Mabul
Trip Start
Sep 30, 2011
1
13
30
Trip End
Nov 23, 2011
Pulau Mabul, Sabah, Malaysia
Thursday, October 27, 2011
I caught my flight to Tawau at 4 PM. I arrived at the Tawau airport at about 430. It's a short flight. Everyone absolutely refused to help me and it was extremely frustrating. They told me the only way to Semporna was by taxi. I showed them the guide book that said I could go 2 KM to a junction and take a bus from there. They said it was 100 ringit to go 90 KM to Semporna and 35 ringit to go 2 KM. I was like WTF? I asked to see a piece of paper with the official costs and they said no. I started walking and hitchhiked to the junction and from the junction, I hitch hiked again. It pisses me off that people do not want to help you in Sabah. It's absolutely ridiculous. Some people do want to help, but the people on the upper end do not. Sabah is well marketed. I even see the signs in the travel shop windows in Australia. I just wish those people to not come here as most of Malaysia is hassle free and a good place. Sabah is not.
10/25/11
Day 26
I woke up 7 AM and got this boat from Semporna to an island called Mabul. I heard of Mabul by word of mouth as being one of the best places in the world for snorkeling and scuba diving. I paid a lot of money to come here. I had to pay for the boat fare up front along with a jetty fee, dorm room and snorkeling. They did not explain any rules to me and if they had, I wouldn't have come at all. When I got off the boat, they informed me that the snorkel trip was only 1 hour and it was quite expensive compared to the other spots, then I asked them the return schedule and they said there was only one boat returning per day. I asked for a refund, so that I could go to the next dock and ask another hotel for a boat and they said no refund. This is how Sabah is. Most places get a few people together and share a boat taxi or have a schedule, but here, they want your money so they do this to you. The snorkeling at Mabul was world class! It was so amazing. All kinds of fish. I didn't see any sharks or turtles, which are advertised here as being seen often. Once you get inside the island, there are many houses that are more like shacks than houses and it's just a giant overpopulated village. It has bad poverty and there is a lot of poor people. I'd imagine most houses are one total room with about 8 or 9 people living there. It's kind of sad. This makes you not want to stick around also as there are no restaurants, no grocery stores, no bars or really anything to do outside of sit at the hotel.
10/26/11
Day 27
I woke up after a good night sleep. Checked in with my Mom online and let her know I was safe, then was off to the mainland. After raising a big fuss last night, they did end up taking me to the mainland in the morning at no extra cost. I had a long list of things to do. I needed to print off some documents, go to the post office and get a notary to collect my retirement fund while I was in Australia. There was just another problem this day in that it is a holiday and all the banks and everything were closed. This traveling got even more frustrating for me as I am going out into a national park the next three days and won't have a bank, internet or anything for like 3 days. It sucks, but what can you do? I took the shuttle to Tawau town to get closer to the airport. Tawau town is 28 kilometers from the airport, whereas Semporna is 95 or so KM. There is absolutely nothing in Tawau town. It's a big town with a few shops and a few five story buildings, but absolutely nothing exciting ever happens in this town. This town is the gateway to Indonesia. The Indonesia border is less than 1 KM away from here, but I believe it's not an open border and you have to take a boat to Indonesia from here. The day was pretty much full of not much excitement.
