Kota Kinabalu trip: Shopping

I was checking my blog and i saw this on my draft folder. What the heck! Hindi ko pala na-post! And its been what? 5 months? Hehe... Anyway, i'll post it na lang kahit super duper delay..hehe. This is also to help some of the tourists going to KK, to give them idea of what they can buy in KK.

Few months ago, i posted here in my blog about our 4D 3N Kota Kinabalu Trip and one of the highlights of our trip was the shopping of course. Everytime i go abroad for pleasure or work, i make sure to buy something from that place for personal use, pasalubong, remembrance etc... I went there with hubby's cousin and Aunt. We did our shopping during city tour and on our last day at Sunday Market and the mall.

Here are the things i bought:

 

Ref Magnet PhP50.00

 

Ooopppsss... its not from KK...hehe. I bought it on the airport in one of the souvenir shops. I was looking for Philippines magnet to add in my collection and i found this ceramic made ref magnet. Currently this is already gone. Since its ceramic, its so easy to break it and tami accidentally dropped it. I also bought Sabah Malaysia Ref Magnet in the Museum for my collection and for pasalubong to my close friends.

Coinbank RM20.00

Remember my story of this coinbank? When i get back here, hubby told me when he saw this "Dumayo ka pa ng KK para lang bumili ng alkansya?" I find it cute in the Sunday Market that's why i bought it. Hubby's right because when im packing my things going home, i had a hard time on where to put this thing. I have to hand carry it because its fragile.

So before buying things like this, think first if this fits your baggage or else you will hand carry it like what i did.

Keychains RM25.00/pack (5pcs per pack)

I bought 3 packs in the souvenir shop beside the Museum. When we were in Sunday Market we saw lots of keychains and one of hubby's cousin bought this for only RM15.00/pack. When we were in hotel, we compared the difference of the keychain from the museum and from the Sunday Market and we found out that the quality of the keychain from the museum is really good unlike in Sunday Market, it is cheap but the quality is not that good. This keychain was my pasalubong to my officemates.. Oh, i also bought this Bell thing from the Museum as display in our living room. Will show it next time.

Billabong shirt for Hubby

I remember i bought this shirt in 1Borneo Mall. I got this at 50% off pero mahal pa rin. When converted to pesos, parang nasa PhP1,000 pa din. Anyway its the only thing i bought for hubby.. hehe

 

Hilly Bag RM 359.00

I also bought this in 1Borneo Mall. Hubby's cousin Maya and I bought the same bag and until now hindi ko pa rin nagagamit. Poor Bag :(

 

Chocolates RM 7.99/box

This was bought from the Cocoa Boutique recommended by our tour guide. Every tourist in KK always drop here in this chocolate boutique because of their famous flavors. And you should try too! My personal pick is the tiramisu. Perfect!

2 pcs Earrings Jewelry

I bought the small and big one of this design. Its like diamond that sparkles all the time especially under the sun. So cute and i love to wear this.

 

Heart shape earrings

2 pcs Loop Earrings for me and Tami..

Isn't it obvious that its for me and Tami? I have kwento about this Jewelry. Click here to see my previous post about this.

I bought a total of 5pcs earrings in 22Karat gold and this costs me US$ 275.00. I didnt have plan of buying any jewelry but when Auntie said na mas mura daw dun compared here ang 22K gold, i decided to buy something for us. Good thing i brought my dollar with me.

Pringles Fruit and Nut

Indocafe

With food, i bought Pringles in that new flavor and the coffee because its new to me. I want to try those and also pasalubong for the kids. The Pringles is so good while the coffee is not. I love coffee but this doesnt satisfy my tastebud.

Another thing that i bought, during our last day when we were in mall. Maya caught my attention when she showed me the Buy 1 Take 1 products. It was the Johnson & Johnson's Milk Bath 500ml, the 7 signs Olay and Listerine. And mind you its really cheap like the JJ Milk Bath, the 2 bottles of 500ml costs less than Php 300 (PhP 275.00 to be exact). Super mura dba?

