Poring Hot Spring - Desa Dairy Farm - Sosodikon - Kundasang War Memorial - Kinabalu Park (2D1N) - Ranau/Kundasang, Sabah

We have been to Kundasang several times, and this time we are bringing our Taiwanese supplier for a two-day, one-night visit. We started with breakfast at Fook Yuen in Damai. They have a few branches and are well-known in Kota Kinabalu for their white bread. The bread is light and fluffy, and it's sandwiched with butter and homemade kaya. However, I prefer their white bread toast with butter kaya bread. Our supplier loves the white bread so much that he packed a few and brought them to Kundasang for a tea break.

Fook Yuen Damai and teh susu (less sweet) - RM 4.10

White bread butter kaya - RM 2.50 each

White bread toast butter kaya - RM 2.50 each

Half boiled egg - RM 1.90

Address:

Fook Yuen

3A, Lorong Damai Point,

Taman Luyang Phase 6,

88300 Kota Kinabalu,

Sabah

On our way to Kundasang, we stopped at Restaurant Wun Chiap to let them try the Tamparuli noodles. The noodles aren't my favourite because of their strong eggy flavour. We ordered their tofu stuffed with fish paste and surprisingly, it's quite good.

Restaurant Wun Chiap

Tamparuli noodles

Tofu stuffed with fish paste

Address:
Restaurant Wun Chiap
Lot 9, Jalan Berjaya,
Pekan Tamparuli,
89257 Tamparuli,
Sabah, Malaysia

We reached Kinabalu Pine Resort around 12.30pm and they allowed us to check in early. Basically, we will stay at this resort every time we visit Kundasang. We left our luggage in the room and headed to Ranau for our next stop.

Room rates with breakfast and dinner (low season and normal day)

a) Superior deluxe - RM 420 (room only - RM 370)

b) Deluxe - RM 370 (room only - RM 330)

c) Superior Standard - RM 330 (room only - RM 290)

d) Standard - RM 300 (room only - RM 255)

e) Standard Valley - RM 270 (room only - RM 235)

The above rates are quoted nett and inclusive of 6% service tax.

Mt. Kinabalu blocked by clouds (view from Kinabalu Pine Resort)

Mt. Kinabalu blocked by clouds (view from Kinabalu Pine Resort)

Two single beds

Room entrance

LCD TV

Bathroom

Dressing room area and coffee or tea making facilities

Address:

Kinabalu Pine Resort

Kampung Kundasang

(Along Kundasang Ranau Highway)

Kundasang, Ranau,

Sabah, Malaysia

Tel: +6088 - 889 388 / 889 488

The only food we can think of to eat in Ranau is KFC. The chicken is big, fresh, juicy and tender. However, we have to wait at least twenty minutes for them to prepare the chicken.

KFC Ranau branch

Iced lemon tea (small)

Snack plate (hot and spicy chicken)

Mashed potatoes and 1pc of original chicken

After our late lunch, we head to Poring Hot Spring. We arrived about 2.45pm, shortly before their last admission at 3pm. The entrance fees have increased by more than three times since our last visit over six years ago.

Poring hot spring opening hours: 8am to 4pm (Last entry: 3pm)
Conservation fee:
a) Foreigner (18 years old and above) - RM 50 / Foreigner (17 years old and below) - RM 25
b) Malaysian (18 years old and above) - RM 10 / Malaysian (13 to 17 years old) - RM 5

c) Malaysian (12 years old and below, 60 years old and above, person with disabilities) - Free

Poring Hot Spring does not accept cash payments. Credit cards and eWallets (such as Boost, Touch n Go or Grabpay) are the only payment methods accepted. Parking is RM 5 per entry from 8am to 5pm.

We were only there for about an hour, then on our way back to our resort, we made a roadside stop for durian. We tried the durian susu, or "milk durian," since they don't sell Musang King durian, and it was pretty good. The flesh is creamy and bittersweet, with a mild flavour. I was so excited that I absolutely forgot to photograph the durian. It costs only RM18/kg compared to Musang King, which is around RM80/kg.

Waterfall at Poring Hot Spring

Poring Hot Spring

Poring Hot Spring

Poring Hot Spring

While waiting for dinner, we wandered around the resort and noticed a rabbit hutch.

Rabbit at Kinabalu Pine Resort

Kinabalu Pine Resort

Flowers

The Pines Restaurant opens daily at 6.30am to 10pm (last order at 9.30pm). Our stay in this resort includes dinner and breakfast. Our dinner comes with winter melon with chicken soup, black pepper beef, chicken with cashew nuts, choy sim with oyster sauce, seasoned mixed fruits, steamed rice and Chinese tea. We add three more dishes: sliced fish with ginger and spring onions, kam heong prawns and fried rice. Their black pepper beef is good. The dish is flavourful and the beef is tender. However, the chicken with cashew nuts is slightly dry and the sliced fish has a fishy taste. Besides that, the fried rice is a bit mushy. In general, the food isn't as bad as we had imagined.

