Sim Sim is a fishing village, accessed by wooden walkways over the ocean. The sea breeze blowing beneath the houses up on stilts acts as an air conditioner would, keeping the families cool inside their homes.
Our tour guide took us out onto one of the planked walkways, telling us a little about the families and the life of the locals. Little children sat on their verandahs watching us, waving and calling out 'Aloha' as we walked by. Large trays of rice lay out in the sun, drying out for dinner time.
Each house had very distinct features from the others. All different colours and sizes sat on top of the twig-like wooden stilts, holding up the houses from the sea beneath.
Puu Jih Shih Buddhist Temple
Inland is the Puu Jih Shih Buddhist Temple, that has panoramic views of Sandakan Bay.
Up here we took our shoes off and went inside the temple. Intricate patterns and drawings covered the walls.
Giant statues majestically towered before my eyes. Nobody spoke as they stared in awe at the temples beauty. Only the sounds of a radio coming from inside a small room could be heard.
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| Burning incense sticks to make peace offerings. I made a wish. |
I blew out the incense stick handed to me by the tour guide. Closing my eyes I made a wish and placed it in the altar overlooking Sandakan bay.
Exhausted, sweaty and overwhelmed, we headed back to Sandakan airport for a short flight back to Kota Kinabalu.
Yep, you guessed it. On our jet plane ride home, a frightening thunderstorm carried us across Sabah back to a very wet, very stormy KK.
You should have heard my mum shrieking on the plane.
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