First Driving Experience to Kinabalu National Park

We took the opportunity to drive to Kinabalu National Park and the surrounding area middle of this year, bringing Ling Shing's parents, sister, and brother in-law for a two-day-one-night trip. Our brief itinerary- Upside down house at Tamparuli, Pekan Nabalu, Kinabalu National Park, and Ranau Town on the first day. Poring Hot Spring, Kundasang Town, and Desa Dairy Farm, before we went back to Kota Kinabalu on the second day.

Driving by our own to Kinabalu Park and the surrounding area was enjoyable. We could travel with our own pace, with our own way. Well-maintained road and clear signage made the driving easier, compared to Cameron Highlands. Although Waze couldn't be used at high altitude area, Google Map could be accessed all the time.

We rented a Toyota Innova 2.0. The MPV was big enough for a comfortable trip, but a bit under-power at some sloppy area. Anyway, the car managed to travel at 40 kmph, but we needed to use low gear and press the accelerator way down to the bottom.

We got our car rented online. The rate was cheap- RM250 per day for Toyota Innova 2.0. The car was delivered to our hotel at Kota Kinabalu 1 hour late. We checked the car on the spot and found that the third braking light (stop light) was not functioning. One of the tire was punctured as well. The staff apologized and advised us to repair the car before we departed to Kinabalu Park. Well, the car was repaired at one of the workshops along the way, with the charges paid by the car rental company. Issue solved in 30 minutes.

Our first stop- the Upside Down House at Tamparuli. It is the first upside down house in Malaysia and has been listed in Malaysia Book of Record.  The house is located right on our route from Kota Kinabalu to Kinabalu National Park. The entrance fees were RM10.60 for adult with MyKad, RM19.10 for adult without MyKad, while flat rate of RM5.30 applied for child below 12 years old.

It was an interesting place to visit, but it was not a must. It might not be a place that worth driving a long way to visit, but since we would pass by it, then why not? We reached the house at around 10:45 am, and stayed there for around 1 hour. More information about the house can be found at the Official Website.

We had been to Kinabalu Park and its surrounding area for many times. This time, we would like to share the photos of the places that we had visited.

10:45 am. We reached the Upside-down House. Ample of parking space provided by the management of the Upside Down House (upper left) next to the ticketing counter (upper right). The souvenir shop was comfy, but the items sold was quite expensive (lower right). Was the place a hot tourism spot? We could find the answer by looking at the buses parked in front of the ticketing area.

An upside-down rumah kampung (village house) with a nicely decorated garden. Luckily the coffee shop next to the house was not upside down, or it would be too bad for the coffee served.

Our group photo. The staff there were well-trained photographers. They were friendly and helpful.

Some upside-down mind-blowing scenery around the house. These photos were taken with absolutely zero Photoshop special effect.

Upside-down car park with an upside-down car.

We left the Upside Down House at around 11:30 am, and reached our next stop- Pekan Nabalu one hour later. We took our opportunity to hunt for souvenirs there. Pekan Nabalu was the best place for souvenirs- T-shirts, pants, scarfs, key-chains, wood crafts, hats, caps, etc. The best part was- the price could be bargained. We could get at 20 - 30% off if we bought in bulk. Read more about our experience there on our previous posts.

The condition of the road was good. The area for overtaking were built along the road. The Peak of Mt Kinabalu can be seen from afar.

Pekan Nabalu was still the best place to get our souvenir.

A nice view of Mount Kinabalu from Pekan Nabalu.

We took a 15-minute drive from Pekan Nabalu to Kinabalu National Park. Tickets were required and could be bought at the entrance. With our own car, we could explore more by driving to Timpohon gate- the deepest point reachable by car, some 20 minutes by car from  Liwagu Restaurant and Kinabalu Park Hotel. Timpohon gate is not accessible by big bus, thus not been included in most of the tour packages. We passed by the memorial built for the victims of the earthquake on our way to Timpohon. Several part of the road to Timpohon was narrow, steep, and with sharp corner. But the nice view worth the 20-minute drive from Liwagu Restaurant.

"In memory of eighteen; mountain guides and climbers, who lost their lives on Mt. Kinabalu during the Kinabalu Earthquake at 7:15 am, June 05, 2015", names of the victims follows.

Cooling temperature with lush green environment brought peace in mind.

The observation area at Timpohon was surrounded by clouds. Visitors could bring their snacks, coffee, or tea for an afternoon rest at the observation area.

