Sabah, Land Below the Wind: Sandakan

Sojourners in Sandakan

By AV Latinggam

I have always loved meandering in Sandakan: it is a fascinating seaside city that showcases many interesting aspect of life in Sabah, from pre-independent to the present era. It also hold a memory of long ago in my heart. That time, as a child, I heard that a relative had gone to Sandakan to work. I was intrigued and asked his elderly mother where Sandakan was. 

She said 'Its where the sky ends.' This evoked a scene in my mind of a grey colourless place where there was no blue sky, just a skyline of buildings silhouetted against ethereal nothingness.

Years later I knew better, but that vision in my mind got stuck.

Sandakan is the second largest city in Sabah, located in the east coast of the State. It is the administrative centre of the Sandakan Division and used to serve as the capital of the British North Borneo during the British colonial time.

Most of us will associate Sandakan as a tourism destination that boasts lots of varieties. There are land, historical, islands and jungle attraction. The seaside restaurants in this township are also famous for its seafood!

Anyway, when HEL and I arrived in Sandakan, we made sure to visit the Agnes Keith House sited at Jalan Istana in Sandakan.

This house was the home to famous author Agnes Keith who wrote two of her three best selling books in that house. They are Three Came Home written in 1946, White Man Returns in 1951 and Land below the Wind in 1939.  Those who have read these books will have an insight of how life was during the colonial era.

The house was destroyed during the war but was later rebuilt in 1946. Agnes Keith stayed in the house with her family until 1952.

Artifacts of the family are showcased in the house today.

Just nearby is the Sandakan Heritage Trail. The heritage trail includes the town's important and interesting sites that contributed to its rich historical past.

On this walk, we could have passed by the 100-year old Masjid Jamek, the Pryer Memorial, a granite structure erected to honour the founder of Sandakan, William B. Pryer, the Tourist Information Centre, the WW11 memorial and much more. However, it was raining quite heavily during that visit so our taxi-man thought we should just drive past. But then we did not forget the oldest buildings in Sandakan, St. Michael’s and All Angels Church. These sites are part of the heritage trail.

It was the first stone building in Sabah, started in 1893. It took almost 30 years to complete. In 1906 a religious celebration was held in this church but the main entrance of the Church was not completed until 1925.

During the World War II, it escaped bombardment in the 1940s and remains one of the very few stone buildings in Sabah.

Sixty years later the Australians donated stained glass windows to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Still on the heritage trail: The most famous site in Sandakan Township depicts an atrocity that should never be repeated ever.  This is the Memorial Park, a site that bore witness to atrocities committed by the conquering hordes on allied prisoners of war (PoW).  On the site today is an excavator, a generator and a boiler which still lie in their original positions near the steps leading up to a small Commemorative Pavilion.

From this site 2,400 soldiers were marched to Ranau. Only six survived.

The visit to this area gave me goosebumps as I imagined the groans and moans as well as cries of sick and dying POWs. I was properly sober too. Until of course, a small rather petty incident occured.  

A woman at the entrance of the little building where the exhibitions of POWs photos and other paraphernalia are sited, did not look at me much less offer me her brochure, but gave my companion one very politely and humbly too. 

When I asked for one, she stared at me balefully and asked 'are you  his tourist guide?' (Was that even politically correct?) I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I was definitely mad.

Are we then so uninterested in what happened then that we as individuals never visit there unless we want to show off our 'museum piece' to tourists; especially Australians and Europeans? Or am I, a brown person of Dusunic descent, only worthy of being a tour guide to a Caucasian in our people's eye? Or was the person in front of the building, asking for donation, a foreigner herself? I would never know. But that was a presumptuous assumption...in my humble opinion.

So much for that! 

Accommodations are also many and various, although recommendations from tour operators and guides are essential for guests to have hotel rooms to their liking. Sheraton Four Points seemed to be one of the newest.

As for food, there are many places to eat in Sandakan but recommended is the stalls where they offer seafood very cheaply. There are also some good eateries at the esplanade. However if you want to eat at a quiet place or in a garden, visit the English Tea House near by Agnes Keith’s House. You will be able to sample English high tea there if you so wish.

The Sandakan Crocodile farm should not be missed at all. Feeding times are at 11.45am and about 3pm. Watching dozens of crocodiles slithering up for lunch or just yawning away can be awesome and scary. At least I felt that way. 

They have a farm at Tuaran Jalan Sulaman too and anybody who have watched these reptiles laying supine, slowly weaving through the murky water or splashing to their food, would know what I mean.

It must also be mentioned here that Sandakan is a well known eco-tourism destination. The Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre is one of the better known places, where tourists can see the wild man of Borneo have their meal on a platform. That is the time when you can see Orang Utan at close proximity. This is also where you can see the long tail macaques by the dozens.

The other place is the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary where you can see these primates up close. They come in by the hundreds to feed at certain time. They are a wonder to behold. That and many more sights await visitors to this part of the world.

Our trip to Sandakan ended on the third day. Interesting really, as we get to know many people with their respective characters. If only it did not rain too much.