Semporna, Sabah – port to Sipadan!

Waking up at the Kinabalu Backpacker’s lodge was a refreshing sight…

kk view


of the street of KK!!

I never knew I’ll see the day of brushing my teeth facing against a busy road of city street with roaming cars.

me in jammies


It also helped waking up to the sight of two really hot Dutch boys in their sun tanned muscular topless body jumping into shower next to you. Eh hem~ *cough*

I decided to take a day off chilling around the city and have a cup of ice Nescafe beside the roadside while doing my paper research typing under the shade of trees.

nescafe ice


I don’t usually drink coffee but Sabah has the WORST Milo Ais you will ever get, anywhere, anytime. It’s like diluted Milo with three tablespoons of sweetened condense milk. Seriously, it is THAT horrible.

I managed to type up quite a bit. *proud*

As evening drew nearer, I hopped onto the public bus to Inanam to board my overnight bus to Semporna, a little fish village at the South East of Sabah that would still be unheard and unknown if not for it’s passage way to the world BEST diving spot – Sipadan Island.

nicole on bus


Second rule of backpacking – always save up a night’s stay by travelling overnight.

kk night view
Evening of Inanam, beautiful moonlight.


Because of the geographical position of Sabah, the sun sets an hour earlier here. I thought I saw the time wrongly when I arrived at the terminal for my 7:30pm bus.

watch


What? I’m an hour and 30 mins early? How can?

Only to realize later that this watch was bought in Bangkok, hence the time was still set an hour back.

phone time
The actual time


How smart of me. -.- (this is what you get when you buy all sorts of junk from around the world)

nicole beside bus
Preparing to hop on a 11 hours ride.


The bus stopped at several location for food and pee break.

I managed to find some realllllly cheap candies, all selling at RM0.10 to RM0.30.

candies
Dinner for the night.


*Fast-forwarding 11 hours later*

6:30am

I landed with my backpack standing in the middle of no where.

semporna view
*not a sound, total silence*


Right~~~



ermm... to my lodge!

Dumping my bag, I headed straight out for my first city exploration. What better time to see the town wakes up?

jetty morning market
Morning market at the jetty


Sabah has most of its cities situated right by the sea, Semporna included.

morning at jetty


The morning market gets busy as the fishermen returned from sea with load of goods.

tuna fish from fishermen
Tuna Fish


fish and man
Stingray?


puffer fish
Puffer Fish!!!!!! I want!!!


It’s quite a sight to view. :D


It’s common for people here to live on water, and the land, side by side.

fishermen village


And kids jumping on and off boat for fun.

girl hopping on boat


Cheap is the first name of Semporna. By that I mean they will go all out to make things sold at a very cheap and affordable price.

oil at RM1
Anyone want to buy RM1 cooking oil?


And not to forget, a BN dominated state. ;)

undi BN


I’m seeing this everywhere!

I’m going to take my diving license today, tomorrow and day after. Yes, soon I will a certified PADI diver!!! Woo hoo~~~~ and my first dive is going to be in the world's MOST MOST beautiful diving spot~~!!!!

Before that….

I think… I got…



an allergy :(

allergy on arm


*to be continued*

Share:

38 kissed Nicole

  1. can hear *wuuaakk* *wuakkkk* *wuakkk* at Semporna.. -__-

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aik? Allergy? Poor thing..hmm..be careful k?

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's one hairy arm. Make it two.

    ReplyDelete
  4. wah so nice diving in sipadan island...im so envious...do put more pics n info in yr next update i wanna go there too hopefully in the near future! cheers

    Marcus

    ReplyDelete
  5. lol i cant help noticing an underwear in the background of the first pic...i'm no perv...hahaha...seriously...

    ReplyDelete
  6. second pic i mean...keke

    ReplyDelete
  7. Diving?...8D~ veli the nice gar...Just lemember not to touch everything underwater bare hand lar...or can use a stick...(^_^)"

    Ehh oso hor is there a chance u be doing bikini diving ar??...8D~

    ReplyDelete
  8. u reminds me of my visit to kk 3 years back.........

    *WWH mind flies to kk edi now*

    ReplyDelete
  9. nice pic u got here!

    ReplyDelete
  10. coming to Miri to dive any soon?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I had similar allergy earlier this year. It was caused by an antibiotic I took for an abcessed tooth. If you have taken any antibiotics this could be the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, I want t take diving license too. Make sure you post an entry on diving license ya?1=]

    ReplyDelete
  13. if u still got ur allergy go pharmacy n buy some polaramine. Its 2mg/tablet. should help. not expensive also

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ahhh...Sipadan...diving heaven...
    My open water dive was in Redang. Very nice back then but Sipadan is still the best. Lucky you~

    ReplyDelete
  15. OMG.. is it getting better now?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hey Nicole,i got my PADI 2 years ago in sabah too,but at mamutik island.and an allergy,but from beer....my skin around my neck and limb were totally swollen and covered with hives....sigh,i totally adore sabah too,and i can't wait to visit there again!

