Sandakan, Malaysia





In August 2011, I will be living in Sandakan, Malaysia.  I have traveled to Malaysia with 8 other U.S. volunteers to serve our communities with Sabah Malaysia.  


Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the northeastern coast of Borneo.  Nicknames for the city is “The Nature City” and “Little Hong Kong”. 

Sandakan is known as the gateway for ecotourism destinations in Sabah, such as the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, the Rainforest Discovery Centre, Turtle Islands Park, Kinabatangan River and Gomantong Caves. The area is also infamous as the site of a World War II Japanese airfield, now known as Sandakan Airport, which was built by the forced labour of 6,000 Javanese civilians and Allied prisoners of war. In 1945, the surviving Australian prisoners were sent on the Sandakan Death Marches; only 6 of them survived the war.

Sandakan has a tropical rainforest climate. The city sees heavy precipitation throughout the year, with the heaviest precipitation seen from November through January. Temperatures are relatively constant throughout the course of the year with average high temperatures around 31 degrees Celsius (about 88 degrees Fahrenheit) and average low temperatures of 24 degrees Celsius (about 75 degrees in Fahrenheit).  The average humidity is about 71.7% and can range from 67% in September to 77% in January. The city can receive up to an average of 3100 mm (about 121 inches) of precipitation per year.

In the state of Sabah, Malay or Bahasa Melayu is the national language of Malaysia but English is considered as the second language in Sabah (as well as in Malaysia as a whole). Chinese is also widely spoken (third largest ethnic group). Mandarin is the standard Chinese dialect for communication but Hakka and Cantonese is commonly used for daily conversation in West Coast and East Coast respectively.

Malay dishes are mixed with modern Indian, Thai, Arab and Chinese.  Malay culture itself has been strongly influenced by that of people of neighboring lands, including Siamese, Javanese, Sumatran and Indians.  Below are just a few Malay dishes:
Nasi Lemak: Coconut-flavored Rice Meal - is rice cooked in coconut milk made aromatic with pandan leaves [screwpine leaves]. It is typically served with Sambal Ikan Bilis - fried dried anchovies cooked in a dry sambal sauce, and garnished with cucumber slices, hard boiled egg and roasted peanuts. Traditionally packaged in a banana leaf, it is usually eaten as hearty breakfast fare.
Satay: BBQ Sticks - This famous meat-on-a-stick appears on menus from New York to Amsterdam. The secret of tender, succulent satay is, of course, in the rich, spicy-sweet marinade. The marinated meat; chicken or beef, are skewered onto bamboo sticks and grilled over hot charcoals. Some satay stalls also serve venison and rabbit satay. A fresh salad of cucumbers & onions are served together with a spicy-sweet peanut sauce for dipping. Ketupat, a Malay rice cake similar to Lontong, is also an accompaniment to satay, great for dipping in satay sauce.
Sambal Udang: Spicy Prawns - whole prawns or shrimp are cooked in a classic Malay sauce; a spicy robust sauce made with chilies, shallots, garlic, stewed tomatoes, tamarind paste and belacan [also spelt belachan or blacan], a dried shrimp paste paste. Sambal Udang is the perfect accompaniment to the country's un-official national dish - Nasi Lemak.
Mee Jawa: Indonesian style Noodles - is a popular Malay noodle dish influenced by the Indonesian island of Java. The soupy gravy is made from fresh prawns and ladled over yellow egg noodles [chow mein]. Slices of potato, tofu [soy bean cake], egg, vegetables and shrimp garnishes the dish.
Malaysian Chicken Curry: or Kari Ayam in Malay, is a typical chicken curry cooked in almost all Malaysian homes. This basic recipe uses a "Made in Malaysia Meat Curry Powder". It has just the right blend of spices for an authentic 'Malaysian-tasting' curry! Some ingredients may vary - Malay homes might add serai [lemongrass], lengkuas [galangal], kunyit [fresh turmeric root] or assam jawa [tamarind].

Kuala Lumpur is  the capital of Malaysia.
 





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