Tame critters around Timpohon. These squirrels would come very close to humans, hoping to get some peanuts or fruits.

A few stretches of road to Timpohon were steep and narrow.

We took our lunch at Liwagu Restaurant, Kinabalu National Park before we went to our hotel at Ranau. We reached our hotel at around 5 pm. Ranau is a small town with some 21 km away from Kinabalu National Park. We took almost 1 hour to reach there due to the heavy rain.

We stayed in MK Hotel, with only 4 rooms. The hotel was located at the heart of the town, behind the petrol stations beside Ranau-Tamparuli Road. Although the hotel was small, the room was big and comfortable with LCD flat screen, coffee making facility, water heater, air-conditioner, and room service (upper row). A shared balcony with town view was available as well. The owner of the hotel was very friendly and helpful. He recommended nice food around Ranau to us. If you are looking for a place just to stay overnight, this hotel is the best around Ranau.

Ranau is a small town with 100 km away from Kota Kinabalu. It is a town that serves the locals rather than tourists. So we shouldn't expecting top hotels, international franchise fast food and eateries, and shopping malls to be found there. There were a few convenient shops, local banks, a small supermarket, local eateries and food court, to carter our needs. By the way, we found KFC there. The town was not busy at all, day and night. Most of the shops opened till 10 pm. A few eateries operated till mid night.

At night, we tried some food at one local Chinese restaurant not far away from our hotel. There were many local customers there. However, the food was served in small portion with average taste. We personally think that the price was a bit expensive as well. Unsatisfied with the food, we decided to drive a bit further to Ranau Hakka Food Court, as recommended by MK Hotel's owner.

Ranau Hakka Food Court was located at Ranau Tambunan Road, opposite to the hospitals and clinics. It was a distance away from our hotel. Well, we could drive there by ourselves.

Ranau Hakka Food Court was big (upper left) with stalls providing many choices of food. Clay pot noodle (upper right), pork noodle (lower right), and satay were a few types that we tried. All of them tasted good. We took our breakfast the next day at this food court as well. With wide range of choices and fair price, the food court is a good place to get local dishes.

Poring is a beautiful park located at the foot of Mt. Kinabalu. We departed to Poring at around 8:40 am. We drove for 30 minutes to reach there. Poring is well-known for its hot spring and nature beauty. Without much time constraint, we decided to explore the nature beauty of Poring by visiting the butterfly garden and canopy walk. The tickets for butterfly garden and canopy walk could be bought at the entrance. More information about Poring is available in our previous sharing.

With less constraint of time, we visited the butterfly farm at Poring. The farm was just some 3 minutes walk from the bathing area.

We couldn't see much butterflies in the garden, as they released the butterfly to the surrounding environment. The garden was not big. We completed a quick round in about 15 minutes. Frankly, nothing interesting to see in the garden except some knowledge about butterfly.

The entrance to the canopy walkway is around 50 meters away from the butterfly garden.

Some jungle walk was required to reach the canopy walk. The stairs might be challenging physically.

After 10 minutes climbing up the hill, we reached the first station of canopy walk.

Walking on top of the trees was a great experience. The whole trip at the canopy walk took around 30 minutes.

Back to the bathing area, we found a big beautiful swimming pool with entrance fee was built.

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Well, if we don't want to pay extra, we can enjoy the hot water from the spring at one of the bath tub prepared. We stayed at Poring until 11:00 am. Bathroom and changing rooms were prepared for us, but we need to bring our own soap, shampoo, and towel.

We took a brief stop at the road-side market at Kundasang, before continued our trip to Kundasang War Memorial.

On our way back to Kota Kinabalu, we stopped at Kundasang to visit the war memorial there. The memorial is dedicated to the the prisoners of 2nd World War who lost their lives in the death marches to Ranau. The entrance of the memorial is located on the foot of the hill beside Kundasang Town (upper left). The memorial consists of several beautiful gardens.

There was an observatory platform on top of the hill. More information about the memorial is available in our previous post.

On the clear day, we can see nice view like this from the observatory platform.

After lunch at KFC, Kundasang, we continued our trip to Desa Farm. It was located around 15 minutes away from Kundasang Town. There was a stretch of steep road in between the farm and the town.

We were really lucky to see the peak of Mt. Kinabalu, every time we visited Desa Farm. The view there was really good. Cooling temperature and strong wind made our stay comfortable. The milk and the ice-cream could be bought from the farm. Must try? Definitely.

