Both Manukan and Sapi would sound weird if you read them and apply their corresponding meanings in Tagalog. “Manukan” means a place for chicken, either a restaurant, a poultry house, or anything that has something to do with them. “Sapi” would mean possession in a supernatural sense. I didn’t see any chickens at Manukan. Neither did I witness any possession or exorcism at Sapi, so I wonder what these words could mean in Malay. I find it strange how the vocabulary of these two languages greatly vary despite being in the same language family. Oops, geeky verbal diarrhea. I apologize.
Kota Kinabalu has
a group of five islands that are collectively known as the Tunku Abdul Rahman
Park. I do not know who he is, but he must have done something significant for
Malaysia for his name to be given to this group of five islands. Detour, let’s
have a brief geography lesson first.
Gaya is the
largest island of the five and the closest to Jesselton Point. On the western
side of the island you would see houses on stilts over the water. Those are
said to be the homes of illegal Filipino immigrants. This is one reason why
Wikitravel would tell you that it could be a dangerous island and the crime
rate is higher relative to the others. I don’t know what to say about this, so
no comment. Gaya is also home to a couple of resorts where you could spend the
night. Compared to the other islands, this one is said to be well-equipped in
terms of facilities.
Sapi is a smaller
island close to Gaya, so close that they share a part of the sea where you
could probably swim from one shore to the other if you disobey the rules and
swim in prohibited areas. By ferry it won’t take you two minutes to get from
one beach to the other. This is the reason why Sapi is almost always the first
stop for boat operators who, for some reason, have excluded Gaya from their
island hopping list.
If you have bought
tickets for more than one island and Sapi is one of them, you should go to Sapi
first since it is, as mentioned, almost always the first stop. The boatman will
announce the name of each island where you would stop and would expect you to
disembark there if it is part of your itinerary. For some reason, I stayed on
the boat and headed to Manukan first, a bad decision that I almost regretted
when it was time to go back to Jesselton Point.
Manukan is
considered to be the most equipped in terms of sports facilities. There is a
resort here and many benches by the beach, along with rental equipment for a
variety of activities such as sea walking, snorkeling, diving, and a lot more.
I thought at first that this was the largest island. It is not, but the land
area is considerably large. There is a hiking trail that you could try if you
like. There are hills that you could climb, coral reefs that you could visit,
etc. There are several restaurants offering different types of dishes.
I was only able to
see one side of the island (the one shown in the video) because I only had
limited time for island hopping.In spite of that I still spent some time just
sitting on one of the benches watching the people around me. It’s like Tanjung
Aru Beach but cleaner and more attractive, although it seemed too “touristy”
for my taste. What I was amused with were the fish lingering so close to the
shore, and I mean those fish that you would normally see in aquariums. There
are some visible coral reefs here and there and you could wade through the
water and expect to find smaller fish swimming by your ankles.
Many would wonder
then, aren’t there many beaches like this in the Philippines? Why so amused?
Well, let’s just say that I haven’t really gone beach bumming in full blast
yet. I’ve only visited a few and those visits were either short or sabotaged by
bad weather, which did not give the beaches I visited due justice. In fact,
Anguib won by default in my list of perfect beaches for the mere reason that it
was really sunny that day, and no beach is not photogenic on a bright sunny
day. It was raining when I visited Caramoan. I haven’t been to Boracay. I
haven’t been to Coron. Still, I honestly believe that our beaches are at par
with these ones. It’s just an issue of management.
I think the government
and the different stakeholders involved have done a good job in maintaining
this national park. I just hope that they would continue doing so because the
sight of trash floating on the water is never lovely, and I’ve spotted a
handful during the ferry ride. Back to Manukan, you could spend a full day in
here and never get bored. Actually, I would recommend this island over the
others if comfort would be the primary criteria.
I then boarded the
boat going back to Sapi and discovered that the boatman was Filipino. He was
also surprised to find out that we are from the same country. He saw my
passport and asked if I was Pinoy, to which I responded on the affirmative.
