Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Sandakan Adventure

The sunset sky over Sandakan
We're back in KL after a last-minute decision to make use of the long Maulidur Rasul/Thaipussam weekend by striking Sandakan off our bucket list. It was a fantastic trip until we got hit by a nasty bout of food poisoning. Ironically, it wasn't due to all the seafood we ate (which by the way, is yummy & cheap in Sandakan) but due to the water or most likely, the ice! Well, that's what the doctor said & we're sticking by it because the thought of any of that scrumptious seafood we consumed causing so much agony is just heartbreaking. I'd never look at another oyster the same way again! 

With all that happened at the last leg of our trip, I really enjoyed our Sandakan trip. Our hotel room at Four Points by Sheraton, had spectacular views of the Sandakan Bay & we spent a lot of time at their infinity pool, soaking & waiting for sunset. We of course visited the Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre (which was our main objective), Rainforest Discovery Centre & Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary.  We had a lovely time watching wild Orang-utans & Proboscis monkeys feeding albeit from afar & we spent the most time at the RDC doing some light trekking following the calls of the Hornbill & observing nature. We also visited the Sandakan Heritage Museum, World War II Memorial as well as a few of the popular eateries recommended on Trip Advisor such as Ocean King Restaurant (so-so),  Sim Sim 88 Restaurant (highly recommended & cheap), English Tea House (scones were bland but the place is nice) & Ba Lin Rooftop Bar & Cafe (wonderful place to chill with great view of the bay but food was a little meh!).

We will definitely be heading back to Sandakan as we really really want to do the Kinabatangan River Cruise & stay in a forest resort instead of in town. It will take a little more saving up as it can be quite costly even for us Malaysians with all the discounted rates & park entry fees. I hope it'll be soon but in the meantime, I'm going to need to get over this food poisoning. 

The view from our room here in Sandakan
Looks like we a little stowaway.

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