Sabah Travels

KIRAM'S VILLAGE

After our descent from Mt. Kinabalu, Steph and I stayed the night at nearby Kiram's Village in Mesilau, Kundasang. It turned out that leaving Kinabalu National Park was going to be pretty tricky, involving bartering for a taxi or mini-bus, so I called the owner of Kiram's Village, Mr. Jamalul Kiram Datuk. He kindly arranged for his brother-in-law to pick us up. 

Kiram's Village is a small cluster of houses that Mr. Datuk (Jamal) and his wife set up a few years ago, originally as a country getaway for their family and friends. It sits near the base of the mountain. Steph and I stayed in the Broccoli lodge (all of the lodges are named after fruits and vegetatables). 

The Broccoli lodge (Mt Kinabalu hides behind the clouds).

Later that night we ate down at the village café, an improvised general eating area with laminated menus and all. Here we enjoyed some great vegetable nasi goreng, and met Jamal. We told him where we were from and where we were going. We spoke for hours. Jamal was full of stories about everything.  He told us that he had been a banker with one of Malaysia's major banks, had retired early and started working on his dream village. He offered to take us into the Renau the next morning, where Steph and I would then get a bus to Sandakan. 

The next morning, following an 'American Breakfast' of baked beans and fried eggs on toast, Jamal and his wife drove Steph and I to Renau - but not before giving us a guided tour of the local golf course and other Mesilau landmarks. 

SANDAKAN

We were dropped off at Ranau at 11:30am. We hopped onto the next bus to Sandakan at around 12pm. There was some native forest leaving Renau, but the rest of the way the land was covered by palm-oil plantations. 

From Renau to Sanadakan, hours of the same view: palm-oil plantations.

The bus broke down at 5:30pm. We waited nearly two hours for a replacement bus to come that would take us the remaining 50km or so to Sandakan. As we pulled out onto the road in the replacement bus we saw the supposedly  broken bus drive off in front of us. 

Waiting for another bus. 

We arrived in Sandakan at 8pm. We caught the first offered taxi into town and lazily took up lodgings at the first backpackers we saw, called Sanadakan Backpackers. This place was too expensive for what it was, which wasn't much. The following night we stayed at the Mayfair Hotel. The Mayfair is Lonely Planet's 'pick' of cheap lodgings in Sandakan. It was cheap and clean, and the room had a flat screen TV and a sterile hospital vibe. We stayed there for three nights. 

Inside Room 203 of the Mayfair Hotel

Apart from a trek outside of town to the post office and city library, we stayed pretty close to the hotel. We ate some great meals at the local Indian restaurants. Scaling the 70cm high gutters on the streets of Sandakan provided a challenge for Steph's mountain-sore legs. It rained for most our time in the city. We spent the days there resting and paying lots of ringget to use the hotel's upstairs computer, while trying to avoid the owner, Mr. Lum, who Lonely Plant descibes as "gruff but helpful". He was gruff.  

On December 7 we caught the morning bus from Sandakan to Semporna. This time the bus did not break down. The trip took around six hours. On both sides of the road we got to see 320km of uninterrupted palm-oil plantations stretching out over the hills and far away. A truly breathtaking view. 

We arrived in Semporna at 2pm and checked in with Scuba Junkie. The next day we started our scuba diving training with them.