10 Aug 2009

Views of Nexus







Calm and peaceful scenes at Nexus Karambunai, the place for a vacation!

5 Aug 2009

Some photos

Sunset at Karambunai
With our grand daughter Sophia (Its early morning - hence the grumpy early morning face)

Pauline, Rizal and Sophia at the breakfast table


The verandah of our rooms. Ours is on the left while the girls' room is on the right.



Kota Kinabalu


This picture was snapped on the way to KK. KK has changed a lot since we were last here in May 2008. The beautiful esplanade is no longer there - I think they are renovating the place and adding a garden. So right now what is left is just rubble and large tracts of empty space. We can't even walk to the seaside. Luckily our room in KK (We're staying at the Promenade now) faces the sea so at least we can see it.
Today we all walked to the Phillippine market to buy some souvenirs. The market has not changed at all over the years though prices have gone up - still the same stalls packed with Indonesian made goods as well as Borneo pearls. I bought some souvenirs for En Mail and others back home - batik for Norlee and so on. Tomorrow we'll be going back to KL on the evening flight.

3 Aug 2009

Nexus Karambunai

Most of the ponds are filled with all kinds of fish!
The intrepid photographer!
A view from the verandah of our room




Today is our third day in Nexus. This place is really beautiful. Yesterday we spent the whole morning on the beach and Sophie got sooo brown! She tans easily my baby. Above is the view from my mother in law's room - there's a pond which is connected by a shallow stream to another pond just in front of my room. There are lots of fish - looks like sepat and catfish. It is peaceful here - we sit on the verandah and enjoy a quiet afternoon. Since its too hot to go to the beach we just relax, read and look at the beach from our rooms instead.


In the evening Repin and I took mum for a stroll in the sprawling grounds. She had to be pushed in the wheel chair but at least she could see the golf course and look at the flowers and numerous fish ponds along the way.

1 Aug 2009

Karambunai Holiday

View from our room


Part of the long stretch of fantastically soft white sandy beach.


Too many things have been happening lately. Well for one thing its Sara's third week home and we're now in Nexus Karambunai, holidaying. Nexus is really gorgeous - the hotel is quite secluded (there are pros and cons to this) and has a beautiful 6 km beach! White and fine sand, clean (most important) lots of green and a really fantastic landscape. Lots of small lakes and ponds connect the various wings. Our rooms face the ocean and we can sit on our small verandah every evening and admire the sunset. The whole family is here - complete with my grand daughter, Sophia and my mum in law.
Nexus is actually a great resort but too far away from Kota Kinabalu. Although they have bus shuttles daily to and fro, the time between each shuttle is not very convenient. The first one out is at 9am and they fetch visitors back only at 3pm. THose who go at 3pm can only return at 9pm in the evening. So when Repin and I went out (to get food supplies to supplement the hotel's meals we had to get back in a taxi which cost us RM70!
Food is catered more for the European and American taste - for us who have been used to hot, spicy food, everything tastes bland. And the price is a shock to the purse strings. However I guess we should have expected that. After all it is far from town (about 30km only) and most of the people who come here are foreigners - mainly Japanese, Europeans, Bruneians and Singaporeans. I think we could be the only Malaysian family staying here. It could also be because of the price - a bit too steep for most Malaysians. Imagine a plate of nasi lemak ( which costs about RM4 in KL costs RM32 here.) You can guess the rest.


But I can't deny that the resort itself is beyond beautiful. Situated between the South China Sea and some mountain ranges, it also boasts a beautiful 18 hole golf course. This place is also a paradise for bird watchers for even to my untutored eye I could see a number of eye catching birds. I specially love the well-landscaped grounds - lots of water around - riverlets and streams, ponds and small fresh water pools linked together by wooden Japanese bridges. LOts of greenery too so the whole place looks like a beautiful garden.