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My Adventure At Kinabalu Park (Part 3)

Posted by : foongpc | Saturday, May 2, 2009 | Published in Kota Kinabalu, travel


If you have not been reading my blog, perhaps you may want to read Part 1 and Part 2 first before proceeding to Part 3.

Now let's continue from where I left off.

The sound of a child crying in the middle of the Kinabalu forests spooked me. It was not the first time I experienced strange encounters in the forest so I guess this would not be my last. Oh gosh, this reminded me too much of The Blair Witch Project!

Anyway, I walked towards the direction of the crying sound. It got louder and louder and I knew I was quite near to the source, yet I could see no one. Then all of a sudden, the crying stopped.

In the silence I could hear my own heartbeat.

Then a voice spoke, "Hello? Who's this?"

I walked a few steps and came out into a clearing. A teenage girl was talking on her handphone. Beside her, were two adults who were most probably her parents.

They saw me and smiled. I walked up to them and asked if they heard a child crying a minute ago. The two adults looked at each other and then shaking their heads, said no. The girl was still busy talking on her handphone.

"That's weird!" I said. "I heard a child crying near here. How come you did not hear it?"

"Are you sure it's the sound of a child crying? It could be an animal." The man spoke.

"I'm sure it's a child. It sounded human." I said, starting to freak out.

"We didn't hear anyone crying" the woman offered. "Or maybe... it's haunted here."

"Oh please..." I was really freaking out.

Then, all of a sudden, the teenage girl laughed. We all looked at her.

"Haha! I think it's my handphone." She said in between laughter. "It's my ring tone!"

She demonstrated the ring tone on her phone. The sound of a child crying came out loud and clear.

I was like, oh my God! It was a mixture of relief and embarrassment.

I told her, "For God's sake, stop using that ring tone here! It scared the hell out of me!"

Her parents then joined in the laughter. The mother told me she was so used to the ring tone she did not even realised the sound I heard came from her daughter's phone.

The girl apologised and then showed me her other unique ring tones. One was a child crying "Help me! Help me!" Another was a child saying "Hello? Hello?"

The ring tones may sound cute but I told her she had better not use any of those ring tones or she may just lead someone to a heart attack. Anyway, we had a good laugh about it and talked for a while. They were from Sandakan just coming for a visit to Kinabalu Park to escape the hot weather. They told me they like coming here.

I asked for direction to the Botanical Gardens and after waving goodbye, continued on my walk. I had better hurry. It was past 2pm and I had to make sure I leave the Park before 4pm. Oh, in my haste, I forgot to take a photo of the family! What a waste! Oh well...

Walking along these steps I soon reached the Botanical Garden. Here's the entrance to Botanical Garden. Passed by lots of different types of plants but did not really take a lot of photos. What do you call these plants on the tree? How about this one? And this one? I seriously don't remember. There were names displayed near each plant but I forgot to took photos of them!

Aha! But I remember this one. It's called Tristaniopsis Bilocularis from the Myrtaceae family. Am I smart or what! Hmm, bilocularis....sounds like 'binoculars' to me! LOL!

Actually, I am not that smart. I took a photo of the name displayed on the signboard. Haha! This one does not need any signboard. It's fern leaves of course! Unless I'm wrong : ) After I left the Botanical Gardens, I sighted this. I was tempted to walk the Silau Silau trail, but looking at my watch, I knew there was just not enough time. I guess it's time to leave Kinabalu Park if I really do not want to be stranded here!

So I walked back to Liwagu Suites. From there, I walked back the way I came earlier in the morning. When I reached the Headquarters at the ticketing entrance, it was already past 3.30pm. It suddenly started to rain again. This time heavily.

I ran into the Reception Office of the Sutera Sanctuary Lodges just in time to escape the rain. There were a few taxis waiting outside, but it would cost me about RM150 to go back KK unless I share with others. Or I could take the bus down the road past the ticketing entrance. It would only cost RM20. But the thought of walking down to the bus stop in the heavy rain deterred me.

