Ho..ho..ho...holiday

I promised my children for so many times to take them for a holiday but due to many unavoidable circumstances, I didn't manage to do so. I was supposed to take them to Gold Coast Australia many years back as a present for doing very well in their exam but I could not get the right time. I have been busy with my work all year round. So this year, I promised them that I will bring them to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah instead. They were so excited about it because it has been so long we didn't go any where for a holiday. I booked the hotel and the flight ticket very early because I am afraid that I won't get the tickets because it is going to be a school holiday end of teh year when Iya and Ana are on semester break. So, the time has come and last week my family and I went to KK. On the way to the airport, Ana and Iya were quarreled with each other, arguing who is going to sit with me. We arrived just on time. At the end, none of them can sit with me because there were no more sits available for us to sit together. All of us have to sit with someone else. The service in the flight was horrible. The air stewards were terrible. They talked a lot with each other and it was so noisy. They didn't do their job properly because they were busy chatting with each other. The situation destroyed my mood and my excitement vanished suddenly. I slept the whole journey to KK. We reached KK around 12.30 am . We took a taxi to the Le Meridian Hotel. I stayed in the hotel before and found the hotel to be quite nice. The breakfast in the hotel was fantastic. My children love it. I don't really care how I feel but I want Iya and Ana to enjoy their stay in KK. On the first day we hired a limo to take us around. The weather was a bit hot but comfortable. We went to the Mount Kinabalu Park , Kundasang Memorial Park and the Poring Hot Spring Park. The scenery at the Mount Kinabalu Park was beautiful and the temperature was cold, colder than Genting Highland I think. Beautiful wild orchids in the garden that I enjoyed to look at. At the Kundasang Memorial Park, there were so many beautiful flowers. Iya enjoyed to be in the park. She loves history. The park was built in the remembrance of the Australian Army who died during the World War ll. A total of 2484 Australian soldiers died in Kundasang. Some of them were cruelly slaughtered to death during the Japanese occupation. After the memorial park, we went to the Poring Hot Spring. To my surprise, there were so many people. Most of them came with their families. We can do so many activities including jungle tracking, swimming and dining as well as shopping. We decided to go for a canopy walk. It was tough. We have to climb up the hill, jungle tracking and passed a canopy which is the bridge made up from rope connecting a tree to another, hanging in the air. I have to stopped several time to catch a breath. Iya and Ana as bad. We have to drag ourself up the hill. When we walked on the canopy, its move from side to side. It was a scary experience but all of us made it till the end. We were so exhausted, sweating away and something happened to Iya, her legs were shaking when we went down the hill. It was so funny and she could not controlled it. Accumulation of lactic acid I guess, still practicing my medical knowledge. I am a doctor bah....Our stamina were zero. I told everyone that we have to do something about it. Need to build up the stamina again. Must go jogging, must....must... I talked to myself. But whatever it was, it was fun. No phone calls from the hospital. We came back to the hotel late in the evening. Ana wanted to eat lobster so much with butter and cheese. So we went to the nearby Seafood restaurant and the dinner cost me RM480 for 4 persons. The price of the lobster alone was RM280. However, it was worth paying. I could see my children enjoyed the dinner very much. I felt that I couldn't walked to the hotel because I was so full and tired. Near the hotel, there was a night market but too tired to explore that night. We just went back to the hotel and slept. The next morning, after breakfast, we rented a car and my husband drove us around KK to see some interesting places. One of the most interesting place is the Green Connection where they keep varieties of fishes and other sea creatures including corals. You also can have the opportunity to hold a python. Ana did. She was brave enough to hold it with her hand but Iya and I were scared. Not only scared but we hated it. I guess the snakes also wouldn't like us to hold them. We were given a chance to see how the divers feed the fishes and turtle in the aquarium. The name of the turtle is gangster, 15 years of age. Still young. For the first time I saw belangkas. When I saw it, I remember my brother abang Madin and his wife Kak Atan. They were given a nickname of belangkas because they always being seen and do things together. Now I know what they meant. The male and female belangkas cannot be separated. They stuck with each other till they die. Interesting indeed. One thing about KK that I notice is, the people are friendly. Their mosques are beautiful. However, many of them are Christian. There are so many small churches around KK. We celebrated Christmas in KK. At night, we went to the nearby night market for shopping. We bought souvenirs for everyone at home. Overall, the holiday that I have in Sabah with my family is a memorable one and I enjoyed it very much. I hope I can do it again with my children somewhere else next year. I do hope.........