Sabah Soujourn 2013 – Part 8 – Sandakan walk

On the free map you can get at the airport tourist stand, or at hotels, a walk is shown. it’s a pleasant, easy walk.  But as it is the tropics, for me always the best time to go for a walk is first thing in the morning.  If you want to have tea at Agnes Keith house, then time your walk accordingly – not too early. These are photos taken during this walk.

I started at the Sandakan Hotel

There is actually a sign, here

in MPS Square

In MPS Square

In MPS Square

MPS Square

the stairs start opposite MPS Square

it’s nice and shady

no one around, either

the last few steps up

looking back

This sign is at the top of the steps. I didn’t count, so I don’t know if it is accurate, but it’s not a hard climb.

walking towards the Japanese Cemetary – although I didn’t go that far

The official residence of the Chief Minister of Sabah – after this I turned back

not open yet

nice view here

the tallest building is the Sheraton

Clock Tower, in the middle of the roudabout

after the Sung Siew School I turned left, skipping the Ancient Graveyard found down the road on the right – on the right is a footpath, at the moment

house next to the temple

no footpath any more

just before an ovehead bridge you turn right and follow this covered walkway

housing for some people

St Marys Cathedral – Catholic

St. Francis

St. Michael – Anglican

They have time capsules in this rock

St Michael

back in MPS Square, having completed the walk

Sabah Soujourn 2013 – Part 6 – Sandakan

Sandakan seems like it is in the middle of nowhere. It is quiet, clean, quite small and friendly.  From KK it is a short flight, but apparently not an easy drive.  When you arrive the airport is tiny, with only a couple of luggage carousels.  Then it is about 30 minutes drive to the town. The taxi voucher is RM30 to the town. And by the way, a taxi will charge RM30 for the trip back to the airport from town.

The following photos are intended to give an idea of the inner city of Sandakan.

It’s only about a 40 minute flight – but not an easy drive – to Sandakan. It feels like we are going to the middle of nowhere.

flying out of KK

enroute from KK to Sandakan

a small airport

A big sign you see on the way into town from the airport

many houses on stilts on the water that you can see on the way to Sandakan

the mosque

the Sheraton on the left, where we stayed

street in Sandakan

street in Sandakan

street in Sandakan

street in Sandakan

very very old looking local buses

a local market

a local market

a local market – big pail of milo

a local market

a local market

a local market

a local market

a local market

a local market

the Malaysian navy

the hotel from the waterfront

waterfront restaurants

waterfront restaurants

waterfront restaurants

near the waterfront

sculpture

sculpture

waterfront

waterfront

Sandakan streets

Sandakan streets

Sandakan streets

waterfront

Sabah Soujourn 2013 – Part 5 – Kota Kinabalu (KK) – hotels and waterfront

In KK we stayed in two different hotels. The first was Gaya Central.

This is near the waterfront, and not too far from Jesselton Terminal. RM157 for a night. The room has a shower, but no bath, and a safe. The staff were friendly, if not all that knowledgeable. Breakfast was OK. Here are a few photos.

the view from the window

the view from the window

Below is Signal Hill lookout, where a went for a walk as depicted in a previous blog in this series on Sabah.

Signal Hill lookout – you can just see this in the previous photo, on the left.

Following are some photos of the waterfront, starting at the east and moving west.

And then a little further along is the tousit waterfront area, as depicted in another blog in this series. Opposite this is the second hotel we stayed at in KK.

This is the Klagan hotel. Again, it is near the waterfront.We were given an upgrade – delux with bath & separate shower. The price was RM225 per night. The staff were helpful and friendly, there was a safe, iron, ironing board, hairdryer, and amenities in the room. And breakfast was good.

stairs from the 10th floor to the breakfast room

The following is breakfast…

Sabah Soujourn 2013 – Part 4 – Kota Kinabalu (KK) – Little Italy restaurant

And as for eating in KK?

Every morning we had a big breakfast at the hotel.

After that we were busy with excursions, and only had two nights free to eat in KK. For one we were very hungry and ate in a nearby hawker centre before we starved.

For the other we wandered around. On the waterfront there are plenty of tourist establishments, with quite high prices.

A couple of blocks in the food is much cheaper.

Little Italy was recommended by a friend, and was full of patrons, with quite a queue outside.  As most waiting groups were larger, we two actually got a table after only a couple of minutes wait.

The service was not particularly good – I gave up and went and fetched menus, for example, but they were rushed off their feet.

The food was good though, and the house wine reasonably priced.

ravioli

scaloppine

We had hoped to visit again before leaving KK, but we ran out of time.

Sabah Soujourn 2013 – Part 3 – Kota Kinabalu (KK) wildlife excursion

We had half a day left in KK, and were leaving the next morning. Our last chance for:

Proboscis Monkey River Cruise & Fireflies tour.  This tour takes you by bus through the countryside  to a place on the river about two hours drive from KK. Then you have coffee and a snack, and board a boat to see wildlife in its natural setting, and after dusk you see fireflies. You have dinner by the river. Then you are driven back to the hotel, arriving between 10PM and 10.30.

But it is dependent on the weather and luck what you actually see, if anything. If it rains, you are unlikely to see anything, and you’ll also probably get wet. We were not at all sure about the weather on that day, but we decided we’d go and hope for the best.  We rang the agent one hour before pickup to ensure we could get on, and they said to book online but pay the guide.  Once we booked online they texted us to confirm.

I did worry about the drive back at night, hoping the driver was going to be safe.

SUMMARY

The tour was good. They did as promised. We saw lots of wildlife, enjoyed the dinner, and the driver drove safely.

DETAILS

They picked us up at the hotel on time, did a couple more hotel pickups, and then we were on our way.

the bus

The drive was quite pleasant, and with one brief  comfort stop along the way took a little over two hours.

we followed the rail line for a while

there were a surprising number of churches along the way

Afternoon tea was relaxed…

the view from the restaurant

…and when we were ready we donned lifejackets and boarded boats, at about 4.45PM. You could hire binoculars for RM10. About eight in our boat, and quite a few more in the other.

the inlet the boats were moored in

our boat

the river

We headed downriver, passing old settlements…

And we saw some devastation of the jungle…

We continued for about 25 minutes before one of the guides spotted some proboscis monkeys in trees near the river. We watched and photographed them for a while.

We moved on, saw a monitor lizard on a tree…

monitor lizard

then a tree with poisonous fruit that in earlier times was used on darts to make them poisonous…

the poisonous fruit

…and further on saw some more proboscis monkeys. Then we turned around.

On heading back upstream it started to rain, and the canopy over the boat was erected. Luckily the rain was light, as the canopy wasn’t very effective. It stopped after a little while. It was getting dark.

We saw the same monkeys, higher up in the trees, settling in for the night.

Then, as the sun was setting we saw a herd of water buffaloes crossing the river. We stayed and watched for a while.

Finally, further upstream we came across fireflies.  It was still perhaps too early to see masses of them, but we saw quite a few. And a beautiful sunset…

Then it was back to the wharf, and dinner.  We’d been on the water a little over two hours. The dinner was very good.  Tiger beer was extra, at RM10, and soft drinks were extra too, but I don’t remember the price.

A little before 8PM we started back to KK, and the driver was very cautious, so it was a slow, but thankfully safe drive back. We were back in out hotel before 10.30pm.