We went for breakfast at Foo Ping Dim Sum in Lintas, KK, on Sunday morning and although Dim Sum is not my first choice for breakfast, it’s not a bad choice.

Dim Sum, a Cantonese word, literally translates to mean heart’s delight. It consists of a variety of snacks, many of which are steamed. There are various permutations of Dim Sum and the most popular ones are a delicious something-or-other wrapped in a flour shell and steamed.

Other popular types include food like deep fried wanton, chicken feet and steamed pork ribs with black-bean and chilli. It might sound like an odd combination of food, but once you’ve tried Dim Sum, you’ll always look for the next opportunity to have some.

Coming back to breakfast though, our chosen destination is in Lintas near the Prudential Building, called Foo Ping Dim Sum. If it’s not the most popular place in Kota Kinabalu for Dim Sum, it certainly is one of the most popular places in KK, because it doesn’t matter what time of the morning you go there, there’s always a crowd.

Ironically enough, even though the tables are packed and Dim Sum trolleys are weaving backwards and forwards in between crammed tables that seem to have no space at all, there’s always space for two or three more.

Julia and I arrived shortly before breakfast would be over, but Foo Ping Dim Sum was still packed with hungry punters munching away on a large variety of Dim Sum choices. We had no trouble finding a seat, but a quick glance revealed only a few empty seats.

We called over one of the girl pushing the Dim Sum trolley and made our selection. I don’t know what all the Dim Sum dishes are called, but I’ve learned to identify them and remember what tastes good. The fact that they are colour-coded with a colourful edible something marking the different dishes, makes it a bit easier.

The names I do remember includes steamed pork rib with black bean and chili sauce, char siew, which is sweet and sour pork, and chee cheong fun. Chee cheon fun is a flour based dish, not unlike a large, limp noodle. It’s prepared in a soy-based sauce and is unexpectedly delicious. We also had lom ai kai, a glutonous rice dish with pork bits and salted egg. It tastes better than what it might sound and has a savory, slightly sweet, taste to it.

Wanting to have a relatively light start to the day, we ordered a modest amount of Dim Sum, and after finishing it, resisted the urge to order more, even though the taste of what we had and the aroma of what awaited were quite compelling.

As we drove off, settling down in the car, our stomachs became heavier and heavier and we realised how much we really ate. As Dim Sum is served in small portions, it’s easy to underestimate how much you’re actually eating, and you’re guaranteed to eat a lot when you visist Foo Ping Dim Sum in Lintas, Kota Kinabalu.

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Upperstar, the successful bar slash restaurant opposite Shenanigans, has opened a second branch in Damai and it was instantly popular.

You may or may not, but probably do, know Upperstar in the centre of Kota Kinabalu across the road from the Hyatt Regency. You then also know that this is probably one of the most popular bar slash restaurants in Kota Kinabalu.

Their secret to success is in fact, no secret: popular, consistent food, great variety of drinks and all this at an affordable place. I remember when the Upperstar in town was just one, ground floor unit. Soon they had purchased the shop above them and not too long after that, they took over the shop lot next to the one on top.

They’ve never had problems filling any of these new spaces and, I’m sure, did they have space around there, they would have expanded yet again, but clearly they didn’t, which is why they’re now in Damai.

Occupying the slot where previously Atlantis Bistro was struggling to survive, Upperstar is almost gloating, what with not being open for a month yet and already they’re virtually packed every night.

Together with the Coffee Bean next door, Upperstar is responsible for filling up the measly parking lot of the Damai area and on the night 3of4 went for grub, we had to park some distance away and walk it in.

The décor of the Upperstar in Damai is along the lines of the original one, except they’ve managed to do it a little more stylish and complete. The seating consists of the popular square tables with rattan chairs, but better still, features booth seating which makes for a comfortable meal, drink or chat.

The menu is a carbon copy of the big brother in Kota Kinabalu and I think this was they key to their success, as everybody who previously had to go out all the way to town for they Upperstar fix, now can stay in the neighborhood and enjoy the same food and drinks they previously had to drive so far for.

I opted for something had previously on purpose, to see whether or not the quality was consistent. You can find a Taco Foldover in a few places around Kota Kinabalu, but they’re all pretty mediocre. The Upperstar Taco Foldover is half decent and thus, my choice for this here consistency test.

Julia chased after the waiter to change her order to Chicken Salad and John went for the Lamb Chop. Although Upperstar isn’t, and doesn’t pretend, to be gourmet food, the food beats the crap out of any fast food joint and is in fact quite delicious. My Taco Foldover was, as expected, Taco Foldover’ish and I wasn’t disappointed. Julia’s Chicken Salad was loaded and filling, and John’s Lamb Chop came with an African Sauce, the name of which we couldn’t explain, but which was well edible nevertheless.

