Hopefully I will actually get this finished this time. After spending the whole of yesterday in bed (wisdom tooth determined to make life difficult) I've decided that today I should really get up and do something useful. Still, the diet of yogurt (all I can eat) is presumably a pretty good weight loss plan! Anyway, back to Borneo.
After seeing the bird's nest soup caves, it was time to make our way back to Sandakan for lunch. We stopped at a Chinese/sea food restaurant where we had a great meal including big prawns. At this point, Dan (our guide) told us that he had found out that morning that his wife had been rushed to hospital and would we mind finishing our tour the following day so he could go and see her. Of course, we were more than happy to do that, especially as we had a spare couple of days after the tour finished anyway. That afternoon was, instead, spent doing useful jobs. In the evening, we made our way down to the sea front where we found a few restaurants with good Chinese food and nice views - we had a feast with a couple of beers and a really nice evening. Dan arrived after breakfast the next day - the poor man had not slept at all as he had been worrying all night about his wife. He was, however, determined to finish our tour and our first stop that day was to a water village near to (well, really a part of) Sandakan. I think this village surprised all of us, as the expectation had been that it was where the less well off residents of Sandakan would live - kind of like a slum area. We were completely wrong - the village was lovely and some of the buildings (all of which were on stilts over the sea) were really well maintained. I could happily have lived there!
The second stop of the day was a memorial park, set up to commemorate the death of around 2,400 Australian and British prisoners of war held by the Japanese on the site in 1945. These prisoners were sent on 'death marches', 160 miles to Ranau, another Sabah town. Of the 2,400 prisoners, only 6 survived, the rest either dying on route or once they arrived in Ranau. The park was very well maintained, and very informative. A really peaceful memorial. I was very interested to see from the visitor book that the woman visiting at the same time of us was actually the granddaughter of one of the victims of the marches. I couldn't imagine how she must be feeling. The next stop after the memorial park was a Chinese Buddhist temple up on a hill overlooking the town. Kev and I have avoided temples for a while (too many temples earlier in the year!) but were ready to see another one after a long gap. This was a really beautiful one, particularly because of the panpramic views over Sandakan bay, and also the lovely grounds of the temple with colourful bougainvillea. They were preparing for Chinese New Year, so there were lanterns and lights all around.
That was the end of our (now 4 day) tour, and we said our goodbyes and thanks to Dan who headed straight back to the hospital to see how his wife was doing. We had one more plan for the day - to take a walk on what is described a 'heritage trail'. The main thing we wanted to see was the Agnes Keith house - a beautifully restored colonial house which was at one time occupied by Agnes Keith, described as 'famous American writer'. None of us had actually heard of her, but the house sounded like a good place to get a feel for how Borneo would have been in colonial times. And she had a pet orangutan - I'm so jealous. It was really interesting as well as being a beautiful house. Even better was the English tea rooms set up in the grounds - tea and scones, and even a game of croquet on the lawn... I could have enjoyed the colonial life!
Our last day with my mum and in Sandakan was spent at the Rainforest Discovery Centre, which is near to the Orangutan rehabilitation centre we had already visited. It's actually within the same grounds, so that there is a chance of seeing the orangutans wandering in the rainforest. This was something Kev had found out about when we were trying to find ideas of ways to fill the spare time we had in Sandakan, and turned out to be really good. We caught the bus to the centre, and the first thing to visit was plant discovery garden, an interesting look at the different plants found in Borneo, and what they can be used for. It was really beautifully presented and interesting. After visiting the discovery garden, we went into the rainforest proper with fingers crossed for seeing our new favourite animals. We didn't, however we did have a nice walk through the rainforest and Kev and I took a canopy walk 28m above the ground, which gave us some pretty good views. After this we went to the exhibition hall with more interesting information. We could have spent much longer in the centre as there a lots of trails to walk, however we had to make sure we caught the last bus back. Also catching the last bus was a girl with the loudest voice and most annoying laugh EVER. It was a long journey.
So that was the end of our time with my mum. It was a great few days, and the very best time we could have met up from our perspective as it was such a treat at this stage of the trip not to have to think about things or book anything - it was all done for us. Thank you!
Next stop for us - Sipadan diving!
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