Opening
This week was a bit too much traveling and trip planning, which caused the delay in writing this blog. I also got to a point where I really needed a week off from traveling. Hopefully I will find my perfect retreat in Bali.
Day 1
Managed to wake up at 5am for the sunrise river cruise.
60RM even just for the sunrise it’s worth it.
We saw a couple of Kingfishers around this time. Their image was pretty but impossible to capture
Had my gourmet lunch at the guest house (20RM)
After lunch it started to rain a bit. It’s a rainforest after all.
After a bit trip planning I decided to take a walk and hoped to get something to eat as well.
After an hour-ish walk realized there’s no restaurants opened, it’s Sunday after all and most places were still recovering from COVID (no longer exist)
Lucky me, I think it’s all God’s plan at this moment as well that I got to see an ever pretty Hornbill that I missed previous day.
I messaged the guesthouse host and hoping I could still eat there. (It’s way passed the deadline for ordering dinner) After some begging, I was food that probably was meant to be eaten by the hosts themselves. I would have starved for sure. Amazing hospitality.
Day 2
I was initially wanting to go to Semporna, Sabah. I made the last minute decision to get to Sandakan literally 5 minutes before I was supposed to get off my van to take the big bus.
(I think in part I just didn’t want to take a 4hr bus ride and especially there wasn’t great options for me to chill and perhaps to learn diving. It’s supposed to be one of the best diving sites in the world, I just think I wasn’t ready yet. Besides, Indonesia probably offers quite similar opportunities.)
I got to town quite early. There’s only really one coffee shop in town.
After that coffee and lunch, I decided to head to a trail in town called 100 steps trail to go to a view point
Went to the shopping mall near my hostel for dinner while waiting for my laundry to be finished (11RM)
I called an early day.
Day 3
Walked around town and decided to eat at a Chinese shop
Went to get some coffee and researched on how to get out of Borneo. The naive me didn’t realize that the airlines get you by luring you into the island with cheap fares and charge you steep fares out of (unless you book really far out in advance)
I managed to secure a ticket ($125.30) out that’s somewhat reasonable with the destination to SIN with a stopover in KUL (which I intended to get off) I am guess the demand to fly to SIN via KUL when there’s a direct flight was just understandably low.
Later that day, I managed to convince a Vietnamese Dutch girl to have seafood buffet with me:
Day 4
Chilled in my hostel for one last morning before heading out to the airport
It’s a long day ahead. Not only I needed to get to KL but also take a bus to Malacca ($5.50 two hour bus ride!)
Got a grab to my hostel and called it a day
Day 5
Woke up relatively early to go see the UNESCO city Malacca
First was to see an old church. Met a friendly jogger asking if I was local. Turns out he’s actually a world traveller. (backpacked to all continents)
Time to some museums!
I walked to the river front to chill for a bit
It’s lunch time!
Went to a desert shop to cool down for a bit
For dinner I decided to eat some Chinese takeout!
Day 6
My meander day / book reading day. Went to a coffee shop to get some coffee. The ladies ordered some fancy breakfast!
For lunch I had a duck pasta! superb!
Since it’s Friday, our hostel organized a night market tour!
Day 7
Another long travel day to Jakarta (flight is $87.17)!
I got to the airport slightly early to do some research and enjoy some free food.
My flight turned out to be not very full! nice!
Took a while to get through immigration – got asked bunch of questions regarding my stay. First time encountering that. Though not having a return ticket is probably my fault.
The Indonesian phone registration system was also down that I wasn’t able to get a SIM at the airport. Fortunately, I had Google FI as an emergency backup!
Back to the hostel and chit chatted before ended the day.
Expenses
| Week 15 | ||||
| Day | Food&Drink | Lodging | Transportation | Other (tickets/tours etc) |
| 1 | $9.78 | $16.67 | $0.00 | $13.33 |
| 2 | $14.12 | $21.46 | $14.23 | $2.44 |
| 3 | $16.13 | $21.08 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| 4 | $10.20 | $10.35 | $135.94 | $0.00 |
| 5 | $14.54 | $10.35 | $0.00 | $4.44 |
| 6 | $33.23 | $10.35 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| 7 | $9.33 | $5.16 | $97.04 | $32.97 |
| $107.32 | $95.43 | $247.21 | $53.19 | |
| Total | Grand Total: | $503.15 |
What excellent photos, food, and adventures as always! That’s amazing you are now checking out Indonesia. You’ve covered many of the Asian countries and I’m wondering after Indonesia what comes next!