Thinking I needed a Vitamin B kick, I ordered a Nutri Malt, supposedly in the line of a non-alcoholic Guiness. What a disaster! I’m sure I still got some Vitamin B out of it, but it really left an aftertaste on my palette the likes of which I really don’t want to finish dinner with. Julia and John both played it safe with a mango shake, which they said was not fresh mango but syrup. Still, I thought, it must surely be oodles better than the Nutri Malt. Yuck!

Apart from the Nutri Malt, which comes in a can and really has nothing to do with Upperstar, it was a thumb-up experience. The food was good and in-line with what we expected, the drinks were ok (except, of course, the Nutri Malt) and the people watching was excellent, because it was busy from the time we got there until goodness knows what time after.

The service was efficient, although the waiters look like they were plucked off the street. I’m not sure whether the baggy pants, sloppy t-shirts and even sloppier hats is their idea of casual uniform, but that’s the one thing I would comment about: improve the service staff’s appearance.

Although we went for a late dinner-and-chat, I think Upperstar is a venue that really begs to be a hang-out place. And next time we need just such a venue, when an alcoholic drink or two would be in order, we’ll head on over to Upperstar Damai.

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The Beijing Open-air Buffet BBQ Steamboat restaurant in Bukit Padang is one of a few Steamboat restaurants in this area, but, as far as I know, it’s the only buffet Steamboat around.I’ve blogged about Steamboat on various occasions in this blog, several times when I was in China and most recently when I went to Kuala Lumpur. Even here in Kota Kinabalu, the Frisbee people had a Steamboat session, but pictures were few and far between as I had to fight for food as it was in short supply.

The Beijing Open-air Buffet BBQ Steamboat, on the other hand, is one of those places where there is no shortage of food. For a mere RM29 per person, you can eat as much as you can possibly cram into your stomach from 6.30pm until 11.00pm.

Last week Julia held a good-bye dinner for her friend May who was returning to Australia after her month long visit here in Kota Kinabalu. As we were all ready for a long farewell and we quite famished, Beijing Open-air Buffet BBQ Steamboat restaurant seems like the only place to go.

Served buffet style, the various types of food are laid out on the counter ready to be picked. I was pleased to see a wide variety of vegetables along side more seafood than you can shake a stick at. There’s also various other things like sausages, fish balls and at least 3 different types of noodles.

If you know Steamboat, you’ll know how to select the ingredients that will make your broth most flavoursome, and if you don’t know anything about Steamboat, do make sure you invite an Asian friend along for the party.

What makes the Beijing Open-air Buffet BBQ Steamboat at Bukit Padang unique other than the fact that it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet, is the BBQ bit in the name. At the Beijing Open-air BBQ Steamboat restaurant, the broth pot where you soak all your delectable goodies in, is a little smaller than most. This is to make sure for the BBQ section that goes around it.

Like a moat around a bubbling castle, the BBQ tray surrounds the broth pot. And what, might you ask, will you do with such a BBQ tray? Well, BBQ of course! Other than all the food mentioned above, there is also a decent selection of meats, namely chicken, lamb and beef (no pork apparently, my memory of pork, I’ve been told, was not from this restaurant) all marinated in various sauces with various flavours.

You choose your small pieces of meet, and while the broth is simmering in the middle of the fire, you slap on your meat and let them gentle simmer to culinary perfection. There is of course a trick to it and it does take a little bit of practice. My portion of the BBQ tray soon burnt black as I wasn’t paying close attention to it. The meat that did come my courtesy of my gracious dinner companions, were a delicious complement to the Steamboat itself.

If you finish your mains quick enough, there’s usually some kind of desert as well. On this occasion it was fruit. Thankfully, I thought, something to push down all that meat. There are also bottomless containers of drinks, mostly water and Chinese tea, which with the amount of punters that this restaurant can host, doesn’t stay bottomless or long.

The four of us sat until we could literally eat no more and eventually decided to throw in the towel. The Beijing Open-air Buffet BBQ Steamboat restaurant has a strict policy designed to prevent wastage of food, so for every 100g of food you don’t finish, they will charge you. Between our hungry selves, we didn’t even leave crumbs.

At RM29 per person and all you can eat from a wide variety food, including seafood, it would be difficult to beat the value-for-money we experienced at the Beijing Open-air BBQ Steamboat restaurant in Bukit Padang.

