Tenom

Last weekend, I went to Farmers Market in Tenom with Hub, my children and my nephew. The small town is about 185km or about 3 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu.

It is located in the Interior Division of Sabah. Formerly known as Fort Birch during the colonial era and one of the most scenic interior locations in Sabah with the Crocker Range towering magnificently as the town’s backdrop. We bought rambutan, mangosteen and durian.

We stayed at Perkasa Hotel.  Located just 2 km away from the town and perched highly at a hill slope that overlooks the entire valley.  We’re not familiar with this town so the only way was to rely on online hotel bookings. Perkasa appeared to be the best available and the pictures displayed looked decent but when we walked into the bedroom, we didn't expect it to be so rundown.

The quilt was missing thus exposing an old wrinkled grey sheet over a blanket. The lamp shade on the night stand was old and slanting to one side. The toiletries offered in our bathroom was just a thin soap and two small sachets of shampoo. So sad to see the condition of the hotel.

The next day, we visited the Sabah Agricultural Park which is formerly known as Lagud Sebrang Agriculture Research Station, some 14 km from the town. 

The park is not so difficult to locate as there’re lots of signboards along the road. It’s extremely huge with many parks scattered around the land. 

To go from parks to parks, there will be a tram ride to bring you around. But if you plan to walk instead of taking the tram ride, do pack along umbrellas, drinking water and mosquito repellent. The landscape is fantastic. 

We spent some good 2 hours enjoying the flower gardens, vegetable and herb garden. The whole walkabout will take you about 6 hours if you want to see all. The park is very well kept. Overall, it’s definitely a great environment to get away from the city.