We woke up a little early to pack our stuff for our flight to Borneo today. The plan is to stay at a larger coastal city named Sandakan today and to get picked up by our bus tomorrow morning to head to the jungle! We finished packing and Laura came to our hotel around 10:30. We took a grab to the airport, which was terrifying because our driver kept almost falling asleep. He kept having to rub his face and shake himself awake and briefly drifted from time to time. Thankfully we escaped this death trap and we’re safely delivered to the airport.
We got through security and learned that there was essentially only one restaurant near our gate. Thankfully it was Oldtown Coffee which we had in Ipoh, though only had the drinks there. We shared a crispy chicken nasi lemak and a noodle dish as well as some iced coffees. The crispy chicken nasi lemak was very good but made us laugh because it was two tiny chicken wings drums.
We got on the plane and sadly there was a man who booked the seat in-between us. We asked if we could change and he said “so I can sit at window?” And we said “oh no the aisle”. He was a little disappointed but didn’t put up any fight. We landed and grabbed our bags (how many times have I written this phrase by now?) And headed to the hotel.
Many streets in Sandakan looked a little dirty and run down, but our hotel was beautiful. We headed up to our room and noticed that instead if nice paintings or pictures, the hallway was adorned with movie and video game posters. We went into our room which was very nice, though small, and had a beautiful Captain America Winter Soldier poster hanging right above the bed.
We freshened up and met back up with Laura to walk around the area near the edge of the water. It was close to sunset so we found a cool rooftop Cafe spot called Bistro Balin and headed in.
There was a cool tiny winding staircase out back leading up to the rooftop. There aas a beautiful open area with most seats having a great view over the city or the ocean as well as an upper level with a large table and couches. The upper level looked ideal for a sunset but there was a large group together taking the whole area. We took a seat overlooking the city but still had a beautiful view of the sun. Caitlyn and Laura got some cocktails and David got beers and we sat and enjoyed the sunset.
Laura got very tired and left, so we went back down to the waterside and looked for a dinner spot. We found a nice place near the water and got the Sizzling seafood noodles and Caitlyn went to pick put a fresh fish for them to grill for us. The fish was very nice and we really enjoyed the noodles.
We stopped by 711 for some waters and headed to bed to be ready to be picked up tomorrow at 8:00!
David’s thoughts of the day: So far Borneo does feel very similar to other parts of Malaysia but I am curious to see the cultural difference once we get deeper in!
Caitlyn’s thoughts of the day: I wasn’t expecting Sandakan to be so City-like. Although it is much smaller than other cities, I was picturing it to be more rural due to it being at the edge of the rainforest.
Steps walked: 9,424
Miles walked: 4.57
Bluming Travelers 