I have made Tamparuli my second home for almost 5 years now. This sub-district of Tuaran has its wonders that includes the popular Tamparuli Suspension Bridge and Bukit Perahu. Weekends are usually when I drive up here and often spend the night. It's about 40 minutes drive from Kota Kinabalu city.
While I strongly support the preservation of traditional out-of-city lifestyle here, I equally believe that the town where the shops are needs major upgrades. Current infrastructures needs a little bit of looking at, and new ones needs to happen sooner rather than later.
A piece of advice, the chinese food shops here are particular when you order the famous fried noodles. They're called the Tamparuli Mee here, not Tuaran Mee. It's the same noodles though.