I had some Enrich points which were expiring and after much thought, decided to redeem them for flights to Sandakan and Penang after much thinking (my reservation about Sandakan was the ETA at KLIA of 16:45 which would mean arriving home in early evening). In the end, I decided to proceed with the redemption. The trip was a fortnight after dad’s passing and again, it gave me pause but I reasoned that dad would want me to continue living. My first trip to Sandakan was back in October 2011.
I left home early on Friday, 10 November 2023, and made my
way to KLIA. There was a (new?) self-service bag drop at KLIA (you’d need to
self-print your own boarding pass at the nearby kiosk before queuing to drop
off your bag though) and it was not really working. After queuing for fifteen minutes,
we were told to go to counter G – which was the international bag drop counter
and about two hundred metres away. Despite this hiccup, I still managed to make
it through the security check and had enough time to perform dhuha prayers,
alhamdulillah.
The flight took off late and we were still on the runway at
11:00 (ETD was 10:20!). We landed in wet Sandakan at 13:30 and were lucky to have
missed the rain which had only just stopped. I ordered a Maxim car and it
arrived promptly. There was a bit of traffic in front of my hotel which was
just across from the Central Market (the driver helpfully told me to expect worse
traffic on Sunday as the locals prefer to do their marketing then). I checked
in and paid for my room by card and deposit of RM50 in cash. I was given the
room card, the AC remote controller and TV remote controller and was told I needed
to bring them back when I checked out. My room was on the second floor and faced
the side of Harbour Mall but if one leaned out, one could see the sea. After prayers,
I ventured out. I stopped for some soto and lemon Sui (which turned out to be
three thin slices of lemon in hot water with some sugar at the bottom of the
glass, daylight robbery indeed). The soto turned out to be smoky which I didn’t
find at all appealing so I left it unfinished. Ugh, never again.
👎I walked to the Masjid Jamik which is over a century old and
then walked up Lebuh Empat to the William Pryer (supposedly the founder of
Sandakan. Surely a local was the founder?) and Sandakan Liberation Monuments.
Then I crossed the road and walked up the 100-step stairs. It was quiet and you
may not feel safe going up alone but alhamdulillah nothing untoward happened to
me either this time or the last time I was there. This path emerges onto Jalan Istana
at the top. If you turn right and walk on, you’d come upon the Japanese and
Chinese cemeteries and having done this on my first trip, I decidedly turned
left. Nearby is the English Tea House and Restaurant with a view over the city
and sea. Next door is the Agnes Keith House, an English lady and wife of an expatriate
who lived there from 1934 until WW II. I’d been inside on my first trip so I only
snapped a couple of photos before moving on.
I walked to the Gothic-style St. Michael’s and All Angels Church
which is one of the few buildings in the whole state to be made of stone
(really a bit hard to believe). There was a shy local cat when I was there. From
the church, I continued on down the hill, skirting the city field. I then went in
search of the night market. The night market operates on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday evenings. While there were quite a few food stalls, nothing caught my
fancy and I returned to my room.
Tonight, I did further research and decided not to join the Kinabatangan River Cruise due to the poor feedback on the tour operator and Borneo Natural Sukau Bilit Resort which we would be stopping at for meals. Besides, it’s rainy season which means leeches and I could do without them, thank you very much. And the road wasn’t good, it’d take at least two hours to get to the resort
On Saturday, I woke up early for prayers and didn’t sleep
back. It started drizzling at 07:00 and it would continue drizzling on and off
for much of the morning. I left the hotel at almost 09:00 and crossed over to
the Central Market. Here you can find vegetables and fruits, local kuih and bread,
dry seafood products and raw materials for cooking. Behind the market is the
Fresh Market for fresh seafood. On the first floor of the Central Market are
some food stalls and stalls selling clothes, shoes, toiletries, souvenirs and
pearls. I ended up buying a baroque pearl necklace (oops).
I then had a mid-morning meal at Nature Vegetarian. After the
meal, I walked along Jalan Buli Sim Sim to Sim Sim Water Village in the
drizzle. There are 24 bridges plus a few more (renamed as Lane A, B and so on).
I spent close to an hour there before turning back. I had Mee Ayam Pangsit at
Warung Bakso Solo. Then I walked back to my room to rest and read.
On Sunday, I returned to the market and bought some anchovies,
dry shrimps, dry shrimp paste and ground coffee before returning to my room to
deposit them. I then walked to Nature Vegetarian for a meal.
I checked out at almost 11:00 and walked to the bus terminal.
The previous morning, I found out that I could take a bus to the airport. However,
when I asked around at the terminal, I was told the fare would be RM10 and
there was no bus that looked like it was ready to leave. So I walked to
Sandakan Hotel and called for a Maxim car. There was a morning market and I didn’t
want to be caught in the traffic hence my choice of Sandakan Hotel. The driver arrived
within minutes and we reached the airport just as the call for Zuhur prayers
rang out. I went up to perform prayers first before dropping off my bag and
getting my boarding pass.
The plane from KL landed ahead of time and we boarded the
plane quickly. We were ready to take off at 13:50 and we landed at KLIA at
16:30. Alas my bag only came out at 16:55 which meant I had to take the next
KLIA Transit at 17:22.
Sandakan was a great city for me to visit while I was still
mourning over dad’s passing.
