Blogs from Mabul, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 5

This is where i stayed at xmas, Kapali dive resort. It was absolutely amazing!!! Did 4 dives a day, got my advanced open water certificate and got to see a few dozen turtles and sharks on every dive, not to mention the millions of fish and gorgeous colourful reef. The water was 600m deep around sipidan island, not that i went that deep but it was still a great experiance not being able to see the bottom. ... read more

Semporna Our transfer dropped us off in Semporna before lunchtime, but the town didn't look that promising. Jase had done a bit of research on travelblog just before we arrived and other bloggers really dissed the place and said the locals were rude and unfriendly. We spent the Sunday holed up in our room after unsuccessfully attempting to book a dive package at Mabul. Most dive operators weren't sure of availability until Monday but we had our fingers crossed for Borneo Divers so we could stay on Mabul. We didn't relish day dives from Semporna, especially not with one operator who had a leechy looking dive master. Fortunately we had Discovery channel in our nice hotel, so Jase was content watching Mythbusters and cheesy HBO movies, including a chick flick about Travelling Pants! We were grateful ... read more

Salut tout le monde, Nous voici sortis de la Chine pour se retrouver dans une autre "Chine"... La ville d'Hong Kong, qui se dit chinoise maintenant est toute sauf! C'est ici que l'on se separe de notre groupe. Nous avons passe 3 semaines avec ces gens que nous avons beaucoup apprecies. Chacun, a sa maniere, a agremente notre visite de la Chine. Thanks to all of you guys!!!! Bon, Hong Kong. On est de retour dans le connu. On se retrouve dans une ville comparable aux grandes villes de l'occident, en plus cool par exemple! Les restos sont les restos cantonnais que l'on connait, les transports en commun sont faciles et efficaces et on retrouve miraculeusement l'usage de l'anglais! Notre hotel se situe à Kowloon, l'ile qui est en face de l'ile principale de Hong Kong. ... read more

We arrived in Mabul yesterday after a 45 min trip from Semporna (not a town to hang out in, an overnight stop to catch an early boat, although we found a cafe that sold pizza and baked bean toasties so it wasn't all bad!) in a boat skippered by William Wallace. Another Braveheart fan (Asia is full of them!). En route we passed three huge barges full of recently chopped down rainforest. The logging here is outrageous. William Wallace made us all take photos so that when we go home we can write to the Government to protest against it (all help greatly appreciated). We also passed an island called "Honeymoon Island" - it looked stunning, just a stretch of sand in the water with palm trees in the middle and a couple of huts. That's ... read more

17th March 2007 Kuala Lumpur (by flight, 2.5 hours) - Tawau (by taxi, 1 hour) - Semporna (by speed boat, 45 minutes) - Sipadan Water Village, Mabul Island (SWV). Arrived at SWV was about 1.00pm, we have received a great welcome from the resort’s staffs and enjoyed a lunch before checked into our room. The resort is built above the sea water therefore in any time you can see the fishes swimming around and coral surrounded the room unit in a close distance. We have surprised that the room is big, clean and comfortable. The design is adopted the “open concept” hence there is no air-conditioner unit attached but a ceiling fan is available. The best thing is the big balcony, it provide you a great place to enjoy the sea view without any building ... read more