This is one thing that I always find amusing whenever I am in Malaysia. You
just don’t know which is which. Malaysians speak to me in Malay because I look
like them. My accent just gives me away. This is an advantage if you are
planning to cheat, get admitted in certain places, and pay local instead of
foreigner fees. I think I’ve already talked about this in the article about
Sabah Museum. Moving on, the guy told me that I should have gone to Sapi first.
I told him that the people manning the counters should inform visitors about
that. They don’t even instruct you about your itinerary. As a tourist, you are
clueless by default, and they should know that.
I was asked to
ride another boat for Sapi and to look for the guy in yellow if I want to get
back at four. Otherwise, he would pick me up at five. This system is flawed in
so many ways one of which is that most of them wear yellow. Favorite color? The
boats look the same, and the numbers to distinguish them from one another are
not even indicated on the ticket. Or maybe that particular tour operator just
sucks. Anyway, I got off at Sapi Island.
As already noted,
Sapi is small. It has a store or two selling food and other stuff. They have a
toilet and a public outdoor shower on the side of the port. Activities are
limited to the usual snorkeling, sea walking, and diving, unlike in Manukan where
you could go parasailing and banana boating. This is the beach for those who
lovethe tranquility of being with less people, watching corals and schools of
fish from behind your snorkel, and sunbathing without worrying that an eight
year old kid in a bright orange swimsuit would accidentally trample your face.
Yaddah yaddah
yaddah. Tell us how to get there first! Okay, easy. Go to Jesselton Point,
which is at the extreme right corner of the city center. A return trip to and
from any one island would cost you 17 ringgit. As you add more islands you get
discounts (like 27 ringgit for two) which is why I am wondering why I got
charged 34. Damn them. There are many tour operators to choose from so take
your time. I didn’t have the luxury to do so because I was flying back to
Manila on the same day that night. Crammer.
Pay the terminal
fee, which is around 7 ringgit for foreigners. When you arrive on your first
island you would be passing through a desk of the some Sabah Tourism group
administrating these islands. Pay your 10 ringgit conservation fee if you are
an adult foreigner above 18. Check the video for the fees for both locals and
non-locals, 18 year olds and below, etc. The terminal fee and conservation fee
are only paid once on a daily basis. It is not a per island thing. What’s
charged per island is the boat fee, which you negotiate at the tour operator’s
desk before you leave the port.
Travel time is
around 20 minutes from Jesselton Point to Sapi. From Sapi to Manukan it is
around 10 minutes. Mamutik and Sulug are the two smallest islands situated near
Manukan. Yes, they are smaller than Sapi and less equipped, so go there if you
want an experience close to Survivor but can’t go to Pulau Tiga down south or
Sipadan on the other side of Borneo. Jetties also leave from Sutera Harbor,
which I think is closer to Manukan like Gaya is to Jesselton Point. Fee might
be higher since it is a popular country club. When in doubt, just consult them.
My ticket said
that pick up time to go back to Jesselton Point would be 4 PM. Boats came and
left but they wouldn’t take me because they were not my tour operator. At five
in the afternoon the boat that was docked there since three revved its engine
and took all of us remaining passengers back to the coast of KK. I was very
paranoid because I thought I would be left by my flight. Traffic is not that
bad but nevertheless, still bad from five PM to six, despite KK being very
small. Or maybe that is the reason after all, its size. Luckily, the bus to
Tanjung Aru passes by the airport before heading towards the beach itself. I
got off there and checked myself in at the Cebu Pacific desk, good thing they
only needed my passport.
A fifteen minute
return trip on foot to the guesthouse followed for the retrieval of my things. I
still had plenty of time to have some snacks at KFC before boarding the plane,
which arrived late, as usual. Wanna guess why? I know it’s the traffic at the
NAIA runway again. I’m starting to really hate that airport. One night in
Manila. Tomorrow, Osaka. All good!
KOTA KINABALU: 04 - No Chickens or Demonic Possessions Here
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