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Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, sometimes incorrectly called Lok Kawi Zoo, in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah is about a 20 minute drive from the city centre and provides an opportunity to witness the wildlife of Sabah, up close and personal; albeit a little constricted.

In my humble opinion this wildlife park is more of a zoo, but you gotta give them credit for having aspirations. Previously my in-to-nature friends argued that it was in fact just a zoo, and I, not having visited the wildlife park, vehemently argued the contrary. Well, I can argue no more, but I still think the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park is worth a visit - if for nothing, to see the animals of Borneo that you might otherwise not get to see in real life.

The usual three, John, Julia and myself, set off one very sunny Sunday afternoon to visit one of Sabah’s latest animal attractions. I specifically plied myself with sunscreen, wore a hat and even took an umbrella, because the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park is situated in a particularly hot, windless and unshaded part of Kota Kinabalu - you’ve been warned.

The entrance fees, if memory serve correctly, are RM20 for foreigners and RM10 for locals. I have a work permit, an after flashing this to the clerk behind the desk, she graciously granted me a local rate.

We briefly consulted one of the handy sign boards and started our exploration. Many of the initial enclosures we saw, or cages if I’m honest, were quite small. It didn’t bode well, as I didn’t really want to see wild animals couped up in too-small cages. These were the bird cages though, so we persisted.

Next up was an expansive, dusty camp and all we could see were antilope we thought could be Kambara, a type of Malaysian antelope. The plaque and information near the view area though said there was a Sumatran Rhino present. We scoured the dusty camp and eventually, in a muddy corner, saw something that could have been a Sumatran Rhino. It didn’t move though, so it was difficult to confirm what we saw.

We continued, and before long we saw a crowd gather around a particular enclosure and headed over to see what the commotion was about. It was the elephant enclosures, and although they were not Borneo Pygmy Elephants (I think), they were cute nevertheless. Actually, I think it might be illegal to coup up Borneo Pygmy Elephants, seeing as how they’re endangered and protected. These might have been the smaller Asian elephant variety.

We moved on to the Sun Bear enclosure. Our friend Ian is involved with designing Sun Bear enclosures for the facilities at Sepilok, so he had visited these ones before for inspiration. But standing on the raised edged looking in, I failed to see how he could have been inspired.

Inside a very dull, very open enclosure, there were 4 Sun Bears looking bored. Very little vegetation decorated the area and only a few places provided shelter from the scorching sun. One Sun Bear walked a clearly well trodden path in a seemingly mindless frenzy. Another one was asleep (or dead, difficult to tell) in the shade, whilst the other two were playing in the shallow water pool.

Their neighbours, three tigers, were couped up in an enclosure, which seemed even less fun than the Sun Bear enclosure. A single, simple platform perched, seemingly without purpose, provided the only shaded area. Upon our arrival all three tigers were passed out underneath this structure.

Eventually they started moving about, probably shaken by a nightmare of being somewhere else, perhaps in a jungle hunting small animals, or at the very least stalking something. The tigers and their home were downright depressing.

As we progressed down the path we came across a monkey station. This area featured all sorts of primates, most prominently orang utans, apparently on loan from the little sanctuary found at the Rasa Ria Resort. The orang utans were playful and fun and we stood watching them go about their business on their elaborate climbing frames. They had what turned out to be the biggest camp in the entire wildlife park.

Attached to their building were more primate enclosures. The Proboscis Monkeys has their own little villa with a flowing stream of water and enough branches to climb around on and be fairly entertained. One of the Proboscis Monkeys, at least, was very well entertained. A group of Proboscis Monkeys, usually consist of one alpha male and four or more females.

I guess, to protect the peace, this one Proboscis Monkey and his harem, had the villa to themselves. Proboscis Monkeys are distinctive, because of their huge noses. There is, apparently, no scientific reason for these bulbous noses. Theory suggests females are attracted to the biggest nose and thus, the alpha males usually has the biggest. Noses, that is.

The females are much smaller and also have small noses, making them borderline cute. But the girlfriend monkey of a male Proboscis Monkey is a happy monkey, and looks don’t matter much, because the male Proboscis Monkey has a permanent viagraless erection. Lucky monkey! Lucky harem! Enough for everybody!

Other interesting facts about the Proboscis Monkey includes having two stomachs (one to ferment the difficult to digest leaves they like), walking upright when they’re not in the forest, and swimming between islands. Interesting, albeit not the most beautiful, creatures.