We started our descending at around 4:15 pm, and reached our hotel at Kota Kinabalu at 5:30 pm. We travelled during Hari Raya holiday in Malaysia, the traffic however was not heavy. We only used a full tank of petrol, which we filled at the beginning of our trip. The petrol stations are available at the Kundasang and Ranau. We were advised to drive carefully to avoid getting traffic ticket. We need to get the contact in case of emergency or car break down from the car rental company as well.

Drive by our own to Kinabalu Park and the surrounding area? That's a good idea to travel and sight see on our own pace. More about our previous experience in Sabah are available at:

[Kiulu River Rafting] [Nopungguk Homestay Experience, Kota Belut]

[Places to Visit in KK in One Day Trip]

[Kota Kinabalu] [Hotels in Kota Kinabalu] [Food in Kota Kinabalu]

[Shopping in Kota Kinabalu] [Lok Kawi Wildlife Park] 
[Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park]

[All Our Destinations]

The Kinabalu National Park - Page 2

Celyn Hotel was located high on the top of a hill far from the main road. The branch road lead to the hotel was too small and too steep for our bus. So, we could only reach the hotel by another 10 minutes' trip using smaller and lighter transit van prepared by the hotel.

Our trip to the hotel was turned into 40 minutes of waiting as the hotel could only provide only one small transit van for us. The van took 3 turns before we were brought to the hotel. Celyn Hotel was a terrible choice for those came in a big group with big bulky bus. The slow transit from the main road to the hotel diminished the good holiday mood.

Small, steep, and winding Semuruh Kinondusun Road lead to Celyn Hotel (upper left). The hotel provides small transit van for those who comes in big bulky bus (upper left). We couldn't leave our luggage unattended (lower right). So, the scenario which people went first and luggage followed later was out.

The room for double with mountain view (upper left). The family suite that we stayed (upper right and lower right) was completed with second floor. The path led to our room was built without cover. It would be very inconvenient to access to the room in rain.

 Good highland view is the only good thing that Celyn Hotel could offer.

Mount Kinabalu couldn't be seen during our stay. The peak was covered by the clouds.

Second day, we departed from the hotel early at 7:30 am to Poring Hot Spring at the foot of the mountain. Poring means bamboo in local. The bus took around 30 minutes to travel from our hotel to the hot spring.

As a part of the heritage site, the conservation fee was required. For MyKad holders, the fees were RM 3 for adult, RM 1 for kid and senior citizen, and free for those below 6 years old. Without MyKad, the fees were RM 15 for adult, RM 10 for kid and senior citizen, and again, it is free for those below 6 years old.

In fact, the whole area around Poring Hot Spring is big with many attractions. We can spend a full day, discovering not only the hot spring, but the butterfly farm, the canopy walk, and Kipungit and Langanan waterfalls as well. However, due to time constraint (as arranged by the tour company), we stayed there for only an hour. What a waste. We will definitely come and stay for longer time in future. By the way, Poring Hot Spring is a must visit site in the national park.

The road lead to Poring Hot Spring was well-maintained (upper left). Floats and tubes were sold at shops opposite of the hot spring (upper right). A bridge (lower right) was built to connect the entrance (lower left) to the bathing area.

The bathing area of Poring Hot Spring (upper left). Rock pool beside the bathing area offered super cooling water from the highlands (upper right). The water from the hot spring was channelled to the public bathing tubs where visitors could enjoy the warm water.

We have only one hour to spare at the hot spring, so we decided to get our feet dipped. Together with us was our tour guide Catherine.

The source of the hot spring. The water gushed out within the stones.

As the hot spring has been named Poring, then the site should has some bamboo trees. Yes, we could see some very old bamboo trees somewhere near the bridge.

Then, we went back to Ranau, where we visited Kampung Luanti Baru. The village is a part of the river conservation programme where "Tagal" is practiced. Tagal is a traditional Kadazan Dusun practice to ensure the sustainable production of the river, which the fish can only be caught during certain seasons. The catch then will be distributed among the villagers. Tagal means no fishing in local dialect.

In Luanti Baru, Tagal had turned the polluted river into natural attraction where the Pelian fish were trained to provide natural fish spa to the visitors. That should be the biggest natural fish massage pool in the world. What we need to do is, dipping our feet into the river, and the tame fish will come and bite our feet.

