Today is the day when we are supposed to fly to Kota Kinabalu.
Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on one's perspectives), the trip has been cancelled.
We have booked our round trip plane ticket at Php 2,061.96, last November 2012, though I couldn't remember what promo of Cebu Pacific it was.
By December and early January, I started to plan our itineraries by reading blogs and reviews, contacting hotels to make a reservation, and posting questions to forums. Initially, we decided to do this trip the backpacker style. So we made a booking for Masada Backpacker through hostel world. They seem to have positive reviews everywhere. We made an initial downpayment of 10.24 EUR or Php 300+. But then, when we found out that there was only shared bathroom even if we booked for the twin room, we changed our mind and looked for another place to stay (backpaacker daw ha!). I came upon Hotel Eden 54 in the forums, but it was fully booked for our travel dates. I've also reas about City Park Lodge, which we then contacted and were successful at booking a room, without any reservation fees!
As the days passed, and our travel dates come closer, our excitement starts to peak...only to be washed away with fear around two months before this date. There seems to be conflicts on going between Sabah and the Philippines over Sabah island. We then started to check over Twitter for any happenings. There were some cancelled trips too and rumors going on in KK, but nothing seems to be worth the worry. There wasn't really any travel ban. We even had to ask Ces Drilon (who was in Kota Kinabalu that time) if it was safe to travel, and she responded positive. However, on March 12 this year, we received a text and an e-mail from Cebu Pacific notifying us of the changes in our flight schedule.
The original schedule was ETD April 19, 2013 15:25, ETA 17:15. This was changed to April 19, 2013 ETD 23:40, ETA April 20, 2013 01:40. The schedule for going back to Manila was also changed from departure of April 22, 2013 17:50 to April 23, 2013 02:15 AM. We took this as a sign - so we chose the refund option and cancelled the flight. Haha!
But just for reference, this was supposed to be my planned itinerary.
4 Days/3Nights Itinerary for Kota Kinabalu:
Day 1
Arrival at 17:15
Check in at Hotel by 18:00
Dinner @ Filipino Night Market by 19:00
Day 2
Mt. Kinabalu and Poring Hot Springs (08:00 - 17:00)
Rest for an hour
Dinner
Day 3
Visit Gaya Sunday Market (08:00 - 10:00)
Island Hopping to Mamutik and Manukan Island with lunch on the island (10:00 - 15:00)
Rest
Dinner
Day 4
Quick City Tour inclusive of the Floating Mosque, Atkinson Clock Tower, Sabah State Museum, Puh Toh Tze Temple, and the Handicraft Market (08:00 - 12:00)
Lunch
Airport Check-in @ 15:00
My planned expense for the trip is around Php12,000 to Php15,000 per person, budgeted as follows:
Round trip plane ticket, travel taxes, terminal fees 4,000
Accomodation 3,500
Activities including Entrance Fees to Museum and Kinabalu Park, and Island Hopping 2,000
Transportation 1,000
Food 3,000
For the activities, I found these helpful sites:
http://oibtours.com/
http://borneoadventure.com/tour/sabah/
http://www.sabahtourism.com/sabah-malaysian-borneo/en/
Though, these are just mainly for reference. It's still cheaper to do it on your own.
For the meals, I have added Kota Kinabalu Eats in facebook for reference. I also checked out the ff. blogs regarding the best eats in KK:
http://www.ahbing.com/top-15-best-food-at-kota-kinabalu/
http://travelerfolio.com/filipino-night-market-kota-kinabalu/
Though we felt more safe, we're somehow sad that our travel to Kota Kinabalu didn't push through. Well, there's always a next time. I really do hope we can still visit Sabah sometime soon.
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