It was an early morning again this morning, waking up at 5:30 to get ready for a 6am boat cruise. We hopped in the boat and pulled out into a river covered in fog. You could barely see the other bank! We were on the water for around an hour and a half, but didn't see very much because of the fog. We saw quite a few long-tailed macaques, an egret, some little bright kingfishers, a huge hornbill, and a silver leaf monkey. Then we made our way back to the lodge for breakfast. Similarly to lunch and dinner, the food was quite westernised, with the buffet including sausages, baked beans, and toast, and luckily there was an egg stand with someone making eggs. There was also a woman making special local roti bread with a curry sauce, so I tried some of that, which was nice. After breakfast we packed up our bags and met back at the dock to start the trip to Sandakan.

We took the boat back to Bilit and there we were met by a much fancier coach-style bus . Transport upgrade! We all hopped on, and there was room for most of us to have a double seat to ourselves, which was great. On the way to Sandakan we were stopping by at the Gomantang caves, which Jeffry explained was also a good spot to search for wildlife as there's a boardwalk through the trees to get to the caves. On the road that led to the caves complex, we spotted some big hornbills flying by. Once we'd paid our entrance and headed down the steps into the jungle on the boardwalk, we immediately spotted a big millipede-type bug and some lizards on the handrails - you really need to watch where you put your hands here! We then came across a big group of red leaf monkeys (bright red fluffy monkeys with cute black faces), and stood and watched them for a while. After continuing along the boardwalk, we came out into a little village area set against jungle-covered cliffs with a massive cave opening. Jeffry explained that the village area was for the people who had permits to collect the swift's nests from inside the cave. These nests are edible and highly prized in Chinese culture. Just as we were about to go into the cave, Lauren spotted some movement and we saw an orangutan come climbing down the trees on the cliff next to the cave! It was a big female orangutan and after a flurry of photo-taking we stood and watched her for ages. There were also some red leaf monkeys further up the cliff, but they didn't get much attention! The female orangutan found a spot to hide in some bamboo not far away from us, and it was then that I spotted a baby further up in the trees. The baby climbed down to a bamboo stalk right near us, so we stood and watched both of them for quite a while. Eventually it started raining though, and they hid from the rain, so we made our way into the Gomantang cave. It was very stinky from all the bat and bird guano, and there were cockroaches everywhere, but the size was very impressive. The noise was also quite considerable from the swifts and the bats squeaking. There was a huge hole in the back end of the cave from the cliffs above, and there was greenery hanging over the edges, which was beautiful. Jeffry explained how the locals used bamboo and rope ladders to climb their way up the walls of the cave to get the used swift nests to sell. We walked through the cave and then back out the front, where the orangutans appeared to be gone. As we walked around the boardwalk and past a pomelo tree though, we spotted them in the tree eating the pomelos. We stood and watched them eating and interacting, but eventually had to drag ourselves away and head back to the bus. When we got to the bus, the driver said he'd seen a mother orangutan with a baby up a tree nearby. Luckily the tree was right about the toilets, so we watched them for a little bit while we washed our boots clean of all the guano. Three pairs of wild orangutans, how lucky are we! Haven't even reached the orangutan reserve yet!

It was supposed to be a brief stop at the caves and we ended up being there for 2 hours, so we had to revamp the itinerary slightly and have lunch on the way instead of in Sandakan when we arrived. We stopped in at a random little 'seafood restaurant' on the side of the highway next to an electrical supplies store and a tyre workshop. Jeffry ordered for us, and the amount of food was just crazy. We had chicken and egg soup, mee goreng, garlic vegetables (which i didn't eat), butter prawns, ferns cooked in chilli sambal (so so hot), and sweet and sour chicken. It was fantastic, but just too much - and the ferns were cooked 'local style' so we were all panting and needing new drinks after that! We were there for around an hour and a half and then we all waddled back to the bus.

It was 2 hours to Sandakan after lunch, so we arrived at 'Hotel Sandakan' at around 4:15. The original plan had been to do laundry, but we'd done this at Poring Hot Springs so didn't really have too much dirty stuff. Instead a group of us decided to walk up the 'hundred steps' to the Agnes Keith House and English Tea House on the hill. It was definitely more than a hundred steps, and then a little walk up the hill, and when we arrived at the Agnes Keith we realised it was only open for another 10 minutes. We figured it was silly to pay if we wouldn't have time to look at anything, so we headed straight for the English tea house. It was very British, set up on the hill with a croquet lawn looking out over the bay. We noticed a navy boat in the bay, but there's a naval base right by the town centre so that's not that surprising. We found a big table at the back of the restaurant and ordered some drinks and either scones or brownies. I had a brownie and a lime soda (we wanted Pimm's but they'd run out!). Once our food was delivered, the people with scones looked a bit puzzled when they'd tasted their food. They explained that their clotted cream tasted salty. A couple of them just ate it, but a few of the British girls called the waiter over and told them the problem. The waiter disappeared for a while and the staff studiously ignored us for a while before a man appeared with a plate full of bowls of chocolate ice cream. No explanation or apology, but chocolate ice cream? This produced a few laughs, and the girls ate their scones with chocolate ice cream! Not strictly British, but apparently tasty.

As it was getting later by the time we finished, we decided to head back to the hotel instead of going for a walk, as we had to pack up our bags and get our little day packs ready for turtle island tomorrow. The hotel also had the first decent wifi we'd encountered since Kota Kinabalu so we spent a bit of time catching up with the outside world. Then we headed to dinner down by the waterfront. As we were walking down there Amanda commented that the naval boat must be there to protect from pirates, which we hadn't even thought of, but definitely makes sense. Dinner was at a local waterfront restaurant, and although we were still full from lunch and snacks, I had a try of a local prawn coconut curry dish. Very yummy! Then Jeffry walked us around to a bar attached to a hotel (still with waterviews) where we watched a couple of guys perform cover music live. They just had an acoustic guitar and a loop pedal, but they both had great voices and did some really good covers. After a little break, they took requests, and played some great songs that we could sing along to (wonderwall, staying alive, some Ed Sheeran stuff). One of the girls even got up and did some open mic stuff, which was really fun. Finally we headed back to the hotel at about 12:50 and fell into bed!