Where the main path of the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park turns back on itself, there is what will probably be a botanical garden of sorts (needs some work). Julia wasn’t up for doing the circuit path, so John and I went to explore. Apart from the path being a lovely stroll through the jungle, there wasn’t much worth seeing as such.

I did come across an interesting, full sized, Borneo ant though. This particular ant was the singular, biggest ant I have ever seen, even bigger than these buggers. Luckily he was on his own (unlike this nest I encountered recently), so we could inspect him a little bit.

This ant was huge. In fact, if I had a leash I would have taken it back home, trained it to sit and beg and fetch the newspaper. As it was, he was pretty scary. I don’t have an ant phobia, although I saw a movie on TV when I was young, (I think it was The Naked Jungle) and ever since have appreciated the power of numbers, especially ants in numbers. Anyway, we documented this ant, ever so gently so as to not piss it off and have it run to call it’s buddies, and left.

One of our last stops was the ostrich camp. Being of African origin, I have, as you would expect, a close connection with ostriches and it was good to see ostriches in Kota Kinabalu, from my part of the world. We chatted, we made a few jokes, I even showed John and Julia how to dance with an ostrich (the sun was really hot, really) and how to feed it pebbles with your bare, open hands (their stomach needs roughage to digest food and the pebbles are it). The male got a bit defensive, but the female seemed impressed (yes, sunstroke, obviously).

Did you know that an ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain? Also, the male is the bright feathered one, whilst the female is dull and gray. She has to protect the nest and needs to be inconspicuous. And you can take a 500ml, glass coke bottle, stuff it down his throat and turn it horisontal - that’s how flexible the neck is. I wouldn’t recommend you try any of this on the ostriches at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, of course, but it’s interesting little tidbits nevertheless.

The most impressive exhibit at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park is the aviary. It’s a large, voluminous area of the camp where the jungle still grows dense. A large support structure is in the middle of a netted area, and the entire area is enclosed. It has a running stream of water through the middle, and a myriad of birds and small animals within it. We spent a good while here trying to spot birds and small animals.

We also paid a visit to the snake and spider section, all in glass enclosures, don’t worry. Some of the snakes were difficult to spot, even though they were really obvious (some right in front of us on the ledge of the windows). Another camp included an island surrounded by water in which two otters lived, and on the island itself a sloth was resident.

On the way out we passed a petting zoo, but before you have imagines of riding an elephant or petting a tiger cub, the petting zoo’s residents are mainly rabbits. Mind you, I think you can ride an elephant.

After a day well spent we exited the wildlife park. The mandatory souvenir shop awaited us, but cold drinks are all we took as souvenirs. Although some of the enclosures at the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park were a bit depressing, it has a good collection of Borneo wildlife, and does seem to make an effort to provide decent facilities for these animals.

They are also involved in conservation and education, which is why I would fully recommend contributing to their work with a visit to the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.

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The big deal about AirAsia’s new Airbus A320 is not that it’s AirAsia’s new Airbus A320, because it’s already their 32nd Airbus A320 in the AirAsia fleet. The big deal is, it’s the first of AirAsia’s new Airbus A320’s that will be based in Kota Kinabalu.

Yesterday I was reporter for a day, or so I like to think. On a whim, and with a little encouragement, I contacted AirAsia’s PR and asked if I could join the introduction to the press that was scheduled for AirAsia’s shiny new, Kota Kinabalu based Airbus A320. As I was previously a travel agent, and before that found myself on all sorts of aircraft more often than I can remember, aircraft are of special interest to me. More so if their bringing people to Sabah, and doubly more so if I will have to fly on them in the near future.

Any publicity is good publicity, right, so I was welcomed without too much fuss. With my best notepad and most nimble pen, I set off to Terminal 2 in time for the reception. Out on the apron we waited for the Airbus to arrive. It was in fact not the first scheduled flight were about to witness, because the first flight departed Kota Kinabalu at 7.20am that morning and, did they figure, it might be too early for most.

Shortly after the Airbus touched down on it’s flight back from KL, which regrettably I didn’t see (they were early, new brooms do sweep the cleanest), the Airbus taxied down the runway. The red Airbus struck a vivid contrast with the backdrop of green courtesy of the Borneo jungle, when a yellow emergency vehicle raced up and blasted a fountain of water behind the approaching aircraft, just in case it wasn’t eye catching enough - firework substitute for the airport I guess. As the Airbus meandered towards the Low Cost Terminal, a veritable carnival suddenly materialised as pre-arranged performers appeared and rushed into position.

