By bus from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan 🇲🇾 in Borneo

A bumpy journey of 7 hours, passing through palm oil plantations and uneven roads. Fortunately, the driver included a short bathroom break. It was still exhausting. The bus brought us from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan on April 7th. We stayed at Prima B&B Hostel, about 3km away from the city center. The location reminded us of an industrial area with many shops, supermarkets, and restaurants. By the way, Ramadan was happening in Malaysia at that time (March 22nd to April 21st, 23). Normally, it was never a problem for us to get food during the day, but here suddenly it was 😄 at least in this area. Because the restaurants were closed and only opened in the evening. So we got ourselves some coffee and a little snack from the 7Eleven around the corner. Sandakan didn't impress us - on the contrary. On the first day, we took a Grab to the city center and were surprised by how rundown everything was. The streets, the buildings... not really a sight for sore eyes! We had something to eat in the shopping mall and at the street food market and went back to the hostel.

Originally, we only wanted to stay for a few days, but shortly after our arrival, we got sick. Chris caught a cold worse than me. I 👩🏼 only had mild symptoms, but Chris didn't feel well at all and hardly left the room. The only problem was that we had booked a small room, with a bathroom but without a window. We didn't feel very comfortable.

We stayed until April 12th and then moved to a new accommodation - within Sandakan - (that was actually a first for us) and properly recovered from the rest of the cold. Actually, we wanted to have already visited the Orangutans in Sepilok and set off for the River Safari on the Kinabatangan River, but that will have to wait. Our new accommodation was the Labuk Hotel and we felt comfortable right away.

One day before, I 👩🏼 was feeling restless and did something without Chris for the first time. I ordered a Grab and visited the Crocodile Farm 🐊 and the Rainforest Park 🌳. I was out for a few hours and it felt so good. I will not forget the visit to the Crocodile Farm with its many and sometimes giant reptiles. The subsequent short walk through the Rainforest Park was also very nice. During my walk, I didn't encounter a single person.

We also took a walk through the Memorial Park in Sandakan together (by the way, there is an interesting story behind it)... and then the day finally came... 🎉 we visited the Orangutans 🦧 in Sepilok! 🎊 that's why we were actually here.