A trip to Elopura with the lil traveller

hello hello hello,

Went on a short gateway on the recent long weekend we had. With bags packed, took 2 of my best travel buddies and off we went to Elopura.

For those of you who don't already know, Elopura the 2nd largest town in Sabah, yes, SECOND, is located on the east coast of Sabah. Was also nicknamed lil Hong Kong (correct me if im wrong) at 1 time and to you and me today most commonly known as Sandakan, home of the orang utans, elephants, crocodiles and great cooks who cook great seafood and not forgetting that seafood bak kut teh. You should try the prawn ones.

So ya back to the story, since we weren't gona make it back for CNY this year, we decided to make an early visit. Bringing back the lil one to meet up wiht her Ah Tai, great grand mother. And for the parents to take the chance to taste that Sandakan goodness (unfortunately no Bak Kut Teh this time).

So 1st things 1st, say bid farewell the the lil one's friend.
For some reason, she gets excited when she sees Ronald.

Hopped on the A320 of one of the best if not the best budget Airline. Lil decided to go back to sleep, well it was only 7 am. I wanted to go back to sleep too.

It was a lovely flight

45 mins later we touched down in Sandakan and was greated by my Yee jiong (i think thats who u say it, unlce's wife) and off for breaksfast. Taste buds were aaaallllll anxiously waiting hahah.

Sandakan's welcome.

The lil one had fish brouth will the wifey had kon lou mee hoon with an order of seaweed soup with deep fried pork (Sandakan's specialty aka zha nyuk )the kon lou mee hoon had chu yu zha.. oooooo. My aunty had similar minus the seaweed and i had laksa and yes with zha nyuk in it and daaayyymmmmnnnn was it gooood.

After the hearty meal, we proceeded on the visit Ah Tai, ooo and it was a surprise too as she didn't know we were coming.

Have a vid of that 1st encounter at the door but i don't how to load it up haha. Anyways, the Ah tai was in deed surprise and was kinda shouting for joy which in turned startled the lil one which got her crying hahah. Well after a couple of minutes the both of them were dancing, yes dancing in the leaving room, and ya, still don't know how to upload that vid. Really cute seeing my Popo dancing with my daughter.

My 2 best travel buddies and my Popo

Well after an hour, we headed back to the hotel for abit of rest before feasting later at night again haha.

The lil decided that she wanted a more cossy - er place of her on instead of the bed.

Was supposed to visit Sepilok, unfortunately all 3 of us only got up by 4 pm and it was time to get ready for dinner at 6, chinese mah hahaha.

Uncle came by at 6 on the dot and of we went back to Ah Tai's for dinner where the other family members were. It was a potluck.

One of the many reasons why i love going back to Sandakan haha.. We had prawns, pork with ham choi, chun ken, sau nyuk, herbal soup & mixed vege and all home cooked.

The lil one had a great time with all the adults entertaining her, yup being the 1st great grandchild, grand daughter and niece in the Chai family, i guess u'll most definitely will get all the attention. And yes there was more dancing with Ah Tai. Headed home after a couple of hours for a good night's rest before..... yes, feasting in the morning again. hahahha.

Night left and morning came and so did the appetite and uncle came jeeeeennnnggg.. Breakfast time. We headed to Sim Sim, a water village area of Sandakan notoriously know for their seafood eateries for both halal and non halal.

Gateway to tastebud heaven.

This is one of maaaannnyyy entrances along Sim Sim, this happens to be the one frequent by the familia. This will lead you to the path of righteousness haha.

See what i mean,

Remeber ealier I mentioned that they were many entrances, not only many entrances, but 1 path too has alot of eateries inside, this had atleast 5 that i saw, im sure there were a few more hiding. Some are well lit and clearly advertised.

While others like the one we went too were more discreet.

A small lil enterance leading into a secret place hahah reminds me of some Illuminati stuff. This place offers fish noodle soup with ham choi, kon lou fish noodles or tom yam. I would recommend all 3 hahaha.

The lil one checking out her view.

Apart from just having eateries, some of the restaurant also doubles as a fish market however, i would not recommend buying from here, the best place to buy i would say is still the Sandakan market, but we could help but buy almost 1/2 kg of salt fish hahah and it was not even RM 20. Ooo ya check out the tigers we say, RM 25.00 a piece, you can never find them this size for that price in Labuan.

The next thing we know is we're at the airport saying our goodbyes.

someone was anxious to get back to KK.

My 2 best travel buddies.

1 thing i love bout flying to Sandakan was being able to see Mt Kinabalu as we flew past, simply majestic, unfortunately i fell asleep and by the time i woke up, only managed this shot.

Just before Mt K left the window hahaha.

And so, in a blink of an eye Sandakan was over. Too fast. And now back to KK for another port luck over at Babaji's & moyang's and this time Indian is on the menu.

Abit of chapatti, dhall, chicken curry, pumpkin, eggplant & salad.

Yes another family get together in honor of the lil one. no dancing this time haha. The mother, grand mother, popo, nani with the great grand mother in the center.

All in all it was tiring no doubt but it was definitely a great getaway. Till our next travels with the lil traveler, steem on.

Back in Labuan.