The disembarking passengers must have thought there was a celebrity on board, because as they disembarked not only were they greeted by AirAsia’s Head of Communications, Regional Operations Manager and Airports Malaysia’s Kota Kinabalu Manager, but they were greeted by the Head of Sabah Tourism, Tengku Adlin himself. Apart from that, a long row of cultural performers were drumming and dancing away, giving them the welcome that every visitor to Sabah should really receive.

The moment the passengers had cleared and the plane was tidied up a bit, the reporters were hustled into the aircraft for the much awaited glimpse of the newest of AirAsia’s fleet.

Airbus in a Nutshell

The first thing which is obvious when you step aboard the Airbus is that it’s brand new - I was half expecting plastic on the headrests. For the first time ever on an AirAsia flight, I found myself not wondering about broken seats and tray tables that don’t latch. From where I entered, near the back of the plane, row upon row of shiny leather seats reached toward the front of the fuselage. I walked up to the Emergency Exit seats, the roomiest seats on any aircraft, and sat down. Pure bliss.

I could freely move my legs and nothing knocked my knees. I instantly knew that, unless I could help it, I would never fly an AirAsia Boeing again. But the first test is always easy, because there’s only 10 exit seats, 5 on each side, which would have this luxurious space. The rest of the cattle will have to be herded elsewhere, and it’s elsewhere where you will feel the crunch, especially, if like me, you’re 6 foot something.

I scooted a few rows closer to the front and sat down. The spaciousness was significantly less than the emergency exit seats, but even so, I still had an inch or two between my knees and the seat in front of me. On the AirAsia Boeings, from my back to knee fits in exactly in the space provided. I quizzed the PR people a little later about seat pitch (what the industry calls the space between seats) and she admitted that the rows in the first half of the plane have seat pitch of 30 inches, whilst the aft half of the plane has a seat pitch of 29 inches. So you know where to sit.

Something quite noticeable, and something Kenny Sia moaned about almost two years ago when AirAsia’s Airbus went to Kuching, was the fact that the seats do not recline. I, unlike Kenny Sia who’s clearly one of those short people who recline to the max moments after takeoff, do not moan about this feature, but applaud it. It means that I do not have to spend two and half hours with people like Kenny Sia in my lap. whilst they are comfortably reclined against my knees, snoring away at the same time I’m developing deep vain thrombosis, because of my restricted movement.

The fact that the seats do not recline also cuts down on maintenance costs, because how often have you seen people haul themselves up from their seats by holding on to seat rest in front of them? Often. And that’s why loads of people on AirAsia’s Boeing automatically recline on take-off - because the seat hydraulics are shot. And those are expensive and time consuming to repair - no reclining, no broken seat backs.

But even though the distance to the seat in-front of you might be the same in parts of the Airbus as they are on the Boeing, you have a little more space from left to right. The new leather seats are wider than those on the Boeing. That’s good news for those of us who are a little wider than most.

Of course, it’s not just about a new plane, it comes with benefits, eventually, for everybody. First of all, the Airbus is more economical to operate. It uses its fuel more efficiently, it requires less maintenance, and the maintenance it does require is easier (ie. no reclining seats). Turnaround is quicker (don’t ask me how), which means the Airbus can spend more time in the air, which, after all, is where it makes money.

After all these savings they gain from merely owning an Airbus, it can carry 30 more passengers than the current Boeing can. Now, people have said that this spells a tourist boom for Kota Kinabalu, but I’m not so optimistic. Sure, 30 more people will arrive on a flight, but then 30 more will leave when that flight turns around - so I’ll reserve opinion on that statement for a while longer.

New Places to Fly

From Kota Kinabalu, AirAsia’s east Malaysian hub, AirAsia currently operates 3 international and 7 domestic routes. By the end of 2008 they plan to operate Airbus, and Airbus only, on all of these. The first Airbus will earn its money on three routes, namely Kota Kinabalu to KL, Kuching and Macau. It will fly on a daily rotation basis, starting with a return to KL in the morning, then a return to Kuching in the afternoon, ending the day with a return to Macau in the evening.

Kota Kinabalu’s 1st Airbus A340 is Airbus Industries’ 3000th off the assembly line. AirAsia has over 200 additional options for more, and plans to have an all-Airbus fleet by mid 2009. The Boeings will be retired, or perhaps they will move down the feeding chain and end up in an undeveloped third world country, like Burundi, where they won’t be serviced and engines will come off in mid air. Oh wait, that’s South Africa.

Anyway, AirAsia is going from strength to strength and I look forward to much bigger planes and much lower airfares. With the advent of the Airbus we’ve already gained an inch of legroom and some new destinations, who knows the future holds.

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