Kota Kinabalu Warnings and Dangers

Although most taxi are equipped with meters, drives are unwillingly to turn them on. So before getting on taxi, always ASK THE PRICE FIRST. With city centre(5-6 kilometres), it costs around RM6-RM10. Also, they charge more if you travel to or from Airport.

Ladies, watch your bag! I was in Shoe shop in KK, and had my bag on the seat not far from me as I was trying on shoes, when the Shopowner noticed a man taking more than a interest in it. He ordered the man out of the shop, and told me he was about to grab it, so be careful where ever you are.

Many tourist attractions impose a camera fee for photo shooting of around RM10 EACH camera and video shooting fee of around RM50 EACH video camera. Flash for night shooting may be forbidden. If you are not really confident with your photography skills, buying post cards from visitors centres may be a better alternative

Climbing Mount Kinabalu may be exciting BUT at 3am (starting the last leg of the climb) you have to be careful. It is most important to hold on to the rope as your guide to the top (of course you have a compulsory guide in your group).

There have been people who lost their way to the mountain peak in the past...........some never to be seen again, let alone found.

When we were in Kota Kinabalu and took the local bus, some police officers entered. They checked the ID of all the passengers in the bus, probably looking for illegal immigrants.

I was not asked for ID (i'm white), but my Singaporean friend was. She had no ID with her, but luckily she was left off with a warning. (Probably since she was with me).

Hence remember to have some ID with you, especially if you're traveling with locals.

No, this is not about pickpocketing. I'm just saying that if you will be travelling to KK soon, please be sure to have Malaysian Ringgit in your pocket already before boarding the plane – at least enough to take you to your hotel.

My husband and I arrived at the KK airport’s Terminal 2, which was still under construction (and I believe it will still be for some more weeks or months). As in our other trips, we were used to just carrying US dollars and have them changed to whatever the local currency is. To our surprise, there wasn’t any currency exchange counter in this particular airport terminal yet. Also, we got out of the airport past 7pm, so the banks were closed and it was already hard to find an open foreign exchange stall.

Good thing that the taxi service in the airport was kind enough to ask the driver to drive us to the hotel, even if we don’t have Malaysian Ringgit on hand yet, and we will just have our dollars changed in the hotel.

This tip is not to be taken too seriously, although it really did happen

When at Gayana Island, be aware of biting fish when you have a swim at the nature pool.

My friends were already in the pool, and they told me to be careful because the fish in the pool would bite me. Of course, the idea seemed so ridiculous that I didn't believe it for a single minute, and I just laughed it off. I stepped into the water and suddenly I could feel tiny bites and sharp teeth on my thighs. I jumped and yelped - I was being attacked! I quickly swam & moved away and the "attacks" stopped.

Actually, later on I got brave enough to check it out. I donned a pair of goggles to look for out the "killer fish". When I saw them, I had to laugh out loud, because there were no fish with giant teeth, not even medium sized ones. Actually, they were only anchovy-sized (ikan bilis tiny) fish swimming in packs, but trust me, they were aggresive and even nibbled on my neck and face. These fish generally hang around on the left of the pool as you enter it. Go there and experience it for yourself !

Click here for more details on Gayana Resort.

When travelling here make sure that you ALWAYS have plenty of fresh bottled water as the water quality here is not good..DO NOT drink the tap water...also make sure that you check the caps when purchasing water to make sure that the seals on the caps have not been broken and that they are not "refills"..I purchase my water at the supermarket and keep in Hostel refigerator till needed..