Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia (Final Comments) – June 23-26,2009
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As with any review a destination, one’s impressions is of course dependent on his or her experience. This will differ from person to person and depends on a number of factors… weather, the tour guides, activities chosen, etc. Hence, I leave with you the disclaimer that this is based on what I experienced during my stay in Kota Kinabalu.
If you read the last few blogs, my overall impression of Kota Kinabalu as a vacation locale for my standards I would give it a 5 out of 10 or “so-so”.
Pros
- The place is very clean… generally (except for my experience on the beach)
- The people are nice and pleasant. This includes people in stores, the side walk, hotel, etc.
- Fairly cheap
- Love the food!
Cons
- The sights aren’t spectacular (this is relative) I wasn’t able to go to Mt. Kinabalu though, maybe in the future.
- The beaches were blah. Too developed, too dirty, and too crowded.
- Because I am from the Philippines, Malaysia looked too much like the Philippines. Hence for me as a vacationer, it didn’t provide much of a value-add.
As I mentioned, this is based on my experience and my expectations. I was looking for some more “umph”. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Kota Kinabalu seems to be a family vacation spot which provides all the convenience a city-dweller would be looking for. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my stay in Sabah. For me, I would have preferred something more rustic, less developed, more pristine.
In comparison, Boracay, which I am not too fond of as it is, would have been a better time spent… for me.
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hey thanks for this. just what i wanted to hear. i was thinking of vacationing in KK, but this helped me decide. i do not want to spend hard earned money traveling to a place that is so much like the philippines!
To be fair. To each their own. There are those do find something of worth in Kota Kinabalu. But as I said, from my own experience… it’s not that special and the places we went to were just like the Philippines, and in some cases… not even as good as what we have here.