What to do in Kudat

#np You're gone and I gotta stay high all the time, to keep you off my mind -Tove Lo "Habits"

Beautiful Borneo, beautiful Sabah. If you still dont know where this place is, you're in luck, cause today I will win you over with my geography, with a little help from my friend google. Oh, and before we knock ourselves off with the maps, lemme just briefly tell you that today's post will be about Kudat, an amazing place for those who love the wind, clouds, sea, and sunset (and what you can do to kill time while waiting for the sun to set)

Map of Sabah

So the map of Sabah resembles the head of a dog, and Kudat is where the Tip of Borneo is at (that's the place you watch the sunset) is literally what we locals would say is at the doggy's ear. No, im not kidding. Sooo... here we go~

1. Tip of Borneo
The car ride from KK to Kudat is around 2 hr 30 mins. And after being in KK for the past 7 years, I FINALLY  managed to tick this place off my list. I will go back again though, cause the weather wasn't that great when I went. There was a storm coming and drizzled on and off throughout the whole trip, and we didn't exactly see the sun set cause there were too much clouds. May be a sign that I should go back, hahahahah.  (03/10/2014)

And so I did...

Went back last friday 3rd April 2015, and the weather was amazing! Here's why...

Fortunately for us, it was low tide, hence we were able to go very far out. 

Now, to our beautiful villa :D
So our villa consist of 2 rooms, 2 queen size bed each; toilet, a living room with tv built-in astro and fridge. It is pretty small tbh, and there's no kitchen so it was very troublesome to wash the food that we brought for steamboat, we had to use the toilet sink. 

After dinner, we went out to stargaze but because it was the 15th on the lunar calendar, the moon was so bright it overshadowed the stars. 

So usually, Kudat is just a place to watch sunsets, since Tip of Borneo is facing the west BUT because we were staying in this amazing villa, there was this back-road which leads to another side of the beach and so we managed to catch the sunrise as well. Pretty amazing if you ask me ;) 

2. Gombizau Honey Bee Farm
To be honest, I am not a big fan of bugs, in fact, insects, generally I cannot take. By insect I literally mean the living thing that has head, thorax and abdomen, 6 legged, that occupies the same habitat with me, namely earth. Completely fine with lizards or spiders (cause they're arachnids) but NOT insects. I think I'm insectophobic. 

BUT I've never been to a bee farm, and life's too short to be afraid of well, insects, so to bee farm I went. 

Oh, while we're on the honey topic, I've found out a few ways to test whether the honey is real or not:
1. Put a drop of the honey on your thumb. If it spreads around right away or spills, it's not pure. If it stays intact, it's pure. 
2. Fill a glass of water and add one tablespoon of "honey" into the water. Pure honey will lump and settle at bottom of glass. Adulterated and artificial honey will start dissolving in water.
3. Pure honey will crystallize over time. Imitation honey will remain looking like syrup, no matter how long it is stored. 
4. Dip the tip of a matchstick in "honey", and then strike it to light. Natural honey will light the match easily and the flame will burn off the honey. Fake honey will not light because of the moisture it contains.
5. Ants are attracted to anything sugary hence, if the honey is mix with sugar then there will be ants. And apparently ants will not hover around pure honey.

But one thing to note is that, out of the many articles that I read about honey, there are many more that argued that there is no single test to determine whether the honey is fake or not, in fact all 5 ways to test I've written above, someone has some theory behind it arguing that it cannot be used to determine the pure-nes of the honey. Soooo yea, I'll leave it to you to decide... 

It's just a 5 minute walk from the place we parked our car to the bee farm.

So that's pretty much it for the Tip of Borneo... now, to where else to go in Kudat. 

Beekeeper smoking the hive cause the smoke will masks the alarm pheromones that are released by the guard bees. The smoke creates an opportunity for the beekeeper to open the beehive and work while the colony's defensive response is interrupted. To put it simply, with the smoke, it's like they can't see or know what's happening, so they're docile... 

There was even a maggot in one of those honeycomb. Dad says it's full of protein but still, no one dared to touch that piece. The texture of honey comb is kinda plastic-y so you kinda have to munch munch, and spit out whatever you don't feel like swallowing.

All in all, I had lot's of fun and great experience for those who had never experienced anything of this sort. Pretty worth it for RM 5. And friendly beekeepers as well :) 

3. Kg Sumangkap- Gong Making Factory
Gongs are traditional musical instrument that is used by the indigenous people of Sabah. In here you'll see how people make gongs and different types/sizes of gongs. 

4. Rumah Panjang
Long house or rumah panjang is usually inhabited by the indigenous people, and for this particular longhouse, Rungus. So this longhouse we visited is actually a homestay, I didn't get the prices of it though cause I had no idea it was a homestay until I left, hahaha silly me. 

Address:  Jalan Bavanggazo, PS 17, Pos Mini Matunggong, 89058 Kudat, Sabah
Contact: 014-873 9740

The bee farm, long house and gong making factory/village is quite easy to find, cause there are signboards at the roadside. I mean as long as you're going to the tip of borneo, you'll definitely pass those signboards. And each place only takes around 30 minutes to finish touring. 

Tips 
1) make sure you full tank your oil before hitting the roads.
2) Bring food or snacks, cause on the way up, there's really not much eateries. 
There are however, stalls to get souvenirs, fruits and vegetables.

3) Plan properly before going up and try to familiarize with the road because reception is horrible on the way up. (for those that depends highly on gps)