North Borneo Railway 15th February 2012

Happy belated Valentines everyone! A wee bit late, but I hope everyone had a good one :)

Just a day after V-day, James, Jennety, Sabrina and myself, went on board the North Borneo Railway (NBR) train courtesy of Sutera Harbour Resort. The NBR train is the oldest running steam train in Sabah and Borneo as stated in their website, but it looks magnificent inside. Yes, I meant that. MAGNIFICENT! ;)

Timeless, classic, vintage. Just three words that I can think of to summarize the train as a whole. With wood paneling, cushioned seats, a personal table and open air ventilation.. it can't get any better than this. As soon as you step into the NBR train, it just gives you that nostalgic feeling of old-school luxury. The look and feel of it made me think like I was in some old British movie, "Ah, yes please. A cuppa tea for me, and some scones too." *snickers*

Getting our passports stamped. :)

Before going on board the train, we were given a passport which we collected from the NBR office for stamping purposes. There are 5 stations altogether, the first station is of course Tanjung Aru Station. In the passport, there are several stamps that you will collect when passing each station. The stations after the initial one are Putatan, Kinarut, Kawang and finally Papar. How does it feel to have a passport on a train? Well, I felt like a tourist of course! Royalty~ :p

Open air ventilation.

The overall look of the interior.

The elegantly styled lamps and wood paneling.

The interior of the train, as mentioned earlier, looked really fancy and old-school. In a good way of course. I felt like I had to act all lady-like just 'cause, hehehe. As soon as we got on board, we were served with a refreshing glass of ice lemon tea. Then we were served with a light breakfast, which consisted of Danish pastries, croissant and a beverage choice of either coffee or tea.

After departing from Tg.Aru station, the next station we passed was Putatan and we stopped at the third station, Kinarut town. Before our initial stopover, we actually recorded a short clip to capture the sound and essence of the train. This was really funny, as I had to talk into the camera and I tell you I am a very shy person when it comes to recording videos. I shall upload the video in the next post. ;)

The train made a 20 minutes stop here, where all passengers were invited to visit the Tien Shi Buddhist Temple which was built by Chinese people who moved to Sabah during the olden days.

Tien Shi Temple

my failed attempt at imitating the statue's pose.

Inside the temple, Sabrina & Jennety looking on as the worker demonstrates how to rub the bowl & make the water splash inside the bowl.

After the 20 minutes was over, we resumed our ride to the next station, Kawang and then finally reached the last station which is Papar town. Here we stopped for about 30 minutes, as the train takes time to switch the engine from the front to the back of the train and the tables are being set up for lunch.

I took the opportunity to snap photos of the place and of course, what most people would normally do, camwhore (snap your own face with anything that represents the place) :p

I must say, the view was too nice to pass up camwhore photos, LOL!

vanity ;p

I made James pose as well, haha

James, Jual (Train Manager for NBR), Jennety & Mizan .

The Menu

Tiffin Lunch

Dessert! :D

Our hostess, Ms.Imelda Thadeus (Sales Manager)

I hope you enjoyed the photos, click on our STA Facebook account for more :)

For inquiries:

North Borneo Railway

Level 2, The Magellan Sutera Resort,

1 Sutera Harbour Boulevard,

Sutera Harbour,

88100 Kota Kinabalu,

Sabah, Malaysia

Tel: (60 88) 308 500

Fax: (60 88) 311 136

Email: nbrinfo@suteraharbour.com.my

or

Imelda Thadeus

Sales Manager

H/P: +60 17 813 9300

Tel: +60 88 303 202

Fax: +60 88 303 338/303 337

Email: imelda.thadeus@suteraharbour.com.my