3 days 2 nights Sandakan trip part 1

 Have you ever experienced the feeling of frustration, after having your leave approved, air ticket, hotel and transport all booked, and looking forward for the day, when suddenly, your flight was cancelled or changed to a different date, not once but twice! This can drive us nuts, right?

That's what happened to me and my sister. Luckily I was a retiree so the plan can still be adjusted, but it doesn't mean I was not affected. My sister, who was still working couldn't change her leave to match the travelling dates and it was very upsetting. One cancelled flight might be acceptable, but twice is ridiculous. Not only my sister wasted her approved leave, but her air ticket as well because she didn't have the time to keep on tracking available dates for the travel. 

The reason why I wanted to bring my sister there was because she has never been to Sandakan before, and as a nature lover, she was so keen to visit the Orangutan Sepilok  rehabilitation centre and the monkeys at Labuk Bay.

These events put me off our visits, leaving me not keen to go. I felt I was just going to waste the air ticket, but my husband advised me not to waste the ticket, and encourage me to go, even if it meant to go alone, as a getaway break to another place of interest. 

So I got on the plane and headed for Sandakan! 


The plane was fully booked but I managed to avoid the crowd by using the senior citizen lane.😂

Firefly airlines gave free check in luggage of 10kg but I had nothing to check in.

Light refreshments were also provided during the flight, a personal packet of nuts, cookies and drinking water, much appreciated.

The 30 mins flight was smooth on a fine sunny day. No turbulence at all. The plane landed at at Sandakan airport @10.30am on time.

On arrival, I was picked up by my ex colleague, Esther Wong who came with her land cruiser. She is a small petite lady and driving such a big car makes her even smaller, but she reminds me of Angelina Jolie in the movie as "Lara croft" , Tomb Raider -  fearless, independent, a strong woman character😂. 

Esther was my ex housemate before when we worked at Duchess of Kent hospital in Sandakan. At that time, we were both still young, single, newly graduated staff nurses from the Nursing College 😊. 

After I got married and transferred back to my home town in Kota Kinabalu, we never met again for over 40 years. Partly because everyone's life is destined and has their own life to lead. 

For those who want to go by grab driver to My Dream hotel, it only cost Rm7 and from the hotel to town the Grab fee was about Rm3, while to the hill top it will be Rm8 at that time. 

But if you prefer to rent a car like I did initially with my sister, the smallest car, a new Proton saga would cost about Rm120 per day. Renting a car is ideal if you plan to visit the Orang Utan rehabilitation centre as well as the Sun bear at Sepilok or the  Labuk Bay for the proboscis monkeys.

Following my arrival, my friend, Esther headed straight to "Happy Noodles House" which is a coffee shop run by her son and brother in law. 

We started with some special drinks - The 3 layer Teh C and local kopi ice with special ingredients in it created by her son and his partner. Very yummy👍

Her son, the owner said its because the ingredients are original. No substitute. No wonder it tasted so good!😋

We enjoyed a sumptuous brunch -  the popular Sandakan Century Dumpling rice noodle soup. I was so hungry that I ate it well. 😋

The ingredients was so fresh and the soup, wow, so full of flavor. You can't find such authentic taste in KK any more. KK is so commericalised that I can feel the flavor and quality is no longer there any more.

Whoever comes to Sandakan, must try their delicious dishes. For more, you can click the link here 👉Happy House Noodles, Sandakan.

Mother & Son, part owners of Happy House Noodles

After our brunch, Esther sent me to My Dream hotel for check in.

Check in and out counter.
A cash deposit of refundable Rm50 is needed upon checking in.

In my room, A Tea making set and drinking water

Disposable toothbrush and paste

Short video of the King's superior room 

The room was very clean, bed was so comfortable. There were hangers to hang your clothes, a tv with local channel which I was not bothered to watch, a good working air condition, a hair dryer, a kettle, a pair of tea cups and saucer with 2 set of tea bags and sugar. Not only 2 bottles of drinking water were provided but 2 sets of toothbrush and tooth paste were also provided. 

Yet with all these for the price of RM95 per night, I felt it's well worth the money to stay here.

