My Raya Short Escape

(Throwback) Since Pandemic begun 2 years ago, I did not bring my kids anywhere for holiday. And with lockdown, we just stayed at home to keep ourself safe.

And now my whole family already fully vaccinated ๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰, I decided to bring them to their favourite place "Kundasang" โ›ฐ๏ธโ›ฐ๏ธ on this Hari Raya (Muslim New Year). for a short escape. Well, kids love cold weather โ„๏ธโ„๏ธ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜.... So do I!!

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I knew that nowadays are different from pre-pandemic whereby "Kundasang" will have ๐Ÿš™๐Ÿš™๐Ÿšš๐Ÿš›๐Ÿš™๐Ÿšš๐Ÿš›traffic jam all the way up โ›ฐ๏ธโ›ฐ๏ธ. So I decided to go there on eve of public holiday.

We departed at 2:15pm after kids finished school. I didn't expect the journey took sooooo long. Instead of normal 2 hrs trip, it became 3 hrs 30 minutes!!! ๐Ÿ˜ซ๐Ÿ˜ซ๐Ÿคฌ๐Ÿคฌ Its because the traffic jam was so bad in the city. Finally arrived at 5:45pm and its heavy rain and fog ๐ŸŒง๏ธ๐ŸŒง๏ธ๐ŸŒซ๏ธ๐ŸŒซ๏ธ.

We stayed at beautiful "Ayana Holiday Resort" which nearby to the National Park. I love every bit of the hotel especially the window facing direct forest ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒ and it has a table outside for relaxing โ˜•โ˜• break.

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After settled down everything at the hotel, its already 6:40pm and rain stopped. Kids were hungry and we quickly went out to the nearest restaurant for dinner. ๐Ÿœ๐Ÿ›๐Ÿฒ

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Driving back after dinner was abit difficult and slow because of heavy fog ๐ŸŒซ๏ธ๐ŸŒซ๏ธ๐ŸŒซ๏ธ and can't even see the few feet away. And then heavy rain started pouring down again. We can't go anywhere but to stayed inside the room. Plus, its freezing cold โ„๏ธโ„๏ธ๐Ÿฅถ๐Ÿฅถ๐Ÿฅถ. Well, I just don't want to miss this fine opportunity to sit outside playing my favourite classic 90's game, relax my mind with a hot tea, and listened to the raining sound. ๐ŸŒง๏ธ๐ŸŒง๏ธ๐ŸŒง๏ธ What a peaceful night!

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DAY 2

Early morning my kids woke up and quickly ran outside for a walk around the hotel to enjoy their beautiful garden. As for me and my wife, we sat next to the window enjoying the wonderful forest view. ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒ๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿฆ

We packed up our bags and went off for breakfast at nearby restaurant. What I love about this restaurant was the wide window facing the forest ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒ (of cause the restaurant food is the best at 'Kundasang') and with many squirrels jumping around. ๐Ÿฟ๏ธ๐Ÿฟ๏ธ๐Ÿฟ๏ธ Managed to snapped few pictures of them.

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After that I drove to Mesilau to visit my kids' favourite place, "Desa Cattle". ๐Ÿ„๐Ÿ„๐Ÿ„๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฎ As always they love feeding the cows and goats, watched the milking process, eating ice-cream ๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿฆ, and bought freshly packed milk. The big difference from buying the same fresh milk at supermarket is the 'taste'.

I didn't manage to snap any pictures of the majestic Mt. Kinabalu โ›ฐ๏ธ because its foggy ๐ŸŒซ๏ธ the whole day.

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We spent almost 1 hour at the place and then took of to another place, "Alpaca Farm". Its just few kilometres away, maybe less than 1km I think.

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They were really lovely animal. ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜ Its so cute and fluffy. But before we went in, the staff briefed us of the rules. Mainly about what Alpacas' dislike to avoid them puiiiii (spit) ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿคฃ on our face.

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I found Alpacas are lovely animal but yet proud! Why? Unlike other animals love their head to be caress, but not them. They spit on you! (I was hoping to see it in real when 2 visitors tried to caress the head ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿคฃ) And they don't like loud noise or else the Alpha will call out the herd to go home! ๐Ÿ˜ฒ๐Ÿ˜ณ๐Ÿ˜ณ

We didn't spent too long at the place because its quite small and not much activity. Plus its about to rain (at 11am). The moment we took off, the rain started and its heavy downpour. I drove back to hotel, get all my bags, and checked out. No other places to visit due to the rain, we decided to for coffee and cakes โ˜•โ˜•๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฐ at nearby 'Mountain Valley Resort'.

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I love to sit and enjoy my time at thia resort. It very beautiful and peaceful. The cafe itself is facing the Mt. Kinabalu but sadly can't see it because of heavy rain n heavy fog. If you happen to come to Sabah, make sure to put this place into your 'Must visit' list. While sitting listening to the raining sound, I snapped some pictures of spiders ๐Ÿ•ท๏ธ๐Ÿ•ท๏ธ๐Ÿ•ท๏ธ๐Ÿ•ท๏ธ in the flower garden. ๐ŸŒธ๐ŸŒธ๐Ÿ’ฎ๐Ÿต๏ธ๐ŸŒป๐ŸŒผ๐ŸŒท

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Finally its 2pm and we decided to drive back home. It just felt that its a rush trip but at least my kids enjoyed it very much. ๐Ÿ˜Ž๐Ÿ˜Žโ˜บ๏ธโ˜บ๏ธ

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