Day 6 – 10 March 2025, Monday

I was woken up at 6:00am this morning by a tummy ache, then realised I had turned a year older too. Happy birthday to myself! After washing up, we had breakfast at the lounge before heading to the lobby to be picked up by Amazing Borneo at 8:30am for our Kiulu River white water rafting tour (click here). Unlike yesterday’s cycling tour where we were the only two participants, today’s rafting tour had many other participants and we were the last to be picked up.

The drive to the starting point (base camp) at Tamparuli took exactly an hour. Upon alighting, we proceeded to a shed to sign an indemnity form, which basically acknowledges that white water rafting includes certain inherent risks and the company will not be liable for any bodily injury or death that happens to you when you participate in the activity. You now, the standard stuff, just signing your life away.

As we were doing the paperwork, we discovered that one of the participants, a German lady called Sarah, was also celebrating her birthday today. Somehow, she revealed it to the group and everyone was singing her Happy Birthday in the shed. After chatting with her later, I also found out that we are both in the same profession. What a coincidence! That’s the beauty of travelling – you never know who you’ll meet and it’s incredible how the universe brings people from different corners of the globe together.

We also met a familiar face here – Owen, who was our guide for the cycling tour yesterday. It’s so nice to see him again. We were initially assigned to a different group but we managed to swap groups and had Owen as our guide again, which was wonderful. As it turned out, TH and I were placed in the same group as Sarah, an American guy named Alex and a Japanese couple, making a group of six. Two birthday babies in the same group, perfect!

We also found out that the tour is operated by Riverbug (Traverse Tours Sdn Bhd), which as Owen informed us yesterday, is the leading provider of white water rafting and adventure tours in Sabah. Hence, Amazing Borneo is an intermediary that helps to sell the river rafting tour package. Thus, it will be cheaper to book the tour directly with Riverbug (click here).

A quick check reveals that for the same Kiulu River white water rafting tour, Riverbug charges RM135 per person whereas Amazing Borneo charges RM230 per person, based on a group size of two persons, which is the minimum. However, Amazing Borneo’s price includes pick-up and drop-off at your hotel in KK city (Riverbug’s price does not), so it is more convenient because it saves you the hassle of arranging your own private transport. But if you have a larger group and you don’t mind arranging your own transport, it will probably be cheaper to cut out the middleman and book directly with Riverbug.

After a quick use of the toilet, we geared up with a PFD (personal floating device), helmet and paddle each. Besides our group, there were two other groups today. Before we hit the water, a detailed safety briefing was conducted for all the participants. I liked how the guide explained and demonstrated what to do very clearly, sprinkling in some jokes to keep the briefing interesting but also emphasising all the key safety aspects. I have done white water rafting four times before (in Malaysia, New Zealand, Nepal and Bali) so I know what to expect, but it’s always important to refresh my memory on the proper techniques and equipment handling.

At 10:15am, we officially started our tour, which will last around 1½ hours. A bottle of water was provided to each participant, which we could bring on the raft. We grabbed our paddles, hopped onto the raft and we were off! Sarah and Alex were in front, TH and I took the second row while the Japanese couple were behind us, with Owen guiding us from the rear. We followed his commands to move to the left or right, or have our paddles up and simply drift with the current.

As expected, the river was very mild because the rapids on Kiulu River range from Grade 1 to 2. We didn’t have to paddle very hard and we were just chilling and enjoying the scenery most of the time. We encountered a few rapids but they were very gentle. Just like going through a series of small bumps, nothing majorly exciting. I brought along a waterproof case for my mobile phone so I was able to snap some pics along the way, but not when we were negotiating the rapids, of course.

The water on Kiulu River was not clear but greenish, which was still ok because it looked clean. We originally booked the Padas River rafting tour, which is Grade 3 to 4, but it was cancelled because the heavy rain this week caused landslides, which made the roads to get there inaccessible. The water in Padas River is usually brown because the currents are stronger and there’s more sediment. 

To make it more exciting, Owen asked if we would like to capsize. A few of us said yes so Owen intentionally capsized the raft and I was flung out of the water, together with Sarah and the Japanese couple. TH and Alex didn’t want to get wet so they hung on tightly to the ropes and managed to stay on the raft. Ahhh, the water was so refreshing! Part of the fun of white water rafting is to capsize and get wet. Of course, it would be better if it occurred unexpectedly when going through a rapid, but this was as good as we got on this gentle river.

At 10:35am, we took a break at a sandbank to have some water and enjoy the scenery. Some of the people in the other groups went for a swim in the river but we just stood there to chat. It turned out to be quite a long break and we resumed rafting about 20 minutes later.

