9-10 Dec ... Sandakan, the gate to the Monkey Sanctuaries

Here we are in the wee hours of the morning waiting for our bus at Ranau. But the bus to Sandakan is delayed by a good hour and a half, which give us plenty of time to chat with a lovely French couple Jean & Christiane. They just climbed the Kinabalu (after the base camp of the Anapurna earlier this year) and they are 70+ ! Kim, Lilou and me have to remain on a two-seater for the 5 hours of the ride... but at least it's ACed... First bad surprise at the arrival at the Sepilok junction where we are supposed to call the jungle resort of Paganakandii; it being a Sunday the local store is closed and we can't use there phone... so we have to rely on sign language to get a local to make the call... after a 45 minutes wait in scorching heat, they come at last. Second bad surprise when we get to the "resort", it's a bit too "jungle-like" for our taste. A huge black spitting cobra (very dangerous as we were candidly told)is spotted just a few meters from our bungalow... Benoit's worst fear are coming true! We ran away despite the beautiful, traditional setting and looked for a hotel in town. To recover from the shock we decide to indulge in the luxury of the Sheraton which was giving a very good deal, a wonderful buffet breakfast, the invaluable access to Disney channel and a fantastic "infinity pool"... This is way over our supposedly budget budget, but still we shamelessly enjoy it for 5 nights !

Sandakan is a large port and fishing center with lots of restaurants and stores; the perfect headquarter for visiting the monkey sancturies around. We organise the 4 following days before going back amongts the rich Korean and Chinese tourists.