Painful? A bit. The fishes were too big for a gentle foot massage. We personally don't believe about the treatment or health value of fish spa, however, that was the once in a lifetime experience. The fish spa opens daily from 8:30 am - 5 pm. The fees for 15 minutes of spa, for MyKad holders- RM 5 for adult and RM 2 for kid. For those without MyKad, the fee is RM 10 per person.

More information about this huge fish spa river can be found at SabahTourism.com website.

The entrance of the natural fish spa was marked by a giant fish (upper left). A few stalls were set to sell drinks and snacks along the way to the river (upper right). The food and drink were sold with reasonable prices. We had to register at the counter by the river before we could walk into the river (lower right). The guard at the counter was the time keeper as well. Some facilities at the site were built by bamboo.

The members of our group at the river.

We had to use fish food to lure the fish to our feet. The fish food was sold separately from the registration counter with cheap price.

From Luanti Baru Village, we travelled back to Ranau for lunch at Restaurant Double Luck at 11:45 am. The food, fair taste with fair price. As our tour members were scheduled to fly back to Sibu at 7:30 pm, we headed back to Kota Kinabalu airport right after the lunch.

Ranau is the biggest town between Tuaran and Sandakan, with at least a few grocery shops, a supermarket (Milimewa), a few banks, and of course, many eateries. It is close to many attractions as well. To our surprise, we didn't see many hotels within the town area. In our opinion, more hotels should be set up at Ranau for its convenience and strategic location. By the way, Ranau means flat land in local.

Street of Ranau.

Many shops are operational at the fourth day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri. The streets were full with people and cars.

Wild boar meat is available. Our lunch with four dishes- stir fried wild boar meat with onion and ginger, steamed chicken, and two vegetables cost around RM 12 per person, including drinks.

We stopped by Kundasang market on our way back to Kota Kinabalu for last minute shopping. Local fruits and vegetables were sold with remarkable cheap price. The market is located along the main road. It always causes traffic jam for the double parking and slow moving vehicles.

Various types of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and other products from the highlands were sold in Kundasang Market. This market could be easily identified as a belt of single storey wooden structure by the main road.

Various types of honey (upper left), super hot yellow chili (upper right), and highlands rice were something that we found interesting. Flowers were available too.

Ha, try if you dare! Left photo shows Tuhao- a mixture of wild ginger and chilli, pickled in salt and vinegar. Jeruk Bambangan is showed at the middle- wild mango preserved with chili and salt. The right is a mixture of Kepayang fermented with raw fish, rice and chili. All these authentic Sabah food can be found in the markets at Kundasang and Pekan Nabalu. You can find more information about these only-at-Sabah Food here with recipe. Photo of Bambangan is available here.

Flowers and other highlands plants were sold in the nursery.

Overall, our two days' trip was concluded as "too rushy". Kinabalu Park deserves more exploration, even for someone who has no intention to go above 4000 meters. The public transportation in the park was next to zero. The taxi was the second best option, if you don't dare to drive by yourself (a rental car from KK Airport is from RM 160 a day, you can get even better deal at KK town). 

"Minibus" operated by the local individuals basically helped a bit to bring tourists from a place to another. However, the operation goes without fixed schedule, and the fare was determined according to the number of passengers (the more the cheaper). According to our tour guide, the fee for the minibus from Kinabalu Park Headquarters to KK city was around RM 17 - RM 20 per person if the bus was fully loaded.

About the food, according to our observation, many restaurants were attached to the hotels, and the hotels were far from each other. Dine in your hotel might be the only option that you have without own transport. Basically, the food that we had were quite nice, except the steamboat dinner that we had at Celyn Hotel. The steamboat dinner was too expensive and not worth the money paid- RM 38 for a dinner full of noodles and fish balls (and other types of processed food).

As we were much adapted to free-and-easy and back pack style of travelling, we were not used to the itinerary arranged by the tourism company. However, we had to take it, or leave it. Of course, next time, we will drive. 

Kinabalu National Park is the place we will definitely go back for more exploration. We would like to take our opportunity to thank our freelance tour guide, Miss Catherine for her dedicated assistance, and Borneo Legend for arranging the bus for us. Catherine can be reached at cathtyy@gmail.com.

For more information about Kinabalu National Park, you can visit SabahTourism.com, Sabahparks.org, and ClimbKinabalu.com. 

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Other sharing about Sabah are available at

[Kota Kinabalu] [Hotels in Kota Kinabalu] [Food in Kota Kinabalu]

[Shopping in Kota Kinabalu] [Lok Kawi Wildlife Park] 
[Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park]
[All Our Destinations]