Owen told us that the next section of the river would be long and straight and thus, suitable for body rafting. Body rafting is where you use your own body as a raft, relying on your PFD and a bit of swimming to move downstream. Once again, the same four of us jumped in the water while TH and Alex stayed dry together with Owen on the raft. We laid on our backs with our arms spread wide and used our legs to do bicycle kicks to keep us afloat, while drifting down the river with our feet pointing forward. After a while, my neck got tired as I kept trying to check that I was floating in the right direction but the PFD had a little “pillow” that I could rest my head on.

After body rafting for about five minutes, we got back on the raft and continued paddling. We encountered a few slightly more challenging rapids, but nothing extreme enough to make me feel like I’m tumbling around in a washing machine (as Grade 3 to 4 rapids would). At 11:30am, we got off our rafts once again to visit Linsuk Farm.

The farm offers a tiny glimpse into traditional life and activities, with small enclosures for a few rabbits, goats and a pond with tilapia and koi. There are also free ranging chickens running around and plants like banana and other fruit trees being grown. Honestly, it wasn’t very special. The most interesting were the stingless bees, a unique type of bees that are all-black in colour and smaller than regular honeybees. They produce Madu Kelulut, honey that has a slightly sour and fruity taste, and is rich in antioxidants.

After spending about 15 minutes at Linsuk Farm, we resumed rafting again but only for a little bit more, and we reached the finish point at 11:55am. In all, the tour took 1 hour 40 minutes but the actual rafting was only around an hour. I didn’t track the distance but according to the website, the distance ranges from 7km during normal water levels and 15km during high water levels.

All in all, the river rafting experience was just as I expected. It was very mild and didn’t have the thrills and spills I was looking for. Nevertheless, river rafting is always fun and I got to do something special on my birthday. I hope to return to experience the Padas River next time.

The finish point was at The Adventure Centre, where we cycled past yesterday. There are proper shower facilities here so we took a shower before having a buffet lunch comprising of rice, bee hoon, curry chicken, tandoori chicken and stir-fried vegetables. The food was pretty good.

Before leaving The Adventure Centre, I paid RM55 (S$16.70) to obtain the DSLR photos taken by the official photographer, and shared them with the rest of the members in my group, as a little birthday present for them. It was a bunch of 39 photos but they were all taken at the same spot so there wasn’t much variation in terms of the scenery and action. Here are the four best photos of the lot:

We left The Adventure Centre just before 1:00pm and arrived at our Hilton Hotel in KK city an hour later. After dropping our bags and a quick freshening up, we headed out again for a walk around the city centre, since it was our last day in KK. We walked through Pasar Tani Asia City and TH bought his favourite red bean bun again.

As we approached Jalan Gaya (or Gaya Street), there was another street food market at Jalan Bandaran with many stalls selling things like grilled black pepper lamb, Mee Talam, satay, kuehs and more. Street food is everywhere in KK. Our stomachs were still churning slightly so we didn’t try the more exotic or greasy stuff. I bought Apam Balik, which is a peanut pancake, or what we call Min Jiang Kueh in Singapore.

At the entrance of Jalan Gaya is a Chinese-style archway, reflecting the area’s strong Chinese influence. This is the so-called Chinatown of Kota Kinabalu because there are many Chinese coffeeshops and restaurants here. The archway marks the entrance to the Gaya Street Sunday Market, where the whole stretch of Gaya Street is closed to traffic and vendors set up stalls from 6:00am to 1:00pm, selling handicraft, clothes, antiques, souvenirs, fruits and vegetables.

Gaya Street is also closed from 6:00pm to 11:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays for the Api-Api Night Food Market, where food vendors set up their tents and stalls before passing the baton over to the Sunday Market sellers the following morning. We missed both the Sunday Market and Api-Api Night Market so we just walked through Gaya Street to look for a nice café to chill at.

We stopped by a few cafes but they were all quite small and full, so we hopped over to Lorong Dewan to try our luck. At the time, we didn’t know that Lorong Dewan was known as Australia Lane, so-named because Australian Liberation Forces camped here during World War II with hopes of liberating the island from the Japanese. The area then became a printing hub in the 1960s, hosting many printing shops up till the 1980s. Today, Lorong Dewan is home to many hip cafes and restaurants, backpacker’s hostels and cool lifestyle retail shops.

Indeed, the quiet street gave off hipster vibes and felt very much more laid back compared to the bustle of Gaya Street, just two streets away. We saw a few cool Mexican-themed restaurants like El Centro and Mamasita, which boasted a bright orange façade and a colourful Cinco de Mayo-inspired mural on the side. We settled on October Coffee House, which looked quiet and unassuming on the outside but was welcoming and spacious inside. 

