Blogs from Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 5

Day 6 Back to KL So it was back into the boats and off on the 2 hour journey (shorter because we were going with the flow of the river) to Kuala Tembling, then onto Apple’s little bus and back to Kuala Lumpur. This time we had a much better driver and we arrived safe and sound - thank goodness! After a nice meal we boarded the Monorail out to KL Sentral (station) and then took the AirAsia bus to the low cost carrier terminal at KLIA. We had a very early flight so decided to stay at a “Tune” Hotel right next to the airport. It was “compact and bijoux” but did the job! We flew out to Sandakan and arrived in beautiful weather. Took a taxi to the Sepilok Resort but when we said ... read more

Sandakan is a town often overlooked, with people pausing only to visit the Orangutan centre, however when you stay longer and get under the surface of this unprepossessing community you discover it's unique mingling of colonial and military history with the karaoke bar scene of mile four! There are opportunity for partying and pampering, visiting local villages and learning of Sandakan's past. Feeling a little sore and rather grimey after our jungle camping adventures we were looking forward to the soft mattresses, clean sheets and hot showers of Hotel London. This aptly named hotel had been our home last time we stopped in Sandakan and the friendly owners welcomed us back with open arms. After a little snooze we set out to find our days activity, which turned out to be croquet! Our jungle sturdy legs ... read more

Mr Aji took us to Kinabanatan River. He prides himself on offering a little extra and the 3 hours we spent on the river was very memorable. Snakes, lizards, kingfishers, silver tailed monkeys and proboscis monkeys everywhere!... read more

An early rise and an hour’s boat journey before we had breakfast in the village on stilts in Sandakan. A fascinating place - apparently originally started for European accommodation, its only relatively recently that mainly Chinese have moved in. A bit of a shame about all the garbage floating around ... It was then into the minibus with some others to Sepilok, the orang utan rehabilitation centre. Orphaned baby orang utans are brought in and reared in a nursery and ‘jungle-gym’ to teach them how to survive in the wide outdoors. Finally, they are released - the wardens continue to feed them twice a day. We went along for the 10 am feeding, and along with others sat there patiently waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting ... and eventually Ron said we had to leave ... read more

We departed Kuala Lumpur early in the morning and flew to Sandakan in Borneo...after a couple of hours flight we finally see the land that we are to explore below. We soon flew over the amazing sight of Mount Kinabalu Mike was in awe as we flew by it and couldn't believe how close we got to it! Sadly this is not a destination for us this time as we have limited time here in Borneo and we knew what we came to see. So we carried on and flew directly into Sandakan as we approached we could see little homes scattered through the thick jungle, we landed on a single strip of concrete only a meter or two of clearing either side until you hit the start of the thick bush which soon turned into ... read more