Kudat is a town in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the northern tip of Borneo island. Approximately 190KM from Kota Kinabalu. The ethic composition is mainly Rungus, that is why you can find rungus long house home stay commonly here in Kudat. Our journey begin at Kota Kinabalu, heading north toward Kudat, crossing Kota Belud. First destination is Kampung Sumangkap Gong Factory, there is no need to worry about the location of tourist destination because the routes are easily spotted. You can find the way to Kampung Sumangkap Gong Factory, Gombizau Honey Bee Farm, Kampung Bavanggazo (Rungus Long House) from the main road.
Nikon D7000 + 35mm f1.8G @ f2
Walking down the street of Kampung Sumangkap, every family runs Gong making business. Here you can see the process of how the local make the Gong, from beginning until finishing. There are many sizes of Gong, even the Gong with "1Malaysia" logo. Probably it was monday, there were not much visitors here, except a car of us. When we were here, there is no instruction or guidance to explain what is this place all about, we walked our own way around the village. This really sadden me because they have beautiful heritage, but they don't have a strong management team to supervise all these. The Gong making tradition is vanishing because the youngster might not wanted to live the life like their ancestors do.
Nikon D7000 + 35mm f1.8G @ f2.2
Nikon D7000 + 35mm f1.8G @ f2.2
Next, we stopped by Gombizau Honey Bee Farm, there is vendor selling pure honey at the entrance, honey from wild bees as well as from their farm can be found here. It is more like a shop than a tourist attraction, there wasn't much to see in their farm. Only a few boxes of honey comb at the side of the road. Along the way we saw the children having a lot of fun with their mate on the tar road. Some of them can even understand mandarin!
Nikon D7000 + 35mm f1.8G @ f2.2
Nikon D7000 + 35mm f1.8G @ f2.2
Then we come to the Kampung Bavanggazo, the Rungus Long House. It is like a home stay, you can stay here for nights with prior booking. The house itself look classic, the floors are made with bamboo, real strong bamboo. In the long house it has showcase regarding the traditional clothes of Rungus people, their equipment for agriculture, and etc. The Hong Kong drama (富贵门) took some of the scene from this Long House. If you watched it, you will notice it too.
Nikon D7000 + 35mm f1.8G @ f2.2
Somehow, our final destination is the Tip of Borneo, (Tanjung Simpang Mengayau). It is situated 30minutes from Kudat town, and by the time we drive there, the road condition is bad, really bad. *Another negative feedback to Sabah Tourism. The landscape is amazing, before we reach to the tip, we overlook the beach lies below the cliff, surprisingly clean, with white sand too. After short distance of walk from car park, we reached the globe stating "Tip of Borneo", and there is a stair way lead to bottom of the cliff, very steep but worth the effort to come down for a picture or two.
Nikon D7000 + Tamron 11-18mm @ 18mm f16
Nikon D7000 + Tamron 11-18mm @ 18mm f5.6
We finished our journey after the sun had Set. After a beautiful group photo, we depart directly from the Tip of Borneo to Kota Kinabalu, stop by few station to buy some vegetables and fruit. Along the way we encountered really bad road condition, especially the exit from Tip of Borneo toward Kudat and Kota Kinabalu. Someone really have to fix it before it create any bad effect that chase tourists ($$) away. In summary, Kudat is a town famous for the Tip of Borneo, other than that i wouldn't recommend my friends to visit there. You have to pay entrance fee to enter Honey Bee Farm, Gong Factory, and Long House, i don't think it worth the money, unless you go there during carnival or festive season. It can be very tiring to do day trip, staying in Rungus House can be a adventurous experience too.
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