ESL Blogs

Some time in the middle of October this year, I had to travel to Sandakan, Sabah for a business meeting. This was my second visit to Sandakan, but when I visited it the first time, I never had the chance to see the town due to hectic meeting schedule. But this time, I had the chance to stay overnight over there.

First, let me tell you a little bit about Sandakan. Sandakan is the second largest city in Sabah. It's at the north-east coast of Borneo. It's better known to be the gateway for the famous orang utan sanctuary, Sepilok and the proboscis monkey sanctuary, Labuk Bay. To get to Sandakan, it's about 2 and 1/2 hour flight direct from Kuala Lumpur, or about 45 minutes flight from Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah.

To tell you the truth, I don't know what to expect even though it was my second visit to the city. My previous visit was very short, like, disembark from plane, meeting and back to Kuala Lumpur. I don't think I even had the time to look at the sky, let alone enjoying the view.

Even though I only have a short period of time to enjoy the view during my second visit this time round, but thank God Sandakan is small enough for me to explore within a few hours that I had. After checking into the hotel, I went to its traditional market. I was lucky that even though it's a bit late, some traders still opened their stalls. You have to understand, even though Sandakan has the same time zone with the rest of Malaysia, but in actual fact its dawn starts early which makes the dusk descent much earlier too. 

After buying some snacks as souvenirs for my staff and family, I decided to walk through the city. Even though I was alone, I don't feel any apprehension to walk through the city. With my trusted camera, I took the sight and feel of the city. Even though it's the second largest city of Sabah, it still retains the charm of small town. People still playing chess at the road side. School kids were playing skate boards at the pedestrian walkway. Over here, the sun set very early, at roughly about 5.30 pm, whereas if I were in Kuala Lumpur, the sun set at about 7.30 pm. Thus, it cut short my walk through the city. Like I said, even though I feel safe walking alone, I don't like walking alone at night. 

The next morning, I enjoyed my breakfast over looking the ocean and gentle wind. Though my visit was very short, I know I will be coming back to Sandakan soon because of my work. Hopefully, the next time I would have longer time to enjoy the sound and sight of this city.

This blog is dedicated to Luci. I know you're waiting for my other travelling blog, but my brain is still in doldrums. LOL. I promise to write it as soon as possible.