Thursday, December 29, 2005

Mount Kinabalu

Site Category : Mountain Park

Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Sabah and also in the whole of South-East Asia. It is 138km from the state capital Kota Kinabalu (formerly known as Jesselton) and rises at 4101m above sea level. Mt Kinabalu is not very high as compared to many other mountains in other parts of the world,but it is rich in flora and fauna at its foot hill and on its slopes.The world's oldest rain forest is found here. Within this area is found some of the richest flora in the world, ranging from lowland dipterocarp forest to the montane oak, rhododendron, and conifer forests of the middle altitudes and eventually to the alpine meadows and stunted, windswept bushes of the summit. It is quite an experience even for ordinary folks as one observes the transistion of one ecosystem to another while ascending the slope.Hence it is not surprising that naturalists from all over the world are attracted by this beautiful mountain. Some famous examples of flora are the Rafflesia-world's largest flower,and the many pitcher plants. Mt Kinabalu together with Kinabalu Park was inscribed onto the World Heritage List following the World Heritage Committee Meeting (convened annually June-July) in the year 2000. You can get there by public transport,hire a car or join one of the many organised trips offered by the tour operators.Usually they will drop you off at the Kinabalu Park Head Quarter. Accommodations offered here are ranging from the bunker type of dormitories,single room cabins,3-room chalets and normal hotels rooms. Activities available are jungle trekking,visit to nearby vegetable farms,florist gardens. If you want to scale Mt Kinabalu,you have to arrange for a special package with the tour operators before hand.It is not advisable to do the climb unprepared. Tour Operators:
  • Borneo Discovery Tour
  • Mount Kinabalu Adventurous Travel
  • Nature Heritage Travel & Tours
  • Sutera Sanctuary Lodges
  • Sabah Sightseeing
  • Sabah Holidays
  • Inno Travel & Tour Services
  • will add more later

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Read This First

I will use this blog to describe the places of interest in Sabah. It will supplement my main blog Sabah. Also the website
Sabah Tourist Attractions Currency Prices quoted by tour operators on this page are in Rinngit Malaysia (abbreviated RM). Malaysian currency was originally called Malaysian Dollar but was later changed to RM to avoid confusion with US Dollar,Australian Dollar,Canadian Dollar,New Zealand Dollar,New Taiwan Dollar,Singapore Dollar,Hongkong Dollar and Brunei Dollar. But some of the older generation are still calling it dollar, so do be more specific in such situations by asking,"US or Malaysian?" to avoid embrassment. The exchange rate is USD1.00 =Rm3.70. Exchange Rates Below is the list of currency rates. Please use this only as a guide, because market fluctuations are not taken into consideration here :
Foreign CurrencyRinggit Malaysia
1 US Dollar3.7480
1 Australian Dollar2.7320
1 Brunei Dollar2.1970
1 Canadian Dollar3.1490
1 EURO4.4010
1 New Zealand Dollar2.5560
1 Papua N Guinea Kina1.1810
1 Singapore Dollar2.1970
1 Sterling Pound6.5150
1 Swiss Franc2.8520
100 Bangladesh Taka5.6300
100 Chinese RenminbiN/A
100 Danish Krone57.1300
100 Hongkong Dollar47.4800
100 Indian Rupee7.9300
100 Indonesian Rupiah0.0350
100 Japanese Yen3.1760
100 New Taiwan DollarN/A
100 Norwegian Krone56.0700
100 Pakistan Rupee6.1800
100 Philippine Peso6.7400
100 Saudi Riyal96.6900
100 South African Rand54.7400
100 Sri Lankan Rupee3.6000
100 Swedish Krone44.1100
100 Thai Baht8.6100
Destinations The destinations are listed here randomly not following any order of priority or preference.Tour operators are listed at random too. In order to keep out-going links from this page to a minimum,I'm not placing any link to the operators' websites,unless they provide a reciprocal link to balance the in-coming and out-going links. Events I will post the important and popular annual events here when I gather enough details. Places In Sabah There are many other places in Sabah which are not listed in the tourist guides and sales brochures but are worth checking out. I will include these niche attractions when I am done with the main stream attractions.