After spending a day in Sepilok, we were quite excited about Sandakan. However when we got there and the initial rush from a new place has gone, we become a bit, well... There was not much to do in terms of ''doing things'' like visiting famous sites, there was no beach etc. There is a house which was rebuilt that belonged to a writer called Agnes Keith who wrote a famous novel that took place in Borneo but since we did not read it we thought that there was no point in going there as we don't know anything about her. Other options included a crocodile farm and a 2nd world war memorial which we kindly passed and after that the lonely planet was pretty much exhausted. And we become bored and frustrated that we have to spend here another 3 days. We spend the first day in this ''I really don't like this, it's boring'' attitude. Then as we were walking through the city, taking buses to random places we realized that it was our attitude that was boring us. We were looking but we were not actually seeing. (Yes, I had a little chat with the old Buddha). We got caught in the tourist world and stopped being travelers. As soon as we changed our mindset we found things that no guidebook could ever tell you. We found a place where the poeple were really friendly and wanting to talk to us and even asked us if we can take a picture of them. As it was not very westernized you could see more as to how the malay people really live without them putting a sort of an act on, like in a really place which is heaving with tourists. A typical street in Sandakan Local booze which tastes as good as alcohol hand rub but does not seem to stop anyone from drinking it We discovered that there was a market literally next to our hostel which before we thought was just an ordinary market but when we went in, we discovered fruits, veg and all sorts of cooking ingredients that we have never even seen before. Craig trying to get a good bargain A lady selling fresh produce and some shit hot chillies Every little bit of the banana tree is used, bananas for eating and banana leaves instead of plates. Possible idea for a student house? And then there was THE FISH PART. Oh my God! We have walked through it the day before but we did not notice the prices until then, and it was like the cheapest thing I have ever seen. The fish was caught fresh that day and we have seen the fishermen loading the fish from boats that were ''parked''(really don't thing that is the right word) just outside the market. Fresh fish I think he might have been trying to impress me with his crab's size Fishing boats just outisde the market Just noticed the guy in the top left corner, WTF??? Local kids posing for us We have decided to buy some fish as the guys in the hostel told us that we can use their kitchen (legends)and we got 1kg of squid for about 60p and 1kg of prawns for less than 3 Pounds. What can I say, pure indulgence.We managed to cook the prawns to perfection but had a slight problem with the squid as when we tried to cut it the ink went everywhere... But apparently squid ink is a superfood so says google and so we didn't mind if the food had a bit of a 'tint' to it... After that, I got a lesson from the people that worked there on how to make a fish head soup, local salad and a lemongrass tea which is a heritage recipe from the owner's mother and I got told how to recognise a fake honey from real one (as I obviously bought the fake one). Apparently you dip a match into honey and try to light the match, if it burns it is real honey and if not,well then you get fooled like me by buying a blend of well, shite... The not so attractive squid Lani, a woman that works in the hostel showing me a few cooking tips Mark showing me how to make a lemongrass tea By the end of it, I really fell like I have experienced a lot in a different way that I have maybe expected. Another lesson learned- Every place is beautiful in its own way and has something special in it and the whole point of travelling is to find the special thing. Dom xx ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Information for travellers: Getting to Sandakan: There is a bus from KK that costs 43 ringitts and goes pretty much every hour. The bus leaves from the bus station called Innanam which is just outside of KK and you get there from the main bus terminal called wawasan. The bus from wawasan to inannam costs only a few ringitts as it is local bus. There is also a flight with air asia that is between KK and Sandakan but we found the bus journey rather entertaining. If you are lucky, you will get a bus with air con in which case dress as for the arctic or you may get an old bus which has just a fan over your head. The journey takes about 6.5 hours depending on the bus and you usually stop for lunch/dinenr depending on the time of the day. Be careful though, if the bus says that you have half an hour for food, in reality it really means about 15 minutes and keep an eye out on it as the bus can leave at any point! What to do: We stayed in the hostel called sea view which was next door to a market. The hostel was quite old but the staff were really helpful and friendly. Go and buy some fish from the market and ask them to let you cook it in the hostel kitchen. It is the best that Sandakan has to offer in my opinion. Try some deep fried banana from the market as well and different fruit that they sell.