I have a thing for mezzanines and wooden furniture and I love that October Coffee House has a mezzanine level. I also adored the décor and artwork in the café. TH bought me a slice of birthday cake and we enjoyed our coffee and cake at the mezzanine.

After our afternoon coffee break, we browsed the shops at Lorong Dewan. We discovered a shop called The Art Attic, an art and lifestyle concept store where everything is handmade by local artisans. Besides selling artworks, ceramics and jewellery made by local artists, they also host art and crafts workshops every few weekends. There is also a little café space where you can have coffee.

I saw a mini Mount Kinabalu model made of contour lines and fell in love with it immediately. It is crafted by local concrete artisan Darell Wong, founder of My Little Concrete. It cost RM65 (S$19.70) and I bought it because the piece spoke to me. It now sits proudly on my desk, a daily reminder of my wonderful experience climbing Mount Kinabalu.

After the jaunt down Lorong Dewan, we went back to Gaya Street and made a quick photo stop at the shuttered Maybank branch that went viral recently on Xiaohongshu, a popular Chinese media platform. Honestly, there was nothing special about this Maybank and we had absolutely no idea how something as nondescript as this could go viral. It wasn’t even photogenic or architecturally unique. Maybe we’re just old and cannot appreciate youth culture.

One thing that is pretty unique is the fact that Gaya Street boasts a total of 10 banks, all within walking distance of each other. Besides Maybank, there’s also OCBC, UOB, HSBC, CIMB, Hong Leong, AmBank, AffinBank, Alliance and Public Bank nearby. This concentration of banks makes Gaya Street pretty special, but not something viral-worthy.

From here, TH and I split up because he was planning to go for a jog later in the evening. Despite his weakened state, he wanted to clock a run on Strava. On the other hand, I just wanted to relax and explore more of the city, so TH went back to the hotel while I continued walking around.

I visited City Parade and Centre Point Sabah, two large shopping malls joined together. They were quite old school malls with many small stores selling mobile phone accessories, clothing and services. Like the typical malls from the 1990s, with a large atrium in the middle.

I then went back to Warisan Square and did another massage for one hour. It wasn’t fantastic but it cost only RM45 (S$13.60), so why not? Following that, I had dinner at Borenos, a 24-hour fried chicken fast food restaurant located just beside our hotel. I had been eyeing it for the past few days and I finally tried it. The two-piece chicken set meal cost RM19.80 (S$6) and it came with coleslaw, mashed potato and a soft drink. It was not bad.

TH then joined me at Borenos after finishing his 15km run and we went back to the hotel, calling it a day. We spent the rest of the night packing our bags, enjoying the suite for one last night before we fly back to Singapore tomorrow.

Day 7 – 11 March 2025, Tuesday

By now, it had become routine for us to head over to the Executive Lounge for our breakfast. After finishing our meal, we proceeded to check out of our room. What should have been a straightforward affair turned into a bit of drama when the staff asked me to pay an additional RM500 (S$151.52) for our room upgrade. You can read my Day 3 blog post (click here) to get more details about the room upgrade. Essentially, the lady staff member who checked us in four days prior told us that our room was upgraded to a suite for free, so we were taken aback when they wanted to charge us for it now.

I told them that when we were checking in, I explicitly asked if we needed to pay for the room upgrade, and the staff member said it was complimentary. After checking in to the suite, I also immediately sent a thank you email to the guest service manager who said she would arrange a surprise for my birthday, but I didn’t receive a reply from her. After checking with the said staff member and guest service manager, they finally agreed not to charge us for it. They put it down to miscommunication and a mistake by the staff member who performed our check-in, saying that she was new.

Actually, I wouldn’t have minded paying for it, because I did apply for the chance to upgrade the room at a discounted rate. And with the extra space and comfort in the suite, plus the access to the Executive Lounge for our meals the past four days, the extra RM500 would have been worth it. But I think it is only fair if it was clearly communicated to me at the start when we were checking in, and not when we are checking out, especially after already being informed that it was complimentary. It felt like an ambush and I couldn’t agree to it in principle.

After the mini drama, we left Hilton Hotel at 10:20am for the airport, arriving 10 minutes later. The Grab fare was RM8.24 (S$2.50). Immigration and Customs clearance were speedy and we chilled at Starbucks for a little while before boarding our Scoot flight TR491, departing Kota Kinabalu at 12:37pm and landing at Changi Airport Terminal 3 at 2:35pm. And with that, our Kota Kinabalu adventure came to an end. It wasn’t smooth sailing for some parts, but it was pretty awesome for most of it.

To wrap things up, here’s a highlights reel of my 7-day trip to Kota Kinabalu, enjoy!