The only thing I need to remember was to wait for at least 1-2 mins for my shower, whenever I flushed the toilet, because it seems the water flow to the toilet and shower, shared the same pressure, so once I flushed the toilet, the pressure in the shower was reduced, but I had no issue with that.

It's an ideal place for the elderly, customers like us who just want a good comfortable safe place to stay for the night, with basic toiletries and some drinking water at hand.

 I prefer to opt for 1st floor, rather than ground floor because it's much quieter on the upper floors.

After I checked in, the rain started to pour heavily, so our plan to visit the Orangutans and proboscis monkey was postponed to the next day. Let's hope it will be a good day 🙏

Although the trip to Sepilok and the Labuk bay was postponed, Esther still came to meet me for the  Avocado dessert shop at jalan Dataran BU3,  mile 6 sandakan. 

Sandakan is well known for their avocados. 

We tried the Dragon float cheese cake - Rm12.90 per piece 

and the Avocado ABC for Rm19 

After the refreshing tea time, we went for a ride down "memory lane".

Visited my ex work place 

 In 1981, I was transferred to this hospital as a newly trained staff nurse working in the male surgical ward on the 1st floor which the arrow shows on the photo. My ward sister in charge was Sister Ho.

Esther Wong and I used to work here before  but in different wards and we stayed in the same house provided by the government. 

It's been 40 over yrs now since I left. It is only now that I managed to meet Esther Wong and my ex ward sister Ho again. All three of us are retiree's.  It was really good to see them again because the rest of our ex colleagues were all uncontactable. 

For me, these visits really bring back fond and dear memories.

   

After the memory lane of my previous work place, we drove to the hills where the English Tea House and Agnes Keith house were. 

English Tea House and Agnes Keith house

Beautiful view of Sandakan town which has been well known as "Little Hong Kong"

 Standing at the top of the hill, looking down at the islands over the sea and the town of  Sandakan, gave me a feeling of peace and satisfaction. No wonder one of my friends, Rita, likes to hike up the hills.

The rain had stopped when we were at the top of the hill, so we continued our joy ride down the hills to make a brief visit to the town.

 

The old historical wet market has been demolished and a massive huge Mall has now been built. 

 A new wet market was relocated nearby the previous old one. 

The roads in town were starting to get jammed around 5pm, so we decided to call it a day and looked forward for the next day. 

Before the sunset, I took a walk around the area next to My Dream hotel to explore what the area had to offer before I retires to my hotel for the night.

A walk around the area near "My Dream" hotel:

I was amazed by the numbers of popular eateries in this area.

The area was safe to walk around, even at night, it was lively, unlike Sandakan town itself, where most of the shops were closed by 4pm. The whole area here looked clean and was within walking distance, so when I need a rest, I can easily walk back to my hotel or stop by any cafe for a cup of tea with a good cheese cake, or to the restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All these save cost in hiring  a grab to go elsewhere for a meal or a walk unless needed.

From My Dream hotel, the One  Avenue hotel is just in front across the street. 

Close by are the Wangi convenient stores where we can get drinks and groceries and a 7eleven stores.

Behind my hotel, there was" DoZo" Cafe and fish noodle soup shop . Nearby the same area there is "Utea " Cafe,  Fruit world and Crowd99 Cafe which are popular for their delicious shaved ice and desserts.

There are many seafood restaurants too but I don't have a good experience with Thiam Hao Yin where I ordered Fried dry noodle as take away. Not only the order was wrong ( my mistake too for not checking before paying) I took back a wet fried noodle which I don't like, moreover it was tasteless, so I made a note not to ever visit there again.

Hotel Meliden is also nearby and opposite to it, there is a pharmacy.

For those who stayed long and wanted at self laundry,  "My Launderette" is just round the corner.

Again close by, there was a roundabout behind hotel "my dream" which lead to another area (about 10 mins walk), where a Bataras supermarket was available. This area also included a lot of popular eateries such as KFC, Mc Donald, Dominoes, Starbuck, vegetarian coffee shop.

After a meaningful 1st day in Sandakan, I had an early night .

These events brought me to an end of part one of my trip to Sandakan. The beginning of my 2nd day in Sandakan will be revealed in Part 2. 

If you are still interested, please read on, click here👉 Sandakan trip Part 2.