Pouring Hot Springs to Sandakan

Finally off the mountain and moving along on our journey. Our next destination is Pouring Hot Springs to soak our tired aching muscles in the hot sulfur baths. Our guide said that he would arrange a "shuttle" for us to get to Pouring Hot Springs since according to him, there is no bus that goes there. His idea of a shuttle was a 70MYR ($25) taxi ride, cheap by our standards for an hour and a half ride, but expensive for Malaysia. So we decided we would try to catch a bus there. Down at the bottom of the mountain there were 4 of us who had just come down from the summit all waiting for a bus. One girl who was going to Sandakan had been waiting there for over an hour already. So after waiting for 30 minutes without a single bus passing by, we decided to just spring for the more expensive, but easier alternative. I was nominated to hike back up the hill to headquarters as I was apparently in better condition than my sister. At headquarters, I met another couple who were travelling to Pouring Hot Springs and had already pre-arranged a taxi as part of tour package they booked. They said we could catch a ride with them, so I thought that's great, we can split the costs. Well apparently the taxi driver wanted an extra 60MYR for my sister and I even though the other couple had already paid for the transfer as part of their tour! I was in no mood to argue, so we just let him rip us off. It was his lucky day, he sure made some good money from us stupid tourists.

Crossing the suspension bridge to get to the hot springs.

Here are the hot springs. I expected something more natural, but this'll do. The free hot springs are these old tiled tubs outside that take forever to fill up, so we decided to go for the private huts with a big jacuzzi tub and showers. It sure felt good to soak our bodies in that hot tub.

Here we are waiting for the bus in a small town called Ranau. Thank God for Guy and Swaantje (the couple we shared the taxi with to Pouring Hot Springs), we thought we could just go to the bus stop and hop on a bus that passed by going to Sandakan, but apparently you have to reserve space in advance. Guy booked us the last 4 seats available on the bus that day.


Here's a random photo of this truck with people sitting there playing music as they drove along.

After a beautiful, but long drive through the country side, we have arrived at Sandakan.