8 Amazing Days in Sabah Cost Us $1,600

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As promised in our travel update, some details around the costing if you are interested in heading to Kota Kinabalu for an amaaayyyzing time ☺ The costs are for 2 adults, a 4 year old and a 10 months old.

Quick numbers!

I made this table using html codes on w3school however the colours didn’t come out when I transferred it to WordPress #htmlnoob

Accommodation

[TL;DR] Verdict: Very affordable to find a good, clean place. 

We spent 3 nights in KK town and 3 nights in Kundasang. Our hotel in KK town was nothing fantastic, it was a great cheap hotel near town to explore town but otherwise it was tiny and so near the airport that we heard flights taking off throughout the day and night. Not fantastic for light sleepers but didn’t quite matter for the tired bunch of folks we were! Asiana Hotel was where we holed up that 3 nights and while the room really was puny, it was very close to town so just a RM8 ride away and we are at the KK Waterfront. Our hotel was situated within walking distance to a very well stocked supermarket, a 7-11 and most importantly a mamak! We have breakfast there every morning and oh, the nasi lemak.

Sinful delights



The next 3 nights were up at Kundasang at Celyn Resort. We ‘splurged’ a little compared to our town stay as we wanted a room with a view of the mountain range. Sadly there was a bit of misrepresentation with the room description so while we had a huge room with an amazing shower, it lacked any sort of view. There was no window and our entrance was facing the jungle and it was aptly named the Jungle Mountain room. Nevertheless, the resort grounds had an area directly overlooking Mount Kinabalu and it was breathtaking. There was a row of rooms called the Kinabalu Wing that was facing this view so as I have learnt that there is no harm in trying your luck, I simply asked if I can move rooms. The next morning, we moved. Was it a hassle? Yes. Was it worth it? Waking up to this 2 days in a row? Priceless.

Awe-inspiring Mount Kinabalu

Flights

[TL;DR] Verdict: Affordable!

We talking about the flights in the earlier post on how we managed to fly a full service airline and pay less than the budget airline albeit with 1 stop is KL. The flights were great, comfortable and the food on board MAS was actually delish (pro-tip: order a special meal and you get served first! We opted for the Hindu Meal as we wanted to be served first and we figured it would be the most flavourful!). There was a 45 minute delay on the flight from KL to KK and strangely we were split up as a family so I was to be seated with Coco#1 and carrying Coco#2 whilst Mr.C was to have a seat by himself about 7 rows ahead of us. Mr.C having an enjoyable flight whilst I was to be with both kids? I was having none of that! The flight was full so we couldn’t ask to be seated together so I swapped with Mr.C so we each had a child to man.

Transport

[TL;DR] Verdict: Public transport is efficient and affordable! Car rentals took some hunting but found a good price!

This was mainly the cost of the car that we hired for 3 days to drive up to Kundasang and around Kundasang, all the way back to the airport. This included petrol cost and the few Grab rides we incurred as well whilst in KK. Grab in KK town itself was very cheap, the most we paid for our ride was RM8 one-way from our hotel to the waterfront. On car rentals, we did a bit of shopping and selected Hertz as our partner of choice. We rented a spacious Proton Saga for RM431 in total (SGD144) and it was sufficient with the luggage and stroller that we brought along. 

Food

[TL;DR] Verdict: Cheap and really good!

We were warned beforehand that the food can be disappointing in KK. That was not our experience at all. We had quite a feast both with cooked food and local fruits which we went into a lot of detail in our travel post, here and here. This category includes the food we had whilst in KK along with some of the goodies we bought back to Singapore such as dried anchovies, dried shrimp, salted fish, honey (that’s something we buy anywhere we go these days, there’s a collection of honey at home now from Chiang Mai, Sabah, Russia, Tasmania and store bought), local fruits such as Bambangan and Lemak Manis which we may have gone a little overboard at the Fruit Market.

Vegetable Market in Kundasang

Our most expensive meal was at Little Italy at RM209/SGD70 which was excessive on our part in terms of what we ordered for 2 adults and a 4 year old. The infant could only drool!

The breakdown of that pricey meal
We got these at RM30 each after some effortless bargaining. That is a steal in the context of prices in Singapore!



Bought at Gaya Market for our growing Urban Mini Farm @ our balcony
Avocado Cheese – these buggers turned out to be delicious but very sticky to cut. Even our teeth had sticky residue after eating the fruit 

Recreation

[TL;DR] Verdict: Tours were more expensive that we had hoped. Local entrance fees to attractions were cheap.

This includes everything that we did for fun, including a massage for me (RM45/SGD15)! Hahah, you will see more details in the day to day links but in summary, this includes the cost to go to a private island (Pulau Dinawan) which was well worth the money (although undoubtedly what blew the budget at RM645 for the 3 of us, SGD215 so about SGD), the cost of the Mari Mari Cultural Tour* (RM360/SGD120 with a RM65 discount to make up for an hour long error by the tour agent), entrance tickets to Kinabalu Park (RM8/SGD2.70 for the family), Sosodikon Hill at RM3 per adults (<SGD1) and Desa Dairy Farm (RM10 / SGD3.30 for the family) and of course, a full body massage for me!

*Posts coming soon!

Misc

This is the oddball category that has sunflower seeds (kuaci!), bottled water, shampoo, conditioner, beer and assam to name a few! We were in Malaysia and presumably it’s cheaper so why not pick up some Chilli Powder and Meat Curry Powder as well, along with a packet of Milo for the cold nights and mornings in Kundasang 🙂

A very affordable holiday, I think! You might want to consider that we likely saved $100 from not consuming our normal share of groceries in Singapore so our trip had an actual net cost of S1,500, within budget! 😂

Author: Ms.K

Ms.K is everything that Mr.C is, without the natural interest in investing and company financials! The activity planner for the family, the driver of random ideas and soon to be ‘retiring’ in to full time motherhood – Ms.K has no idea what she’s in for but remains super excited!

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