The Cheapskate does Kota Kinabulu – CX, KA, MI, SQ & HH

[froggerADL]

The Slow Train

I quite enjoy train travel and last year I did Beijing to Guangzhou at around 300kmh in about eight hours. I paid over A$500 for that in Business Class which is actually a step up from First Class. The KK train trip was a little different.

I was quite pleased to find that KK actually has a train line. It is only a single track that goes between Tanjung Aru station in KK and Beaufort. The distance is about 85km. There are two services per day in each direction. I took the early service which departs at 07:45 and arrives at 09:40. This train tops out at a speed of around 50kmh. I took the first service back which departs Beaufort at 11:00 and arrives back in KK at 13:05. There are seven stations between KK and Beaufort. The fare is RM4.80 ($1.40) each way.

Tanjung Aru station, which is almost directly opposite the airport, is 5.4km from the Hilton.

I had planned to use Uber to get from the hotel to the train station. I found out that I hate the new Uber app. It took me a while to work out how to enter the name of the hotel rather than use the damn pin, and you don’t find out about surge pricing until the very last step. It was 7:15 am and surge was active at 1.7x so I used Grab Car instead which quotes firm prices, in this case RM7 ($2.05). After messing around with Uber I was getting worried about missing the train.

The car arrived within two minutes and we arrived at the station with 10 minutes to spare. I highly recommend Grab (either car or taxi) in S.E. Asia.

I bought a return ticket and boarded the train. There were three air-conditioned carriages and I had my pick of seats. There were only four other pax in my carriage until the next station where quite a few people boarded.

My carriage.


The train at Beaufort station. I would have taken this picture from further away but I would have fallen off the platform.


We passed a few rural villages and I enjoyed the journey. The train arrived on time. I hung around at the station for an hour or so then re-boarded the same train. Someone near me decided that it would be good idea to listen to music on their phone without using headphones. I moved to a quieter spot.

I got a Grab Car from Tanjung Aru back to the hotel for RM9 ($2.65).

There is a more expensive train option for non-cheapskates. They run a tourist steam train on Wednesdays and Saturdays from Tanjung Aru to Papar, which is about half-way to Beaufort. The trip starts at 09:30 and arrives back at 13:40. You get breakfast on the way to Papar and lunch on the return. You also get a forty minute tour of Papar, including a wet market. The cost is RM345 (A$101).

I did my trip on a Wednesday and the steam train was actually parked at Papar station on my return. The train looked really good with nicely refurbished carriages.

 

[froggerADL]

Photos

I was asked for photos, so here they are. I apologise for the poor quality. Please do not blame the photographer as there wasn't one involved. These pictures were taken by a hack!

I'll start with the room.

The entrance.


The blurry bed.


The sink.


The shower.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Photos

Other room views.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Photos

The executive lounge.







My room was through this door, two metres to the left.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Photos

The executive lounge, continued.



The EL desk. Everyone is very helpful here.


The smoking area at the EL. How civilised!

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Photos

What I call the breakfast area of the EL. Some families sit here during evening canapes so that they can grab all the food before anyone else gets a chance.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Photos

Some EL evening food and drinks. The quality was pretty good, especially the amazing desserts. No photos of the desserts, I ate them too quickly!

Delicious deep fried prawn dumplings and a standard spring roll.


Shrimp & beef canapes.


I asked for a Tiger beer. It was served in a bowl of ice with profuse apologies for running out of coldies (which I guess was partly my fault for drinking them all!).

 

[TomVexille]

Re: Photos

I asked for a Tiger beer. It was served in a bowl of ice with profuse apologies for running out of coldies (which I guess was partly my fault for drinking them all!).
View attachment 92298

Solution orientated staff. Nice.

 

[froggerADL]

Time to go

I had one last serve of those delicious fried eggs then it was time to go. I checked out at the executive lounge and my bags were taken to the lobby for me.

I booked a Grab Car which arrived after about five minutes. The fare was RM12 ($3.50). I find it incredible that you can get a taxi to take you 6km to an airport for that price. I did tip quite generously as I usually do with Asian drivers.

The drive to the airport took only about ten minutes. The driver spoke good English so we had an enjoyable conversation on the way. He dropped me off right at the terminal door and I made my way to the check-in counter.

There was a long queue for economy check-in but the business class counter was free. I could see that there were only three pax in J out of eight seats. MI & SQ seem to block all bassinet seats and I had pre-selected seat 2C. I asked if 1C was available, which it was. I received a lounge pass for the Plaza Premium lounge.

I requested wheelchair assistance and was asked to take a seat. After about ten minutes I was collected and off we went. There was a long queue at security but my pusher just told everyone to get out of the way and we went straight through. Security was taking so long that there were no queues at immigration.

