Borneo: Sandakan

So behind on the blog – internet has been terrible for pics!

Thursday 8th June

We arrived in Sandakan last night. We are staying in a totally new apartment block that is a bit creepy because it’s so empty. It’s a sterile place where you really need a car. But it has a pool and a washing machine so we are happy!

As we can’t go snorkelling off the coast (see previous blog post on pirates), there isn’t a whole lot to do here so we are just going to potter, catch up on home school, do our many loads of washing (!) and get ready for our ‘volunteering’ in the jungle. More info on our volunteering here…

This city is so random, there’s no centre to it. Iust lots of different areas that all look a bit rundown. Such a shame as I’m sure its a result of covid. We went to the Chinese temple, which was closed. Visited the fishermen’s village which was some houses on stilts. Then went for dinner which was a disaster. The restaurant was overpriced and H was hot and bothered (and shouting!) So we went to McDonald’s. Yuk for us but kids were happy!

Friday 9th June

Home school and a swim. But a grumpy woman said our apartment owner had to be with us when we were swimming ie guests cant swim on their own. Eye roll. I was like lady, I don’t really care. You want me to stop the kids from swimming in the empty pool? Sheesh. Then she came back and said we had 10 mins and then need to go!

We sorted it with the owner afterwards but tomorrow should interesting. I don’t like Sandakan anyway so this is cementing it for me! Its just so strange here. The vibe is weird. Honestly, I know there is some bad juju here after the second world war. The Japanese basically did a death march (and worse) for the Australian and British POW.

We went for afternoon tea at Agnes someone or others house. Again it was hot, we were sitting outside and all v grumpy. The scones and cakes helped no end!

This evening we went for a firefly tour. It was actually really fab. We took a boat through the mangroves to the coast to see the sunset. So beautiful. Then we saw some fireflies and a crocodile on the way home! There were some other kids on the tour, so the kids had a little play. They are also backpacking (from Australia) with no fixed end date – jealous!