Previously – Part 1
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Our friend called, saying that she had reached the airport but we couldn’t find her. After some walking back and forth, finally we found her and she fetched us at the arrival hall. [Special thanks to Dayang for helping us :)]

Before we arrived at Kota Kinabalu, I had made a booking for our 3 nights accommodation at Akinabalu Youth Hostel through Hostelbookers. com. We were charged RM 162 for 3 nights = RM 81/person for 3 nights which means RM 27 per person per night.
So, Dayang drove us to the hostel, where the rental car guy was waiting for us too. Yeah, for our stay in Kota Kinabalu, we decided to rent a car for 3 days, costing us RM 260 for the whole 3 days. We rented a Perodua Viva auto and after signing several legal documentations, we parked the rented car and went into the hostel’s compound.

It is hard to get accommodation [hostels] as cheap as in Thailand when you are in Malaysia. RM 25 above is a norm. But Gaya Street [where Akinabalu Youth Hostel is situated at] has a lot of other hostels. Do check them out too.
Pros of the hostel:
All rooms have air-conditioner
Open air concept for the common area
Friendly staff
Nice location on Gaya Street
Cons of the hostel:
Lack of power points
No water hose/pipe in the toilet [Most Malaysians normally use water to wash]
It is very dark in the room if the lights are not switched on
Using sarong as a blanket [very cold at night]
Bed bugs!
We checked in into the room on the 2nd floor. Every guest is required to leave the shoes on the shoe rack while staying at the hostel. The staff was very friendly when we checked in. She thought we were non-Malaysians and she spoke in English with us. When she realized we were Malaysians coming from the Peninsula, she spoke in dual languages. Haha.

My first impression when I checked in was that the place looked a bit run down and needed some face-lift. But I did not really mind because we did not plan to spend the whole 4 days inside the dorm anyway. [But I did feel a bit annoy when I was bitten by a bed bug on my first night :(]

After we put our stuff and bagpacks inside the dorm, we could feel our stomachs asking us to feed them. So, together with Dayang, we drove to Austral Park to meet another friend of ours, Sue, for lunch.
We went to the 818 Macau Chicken Rice. But we did not eat the chicken rice because this restaurant is also famous for its tomyam!

I always thought that Thai’s tom yam is the best. But the tom yam at this restaurant was an eye opener on how tom yam could be nice at a place we least expected it to be. ;D They had several types of tom yam and I had the Tom Yam Mihun Ikan Segar campur Goreng [Tom yam with Rice Vermicelli together with fresh and fried fish].

As for the drinks, I opted for the Kit Chai Ping [asam boi limau kasturi/lime with sour plum] and Lo Han Kuo.


The drinks were refreshing! 😉
The restaurant is halal. And they even had one notice that caught my eye’s attention:
Dilarang membawa masuk makanan tidak halal (babi) ke dalam kedai ini.
It was my first time seeing the word ‘babi’ included in a public notice explicitly. Haha. Seriously.

Akmal and I did not spend a penny at the restaurant, thanks to Dayang and Sue who treated us the amazing lunch!
Soon, Sue had to go back to her office. Whilst Akmal and I dropped Dayang at her house and we proceeded back to our hostel, planning to have a rest before we proceeded further with our journey.
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14 Comments
Pingback: Visit Malaysia: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah [Part 1] | The Best Things in Life
Bila pergi nh? Akinabalu hostel ni sounds familiar coz byk survey2 tempat nak stay wkt nk ke KK dulu, last2 stay kt promenade. rm50/ nite hehe, amik studio suite siap boleh masak! :D. btw dat tomyum looks awesome, next repeat trip boleh try. huhu
Tomyam tu looks and tastes awesomee. Hehe. 50/nyte tu harga utk the whole studio suites ke? 😉
Hehehehee..
sarung je buat selimut!?
psst..
lokasi tu..
di tingkat paling atas bangunan parkir bertingkat yang baru dekat masjid As Syakirin tu
[ Jalan Lumba Kuda rasanya ]
cermin cembung tu.. just as you nak konar ke tingkat paling atas, ada kat delah kiri
🙂
Haah sarung je. Menggigil gigil mlm tu. Yelah, kita dah slow kan aircond, ada pulak roomate yg turunkan lg trmperature bila blk tgh mlm. Sadisnyaa. Haha.
Yeayyyy.
Thanks for the input dr. Heheheh. Klau ada rejeki ke sana nk cari tmpat tu. Muahaaha
I almost stayed in that hostel! Luckily, they ran out of rooms…haha
Glad you did not! Haha. Location-wise it is nice, but room-wise, maybe there are others which are better 😉
hehe. en khai dah semakin pandai buat review! keep it up!
haha. Thanks senpai!! 🙂
Pingback: Visit Malaysia: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah [Part 3] | The Best Things in Life
hi there,
can i know the contact number for the rental cars?
or where / how can i arrange with the person in charge. thank you!
Hi Florissa!
I am so sorry but I have lost his number when I changed phone.
Nevertheless, I found him through Google actually, so maybe you can try Google up, there are a lot of rental car services provided. Don’t forget to haggle! 🙂
nice write up. I recently just returned from Sabah too. My trip to Sabah – just wonderful.
Thanks for reading Lukman! 🙂