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 | Borneo Things To Do | Tips 1 - 10 of 28 |  |
Popular Things To Do | Miscellaneous Things To Do Tips | All Tips (28) Sandakan is in Sabah and is the second-largest town in the state. In the past it was the state capital under British rule in what was then British North Borneo. In the 1870’s the Sultan of Sulu ruled this area along with the Southern Phillippines. With the persmission of the Sultan William Clarke Cowie (a Scottish gun runner) set up a trading post here and he gave the area the name Sandakan (which means that which is pawned). There was a strong German influence in the region prior to the British aquiring the lands under lease. Sandakan was burned to the ground in 1879 and William Pryer moved to where Sim Sim is still today. He also changed the name to Elopura (beautiful city) but the name did not stick and it reverted to being Sandakan.
By the late 1800’s it was the state capital of the British North Borneo Company and the area derived huge wealth from the timber industry right up to the start of WW2. The area was under Japanese control during the war and they re-named the town Elopura. The town was totally destroyed during the war with the exception of only a few buildings (St Michael’s church being one example) that survived. This resulted in Sabat’s adminstration and capital moving to Kota Kinabula where it remains today. Sandakan continued to rebuild based on the timber industry, coffee, mining, fishing and in more recent years in tourism in particular as a start point for wildlife related eco-tourism. It is still an important port in the region and continues to develop and modernise. There is a strong Chinese community in the town and as a reuslt a lot of Chinese festivals such as Chinese New Year are eagerly celebrated.
Things of interest in the area are
·Kampung Buli Sim Sim or just ‘Sim Sim’ village for short
·St Michael’s Church (1897)
·Sandakan Fish Market and Sandakan General Market
·Puu Jih Shih Temple (Buddhist)
·The English Tea House
·Agnes Keith House – Author of a number of books about the region and its culture Leave a Comment Directions: Sandakan, North East Borneo
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After a month of travelling round the country staying in very remote places it was nice to stay in a city and a hotel. Kuching is a happening city with nice restarants, strongly recommend JUNK, museums, markets and beaches. Reflexology Leave a Comment
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Another big reasons for going to Borneo is to see the wild life in particular the Orangutans. Although it would be great to see them absolutely in the wild this would be extremely rare. Best to go to the one of the rehabilation centres. The biggest one being sepilok. They feed the animals here with bananas at set times of day. The orangutans live in the jungle but they know when feeding time is. They only feed them bananas so they get bored of them and eventually they are able to find their ownfood and dont return to the centre. Leave a Comment Directions: Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in the Malaysian Sabah District of North BorneoWebsite: http://www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk/sepliok.php
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on October 3, 2005
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