Sabah is like paradise on Earth for Malaysian and international visitors

To get to the beautiful islands, you must first make your way to Semporna. Photos: LEESAN

On Sept 27, 1934, American writer Agnes Newton Keith and her British husband Harry Keith set off from the port of California for the third largest island in the world, Borneo. After 44 days, they arrived in a little town called Sandakan in North Borneo.

Agnes’ husband was the director of agriculture for the North Borneo government and had lived in Borneo for about 10 years before that. While living in Sandakan, Agnes wrote her first book Land Below The Wind in 1939, which won her an award for best non-fiction work from Atlantic Monthly, an American magazine.