Are we there yet? Wait, where is "there"?: Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

Erik: I had such high hopes and excitement about Borneo: unique wildlife, some of the world's largest caves, mysterious tribes living deep in the rain forest. Before leaving on our trip, I would cite Patagonia and Borneo as examples of the far-flung, magical-sounding places we hoped to visit. Patagonia never happened because our first time in south america it was winter, and the 2^nd time our passage there was blocked by an erupting volcano. Borneo was very nearly a bust because of bad luck and bad time management.

For only the 3^rd time in 16 months, we had a set time frame in which to visit the world's 3^rd largest island – 3 weeks. This was because we'd purchased onward tickets to Bali to meet up with my friend Kappy who was coming to vacation there and share our journey for a while – the first time we would have a friend come travel with us, and we were excited about it. By the time we'd got all of our passports, visas and doctor visits sorted out in KL, we had 3 weeks left before flying to Bali, so we planned accordingly, not trying to cram too much into that time, but hoping to see as much as possible.

Our first stop was Sandakan in the Sabah district of Malaysian Borneo. “Sandakan” - it sounds mysterious and magical, like a town out of the Arabian Nights. We'd read that at one time Sandakan boasted the largest percentage of millionaires per capita in the entire world, so we expected some lavish, lush city of beauty and mystique. What we found was a small-sized concrete city full of broken sidewalks and dirty vendor stalls. There was absolutely no beauty to the city at all – everything was ugly, dirty and dilapidated. Even the port was full of old, rusting navy ships and not much more.

It didn't matter, though. We'd come to Sandakan for two things: orang utangs and river safaries. We did succeed in visiting the orang utang rescue center just outside town, which was wonderful to see, though very short and very touristy. Sandakan is also the jumping off point for river trips into the rain forest to spot the unique Bornean wildlife, such as pygmy elephants, crocodiles, orang utangs, etc. Upon arrival, we checked into the Mayfair Hotel, a small guesthouse run by the surly, but lovable, Mr. Lum. The rooms weren't luxurious, but large enough and they each boasted a flat-screen tv and dvd player, and full access to Mr. Lum's huge dvd movie collection – which proved quite useful in the days to come.

We called Uncle Tan's river lodge to organize a few days upriver, but they were full for the next few days. We really didn't want to stay in the ugly, boring city any longer, but finally decided that the river safari was worth a few day's wait, and so reserved for 2 days later.

The next day Talor fell ill, with piercing headaches, fever and congestion. We waited a day, but she only got worse, and so had to cancel our reservation. I was more worried about Talor than any stupid midget elephants, but she assured me that it was just a bad cold, so we got her some medicine from the pharmacy and waited. After a few days, she was feeling better and thought she could deal with the rustic trip upriver, so we called Uncle Tan's, but they were full again. Aaargh! After a week in the awful, broken, polluted, concrete city, we decided to skip the safari and move on.

We were now several days behind schedule, so we took a long, all-day bus to Sabah's capital city, Kota Kinabalu. “KK”, as it's referred to was a bit prettier than Sandakan, but only marginally so. It was also terribly expensive. After much searching, we found a tiny, almost-affordable room. The next day we hopped on a boat out to some islands just off shore that were supposedly beautiful and tranquil. Again our timing was off, though. It was the weekend, and the islands were swarming with hoards of local tourists. The snorkeling was crap, the beaches crowded and the food mediocre and terribly expensive. Oh well. We'd used up nearly ½ of our 3 weeks at this point, so we moved on the next day to Brunei Darussalam.

Talor: Aaaah... Sandakan... only 3 things worth mentioning...

It was one of the ugliest cities I'd ever been in. Instead of opulence, which I had envisioned, there were rundown concrete block buildings competing for the “worst slum in the world” award.
Mr. Lum (who Erik already mentioned), pushing 70 according to him, but I was convinced he was taking some magic pills since he only looked 40... 50 tops!
The illness, which came at the worst possible time, but when is it ever a good time to be sick? It is worth noting that, under the circumstances, I couldn'tve asked for a better “nurse.” E took the best care of me... getting me food and making sure I took my meds on time... sitting in the heat of the room when I had the chills, and pumping up the AC when I was burning up... anything and everything I needed to make me feel as comfortable as possible! In my mind, there is no better travel partner... EVER!!

Two nights, one day in Kota Kinabalu was enough. Famous for their sunsets, they didn't tell us the view would be blocked by corrugated metal walls. But at least we found the Filipino Night Market where we got freshly grilled fish and squid for a song.

Photos of Sandakan and KK: