Kota Kinabalu, or as many locals call it KK, is a magical destination and is known around the world for being one of the best diving locations. Wish I liked diving.
I love going to KK just to get away for a few days to lay on the beach for some rest and relaxation, do a bit of shopping and visit some of the local eateries. Just before Christmas I paid this tourist destination town a visit alone, but this time I had my trusty side-kick, Ridley, with me.
We arrived late on Friday night and stayed at Ming Gardens, a new four-star hotel complete with a large restaurant, a gym, spa, pool, lounge and bar. Saturday morning we enjoyed a buffet breakfast that had everything from sushi to scrambled eggs, followed by which we headed to the new shopping centre where we spent a majority of the day.
We had decided prior to the trip that we wanted to have a spa day. We checked out the hotel spa to which we thought was a bit over priced. So, following our shopping excursion we started to check out the local spas. Ridley's aunt and uncle had recently visited one in KK but couldn't remember the name, however they did know the location, beside Starbucks. The hunt was on. We visited few different spas before we settled on one, which was not near a Starbucks. Actually we didn't even find the Starbucks until the night before we left. But we were determined to have our feet pampered. Ridley has never had a foot scrub, pedicure, manicure or well any spa treatment, ever. I on the other hand have and know what to expect. Both of us were taken to the back room and were instructed to sit in what were very comfy chairs, ok I thought to myself this isn't too bad. Then the young lady and her mother came into the room each carrying a large plastic bowl filled with water. Ridley and I stuck our feet in the water and that's about when we should have said thank you and left. The tool kit came out next and to be honest it looked like these tools had not been sanitized. I started taking deep breaths and telling myself, it's ok it will all be ok. And then they started scrubbing, and scrubbing and scrubbing. Poor Ridley's feet took a beating and at one point the mother, daughter teamed shared tools, and that's when I pulled my foot out of her hand and shook my head no. So there we sat not sure what to do but texting back and forth telling each other that we were doing it for the little girl who's mother was scrubbing my feet and grandmother was scrubbing Ridley's feet and hoping that our money was going into her college fund. What an adventure and so far nothing unusual has sprouted on either of our feet, I think we will be safe, or here's hoping anyway.
You would think after the foot experience we would learn. But for some reason we didn't, because before even leaving the building after our infamous foot scrub, we are stopped by a different spa and in we went. I, however, went for the full one hour body massage and foot reflexology rather than any pedicure or manicure. I figured it was safer having someone rub my back and feet than dig or scrub with some unsanitized tools. Yeah, wrong again. At one point during this said massage I was once again thinking to myself it will be ok, I will survive but I wasn't sure if I would get out of there without any bruises. Ridley on the other had decided to do the pedicure, manicure and full body massage because it was cheap. Yeah and basically they trimmed his toe nails and finger nails and called it good. I had to explain to him that it was not a pedicure or manicure by any standard. Together we have quite the misadventures. We are starting to believe that it is just the way its supposed to be, but hey it makes for great stories to tell.
Since we had such a large breakfast we skipped lunch but once supper time hit we were starved. We went on the hunt for the new Welcome Seafood restaurant in Asia City. Ridley's sister recommended we visit this restaurant which opened last December. And, yeah, despite our best efforts we couldn't find Welcome Seafood. Even after we were stopped by a salesman trying to sell us some rings which we declined, he then went on to ask us, "You look like you are lost, can I help you?" We explained we were looking for Welcome Seafood, he then pointed in the direction where we were to go, and we still couldn't find Welcome Seafood. Sigh. This is Ridley hijacking Shelley's blog to tell you all how much I love this girl and how awesome she is...now back to your regularly scheduled program.By this time one out of the two of us was getting a wee bit cranky and we ended up stopping at the first decent looking restaurant for a bite to eat. With our bellies full we headed back to the hotel to retire for the evening.
The next day was pool day. We headed downstairs after another buffet breakfast where we layed by the pool for the morning and early afternoon. By 2 p.m. we were checked out and headed to our next destination, the Pacific Sutera Harbour Resort. We stayed at this particular resort last year and we knew it had its own private beach so off we went for our last night of misadventures. The rest of the day we relaxed by the pool and near the beach at the resort and later went for supper at Grazie, an Italian restaurant. To our surprise this was the second Italian restaurant in Malaysia that we would visit again. We shared a pizza and pasta dish, both of which were amazing ending out trip in KK well worth it despite our sore feet and muscles.
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