I only had a soft drink in the lounge and was collected for boarding after around thirty minutes.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Time to go

I’ve travelled with Silk Air once before but that was in Y. I thought they were very good as they serve “proper food” in economy.

MI391 BKI-SIN departs at 11:45 and has a flight time of around two hours. The aircraft was a five year old A319-100.

I had the bulkhead seat 1C. The legroom was about the same as a J bulkhead seat on a QF 737-800. I didn’t think that the leather seats were as comfortable as QF although there was nothing wrong with them.

As I was the only pax in row one I moved to the window seat 1A so that I could do some window gazing. I was shown the menu and asked for my main course preference prior to take-off. I chose the fish over the chicken.

We departed on time. We followed the Borneo coast for quite some time and the views were amazing. I was lucky that there was very little cloud.

An iPad provided the IFE. It had obviously seen better days but it did the job and I watched a movie. The seatbelt signs went off within a couple of minutes of departure and the meal service began almost immediately. They even use a tablecloth.

The fish was very nice.


I was very surprised to find that MI serve French wine in J, one red and one white. They come in 187ml glass bottles. Being the strange person that I am, I had the red with the fish and then the white after lunch.

The Red.


The White.


I enjoyed both wines very much. The service was both professional and attentive.

We landed at SIN on time and a wheelchair was waiting for me.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Time to go

It’s about time I finished this TR!

Nine hours in the SilverKris J lounge is too long! It’s a nice enough lounge with a huge selection of food and I particularly like the self-serve draft Tiger beer. The glasses are in the fridge and the beer is ice cold.

I quite dislike overnight flights, especially in J. The meal offering is usually poor, they rush through it and hope that everyone will go to sleep. Unfortunately, nearly all Asia to ADL flights leave at night with an early arrival. SQ279 departs at 23:35 and arrives at 09:00.

The trip from the lounge to the aircraft was enjoyable as I had the usual wheelchair assistance. The plane was a five year-old A330 with 2-2-2 seat layout. I had a centre aisle seat in the middle of the cabin.

I had ordered a steak for dinner via book-the-cook. The menu stated that you could have supper or breakfast, or both if you wish. I could hear the FAs taking meal orders and they were making it quite clear that it was supper OR breakfast. When they got to me I said that I had 'booked the cook' for supper and would also like breakfast. I got a surprised look but no push-back.

The meal service was finished quickly and the lights went off. I watched a couple of movies and had about two hours sleep. It’s only a seven hour flight so there is no chance for a decent sleep.

We arrived on time. This was the first time I had arrived at ADL international since requiring wheelchair assistance, and the lady that collected me was amazing. As we went past duty-free she asked me if I would like anything. How good is that? I always feel guilty when I have to ask. I grabbed the usual 2 litres of Jack Daniel’s for $75 and then whizzed through immigration. My bag was already on the carousel and I was taken to the pick-up zone where my son collected me. Great service.

At the beginning of this TR I said that I prefer SQ J over CX J on the A330. I’ve changed my mind. The CX 1-2-1 layout is much better than SQs 2-2-2. But what I’ve realised is that it’s short overnight flights that I dislike the most. I would happily take an SQ A330 day flight over a CX overnighter. Whichever airline it is, the food is better and the FAs don’t hide after the meal service on a day flight. Also, I haven't been drinking all day prior to the flight!

Until last week I was booked on the same SQ SIN-ADL flight at the end of May on the way back from South Africa, after an eighteen hour layover. I’ve now changed that to SQ207 SIN-MEL on an A350 departing at 07:45 arriving at 17:10. Much more civilised, even if I had to buy a MEL-ADL flight to actually get home!

 

[JohnK]

Re: Time to go

Very nice trip report froggerADL!

 

[potm]

Re: Time to go

Looking at some dates in July for the hilton kk and points rates are ridiculous 50-60k per night. It is the usual 10k at other times. There's also a le meridian cat 2 in kk.

 

[froggerADL]

Re: Time to go

Looking at some dates in July for the hilton kk and points rates are ridiculous 50-60k per night. It is the usual 10k at other times. There's also a le meridian cat 2 in kk.

The high rate is for Premium Room rewards which value points at about 0.5 cents per point on the room rate. The 10,000 rate is for Standard Room Rewards.

The limited availability lines up with UK/Europe school holidays from mid-July to the end of August. Borneo is quite a popular family destination for those that can afford it.

 

[Archipelago]

Fantastic trip report, thanks for sharing. Always enjoy my trips to KK. Will have to do the train next time, great tip!