8am, I left Pantai Inn and walked to Keng Wan Hing (琼万兴) along Gaya Street. I had tried Keng Wan Hing's truly-pineapple polo bun on my last trip and was going to try more of their food.
There was a "beef curry puff" on the menu and I got one to try along with a char siew noodle and kopi-o kosong. The beef curry puff was a little small but tasted good. The char siew noodle came with big and tasty wantons and slices of lean pork in addition to barbecued pork.
While eating my breakfast, two Korean girls came into the coffee shop and sat at an adjacent table with their food, including a big bun to share. One of the girls took a bite on the steamed bun and kept nodding her head, the other girl took a bite too and gave a thumbs up. I would try the big bun next time.
After the meal, I bought a tau sa (red bean) pastry, a char siew bun and another beef curry puff as takeaway for eating on a long-distance bus later.
I walked down Gaya Street right to the end and took some photos, but it was super-hot, so I retracted towards the hotel. I walked past Gaya Coconut Shake (加雅椰) and decided to go in for a coconut pudding, but it was not available until 3pm. I had a coconut shake instead. Apart from coconut ice-cream and coconut juice, the flesh of the coconut was also blended into small bits and added to the shake. It was very good.
I was back in Pantai Inn to prepare for check-out. Meanwhile, I read up some headline news. A piece of shocking news was the SIA flight that encountered severe air turbulence resulting in one dead and over 40 injured — just when I was considering to fly to Sandakan in Sabah, then to Kuching in Sarawak and finally to Senai in Johor on the return journey. Air turbulence was one reason why I disliked long-distance flying — similar to long-distance bus journeys, there would be nature calls, and on a flight, nature calls would mean the need to unbuckle the seat belt, get up and walk to the washroom, creating a risk window for mishap to happen.
10:30am, instead of staying in the room till it was time to get to KK Sentral, I checked-out and walked to Yuit Cheong with my backpack. I tried their white soft bread with butter and kaya this time with hot Milo. I observed that Yuit Cheong was popular with Korean tourists and pointed that out to the boss but he was unsure of the real reason. I believed it was because he was able to speak the Korean language that took away a communication barrier between him and Korean tourists.
From Yuit Cheong, I hailed a Grab car to KK Sentral. On the way, I had a short conversation with the Chinese driver, who was from Tenom. He told me that there was no Grab cars in Tenom and one of the local dishes to try was rice vermicelli soup with spring rolls and meatballs. I was so lucky to have chatted with him — most drivers kept quiet due to language barrier.
At KK Sentral, I made a quick visit to the washroom before boarding the double-decker Tung Ma Nui Luk Express (东马内陆) bus at Bay 3. All passengers were seated on the upper deck. Then, I realised that no one had requested to scan my QR boarding pass — the system was probably not in place yet or tried to use but Sabahans were not used to it.
At 12pm, the express bus departed for Keningau, Tenom was the final stop. As usual, I enjoyed the air-conditioned ride while the hot noon sun continued to heat up Earth. Once out of the city area of Kota Kinabalu, the ride became boring when mobile network signals became poor and connection to the Internet was intermittent.
At around 1:30pm, the bus stopped at a rest point, called Oyong Rest Area, for toilet break, I went and relieved in a primitive toilet, but better than trenches dug under banana trees. Some passengers bought light bites from food stalls in the rest area.
15 minutes after continuing on the journey, the bus started ascending slowly on the highway that meandered through the mountainous region of Crocker Range. Air pressure kept building up in my ears, making it hard to sleep. I ate the pastries that I bought from Keng Wan Hing, the fragrance was so nice that it was making other passengers hungrier — I hoped.
Around 2:30pm, the bus started descending from Crocker Range and reached Keningau at 2:40pm. Most of the passengers alighted and few came on. The bus continued its journey after 15 minutes. It reached Tenom at 3:35pm right outside Tenom Railway Station.
I went into the railway station to check on the Beaufort-Tenom operation status and train schedule. A friendly security staff at the station told me that due to track damages from a landslide some 3 years back, train services between Beaufort and Tenom had ceased since then. There were still services between Tenom and Pangi (only one stop away). So the only way to get to Beaufort from Tenom was via Keningau — that was a big detour that went around the valley between Beaufort and Tenom!
I was allowed to tour the train station and also took some photos of the trains in the depot —both areas were not fenced up anyway. Both the old and newer trains were there. The security staff said that the old train was still in service but mostly used to “rescue” the newer trains when they broke down.
Tung Ma Nui Luk’s Tenom office was right opposite the railway station. I noted the bus timings outside the office. With the Beaufort-Tenom railway link severed, the only destinations left for me next would be either Keningau or back to Kota Kinabalu. Between the two, I would prefer to go back to Kota Kinabalu for the Gaya Street Saturday night food market and Sunday morning market. I would have spent two days in Keningau to check out the town if it was not a weekend.
I tried using Grab app to e-hail a car but it said there was no Grab services in this region. I tried looking for a taxi, but none was in sight. A guy at the bus stop near the train station asked where I was going and quoted RM15. I agreed and he led me to his private car.
After reaching Fatt Choi Cabin on a hilltop, he said it was RM20 because he needed to go upslope — I knew it! I had never trusted taxi drivers or private car drivers in Malaysia, never a single time a foreign traveller would not be ripped-off by them. RM5 was not a big amount but it was the feeling of being cheated that pissed me off. Tired of trying to argue, I gave him the additional RM5 and was glad to be rid of him. I would rather walk than use unmetered taxis. What was 2.2Km to me?
I checked-in at the office, paid for the room in cash since I could not do bank transfer. My double room was in the cabin nearest to the entrance. It was spacious and had a pantry with a range of Fatt Choi's coffee powders, a teh latte and a chocolate powder. The room seemed pretty ok. I was in Room 2 while Room 1 and 3 had other guests too.
After putting down my backpack, I did a quick tour around the compound.
There was also a huge Sabah map themed as "Dawn of Tenom" with a stairway leading a little further uphill which I believed was the spot where guests could catch the sunrise or dawn. Towards the edge of the compound were more cabins with larger triple or family rooms.
The canteen had a large signboard printed with “Fatt Choi Coffee Cabin” above it. Inside the canteen, a kiosk sold beverages, snacks and Fatt Choi's coffee products. Outside the canteen were a satay stall and a noodle stall. They would open at 10am and close at 6pm.
5pm was a little early for dinner, but I had to get something to eat before the stalls closed at 6pm — I would not want to walk to town and back in the dark. However, the noodle stall was already closed at 5pm, the stall lady tried to tell me something but I could not understand what she said. I ordered 5 ayam (chicken) satays, 5 kambing (mutton) satays and a daging (beef) burger for RM20 from the satay stall — not expensive. Then I bought a canned drink from the beverage shop. The food was nicely done and tasted good.
At 6:30pm, the hilltop was already pretty dark and mosquitoes would be out for blood. Strong winds were blowing and lightnings were flashing in the near distant. I wondered if it would rain heavily later in the night. Without much things to do in the dark, I cooped up in the room and write my blog. There was no WiFi and network signal was inconsistent in the room. This was like a back-to-nature getaway.
There were couple of mosquitoes on the ceiling of the room. I could not reach them so I left them alone so long as they stayed away from me. And strangely, they did not bother me — for the first night.
I slept at around 10:30pm — that was the last timing I noted before switching off the lights.
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