You know what we did? We hoard those products. Maya and I bought each products 3 pcs of the Buy1 Take1 so when i got home, i have 6 big bottles of JJ Milk bath, 6 pcs Olay set and 6pcs Big Listerine mouthwash. How cool is that? We have to check in 2 boxes in the airport so we can bring it home.

Its so good to buy abroad because for some reason its really cheap there. Maybe because the merchandise doesnt have taxes unlike here in our country, everything has taxes.

 

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KK Trip: Sunday Market

On our last day, our flight schedule is in the afternoon and our plan was to go to this famous Sunday Market, it's also walking distance from the hotel that we stayed in. We woke up early and had breakfast then left at 8:00am. This is my favorite part of the trip, shopping.

I think it is 10 minutes walk and during the walk, you will see some important place in KK. Hubby's cousin (Maya) is fluent in Malay language that's why its not hard for us to communicate with the locals because we have an interpreter..hehe.. 

"Jalan Istana" means going to the palace of Kota Kinabalu.. As much as we wanted to go and see the palace, syempre hindi pwede...hehe

With Hubby's aunt

In front of Sabah Energy Corporation..

Sabah People Park...

This is outside of the Sunday Market. They will allow you to hold the snake and took picture. Syempre i didnt try to hold it because i am really afraid with snakes... uod nga lang takot na ko, ahas pa kaya..

This is the entrance of the Sunday Market... This became popular for tourists like us. It is located near Waterfront in a long street, since it is called Sunday market, the street is closed during Sunday to give way for this.

Be prepared to walk as this market is really long... There are lot of things to buy. You will see that there are lots of Filipinos mostly from Zamboanga selling some goods.

Auntie checking out something that caught her interest.

Souvenir items... You will find lots of ref magnets, keychain etc but beware because even if its cheap from the Souvenir shop where we bought our souvenir loots, the quality of the keychain in Sunday market is not that good compared to the Souvenir shop in Museum. Like in Sunday market, you can buy 5 pcs keychain for RM20.00. In the Souvenir shop, we bought the keychain at 3pcs for RM 25.00. Big difference right? But if youre looking for quality finds, better look at some known Souvenir shops.

Keychains

I like those display items...

Lots of foreigner in Sunday market.

I like this so i bought one.. Price is RM 20.00

Hubby told me when he saw this coinbank "Dumayo ka pa ng Malaysia para lang bumili ng alkansya?" hehe

Cakes...

Lots of vintage things..

We also found stall selling different kinds of old money from different countries. Here i am holding a P10.00 Peso bill. The vendor selling it for RM25.00

Bonsai plants. Auntie bought one of this and took home.. 

This is from the fruit stand. I dont know what it is called. Anyone knows what kind of fruit is this?

When auntie bought jewelry in a nearby jewelry store, she told us that the 22 karat gold is a lot cheaper in KK compared here in Ongpin so I decided to bought some for me and Tami. At first, i was hesitant to buy because i dont have enough Ringgits with me. Inubos ko na lahat ng Ringgits ko buying stuff in Sunday Market.

The jewelry attendant told us that they accept US dollar so when i heard this, i choose designs and the items i bought had a total of US$ 275.00, ang sukli ay Ringgit na.. discounted pa yan kasi Auntie also bought set of jewelries for her.

According to the owner of the jewelry store, all the store in KK selling jewelry has the same price, even if the store is in the mall, in the Sunday market, in the airport etc, because they follow the government's gold pricing so it is safe and they are all honest...

What i bought during my KK trip on my next post...

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KK Trip: Cocoa Boutique

One of the famous tourist destination in Kota Kinabalu is the Cocoa Boutique. If you love chocolates, then this place is good for you. They sells different kinds of chocolate even the non-sugar ones and they also had different flavors to choose from. Sa sobrang dami, hindi mo alam ang bibilin mo...

Cocoa Boutique - Malaysia's largest chocolate paradise

When you enter the store, each flavor has a designated attendant and there's free taste. So we tried all of them and its very delicious.. As in lahat masarap especially the Tiramisu flavor.. Oh i love it!

