Day trip to Kundasang & a night at Kasih Sayang Health Resort

This was a weekend away from home in June this year. Plenty of photos to do the talking.

We took a day trip to Kundasang in the morning, stopping by the town of Tamparuli for its famous mee as usual.  The coffee shop was not opened yet when we reached there before 9am, we waited for the shop to open at 9.30am just for the mee.  

Tamparuli mein with stuffed pork blood (bought from other shop)

We continued our trip to Kundasang after having our breakfast.  We had another stop at Pekan Nabalu, which is 67km from Kota Kinabalu city. Nabalu is a very small township with shops and stalls selling local fruits and produces, souvenirs, and a great view of Mt. Kinabalu on a clear sunny day.

souvenirs stalls at Pekan Nabalu

Local produces - ground nuts sold in many forms

Our famous Sabah Organic Tea, sold in sachet, powder or dried leaves form.  Also sold in major supermarkets nationwide.

Local produce Pure Honey

Tourist coaches stop by here for their tourists to buy souvenirs & local fruits and produces on their way back to the City.

Monkey soft toys, protected animal

Out of the many trips to the Kinabalu National Park, this is the first time we drove up to the climbing point of the Majestic Mount Kinabalu.  If you want to conquer the highest mountain in Malaysia, Pondok (shelter) Timpohon is the starting point (only climbers with pass are allowed to go through this check point).   After which there are 7 pondok (shelters) to stop by leading you all the way up to Laban Rata, situated at 3,272.7m above sea level.  Laban Rata is the resting point for the night before proceeding to the summit of Mount Kinabalu at dawn the next morning

We could find the squirrels come around looking for food on top of Pondok Timpohon, children are amazed seeing the squirrels coming near them.

This squirrel is so tamed 

expecting some more biscuits

The weather was very cloudy that day, I only managed to capture Mt Kinabalu on our way back in the afternoon.  We spent the night at Kasih Sayang Health Resort, Menggatal.  I finally utilised the complimentary stay at the resort, a lucky draw I got some 2 years ago.

Night view from the resort

we had our dinner at the resort's restaurant

the day view from the resort

plenty of green

the view of the Mount Kinabalu is visible from the resort too...

rabbits at the resort

breakfast provided in the morning

partial view of the resort

Experience Stay at Kasih Sayang Health Resort

Following to my last post about "Weekend Away from home", here is my update of my stay at Kasih Sayang Health Resort at Kokol Hill, Sabah.

We started our journey in the late afternoon after having our lunch and dentist appointment done for our little girl. At 4.00pm, half way climbing the winding road, it has started to rain. The road was once rough with pot holes has now smoothly sealed with tar all the way to the resort. It only took about 30 minutes from the central of Luyang town to the resort with ease of traffic on Sunday.

On our way up to the resort

The thermometer at the resort recorded at 23C a mere few degree drop from down town. We started to feel a bit cold as soon as we stepped in the resort due to the mountain rain breeze, chill but yet welcoming and comfortable, just like going into an air con room. The checking in was super fast because prior booking has been made. We were allocated with the largest deluxe room at room no.112 where there is a king size bed and a sofa bed (its shape like peanut and it is brown so we also called it peanut bed). We requested for extra pillows, blanket and bedsheet, that's all we need for a night cozy stay in a spacious room.


The resort was not very busy last night with only 50% occupancy. But the rooms bookings for the rest of the weekends through December have been fairly full due to school holidays, festivities and companies functions.

the restaurant deck

Our room is overlooking the city of Kota Kinabalu, the nearby islands (The islands of Gaya, Manukan, Mamutik and Sapi Islands) and the South China Sea. From near we are surrounded by greenery and floral. We feel so high up with the height of 2400 feet above sea level. The view is spectacular and breath taking both day and night. We were unable to enjoy the beauty of sunset due to the rainy day. But the sun ray through the cloud is a scene that we can only enjoy on top of the hill like this.

the sun ray through the clouds on top of Kota Kinabalu City

After witnessing the sunset from the restaurant deck, we ordered our dinner at the open air restaurant, the passing by light fog started to come in, it made us feel like we are dining at the cold country :D. From the menu we chose the Today's special - Oxtail Asam Pedas for both of us, and Tuaran Mee for our girls, they do not take spicy food. We tried out the pineapple yogurt juice, our girls simply fall in love with it.

the menu

Today's special - Oxtail Asam Pedas

Tuaran mee

Pineapple yogurt juice

The weekend is meant to relax and unwind. We spent the rest of our night in the room watching Discovery Channel while our girls played with each other, reading and drawing. No house chaos, no computer.

In the morning, the surrounding is very peaceful, free from vehicles and motorbike running sound, we had a good rest till 8.30am. The room rate comes with breakfast, we were served with American breakfast in the morning. Breakfast is served from 7.30am to 10.00am. The view is much clearer with sunny sky in the morning.

the morning view

We were late to have a glimpse of the majestic Mt Kinabalu, it has been covered by the clouds at around 9.00am. We can only see the tip of the mountain.

After breakfast we took our sweet time to check around and take some photos at the resort surrounding. The check out time is at 11.30am. We headed home at 12.30pm, stopped by Inanam town to take away its famous ngau chap (stewed beef soup). We hardly had red meat but this weekend is exceptional.

Our girls is happy and enjoy the stay at Kasih Sayang Health Resort so we do not mind planning for another trip there again in the near future. For further details of the resort, you could log in to www.kasihsayang.com.my for enquiry and make booking as well.