So I decided to wait for at least two other persons to share the taxi with me. But after waiting for half an hour, there was no one leaving the Park by taxi! There were people leaving in chartered vans or buses, but none by taxi.

I was about to give up when a man came up to me and asked if I were going to KK town. I said yes and asked if he could take me. He told me he would be sending a British couple who had just completed their Mount Kinabalu climb to KK but they have chartered his 4 wheel drive for RM180. He asked me how much I was willing to pay.

I told him I could easily take the bus for RM20. On hearing this, he laughed and said yes, I could take the bus but I may have to wait a long time as the bus would not stop for me if it was full! And the buses were usually full at this time, although I wouldn't know how true was that. He offered me RM40 but I thought it was too expensive, and negotiated. In the end, we settled for RM30. Wondered if I had struck a good deal! Or I was being cheated.

In any case, he told me to pretend that I was just his friend taking a ride in his car if the British couple were to ask me. I have no problem with that! It would not be nice for the British couple to find out that I paid a mere RM30 while they paid RM180 to charter the whole car.

Anyway, I later checked with Jenny of Lavender Lodge where I stayed and found that I had actually struck a good deal! That's good to hear. Haha!

The drive down from Kinabalu Park was hair raising and adrenaline inducing to say the least. The driver drove very fast, in the rain and even in thick mists! He was almost always tailgating other cars in front and attempting to overtake them at every opportunity.

I was sitting in the front passenger seat next to him and every time he braked, my right leg would automatically stepped onto an imaginary brake! I just prayed the car would not run off the edge of the cliff!

While I was a little nervous sitting in the front, I noticed that the British couple at the back was fast asleep! Well, it's no wonder. I would have slept too after just returning from an exhausting climb up Mount Kinabalu!

Despite the thrilling ride, I must say that the driver was very skillful and he really knew how to negotiate corners. He must be very familiar with the road seeing that he could drive so fast in those thick mists! And his car was very stable too. No wonder the British man had said "I like this car!" when he was getting into the car earlier at the Park.

We reached KK in about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Not bad, as the average time quoted by travel brochures were close to 2 hours.

After taking a bath and rested for some time, it was dinner time. I decided to try one of the restaurants below Lavender Lodge. I ordered a 'kon lou' duck mee which costs RM5. It was delicious! After dinner, I decided to visit the Night Market a few streets behind Lavender Lodge. Didn't buy anything and didn't take any pictures there. Too lazy, I guess! Haha!

I also went to the Guardian Pharmacy nearby to purchase some important stuffs that I need for next day's trip. When I got back to the lodge, I was already worn out and ready to sleep! But not before taking my bath. No bumping into "Nicole Kidman" this time, unfortunately. Haha!

But surprise! I could not sleep! I was tossing and turning in bed. I was thinking maybe I should just go downstairs to the lobby and use their computer to check on my blog to see if I received any comments from my readers. By the way, if you were to bring your laptop, you can surf the net in any of the rooms here as the lodge offers free wifi.

Anyway, I decided against it. I have already promised myself I would not go online for the duration of this holidays, and I must keep to my promise. In the end, I just took out my camera and reviewed all the photos I took at the Kinabalu Park earlier in the day.

Lying down on my bed, I lazily snapped this photo. Oh, by the way, these were the stuffs I purchased at the Guardian pharmacy. A box of anti mosquito patch, a packet of Hansaplast, a Carman's energy food bar, a Cadbury chocolate bar and a box of Dentyne chewing gum.

Based on these stuffs, where do you think I would be going the next day?

Of course, not everything was really needed for the trip. I just included some of the items as red herrings to throw you off the right track. Haha! But I can assure you that the anti mosquito patch is a necessity.

Oh, here's another important hint. A binocular which I brought from home! This one is a must for the trip!

So any idea where my next trip would be? For the answer, don't miss my next post coming right up! : ) (48) Comments

