After a night at the shabby Ernah Lodge, we were up early to continue our journey east across Sabah. Our first stop was along the journey was Labuk Bay to catch a sighting of the famed proboscis monkeys. As we were approaching the destination, we drove by acres of palm oil plantations that stretched for miles. We even managed to spot a few eagles hovering above the bay on that sunny afternoon. Apparently there were 2 different platforms to catch the lively creatures from, with different feeding times.
Now these viewing platforms were well within the 'sanctuary' where the monkeys live freely, so naturally we had to walk through a wooden walkway into the jungle to access them. Upon reaching Platform A, we managed to spot a few proboscis monkeys sitting atop trees and gazing at us from afar. Now given the self-planned nature of our adventure, it shouldn't be too surprising that upon arrival we were the only ones on the platform. A few minutes later, a horde of foreigners marched upon the platform, along with a guide who began squealing and making odd noises to catch the attention of the monkeys. All of a sudden, throngs of monkeys began appearing and rapidly made their way towards the platform. Soon they were right next to us, as we had a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with these creatures.
After spending about an hour photographing and simply marveling at the fun-loving monkeys, we left Labuk Bay for our next accommodation for the night - the Paganakan Dii longhouses in Sepilok. After checking in at what looked like a really neat place to stay the night at (further accentuated by the awful conditions at Ernah Lodge the previous night), we continued our drive eastward to Sabah's 2nd largest city - Sandakan.
Upon reaching, we decided to first pay a visit to the Sandakan War Memorial, built in the vicinity of the Sandakan POW camp from where the Ranau Death Marches began during the Japanese occupation. To be frank, we didn't have too much of an idea about the death marches until we visited the memorial. Just imagine more than 1000 prisoners-of-war embarking on the daunting march from Sandakan to Ranau (incidentally where we began our journey the same morning, 300 kilometres away!), and at the end of it all only 6 of them surviving by managing to escape during the marches. Emotions aside, the memorial is well-preserved and doubles as a park with a serene jogging trail for the locals.
By the time we were done at the memorial, it was time for dinner and we rode into town to visit the town's Ramadhan Bazaar for dinner. The food seemed pretty over-priced, yet our empty stomachs couldn't wait much longer so we had to settle for it. With food purchased our stomachs could finally be filled - or so we thought until a period of sheer pointlessness ensued as we spent more than an hour simply looking for spoons to eat our food as well as driving around Sandakan to find a place to eat them at. There really didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about Sandakan, as we soon drove back to the longhouses for a good night's rest. And what a sleep it was. Sleeping amongst the natural setting was a nice experience, and the caretakers really do a neat job in maintaining the place. Here are a few photos I managed from what was easily our favorite accommodation of the lot, and for RM30 a night it's definitely a great bargain.
The following morning was our last in Sabah, yet there was one other activity lined up - Sepilok's orangutan rehabilitation centre. With the long drive back to Kota Kinabalu in mind, we couldn't afford to miss the morning's first feeding hour. The experience really paled in comparison to that of the proboscis monkeys in Labuk Bay. To begin the orangutans are much less active, and have a distinctive messy look. What did them in though was the number of orangutans we managed to see - a mere 5 as opposed to the throngs of proboscis monkeys we spotted the previous day. However, I guess I'm not exactly comparing apples to apples as this was a rehabilitation center by name and the orangutans are the more endangered of the two primate species.
With that out of the way, the long trip to Kota Kinabalu to catch our evening flight back to Kuala Lumpur began. Thanks to the light traffic, we managed to reach Kota Kinabalu with some time to spare and squeezed in a drive to the Central Market for some souvenir shopping. Of course, no trip of mine is complete without a little airport drama, and this one was no exception as I accidentally disposed of my "visa" which was issued to me upon entering Sabah like a receipt (frankly even receipts would look a lot more significant.. sigh). The customs officer let me off with just a warning, and I guess that will add to my list of travel lessons learnt the hard way. Heh.
With that another wonderful adventure drew to a close. Despite the packed schedule, it really was quite a wonderfully enjoyable experience for me - and I guess the only possible qualm would be that we didn't manage to catch a glimpse of the world's largest flower, the Rafflesia. Perhaps (just perhaps), another trip down the line is in order.
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