Tall mountain, Orang Utans and Proboscis Monkeys beckon from the land of the Sabahan
Clearing customs at Kota Kinabalu Terminal 2
My earliest memory of Sabah came in the form of a geography tip. One elder sibling was telling another, “Sabah is the state whose map looks like the head of a dog.” I was a mere toddler than but that little factoid has stuck in my mind ever since.
The Airbus 320-200 from Singapore to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah was fully packed.
This December school holidays, we’d decided to venture into nature for a week at the invitation of a friend who runs plantations in Sandakan. The plan was to fly to Kota Kinabalu, check out the capital city of Sabah state for 3 days, and fly to Sandakan for another three days to visit the nature reserves there.
Incidentally, this was the first time the family flew Air Asia. In planning the flights, I found the website user friendly and easy to use, and much more responsive and less frustrating than that of SIA, even though I’m much more familiar with the latter’s website.
As a budget airline, everything came down to options and dollars and sense. You want this – here’s the price. Don’t want? Leave it out to save some money.
There wasn’t much selection of food left cos’ we didn’t pre-order.
Prior to going to the airport, I checked in for all four flights online.
At the airport, the Air Asia staff verifying documents and checking carry-on luggage was very friendly and approachable and even though we busted the limits of our carry-on luggage, she let us off with a gentle admonishment.
Actually, we wouldn’t have busted the 7kg limit if we’d separated out the camera bag and the laptop bag which were allowed on board over and above the 7kg limit – so next time, we’ll pay more attention since they check so rigorously.
The 2.5-hour flight was smooth. I’d thought we didn’t need to eat on such a short flight and had not pre-booked any food for the flight. But once the trolleys came out and the smell wafted our way, not to mention the couple next to me having a mini feast (with pre-booked Air Asia food AND take-away food from Coffee Bean), we splashed out for food and dug in.
Upon arrival at Terminal 2 at Sabah International Airport, we walked on the tarmac to the terminal building and took 30 minutes to clear customs, together with a bunch of NJC students, who were wearing their school T-shirts and busy snapping photos of each other. Such a young and enthusiastic lot!