All the attendants are very attentive to the guests and will welcome you with a smile.

The products is exclusively sold in this outlet only and could not be found in any grocery store so dont forget to drop by here..

According to some, the founder is one of the locals but studied in France and they make Belgian chocolates out of cocoa products. (Please correct me if this is true or not, its just a hearsay when we were there)

The cocoa...

Famous Mount Kinabalu made of chocolate.. You can see this inside the store but you cannot touch it...

The Sabah Map.. also made of chocolate..

This cute bears are sold at RM1.00 each only...

You can choose from different designs, flavors etc... Lots of products to choose from.

The chocolates that we bought. Since we want to try all the flavors, we bought 2 box each flavors..hehe

If i can remember, each box cost RM 7.99.

And we tried the almond flavor in the hotel..

Its very flavorful.. Worth every penny..

**Sorry sa mga officemates ko hindi na ko nakapagdala kasi bilis naubos eh...hehe.. Next tym n lang**

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KK Trip: New Borneo Mall

The tour guide on our city tour suggests that we go to Borneo Mall on our third day because it is far from downtown. She instructed us on how to go there for free. Borneo mall has free shuttle exclusive for tourists. They told us that before, anyone can use the shuttle but what happen is the locals always use the shuttle so they changed the rule that the shuttle will be for the tourists only.

1 Borneo Mall is the newly-opened high-end mall in Kota Kinabalu but far from downtown. Like what ive said, there's free shuttle located in the city and our hotel was walking distance in this area so its not hard for us to locate the station.

The shuttle schedule.

Be aware that you have to be at the area at least 30 mins. before the schedule. First you have to get the complimentary pass from the booth. You just have to show your passport, they said that even if you didn't bring your passport, the attendant in the booth will know if you are a tourist or a local. But just to make sure, we brought our passports everytime we leave the hotel.

The complimentary pass..

The shuttle bus arrives every 30 mins. to pick up the hotel guests and tourists.

Since we are waiting for our turn, we took some pics. The shuttle bus is located beside the mall near the Waterfront so you will not get bored while waiting. Behind me is the Roxy and Quicksilver outlet.

The shuttle bus from downtown to 1 Borneo mall... I guess this shuttle can accomodate 20 to 30 persons only.

1 Borneo mall is like Glorietta and Rustans to us.

Parkson is the Rustans to us.

We stayed in the mall for almost a day and we enjoyed our stay there... Our next stop from the mall is at Cocoa Boutique, the famous chocolate shop in KK.

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KK Trip: Kota Kinabalu city tour

Like what i've mentioned on my previous post, we availed the hotel's package tour for our second day and we pay only Rm 360.00. I know its a bit pricey but going around KK's tourist spot would require a service because the distance is too far from each spot. After having our complimentary breakfast at the hotel, our tour guide fetched us around 9am.

Our service was a mini coach bus and good thing we are the only tourist on that service that time.

Our tour guide named Jane was a Filipina but raised in Sabah. She was very kind to us and joker at the same time. She understand our native language but hardly speaks tagalog. Very fluent in english and bisayan language. What i learned is that mostly Filipinos worked in Borneo especially those from Mindanao because Sabah is just a 1 hr ferry away from Zamboanga.

Sa sobrang kwentuhan, hindi na nmin alam yung mga lugar na pinupuntahan nmin. Our tour guide bring us to the tourist spot and she discussed to us what, where and how it was made. Some tourist spots in Borneo are very interesting.

This is the second stop of the tour.

"Jalan Muzium" means "Going to museum"

One of the tour is the museum. What i enjoyed here is the Souvenir shop located outside the museum. I bought lots of keychain and ref magnets for the pasalubong, i also bought display items for our future house. I love collecting items from the places ive been to.

All in all, we went to 6 interesting places in Kota Kinabalu. I only have 2 places that i mentioned in this post. I dont have much time to screen all the pics because its too many and im also busy to downsize each photo.

I must say that City tour is a must when you're in KK, Malaysia.

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