My Sabah Journey: Day (03) To the Tip of Borneo. Kudat.

Day 3 was for Kudat.

Before leaving Kundasang, we took to driving into a village uphill where the vegetable plantatations were. It happened that during our visit that Sabah is having a Cabbage Festival so loads of cabbage were being brought down from Kundasang. So anyway we made it to some remote area somewhere up there and discovered the signboard to the cow farm. Not that we're eager for milk and dairy, just the curiosity so we drove on through wonderful sights of green meadow, rocky peak of Kinabalu and black-and-white cows grazing. To reach a guardhouse where we're informed that the place was currently closed to visitors for renovation.

The Desa milk cows, Kundasang '08

View of the Kinabalu peaks along the cow farm road, Kundasang '08

And so we made our way down to town and onwards, passing Nabalu town again and took a junction to Kota Belud that we saw the day before when we drived up. It turned out to be a shorter route compared to driving down towards Tuaran and rather straightforward. Furthermore, this route directed us straight into the main town of Kota Belud

Again, eating and praying in Kota Belud town is no problem as majority of people here are Muslim. There is a mosque and many Malay shops, and even a KFC here. On Sunday, a tamu will be held and among the specialties are the various kinds of local rice sold.

It started raining as we continued the journey to Kudat. As we passed through Matunggong on the way, we made mental notes to visit the Rungus long house, bee farm, gong factory and Rungus bead centre the next day on our way back. It was still raining when we passed by the junction to Simpang Mengayau @ the Tip of Borneo and Pantai Bak Bak (Bak Bak beach) so we headed straight to our next accomodation, Marina Golf and Country Resort.

Hmm... My expectations were probably too high for this 4 star resort as I did not find it living up to the stories and reviews by friends and Internet. The room was OK, but the bedspread shabby and even was frayed, there were no bathroom mat and shampoo, no room slippers, the sugar clumped, the room a tad stuffy and musty when we first entered. Thank goodness it was facing the sea.

The bay view from my room, Kudat '08

After a brief drive around town, a dinner at KFC and a snack at Sidek Esplanade, we returned to rest. Only to be woken up at 3 am by the storm. The wind was making a harsh sound outside as the storm raged and splattered against our window. But it was pretty mesmerizing to watch the waves curled and splashed, until one by one we drifted back to sleep.