The trip to River Kinabatangan was organised with the help from Mr Lam, who has arranged for us a taxi driver for an entire day (RM300) and the boat ride on the river (RM120).
The first stop was St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Michael's and All Angels Church, which were in close proximity of each other. The former is the catholic cathedral while the latter is Anglican. We were a bit disappointed that admission was charged at St. Michael's so we only admired this one of the oldest buildings in Sandakan from the outside.
St Mary's Cathedral
St Michael's
The next stop was the Sandakan War Memorial, built by the Australian government. This park was located on the original site of the prisoner-of-war camp set up by the Japanese troupes during the WWII. The camp used to hold over 2700 British and Australian soldiers who were later forced to moved to Ranau. Only 6 out of 2700 soldiers escaped and survived in this "death match". The park was beautiful and historical information on the war, the camp site and the soldiers were displayed throughout the park and the Commemorative Pavilion. I was really moved by the experience.
After stopping for lunch, the taxi took us to the River Kinabatangan, which was about 2 hours away. The best times to visit are early morning or before sunset and our boat ride started at about 3pm. Since the peak travelling season has just finished we only saw other 2 boats. This river is the second longest in Malaysia and the home to many wildlife. We saw many different species of birds, monkeys and a lizard and I was so amazed!
Probiscius monkeys
Baby monkey carried by its mother
Long tailed macaques
On our way back to Sandakan, the rain got extremely heavy and visibility was really low. We were so glad we had a good driver :) We stopped by Sim Sim (yes, that's the name of the town) for dinner at a seafood restaurant recommended by Mr. Lam.
Seafood was fresh and delicious! Not to mention very good value.
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