few. Located at mile four and a half North Road Sandakan, Taste is a restaurant that specialises in Hakka Clan style of preparing mouth watering Chinese dishes.

The Taste Chinese Restaurant is a well planned and well organised restaurant. Let’s start with the ordering system. Self-ordering is preferred here and it can be done on a simple piece of paper where all the dishes and drinks served here are listed. The main dishes are also divided into large and small portions. Just tick on the items that you want and pass it on to the waiters. Highly recommended dishes are the dark vinegar pork leg, steamed pork with salted fish, duck with sour plum sauce, pineapple with chicken and yam pork. Many vegetables dishes are also available.

Sepilok Forest Edge Resort

Posted on June 8, 2011June 11, 2018 by Olombon

Adjacent to the Kabili Forest Reserve and just 800 metres away from the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, lies this classy and charming accommodation called Sepilok Forest Edge Resort. This establishment used to run a mere budget accommodation located away from the present compound and it was called Labuk B & B. Since moving to the present premise which have more rooms, chalets and better facilities the establishment has chosen to stick with the new name. This resort is well planned. The wooden chalets are placed apart from each other which ensures good privacy. These chalets also blend in very well with the surrounding forest. Budget option like dormitory is available too. Staying for a few days here will allow guests to take in the beautiful surroundings of the green forests, as well as having ample times to explore the nearby orangutan centre and the Discovery Rainforest Centre.

Wiya Chicken Rice and kopitiam

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Olombon

Live long enough in Kota Kinabalu, one would surely come across this chicken rice shop called Wiya Chicken Rice and kopitiam or in short Wiya in Segama complex. Established in 1976, Wiya is famous for its mouth-watering Hainan chicken rice. Not only Wiya’s chicken rice is popular with the locals, but its fame has reached all the way to Hong Kong, where many of the tourists will come looking for this kopitiam to have a taste of its delicious chicken rice.

Hainan Chicken rice is different from other chicken rice because of the process used in preparing the food. Here the chicken is steamed instead of roasted which is the more common method. Guests who want more out of the meal can add in the simple fried bean sprout or the fried green vegetable as side dishes to accompany the Chicken rice. The rice here is flavour by butter too and served in a pyramid shape. Note: the chicken rice is only ready after 10 am daily. Hong Kong style BBQ pork rice are also available.

Sandakan Memorial Park

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Olombon

Open daily: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Entrance fee is free.

The Sandakan Memorial Park commemorates a tragedy and an atrocity that happened during the Second World War (1942 to 1945). Where more than 2,400 prisoners-of-war consisting mainly Australian and British had perished under the brutal handling of the Japanese Imperial Army. After the war a group of committed people together with the Sabah government set up this memorial park to dedicate it to the prisoners-of-war and the soldiers who had served in the British Colonial Forces. Local civilians who had assisted the prisoners in many dangerous circumstances were also remembered here. The Memorial Park is also the place where the infamous death marches to Ranau began in 1945.

The Memorial Park which encompasses an area of 11 hectares is situated on the former site of the Prisoner-Of-War camp. During the war time the Prisoner-Of-War camp was much larger, about four times the present size. Many areas of the prison camp have been developed into housing estates, and today one can see that the Memorial Park is surrounded by residential units.

Popular Eateries in Downtown KK

Posted on June 5, 2011June 11, 2018 by Olombon

Of late Kota Kinabalu (KK) not only attracts thousands of travellers to its shore daily for its natural wonders, but many of these visitors also find the local foods very tempting. Today it is not uncommon to see tourists with a map on hand to look for these popular eateries in downtown KK, some of them even go hopping from one eatery to another, in search of that perfect taste. Most of these eateries only concentrate at one or two particular hawker style foods. And these are not the big restaurants that specialise in certain cuisine. The food pricing here is from budget to moderate, surely every one can afford to try some of them if not all. These popular eateries are in downtown KK, will be introduced street by street (below).

Gaya Street
Let’s start with the oldest street in KK, the famous Gaya Street which was known as Bond Street during the colonial era. Every Sunday this street will be closed for traffic where the Gaya Street Sunday Market will be held. Here many of the local traders will come and sell their produces and products.

Kedai Kopi Yee Fung

Tenom Agriculture Park

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Olombon

Opening days: Tuesday to Sunday, Monday closed.
Opening hours: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
Entrance Fee:
Adult ~ RM 25.00 (Foreigner), RM 10.00 (Malaysian)
Child below 13 years old ~ RM 10.00 (Foreigner), RM 5.00 (Malaysian)
Child under 6 years old ~ Free
Handicap ~ Free

While our ancestors had good knowledge of the plants and flowers in the country side, most of us have grown up with very little idea, if not none at all, and we are also very much unaware of the plants kingdom, and staying in the cities does not help either. A visit down to the Tenom Agriculture Park not only helps us to recover some of the long lost knowledge but also helps us to gain valuable tips on setting up a garden, be it large or small. Covering an area of more than 200 hectares, this botanic jewel features an impressive variety of flora. The flowers and plants here are arranged into many gardens, just the ornamental garden alone has in itself 21 themed gardens.

Perkasa Hotel Tenom

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Olombon

Tenom is a small town located deep in the Interior Residency of Sabah. The main tourist attractions here are the Tenom Agriculture Park, Murut Culture Centre, and the coffee plantation. This is also a good place if one needs a quiet place for retreat or just wants to get away from the rat race. While there are a few budget accommodations at the town, many would agree that the best hotel in Tenom will have to be the Perkasa Hotel. Located just 2 km away from the town and perched highly at a hill slope that overlooks the entire valley. This hotel provides guests with comfortable rooms, many useful facilities and most of all good services.

Firefly Bar & Grill

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Olombon

Located at the prestigious KK Times Square complex, just 1km away from downtown Kota Kinabalu (KK), Firefly Bar & Grill offers good dinner options, where Western style foods are served, and it also doubles up as an entertainment depot where a live band and DJs perform every night. While most Western food eateries in KK shy away from offering pork on their menus, Firefly Bar & Grill has lined up four to five pork platters for its customers to savor. Bacon & ham sandwich, crispy pork belly, honey glazed pork belly, pork chop Alfredo, and BBQ pork back ribs are what cooking at this place. Apart from pork, meats selection like beef, chicken, fish, lamb, oyster, prawn, and salmon can be ordered for the main course. Side orders like burger, pasta, salad and soup are also available. For drinks, Firefly has quite a large collection that includes beer, brandy, cognac, red & white wine, vodka and whisky. This is also the place to gulp down the new and popular Hoegaarden beer, which is original from Belgium.