Our hotel, the Swiss Inn Waterfront, was located right on the water and in the heart of town, which made for some relaxed and romantic dinners at the waterfront restaurants. Our hotel's restaurant had hot pot night our first night, which is always good news for us after falling in love with this eating feast in China. There are also several eateries down from our hotel that served incredible seafood and cold beer, all for especially cheap prices, amongst an open, airy environment perfect for people watching the locals.
Basically the only other thing to do in Sandakan proper is visit the Agnes Keith House, which sits atop the hill overlooking the city. We did so, and were thrilled to enjoy the incredible views while sampling the restaurant's fine interpretations of local specialties. We also spoke at length with a couple that was on our river boat excursion the day before. They had traveled just as we were several years earlier, but were now just vacationing after settling into a home in Vancouver, a far cry from their homeland of London.
Tania outside of the Agnes Keith House, looking pretty in the hat she bought in Siem Reap.
Speaking of the river trip, we booked the trip through a local hostel who sent a driver to pick us up (30 minutes late) at 9am. Expecting a quick drive to the river, we were instead told that we had a 3.5 hour drive with two other tourists crammed into a small compact car ahead of us. We questioned whether to go for a minute, but decided to see it through so we could see the orangutans and because there wasn't much else to do in the city.
Once we arrived at the water, we met up with 20 other tourists who jumped onto two long boats with us. We sat in the back and took in the fresh breeze and views of proboscis monkies and all types of birds while our tour guide explained everything around us. It really was an incredible ride which was only made better by two, very rare, sighting of orangutans in the wild. Many people go on this same trip and don't get to see one. Even though they were off in the distance, it was still enthralling to see the hair stand on top of their cute little heads, and their extremities that flop all over the place as they swing from tree to tree. We felt so lucky to have seen them.
Proboscis monkeys are so playful and curious!
On our last day, we visited the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, even though we had heard many negative comments about how touristy it was, and how unnatural the area was. Well, yes, there were a ton of people at the viewing platform during the feeding, and yes, it's a confined space in which the monkeys have to live, but it's a HUGE confined space, and the monkeys get to roam quite freely in a very natural type of environment. Plus, the huge crowd didn't detract from how exhilarating it was to see the fuzzy orange orangutans swing closer and closer to the feeding platform, and eventually swinging onto it so they could grab a few bananas from the park rangers. The way their legs swing up next to their hands in a way that only Gumby could do is hilarious, and the expressions on their introverted little faces is like nothing else on the planet. They truly are a precious wildlife that we as humans should strive to preserve if for no other reason than so we can laugh and giggle at their comic demeanor. And so they don't go extinct, but not all humans care about stuff like that, so let's fight for the giggles.
An orangutan just hanging out people watching (literally, he's staring at a large group of people there to watch him).
We were skeptical at first of our time in Sandakan, but were happy that we made the effort to spend a few days here by the time we left. It's not the sexiest destination in the world, but definitely a fulfilling stop to see a whole corner of the world that we never expected to see.
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