SDK-TWU-SPN trip (back date 17-21 April 2014) SimSim 88, English Tea House, Wing Hup Lee, Futsal court Foodcourt @ Sandakan

If you want to have a good food trip to Sandakan, please remember to avoid Monday because I find that most of the shops are not open. Anyway, we managed to achieve more than 50% of KPI on our food list. =) And at least it give me a second chance to visit Sandakan again! Pray hard that my friends are still there when I visit there the next time. So to start off for the day, we went to SimSim 88 Restaurant for breakfast and no choice, but for lunch as well at the later of the day. SimSim is actually a village which built on water and facing the sea. There are quite a number of bridge, so make sure that you get on the right bridge for the right way. If you get lost, it will be like a maze fore you! Our initial plan was to eat century egg Shui Gao (皮蛋水饺) and Sandakan Dan Gong Mee (弹弓面) but the shop didn't open! Haiz. So we went to SimSim 88 for breakfast as well! If you want to buy frozen seafood in Sandakan, here you can find it! Lobster < 500 grams is RM 80.00 per kg but if > 500 grams, it's RM 120.00 per kg. There are many other more seafood for your information.

SimSim 88 Restaurant.. Nice environment and there were quite a number of customer as well even though it's a Monday! 

Za Jiang Mian (炸酱面) with lots of seafood. Slurrppppppp.... And it's RM 6.50 per bowl only! I guess this would cost you about RM 9 to 10 if it's in KL! 

Sandakan Dan Gong Mee (弹弓面) with century egg Shui Gao (皮蛋水饺), RM 5.50 for this! There are 4 big Shui Gao with the noodle. But quite disappointed because it was not as elastic as we expected! I think KK has a better version of this!!!

Tom yam noodles.. RM 9.00 for this. Definitely it didn't taste like those in the West Malaysia because this tom yam comes with lots of coconut milk or santan! But it tasted good as well.. Recommend to try this! =)

Lunch time at 1pm.. Lunch started off with vegetables...

 Special fried sotong. Too elastic until it's hard to chew.. Ha-ha.. Not suitable for old folks..

Ginger onion Sa Bak. It tasted not as good as the one in Tawau!!! But not too bad...

Simple steamed Siakap. Didn't order other expensive fish for lunch! Within budget, total damage done = RM 75.

When people come to Sandakan, English Tea House is definitely in their itinerary. I guess different people has different preference, I would never come to this place anymore! English Tea House is also located at the top of the hill which is right opposite of Agnes Keith House. No doubt that it has a very nice ambiance and the waitresses are all dressed in their special uniforms. But I find that it's a bit costly for teatime whereby you have many other much cheaper options in the town! Anyway, you never try, you never know!

English Tea House entrance... It has limited parking space.. 

English tea set. A tea for 2 person with no refill... =) 

One of the things that we order, scones!!!! Perfectly made! Fresh from the oven. One English Tea set (including tea, some cakes, sandwiches and 2 scones) for 2 person with  one additional scone costed us about RM 50.00

Dessert is never enough with one! We managed to get some egg tarts and Ngau Si tart (pancake topped with egg custard and cream I guess) from Wing Hup Lee. This shop is located quite a distance away from the city center. Something very good about this tart is that the crust is a very very thin layer! So make sure that you have it when it's freshly served from the oven. =) Highly recommend this egg tart!

 Ngau Si tart, you can only find this in Sandakan!

Just before we headed towards the airport with such a reluctant mood to go back to KK, we dropped by at this Futsal court Foodcourt for dinner! This place is located some where in the housing area. Maybe you can try to contact the number on their board for directions. I have no idea where it is but the food was great and comes in very big portion! There were only 5 of us but the dishes look like serving for 10 person! =) lolzz.. Anyway, it was one of the best meal in Sandakan!

 Futsal court Foodcourt

Some kind of wrapped fried egg plants with some sour sauce! Very good combination but too bad, each people share was only 2 pieces...

Super big plate of vegetable which can last me for 1 week if I eat alone... 

Special fried chicken. Taste good and crispy.. Too bad that we were too full to finish the whole plate!!!

 Butter sauce sotong. At least this can redeem back how bad was the sotong cooked this morning! =p Total damage done per person = RM 17..

So that's all for the whole trip! Time to catch our flight and get back to work the next day! Watch for more eating stuffs on my upcoming blogs....

Thanks and have a nice weekend! =)

SDK-TWU-SPN trip (back date 17-21 April 2014) Puu Jih Shi, St. Micheal's Church, Agnes Keith House & Sandakan Memorial Park @ Sandakan

Never thought that the last day would be so tiring as we need to travel from one place to the other so rush! But anyway, it was fun and at least we managed to cover most of the interesting places in Sandakan. =) This post would mainly about the places with no food at all! There were 4 places that we covered, a Chinese temple, a church, a historical building and a historical site.

