Snorkeling, diving and island life... Malaysia...the divers paradise.

Semporna
Another uninteresting town in Malaysia. The bus ride to get here from Sandakan took 8 instead the 6 hours is should have. The bus had no working AC and no windows.
The view was pretty much the same all the way. Palm tree farms. Hills and palm tree farms...

I stayed in Scuba Junkie Hostel which was the best and cheapest option. I booked up a snorkeling boat trip to the small Island north of Semporna for the next morning.

It took about an  hour to get to the island and I could hardly believe how clear and blue the water there was. You could see fish and corrals just from the boat. The snorkeling was superb. I have never seen this many varieties of corral. Blue and green and ping, all still growing.
As for fish we saw some nice colorful small fish, some turtles and the divers saw a see snake ( I am glad I missed that).
It was a nice day snorkeling. We were  all happy and tired when we got back.

I took a boat to Mobul Island to spend few days there. The accommodation there is rather expensive, but it was worth the money for few days.

The island is small, so small, you can walk around it in about an hour. Most of the resorts are build in the decks over the sea.

I went diving the same day and was amazed to see so much in the 3 dives I did. Turtles, lion fish, cattle fish, pipe fish, barracudas, the biggest moraine eel I have ever seen called Elvis, scorpion fish, crocodile fish, bump head parrot fish and much much more. Diving in this area is know for the macro diving which honestly I wasn't that much interested in.
I had a good day, diving for the fist time since my training and I did OK. Tapping my own shoulder for the longest dive I had (60")...

I spend the second day relaxing on the beach, taking pictures and having long needed day of doing nothing.

Local ladies going to the beach... yes those are theirs swim costumes. 

I didn't want to spend any more money for diving , so I signed up for one more snorkeling day the last day on the island. This time it was only 2 of us and we had a guide. The guide was good. We saw more sea life than when diving. My first octopus, small cuttlefish changing colors and the most poisonous fish in the sea.. the stone fish were the high lights of the trip. And ... finding Nemo was also very cool.


The good think about snorkeling is that  I can bring my underwater camera, so I got some nice shots of what I saw.

Puffer fish.,.. the fish with cutest eyes...

Box fish

Ell

Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish changing color.

Can you find the stone fish? 

Here it is!

I took the overnight bus the same day to KK, where I caught a flight to Bali in the afternoon.

Malaysia...

I was watching beautiful sunrise from the long tail boat that was taking me to Krabi to catch my bus to Malaysia.

I would advise everybody to not party the night before long transit, especially drinking my first ever (and last!) bucket turned out to be a bad idea. Not that I didn't have fun the last night in Thailand, dancing and later (2am)! swimming with the fluorescent algae with my new expats friends.
3 hours of sleep and major hangover made it for miserable trip across the border.

Getting visa to Malaysia is easy, come on in... 90 days...here you go... for free!


George Town

Was a pleasant surprise. It doesn't look like much at first but than you get lost in the narrow streets of old town, with it's small houses just calling to be photographed. To make it more interesting there is a street art all over the town and it is fun to just follow the map looking for it.

George Town  is a mixing pot of cultures. China town and little India, all near each other, with great selection of local restaurants and stands with amazing food.

 I was walking around the first evening and ran into a parade... it took me a while to realize that the men in it have their mouths pierced through their cheeks with a long spear ( skewer). They were dragging the ends of the metal spear on the ground in some kind of a dance. You could see some blood too... Only later I found out I witnessed  Hindu celebration of Thaipusam.
 If I had know that there is one of the major religious festivals happening I would have brought my camera.

Two days later the Little India got all festive with the celebration  and colorful market. I had some Indian food for dinner and got henna painting on my hand to join the crowds.

My days in George town were full of town strolling , taking pictures and eating ( did I say the food is amazing!).


Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur was overwhelming, especially when being tired after 6 hours on the bus ( by the way the most comfortable bus ever with only 3 giant chairs in a row).
The bus station is central as can be. You just get of the bus and there you are in the middle of chaos. I found my way to China town and looked for nice hotel, ended up settling for cheap, but ok Grocer's hotel.
I am not a city girl and Kuala Lumpur is a big city. I felt lost and I was lost most of the time. The tourist map of the town was not helping me much.

