Kota Kinabalu 2013 - Day Two

the original plan for today was supposed to be a day out on manukan island. i didn't want a 2-3 island-hopping outing as i didn't want to rush around with the four boys in tow. getting them out of a pool is bad enough, getting them out of the beach and into a boat, pressing for time, is another matter. so i chose manukan out of the islands nearby kota kinabalu. that plan was scrapped about a week before the actual flight as hubby wanted to be doubly triply sure he could not make it for that kind of outing.

so on a last minute dash, i browsed the net and decided on the dairy farm in kundasang. the last time we were here, we drove up to kinabalu park but didn't venture out to nearby areas. so this time, i thought we could drive up, go see some cows, stay for lunch and take a leisurely drive down. out of that plan, the driving up materialized, we got to see some cows, we didn't stay for lunch and we took a stressful and at times scary ride down.

when we went up it was quite warm and sunny. we didn't rush up, there were not many cars around, a bit of back-log due to heavy lorries but overall a quick ride up. the boys but ariff slept. he was pestering us all the way up. when we got to kundasang, it wasn't difficult to find the diary farm though i was a bit worried of the route we've taken because there was absolutely no signboards on the way.

when we got there the boys quickly forgotten their long journey up once they saw the many many cows on the farm. we stopped before the car and let the boys out. they were calling out for the cows and ariff even wanted to come over the fence to feed and pet them.

he finally got his wish when we went to the calf pen, where they could feed the cows and goats there. he was even petting them and wanted to take them home with us. i draw the line somewhere, ariff, thank you!

we bypassed the plan for lunch as we were not very hungry. we thought we'd drive down and have lunch on the way back to the hotel. the boys again slept on the way down, except asyraf, who complained of boredom, of the long journey, of the ariff being so near to him, of tummy ache, then all of the sudden he said he wanted to throw up. luckily i had a plastic bag with me so i passed it to him. after he was done, he took a nap and we were glad the noises he made finally ceased.

the ride down at times wasn't as nice as the ride up. it was drizzling then it rained heavily then it was foggy and at times it was raining and foggy that we couldn't even see the car in front of us. it reminded us of the ride back from ashford back in 2010. but alhamdulillah, we made it down to tamparuli safely. we changed the plan to have lunch at the hotel's coffee house as we weren't up to looking for a place on the way. after lunch the boys took to the pool for a couple of hours until it got dark.

the plan for dinner was also changed as hubby wasn't feeling well. instead of having dinner at jesselton point, we again had a meal at the hotel's coffee house. i think the boys feel a bit sick of the car right about now, but hopefully they'll be ok once we get to the place we have planned for tomorrow.