First destination: Puu Jih Shi (普济寺)

Located right at the top of the hill. Very striking colour of the architecture, just too beautiful. One of the famous tourist spot which you need to travel by car to go up the hill. Admission free...

 Sea view from the temple..

Second destination: St. Micheal's Church 

Very old architecture which located on the hill as well. Entrance fee is RM 5 per person. I guess the church is open for free if the church has any service but it will be packed! 

Beautiful glass panels from the inside of the church... 

Time capsule, secret to be revealed every 50 years. The next one to be opened is in year 2038! 

Third destination: Agnes Keith House

The historical building is just located right opposite of English Tea House and within walking distance. RM 2 per person per entry. It's a 2 level building with lots of history. There were many tenants of the house in the past and one of them was Agnes Keith. 

Forth destination: Sandakan Memorial Park

A very well preserved park located out from the city center. Admission is free. It has wonderful history regarding the death march and it's all related to the one in Kundasang. Though the place is small but you would enjoy the history that they have over there! Estimate about 1-1.5 hours if you are to visit this place.

Nice information center at the entrance

That's the end of the places that my friends and I had visited. To visit places in Sabah is nothing like the ones in big city such as in Kuala Lumpur. If you opted for some history or some nature, Sabah is definitely a good destination for you. But if you hope for shopping paradise or heaven of food, this is not the place that you are looking for! =)

To be continued with the last one...

SDK-TWU-SPN trip (back date 17-21 April 2014) Nam Chai & Ocean View Restaurant @ Sandakan

The trip will never end without bringing back good memories of good food. Even for dinner, we need to double the dose! First dinner, we went for Nam Chai Bak Kut Teh. This shop is located just distance away from the hospital only but it is quite hidden from the main road. To spot on this shop is never easy! According to my friend, this is one of the special BKT in Sandakan because it has no herbal taste at all but instead it has a peppery soup which makes it special!! I wonder why is it still call as BKT. o.O

Nam Chai Bak Kut Teh

Fresh prawns with BKT soup. Peppery level: zero. 

Pai Guat in BKT soup. Peppery level: 3.. Herbal taste zero. But it tastes good! No wonder the shop is always packed during weekends. 

Super big bowl of vegetable in BKT soup. Peppery level: zero. Just for you to remove the pepper taste... =) Total damage done = RM 48 for six person.

Dinner #2 at famous Ocean King Seafood Restaurant! Famous for its fresh and good seafood with reasonable price...

Seafood trip is never complete if you don't have lobster! Must order "Lobster yee mee". RM 230 per kg... I guess half kg is sufficient for 4-5 person. Be aware of the tauke because he has the power to hypnotise you to grab the big and expensive ones! lolzzz... *Jkg...

Time to go back to the hotel for some rest before entering the last and final day of the trip. =(

To be continued...

SDK-TWU-SPN trip (back date 17-21 April 2014) Santa Restaurant and Sandakan

To travel back from Tawau back to Sandakan is about another 4-5 hours drive. But before we reach the Sandakan town, we opted for a lunch break at the intersection point to Telipok and Sandakan (32 miles). If you observe the name for all the shops, you would realise that they are all own by the same owner! And Santa is their name!!!

Good bye to Shuen Nie at Tawau airport... See you soon in Labuan!

Kedai Kopi Santa! Chinese restaurant but sell no pork if not mistaken...

Fried noodles.. Not too bad...

Sup tulang with rice.. But this is nicer! I guess this is the BEST sup tulang that I have ever tasted in Sabah!!! I miss this so much now... =( RM 9 for this!

After lunch, we opted to be tourists to go interesting places in Sandakan before checking in the hotel! 3 places chosen, namely Labuk Bay proboscis monkey sanctuary, Sun bear conservation center and Sipilok Orang Utan conservation center.

Labuk Bay proboscis monkey sanctuary, RM 15 per person for locals.. Look out for the feeding time. Try to estimate more time before the feeding time (~ 30 minutes) and you need to travel some distance to the spotting site. If you are lucky, hornbills are there to welcome you too...

Pretty sweetie =) 

Big group of them during the feeding time...

 Next destination, Sun bear conservation center. RM 5 per person for locals.. To spot a sun bear is all depends on your luck! Good luck guys...

 Sun bear conservation center. Nothing to spot except this... =p

Sipilok for orang utan! RM 5 per person for locals.. Watch out for the feeding time as well.. 

 Be aware of them, they might be just beside you when it comes to feeding time! =)

 To be continued..