Borneo's unwanted wildlife

We had a ok nights sleep considering we both went to bed very jumpy! I woke up in the middle of the night to a rattling noise and lied to Edd about the fact I thought it was just an insect, in my mind I was sure it was a snake!

I went to the toilet this morning having finally got brave enough to leave the safety of my mozzi net, as I sat down a little mouse ran across the bathroom ceiling!!!!! Let's just say I didn't go to the toilet this morning and I certainly didn't go back in the bathroom!

We left the room pretty soon after the mouse incident and I pretty quickly decided that we didn't want to stay another night! Especially as we tried to have tea and coffee surrounded by monkeys hanging above us and dropping things down on us. Luckily there was a coach leaving for the city after breakfast and they were happy to let us join the group.

We had a lovely river cruise before breakfast, supposedly looking for wildlife but apart from a few birds and the odd monkey we didn't see much. I was just happy to be off land where no snakes or mice could get us.

Leaving the mice behind

Once in safety Edd admitted that he had seen 4 mice in the roof last night and I'm just so so grateful he didn't tell me at the time, I'm not sure I would have slept at all!! I almost cried with relief when we got on the coach back to Sandakan. 

We looked into changing our flights to join Lisa & Dom, Andy & Fiona and a work colleague of mine in Bali early but unfortunately the price is about £400+ each! We managed to get a hotel room in the hotel we are already booked for tomorrow night and spent the afternoon catching up on the blog and we even treated ourselves to room service!

View over Sandakan

This afternoon we climbed up the hill above the town to a . tearoom next to the house where Agnes Keith lived in the 1950s. She was an American author who lived in North Borneo and wrote three autobiographical accounts of her time there. The most famous 'Three Came Home' was written about her time in Japanese POW camps, situated in the area, during WWII. 

It was very British, with croquet on the lawn and afternoon tea being served! We had pink lemonade & tea with scones, chocolate cake and blueberry cheesecake! We were both in our element overlooking a lovely view of the sea and the city. 

As we paid it became overcast and we were sure it was about to chuck it down with rain. We jogged it all the way to the sea front to the only nice hotel in the city for a drink in their air-conned, over priced, trendy bar!

Rain imminent

We've just picked up some snacks and drinks and are back in the hotel after a daunting dash back past cockroaches and street rats! The bar did have live music at 9.30 but I don't think we'll brave the rats through the streets tonight. Looking forward to our first lie in tomorrow! We're not even going to set an alarm!!!