    ReplyDelete
  17. owhh dear.. how was your allergy then? get better soon okay :)

    waiting for the next entry ;)

    ReplyDelete
  18. omg! I'm so jealous! I'm getting certified in June at Koh Samui. Are you doing the Open Water Certification?

    Have fun :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. get well and safe journey ya... cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Nicole, on your way back from Sipadan, you have to pass through Tawau. Can you please blog about it? IT'S MY HOMETOWN AND I HAVE NOT SEEN IT SINCE 2005! I'm now living in Zurich - very homesick when I see your photos of Sabah....

    Cheers, Angie

    ReplyDelete
  21. was wondering
    when you talk about traveling
    I am currently planning on going on trip to Japan
    when you were there, where did you stay?
    because being a student and all I have limited budget\
    do let me know...

    please and thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sabah Bagus BAH!.Manutik island also very nice,just 25 minutes from KK town

    ReplyDelete
  23. i think i know those alergy, stop scratching it and it will be fine. i know its very very very itchy, just dont touch it. >.<

    ReplyDelete
  24. welcome to the land below the wind. may you enjoy your time here.

    if you want cheaper seafood, try SALUT (20mins from KK) and for nicer iced milo, go DAMAI. there's a popular coffeeshop there.

    as for sipadan, i have no doubt you'll enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Nice entry.

    BTW, what ever happened to your hair?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Second photo... is that your green panty?

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi Nicole,

    wowoowwoow way you go girl! You are really experiencing all the beautiful things in life - charity, diving, photography, fine dining, and not forgetting blogging! hehehe. YOu have lived ur life to the fullest, and I am truly happy for you. They say, some dream all their lives, some live their dreams! and you're genuinely the second group!

    I am also PADI diver but i have completed rescue diver course. I would say frankly that it's better you take ur open water licence in somewhere cheaper like PErhentian, redang, tioman or mamutik. This is because when you start diving, you have to struggle with buoyancy and getting used to diving. Sipadan is actually a diver's gem, and when you're there, many seasoned diver will tell you to make sure you're very good then only u go there. this is coz the walls of sipadan island are so full of marine microbs and planktons that u'll accidently go too deep or to the surface without realizing it. you need to control ur depth and gauge ur dive carefully. going to sipadan is also expensive. so divers will usually tell you to master ur diving skills in somewhere cheaper before you go for the best of Asia SIPADAN so u can truly expereince every bits of it rather than struggling with ur breathing and missing out the wonders of underwater.

    But its ok for you girl, you can always go back there again.

    Happy for you. My favourite is moorish idol. Hvae you spoted any????

    Take care! Good luck! God bless you!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. the market called Tamu in sabah & village on water called Kampung Air bah!.did u ask the puffer fish(ikan buntal) can eat or not?.some peoples said it poisonous & 1st time i saw it in market.

    Good luck & take k bah!

    ReplyDelete
  29. semporna is a nice place.. i never been to sipadan but i went mataking, not bad also there..

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wow, nice shots you got there.

    ReplyDelete
  31. i think thats shark's fin, and not stingray. =(

    ReplyDelete
  32. mataking and mabul are nice too. sabah has the worst milo ais? lol. you have yet to try the most delicious milo ais in Damai, KK.

    ReplyDelete
  33. well.. not all milo in kk is like what u described.. haha.. nice try..

    ReplyDelete
  34. You have the same phone as mine. haha.

    ReplyDelete
  35. diluted milo ice?? cuz you dont know where to get the BEST MILO ICE IN KK, duh! dont say it like kk has no good milo ice!

    ReplyDelete
  36. nice undie.....hmmnnn....yum yum

    ReplyDelete
  37. hey,
    my name is lyssa, a new bloggger.

    gosh~~
    i love the place u went!!
    i think i'm going there soon after reading your blog!!

    i just came back from Bali few days ago, feel free to visit my blog and give me some comments k?

    http://lyssaloh.blogspot.com/

    thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Re Pic of you at Semporna THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008 with your frilly edged knickers in the background. I always pictured you more of the Sloggi knickers type of girl :-) Fancy you still wearing the old fashioned see thru lacy type of knickers ;-)

    ReplyDelete