St Augustine said: “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
We called ourselves CatMario Brothers and Sisters. You might be wondering where this name came from. It is from a Japanese game like Super Mario. In the game you have to clear each impossible level and each level will give you crazy stuff that will comsume your patience. We are workers from different company staying in different locations. Once the trip is planned and polished we then meet and travel together. Each of us brings our funny bones and none of the trips was boring.
Our latest trip was in Mabul Island, In Sabah, Malaysia. This trip will literally requires you to travel by air, by land, and by sea. It is 2 and a half hours flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau. From Tawau you can take van or cab to Samporna for 1 hour. The cab and van will drop you exactly to the port where you can take the speedboat to Mabul Island. And when I said speedboat it is really serving its purpose. That is 45 minutes of wave gliding to the island.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJlJ99fkwL0
Once you reach the island the Bajau Kids (Sea People or as my friend called them Sea Gypsies) will greet you while paddling their canoes. They will wave and say hi and ask some penny and foods. They were nice though. Forget about the traditional beach houses because here you will be staying in a house literally built over the water. You can select from different lodge but I suggest you book the place in advance. We stayed in a place Scuba Jeff (you can like their page in Facebook). The accommodation is for traveller and not for tourists. The place is not for honeymoon or whatsoever. The place is originally a Bajau house which was converted into the travellers lodge. It is a long house built over the water with many rooms on it. The package includes the lodging, all meals during your stay, and the snorkeling trips which are awesome by the way. The discovery diving is a different package but you can get a big discount if you know how to talk your way to it.
Majority of the activities are in the water so don’t be silly bringing your fancy jeans and coats and shoes. They will bring you to the different diving and snorkeling spots which will captivate you for sure. During your free ttime you can wander around the village and buy some unique stuff like shark jaws and different interesting things. The island is so small that you can finish the tour in an hour or so. The village people is always interesting. Just beware for those who wants to take advantage. I am not scaring you. Some Bajau kids can be very persistent to ask money or food. If you want to give, make sure no one is watching, or else you will be swarmed by them.
Five of us took the discovery diving package which is originally 250RM but my friend managed to get it for just 180RM. Discovery diving should be performed in a controlled area like swimming pool or beach. But because we are nice kids they allowed us to dive in one diving spot (not intended for DSD). There I saw the biggest sea turtle I saw in my life. He was sitting on a shipwreck, well shipwreck under the fifteen meters deep diving spot. It was so big that it literally scared the crap out of me though its not moving at all.
It is just a four day trip but it feels like the time passed so fast. We travelled as strangers, we left as friends. Please like our video in YouTube “Les Voyageurs Mabul Island”. If you want o join our upcoming trips or you want to inquire about the places we have been please contact us through our page (https://www.facebook.com/lesvoyageursCM). – Jasper (Jebat)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a Guest Post.
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