Swordie Bloggie

Last Wednesday, 19 August 2009, I went to our branch office in Sandakan to fix their network. Their network has been acting weird since it was struck by lightning.

We, me and two colleagues, took the road instead of flying to Sandakan. I’m getting fade up flying because you have to stick to the flight schedule and you can’t carry many gears on board.

By driving, time is in your control and able to carry more gears… and of course mobility.

I was looking forward to the journey since my last journey was at the end of last year… by road too 😀

I feel very fresh when we left Sandakan on that morning. The journey is about 400km and will take about 6 hours. Depending on traffic volume, the journey can be reduced to 4 hours.

There are many big lorries and buses travelling along the Kota Kinabalu – Sandakan road, so most of the time if there are convoys of lorries or buses, we have to tail along… especially when overtaking is hard and climbing hills.

During the journey, we did not stop anyway and we travel at moderate speed… we don’t want to rush… rushing is dangerous.

Since we did not stop anyway, we skipped our lunch and immediately checked into Kesington Hotel at Bandar Maju, Sandakan, around 4.00 PM.

We were so hungry… after unloading our gears into our rooms, we went out for food. We end up eating at Pizza Hut… lame… After our late lunch, we went back to our room and try to have a short rest before dinner.

I joined a few friends for dinner around 8.00 pm… seafood dinner. Here, the seafood is damm bloody cheap… you can eat prawn, fish, etc… as much as you can… you can have anything from the sea… you name it… they have it… and they are bloody cheap… like 50% cheaper than Kota Kinabalu!!!… and they are also damm bloody fresh… the taste of fresh seafood is heavenly… it just so good to chew… better than the Japanese food at Usagi in Karamunsing…

Anyway, came back yesterday and arrived home around 5.00 pm… usually I don’t feel tired when travelling… but I was so tired yesterday… I took a short nap before I went to the MCSE class around 6.30 PM…

Usually I will stay alert during my journey while snapping photos from inside the vehicle… in fact I sleep enough the night before… even took two packets of 3in1 Nescafe… I actually don’t take coffee… only tea… but I took it anyway, but still I feel so tired during the journey… Maybe I should have taken stronger coffee like Capresso… but every time I take coffee, my pee will smell like coffee after that 😛 that’s why I don’t like coffee.

The short nap I had before class was enough for me to attend the class and continue with movie… District 9… around 9.50 PM last night 😛

Anyway, gonna get some more rest today… or do more other stuff…

The hotel we stayed in Sandakan for 3 nights from 20 to 23 October 2008 is Kensington Hotel. According to its staff, the hotel is only about 3 months old. It is located at the new area called Bandar Maju, Sandakan.

The hotel is not on its own building but on shop lots. It occupied the ground, first and second floor and has 22 bedrooms. I believe the hotel is not rated with any Star. They do not have restaurant but there are restaurants around the blocks. We have our own transport so I’m not sure how good the public transport is. But there are bus stops at the main road.

The address is:
Hotel Kensington,
Lot 37, Block D, Bandar Maju,
Mile 1 1/2, Jalan Utara,
90000 Sandakan,
Sabah, Malaysia.
Telephone: +6089-203888 & +6089-208887
Fx: +6089-208885

The rates are:
Single Bedroom with 1 king size bed – RM78.00
Twin Bedroom with 2 single size beds – RM88.00
Family Room with 1 king size bed and 1 single size bed – RM120.00

My room number is 203 at the second floor… hotel has no lift, have to use the stairs. My experience with the hotel is when I returned to my room on the second day, they have not made my room. My colleague room at 205 was done… because they put the Make My Room sign on their door. But I don’t think they only make rooms when there is sign, they should make it no matter what since I’m staying there more than 1 night.

Overall inside the room is OK, clean and new. WiFi is available for free but I did not use it because I have my Celcom Broadband. No fridge but boiling water and making drink appliances are available. But there is one problem with the curtain. The curtain is only one layer. They do not have daylight curtain… I do need daylight curtain when I’m on my notebook to stop the glare while enjoying the natural light from outside… of course bamboo blinds will be good enough… just kidding. The chair is not suitable for surfing while on the desk… my but was arching because it just a wooden stool like the one you can find in Kopitiam… without any cushion.

Will be continued with pictures…

My destination for this week Journey around Sabah is Sandakan Region. I will be visiting our offices at Sandakan, Telupid, Beluran and Ranau. The journey is very tiring and right now I’m in Kensington Hotel, Sandakan. This hotel is new… only about 3 months old. I don’t think it has many rooms since it only has 2 floors and located in shop lots. Environment is clean and quite… coz the area is still new 😀

And every time I go for travel, I carry few things with me. Other than travel insurance which is included in our service benefits, these few items are necessity… tooth brush, tooth paste, shaver… and of course soap… but soap normally provided by the hotel including some other stuff like shampoo.

Normally I just pack these things into a plastic bag. But this time is different… I bought a Darlie Travel Kit which I believe they just introduced. The kit includes a small tube of tooth paste and a tooth brush. The travel kit bag is big enough to fit my shaver into it which make my packing easier 😀