Civilisation

Yesterday we left Seligan Island and returned to civilisation.

Following the boat journey back to Sandakan we had a brief tour of the city.

This began at the memorial, erected in memory of those 2500 prisoners of war, largely Australian and British who died in the Death Marches in 1945. The site of the prison camp is now a peaceful garden with lily ponds.

Next stop was a modern Chinese Buddhist Temple - very gaudy and decorated with painted dragons, paper lanterns and golden Buddhas.

At each side of the shrines were pillars recording the names of the Temple members (for a fee).

The Temple is on top of the cliffs overlooking Sandakan Harbour and giving views all across the area.

St Michael's Anglican Church was the next stop. One of the few buildings to survive the war, the church is built in the 1880's in a classic English style. The stained glass windows commemorate the Death Marches.

The church seems quite modern, with an electric band and digital projectors and air con.

We had lunch at the Sabah Hotel and Richard went for a walk down their nature trail into the jungle. Unfortuately he forgot to apply bug spray and the insects picked his carcass clean in minutes.

Laura stayed behind, in reach of the toilets....

Then to the airport for our 5th flight, this time to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah.

Today, day 11, after much needed baths, sleep, pasta and Burgers, we are now enjoying the luxury of our resort hotel. We took a quick trip into town today in search of supplies of Coke and Chocolate and some very cheap DVD's which are not available in the UK yet. These will come in handy because it is lashing with rain so our tropical islands and three swimming pools are not an option.

Room service is very nice, though we are going to try the Chinese Restaurant tonight.