Jesselton

So Sarawak had a white raja, but how did Sabah end up connected with the British?  Seems it was run by a British company, the British North Borneo Company, founded to capitalize on the bounty of Borneo similar to the British East India Company in China.

After the WWII, when much of North Borneo was destroyed, the North Borneo company decided it was not profitable to rebuild, so it turned over governance to the British government.

As a nod to the British, we had lunch at this English tea house- fish and chips- excellent- very fresh.

Next to the tea house was the home of Agnes Keith, an American woman who married a Canadian who was Commissioner of Forestry for the North Borneo Co.  She moved to Sandukan in 1934 and wrote a book about her experiences.  When the Japanese invaded, she, her husband and her 2 year old son were put in a prison camp, first in Sandakan and later at Kuching.  They survived.

We are now in the Kota Kinabulu airport, waiting for a flight to Hong Kong.  Kota Kinabalu was founded by the British and was originally called Jesselton.