Tuesday April 5 and Wednesday April 6 and Thursday April 7 – Flight from Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu - End of Tour - Flight to Bali

We left the Sepilok Jungle Resort after breakfast at the relaxed hour of 10:30 a.m. and our first activity of the day was to drive about an hour to the Sandakan War Memorial Park where we spent a solemn hour walking around a tranquil forest and reading about the Australian, British, and Sabah WWII experiences with the Japanese.  The site is built on the old Japanese prisoner of war camp were prisoners were sent to force-build an airport for the Japanese war effort. The memorial was well done. It simply explained the facts without dramatization – none was needed, the facts stood for themselves. The various memories were beautifully recounted and the black stele memorial a somber and fitting tribute.  We learned about the 2400 soldiers who were brought to the camp, and their brutal deaths in January and August 1945 just days before the end of the war. The stories told about the massively cruel treatment the prisoners received at the camp, the three death marches to Ranau, and the miraculous survival of six of the prisoners.  The people of Sabah and Sandakan aided many of the prisoners, and they too received the same treatment if they were discovered. It was a sobering experience and we felt the pain and sadness that these events evoked in the Aussies and Brits traveling with us.

Then it was straight to the airport where we arrived about 2 hours prior to our group flight on …..yes….Air Asia!! The stories we have heard about this airline are abominable. One of our group had her flight out of KK to KL changed 6 times, and then the day before we left, in the late afternoon, they cancelled it. We still don’t know what happened and if she was able to take another Air Asia flight, or transfer to another airline. Needless to say, we will never again travel with this airline. I suppose it serves a purpose. It is supposed to be cheap – so, if you have no luggage, you can at least get from A to B…..maybe!!! We ate lunch, boarded and 45 minutes later landed in KK.

Since we had left KK, there had been a number of forest fires start as a result of prolonged dry weather due to El Nino, so the air was hazy and the atmosphere reeking of smoke. We had our group “farewell” dinner on Tuesday 5th night at a neat restaurant down on the boardwalk. Beer and cocktails flowed freely, and everyone said a fond farewell to new friends.

We spent Wednesday 6^th April in KK. We didn’t do too much; got ourselves ready in the morning to depart the next day, and in the afternoon went to the Sabah Museum. I am not much of a museum goer, but this one I loved. It was a complete consolidation of everything we had seen and learned about Sabah during our tour: the Archaeology Gallery took us back to the Gomantong Cave; the History Gallery solidified the history of Sabah and how it ended up becoming part of the Malaysia; the Natural History Gallery had displays and information of just about every animal and bird we had seen; and of course the Head Hunter Gallery spooked us with its stories of preserving people’s heads after killing and the various rituals to be followed before allowing the head to go back to the village.

In the evening we re-visited the big seafood market/restaurant of our first evening, this time with Andrea, our fellow Canadian and travel companion. One of the floor managers even recognized me from our first visit!!

The next morning, Thursday 7^th April, we were up early and out to the airport for 8:30 a.m. and our 10 hour journey to Ubud, via Kuala Lumpur on Air Malayasia, and Denpasar. We were sad to say “goodbye” to Sabah. We had a super time there with some amazing insights into the wild life, learning about the history and culture of Sabah, and meeting a warm and friendly people.

The owner of the house we are renting arranged for a car and driver, Made, to pick us up from the airport. Our flight landed at 6:30 p.m., and we left the airport around 7:30 p.m. with an hour’s drive to the villa in Penestanan. Thoughtfully, Geoffrey had arranged for us to have dinner at a restaurant about 100 steps from the villa. So after a briefing on the house, he led us the 100 steps and left us alone for our first night in Bali.