Whew! I just came back from a 5D4N trip to Sabah, Malaysia with my mum. Safe to say, I will be back again, Sabah!
For this trip, I’d love to share with you guys where we stayed and what we did — Sabah is really an interesting Malaysian state, very much different from Peninsular (Semenanjung) Malaysia. For the third and fourth night, we stayed in Ahleeyado, a property located in the Mesilau highlands.
We booked a room with a queen sized bed on Airbnb. All I knew was that we wanted a backdrop of Gunung Kinabalu.
Location
Ahleeyado is located on the highlands. We rented a Toyota Rush to get around Sabah easily from this Kings Car Rental Kota Kinabalu. I made sure I chose a car that was strong enough to climb up the steep hills. To get to Ahleeyado, we passed through Pekan Kundasang first. The pekan is a place where you can get most of your necessities and food. Occasionally there is the pasar malam where stallowners set up temporary shop on the open fields under tentages.
The property is located slightly off the main road. You will also need to drive past through a golf course and 2 one-way wooden bridges. Quite an experience, I must say! On one of the bridges, there was a blindspot and we had to be really careful in ensuring there are no vehicles crossing on the opposite side.
Amenities
The room we stayed in was fully equipped with a queen bed, kitchenette, hot shower, slippers (trust me, it can get quite cold!) and a small section of the view towards Mount Kinabalu.
This property has multiple rooms for rent, which you can see the listings here.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any personal photos of the room itself without my mum (who was not wearing hijab) inside. The listings on Airbnb are true to picture, so do refer to them!
Rooftop
The property also has a rooftop which you can sit and chill with a cup of hot chocolate in hand.
While the sun doesn’t rise behind Mount Kinabalu from this side, the golden hour during sunrise makes it a spectacular moment for photoshoots.
I’ve seen comments that stargazing is a popular activity in Kundasang because of the low light pollution. Unfortunately, weather was not on our side — it was raining almost every night during the two days we stayed there!
Mr and Mrs Lee, who owned the property, are sweet individuals. Mrs Lee painstakingly designed the whole property. It has a beautiful Taiwanese-Japanese vibe. Truly reminded me of my hike in rural Gifu!
Mr Lee also offered to help us with luggage, and also lent us umbrellas. Do not underestimate the weather in Kundasang!
Both of them were so worried for my mum, because of the many stairs and the weather which could go as low as 12 degrees Celsius.
Would I come back? Definitely! I would love to hang out on the rooftop with my friends, perhaps organise a bbq. There’s a bbq pit build by the owners, and that would be a fantastic activity.
Much love to Mr and Mrs Lee!
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