The Pines Restaurant

Black pepper beef

Choy sum with oyster sauce

Chicken with cashew nuts

Winter melon with chicken soup

Additional dish: Sliced fish with ginger and spring onions - RM 32 (medium)

Additional dish: Kam heong prawns - RM 38 (medium)

Fried rice

At night, I attempted to photograph the Milky Way, but the results were poor due to light pollution.

Milky Way

Milky Way

I woke up at 6.20am to see the sunrise, but it was blocked by the clouds and mountains. However, I get to see the magnificent Mount Kinabalu. I slept in, and we went for breakfast at 8.20am. We had pre-ordered our breakfast the night before. I had fried vermicelli, which comes with prawns and a fried egg. The fried vermicelli was very salty and I couldn't finish the entire plate. Whereas for my partner's nasi lemak, the rendang chicken is hard and dry. It tastes just like left-over chicken. The anchovies are very salty and hard. Apart from that, the rice is too hard for my liking. Overall, we didn't really enjoy our breakfast.

 

Mt. Kinabalu view from Kinabalu Pine Resort

Sunrise blocked by the clouds and mountains

Orange cordial drink

Nasi lemak with rendang chicken

Fried vermicelli

Mt. Kinabalu view from Kinabalu Pine Resort

We checked out from the resort and headed straight to Desa Dairy Farm at 9.30am. We spent about an hour there and had a cup of ice cream gelato (chocolate flavour). We didn't get to see any milking process this round, but we saw a lot of tropical swallowtail moth, also known as Lyssa zampa, hanging upside down on the walls.

Desa Dairy Farm

Desa Dairy Farm

Ice cream gelato (chocolate flavour) - RM 6.50

Desa Dairy Farm

Feeding the calf

Feeding the calf

Desa Dairy Farm

Desa Dairy Farm

Spotted a lot of tropical swallowtail moth, also known as Lyssa zampa

We drove to Ausvilla and Sosodikon Hill before stopping for lunch at BW Bus Restaurant. The world was so small that our Taiwanese supplier ran into his daughter's teacher at the foot of Sosodikon Hill! There is an entrance fee to climb the hill, which is not difficult. It's just a short hike to the top of the hill. However, we didn't climb the hill because we were all hungry and chose to eat lunch instead.

Ausvilla at Kundasang

SD Home

Desa Lestari Sosodikon

Spotted a furry friend

View from SD Home

Sosodikon Hill

Desa Lestari Sosodikon

BW Bus Restaurant is an eatery place that uses many buses as its dining area. They converted the old buses into a modern dining cafe with air conditioning. The restaurant is close to Kundasang town. I had their toasted bread with chicken ham and cheese sandwich. My partner, on the other hand, had the garlic soy chicken rice bowl. My lunch was good. The bread is beautifully toasted, with a subtle crispness. Apart from that, the fries are well-seasoned and have a mild, crispy texture. The entire dining experience felt a little heated because the air conditioning was not cold enough. When you enter the restaurant, you must purchase a bus ticket worth RM 5 per person, which can be exchanged for ice cream, food or beverages.

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

Bus ticket - RM 5 (exchangeable for ice cream / food / beverage with a value of RM 5) It is not exchangeable for cash

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

Iced water

Garlic soy chicken rice bowl - RM 22

Toasted bread with chicken ham and cheese sandwich - RM 22

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

BW Bus Restaurant

After our late lunch, we took Alan and his family to the Kundasang War Memorial, followed by Kinabalu Park. They increased the admission fee for Kinabalu Park to RM 10 per person for Malaysians and RM 50 per person for non-Malaysians. There's hardly much to see now because we are not allowed to enter various lookout points with our own vehicles.

Kundasang War Memorial

Kundasang War Memorial (can you spot a squirrel?)

Kundasang War Memorial

Kundasang War Memorial

Kundasang War Memorial

Kundasang War Memorial

Kundasang War Memorial

Kundasang War Memorial

Kinabalu Park

 

We left Kundasang around 3pm and stopped by the roadside to eat this smoked wild boar, also known as Sinalau Bakas by the Kadazan-Dusun people. The hunting ban remains in place since Sabah's wild boar population is still low. As a result, they only served regular pork. For some reason, I now enjoy this dish far more than I did previously. It tastes great when paired with their chili sauce, lime or soy sauce. We actually stopped twice to get it from various stall. The second stall tastes better than the first because it' is more well-seasoned.

Sinalau bakas

Sinalau bakas