I wanted to take my children to Sandakan for two reasons. One was to show them their relatives and the other was to teach them about the Sandakan death march.
Upon hearing my plans to drive to Sandakan, a friend insisted that he is coming along in his car with his family and I am to follow him in my car..
Ok, I accept..In my youth, I was a rather reckless driver..in those days in Sabah as it still is, there were no cops with speed cams, there were hardly any cars on the road and being young with my youthful freedom and don’t care attitude..I  crashed my car..once.. and no one has forgotten..
For the record, it wasn’t my fault. Yes I know every driver who crash their car tells you the same. But seriously, it wasn’t my fault. There was a sudden depression in the road right after a crest( I saw it too late) and my car travelling at 100km ( may be a little more than 100 KM, definitely less than 140) suddenly found itself airborne..
Much as I told my friends that I have changed and I never drive recklessly when I have my kids in the car, no one believed me. So I had to follow my friend..99.9% of Sabahans don’t know how to drive. I don’t care about butting in..it is a malady of urbanization and me first mentality. What bothered me so much are the idiots who tried to overtake me before a crest..Thy can’t see the vehicle coming from the opposite direction and in the last minute they have only two options..head on crash or swing to the left, where my car is..
I had driven the whole strech from KK to Lahad Datu before I left Sabah and the roads were in in a bad condition. ( actually Indian roads were better). They have repaired the roads a bit.. and it is now better than Indian roads…but still there are stretches that are really dangerous and one wonders where has all the money kept aside for road maintenance gone.. Which Datuk built a new mansion with that money?

We stopped by Kinabalu Naational park..Visitor information center on the 2nd floor is still the same.. There is a time capsule there only to be opened in 2050.. Read the last sentence..”All the items inside are priceless historical collections..”
Really?? Personal belongings of Mahathir and his wife are historical??Since when?
I did find this on google.. Perhaps there was a mistake in actual contents in the box.. Time will tell.

The restaurant inside the visitor center was doing ee aa.. ( my cousin invented this term for certain famous restaurants..ee aa.. stands for eachey attuva ( swatting flies)) The washroom was stinking and my kids wanted to eat Chinese food ‘outside’, much to the surprise of my friend..who thought my kids having lived outside Malaysia must be missing western food..
So we went to Ranau town.all the old restaurants are still there and we had Chinese food for lunch..

We reached Sandakan by evening..another friend had already booked a place for us at Tang Dynasty..90RM for double bed..nice place..

I didn’t want to spend the new year’s eve drunk..So kids and I watched the fireworks from our window..We had a great time..
I don’t usually make much of a fanfare for new year’s resolution.. Hey,  you don’t need a special day to make resolutions.. you can do it any day..
There is nothing I want to change in my life.
I may not have everything I wanted in my life.. But I have so much more than many.. Years ago..in one of those breakfast show on Doordarshan.. the one with the puppet..there was a quote..”I complained I didn’t have shoes, till I met a man without legs” On days I am unhappy.. I think of all the things I have that makes me happy..and life is good..