Blogs from Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 7

Day 201 (12.10.07) After a really uncomfortable (and in the most sleepless night) we arrived at the Semporna bus station at the unsavoury hour of 4:30 am (3 hours earlier than scheduled). We were bundled off the bus into the ghost town with only our fellow passengers and some hopeful taxi drivers for company. With a good sized group at the bus stop Mark left Chrissie with the bags and went in search of somewhere to sleep for the rest of the night. Taking a walk around town and even asking some local coppers on patrol where we could find a guesthouse that was open at this time, Mark's search was in vane, so he opted to collect Chrissie and go for a coffee at a late night street cafe as the sun started to come ... read more

And just as we were ready to continue our journey up to the northern part of Borneo, we had second thoughts after a great day of diving in Sipadan. Why not stay awhile? Soon as we were off the boat from a day diving we walked across the street and spoke to Uncle Chang himself at Uncle Chang’s - Mabul DIVE lodge. And guess what? We were offered work and it looks like we should be able to use both our PADI and our SSI instructor certifications as the centre has both :) We are currently in Semporna and the centre is located on Mabul, which is the closest island to Sipadan. So we are going out there tomorrow morning at 8am to join his crew! We feel really excited about the opportunity and look forward ... read more

Travel Day Asia » Malaysia » Borneo » Sabah » Semporna By Sophia CApril 12th 2007Around the WorldToday we travelled from Sandakan down to Lahud Datu then on to Semporna. Our bus was 10 seater. All locals! Was good to travel like this as we've had to catch planes a lot of the time to speed things up as we have had limited time in Borneo. So this time we saw the country side which was a little sad as it shows the effects of Logging in Borneo and how the Jungle has been replaced with Palm Trees as Palm Oil is Borneo's biggest export!... read more

We arrived in Semporna on Friday afternoon and had to go to the dive shop to get our kit ready for the next day. On our return to the hotel we discovered we had a new room mate, a rat that was busy crawling in and out of one of the other girl’s bag, nice. In the morning she and her friend checked out after it had apparently crawled on her or touched her during the night. We however had paid for 4 nights upfront and were told at check in that there was a no refund policy if we decided to leave. Whilst it wasn't coming near either of us both Erica and I were happy to stay there. We arrived at the dive shop nice and early and headed to Sipadan Island to ... read more

Welcome to the jungle! Da sind wir also in Semporna angelangt - dem Taucherparadies schlechthin neben dem Great Barrier Reef. Wir wollten gestern bei Sipadan tauchen, dem Gustostueckerl von allen Inseln. Sipadan, ein Name, der vor einigen Jahren in den Schlagzeilen war, weil ein paar Terroristen eine Gruppe von Touristen auf die Philipinen verschleppt hat. Heute wimmelt's auf der Insel nur so von Militaer, also sicherer kann man ja gar nicht sein... Wir haben wirklich voll viele Fische, Schildkroeten, Korallen, Meeresschnecken, etc. gesehen - echt toll! Eine Schildkroete war sicher an die 2m gross!! Aber fangma wieder mal von vorne an... Nach KL ging's in die Cameron Highlands. Ein Ort, in dem die Zeit stehen geblieben zu sein scheint. Alte englische Fachwerkhaeuser, 5 o'clock tea and scones und Teeplantagen so weit das Auge reicht. Angenehme Temperaturen ... read more