China town was more of a souvenirs and fake goods market, not much authentic or interesting. I found a little Chinese foot market hiding in the back and had some amazing clay pot noodles.

 Not  giving up on discovering something charming for me in this city I spent the next day exploring. Fist I hiked to the KL tower. I took the lift to 279 m to get to see the town in 360 from the bird perspective. Lovely!

You can't not visit  Petronas Towers when in KL. What a beauty! I spent a while just admiring and taking pictures from all angles.

In the evening I left my camera behind and walked to the nearest overground station. I wanted to make sure I can find it for my trip to the airport the next day. I ventured into a nice neighborhood, less busy, nice building so kept going and found the Central Market by accident. Lovely market with local made souvenirs. Little walk from there was nice square with colorful  old houses, totally unexpected in such a modern and gray town. So I kept walking and found most beautiful Mosque ( Masjid Jamek).
I guess you find it if you are not looking for it.....

I had dinner at the street BBQ, and would say, it was my favorite food so far. Nice and simple. And I cooked it!
I took of for the airport the next morning. Almost going to the wrong airport ( they have 2 and Air Asia is going from the other one... da!).

Borneo here I come!

Kota Kinabalu

Flight went by quick, only 2.5 hours . Super views of the coral islands from the window made me forget how hungry and thirsty I was ( really Air Asia... not even water and peanuts?).

We landed on small airport. I knew there was a public bus going to town so I just waited and waited until this beaten up bus pulled in front of us.
We were slowly making out way to town when the bus's engine just died. The driver tried to start it but nothing.... so I was quietly joking with some fellow travel girls saying  we should go and push. How funny. The driver said something in local language and sure enough some  boys got of, the driver put it in a reverse and they pushed and pushed until the engine got on! Way to go!

Kota Kinabalu is everything but charming, so I left the next morning for my Jungle adventure.

6 hours on the bus, going up hills and than down hills, turns that make even the toughest stomach suffer. We passed the Kinabalu Nat. Park and got a good look at Mt Kinabalu ( 4095m) with it's summit hiding in the clouds. Jungle and forest around.
The road got easier on us after half of the journey. No more jungle, fields and later palm trees. And more Palm trees farms. When I got of the bus in a little town of Sepiloc with more palms around I was worried... Where is the Jungle?

I found a nice room in Sepiloc B&B. There is a nice garden around the hotel with lots of birds. There were 3 Japanese photographers with cameras with the biggest photo lenses I have ever seen. They were nice and  let me look and see some of the colorful birdies.

What is in Sepilok? The Orangutan Rehabilitation Center.

It is one of only four orangutan sanctuaries in the world. There is a feeding twice a days and it is the best spot to spot wild ( semi) orangutans.
I went to see the morning feeding and unfortunately did only see one orangutan. Bit of a disappointment.
I hoped the afternoon would have a better show up. I went for a little jungle walk to the bird viewing tower. I hiked with American couple, they were telling me about their Jungle adventures and mentioned that she got few leeches on their last trip. I was curious. How do they look, does it hurt. I wanted to take picture of one....

It started to rain on the way back and I was rushing to get my camera to my rain proof cover which I smartly left at the locker. And than I felt something biting  my leg. It hurt so I looked at it and sure enough! One of the suckers was on me! I took it like a champ ( started screaming and jumping around ...take it of me!). Kate asked me if I wanted to take a picture of it first , I shouted "just take off, take off".... so no picture for you my friends. Kate's husband started to  jump around little bit later, he got one too. I offered to take a picture of it first, but he shouted " just take it off, take it off me!".


I came back to see the afternoon feeding. This time it was amazing! They all came. Watching the orangutans interacting with each other. They look so much like people . The best at the end ... mother and baby orangutan. Just so cute!

It was a nice jungle adventure. I am leaving tomorrow to Seporna, town near the Sipatan Island . I see diving in my near future!