I left the ruggedness of Cambodia for Malaysia and a week long paradise trip to the south-eastern end of the Malaysian half of Borneo island, on the Celebes Sea coast. My destination was a town by the name of Semporna, which acts as a gateway to diving and snorkelling some of the world’s finest spots. I flew into Kuala Lumpur for a day before connecting to the coast, but I’ll leave more on that for the next post dealing with KL in more details.
As luck would have it I caught a stomach bug in Phnom Penh, a couple of days before flying to KL, and that meant I made it to Borneo feeling less than fresh and happy to be there. Fortunately it turned out to be the most relaxing week I’ve spent in god knows how long and the bug was soon got rid off and forgotten thanks to some of the most wonderful and breathtaking views and experiences.
As I mentioned, Semporna is a small sea side town on the Celebes Sea coast. The brother of a friend of mine runs a dive shop there, and when planning this trip I thought that it would make for a perfect stop before heading back out west, and provide me with my one true ‘beach destination’ after pretty much 3 weeks of cities and countryside (bar the few days I spent in Sihanoukville).
Turns out Semporna has a pretty interesting story of its own, as my mate recounted to me back in Japan. Up until 10 years ago (and even less in the case of some unfortunate tourists in 2003), the place would be frequently raided by pirates, who still roam the Celebes Sea. It all changed when some people discovered an island by the name of Sipadan, and others near it, which offered some of the best diving in the world with waters teeming with underwater life of all sorts, corals and reefs. Soon enough the tourist trade started to pick up in the area, apparently prompting the government to realise the potential of the tourist trade for this part of Borneo and bring in the army and police to help control, protect and monitor the area.
The islands, all located between 45 and 90 minutes by speed boat off the coast, are now all part of a national park, protected, heavily in some cases, by the army and Semporna acts as the main gateway to diving and snorkelling all the various islands. Sipadan, the jewel of the islands in the area, used to have some habitations opened to tourists who wanted to spend the night in paradise, however these are now closed to the public and a permit and additional fee is required to dive and snorkel the area, mainly to help protect the island’s incredible eco-system.
With all this in mind, Semporna is still a surprisingly ‘quiet’ and unimpressive little sea side town, full of locals trying to make a living from things like fishing as well as the increasing tourist trade. Semporna boasts a number of dive operators, hotels and the likes, most of which are foreign owned but mainly manned by locals.
A few things surprised me during my time there, not least the sheer beauty of the islands and waters we visited. One thing in particular though was the cultural mix and make up of the area I was in. I hadn’t really thought of it prior to getting there, with my preconceptions of Malaysia and its inhabitants somehow cemented by my day stop over in KL. Not only is Malaysia a lot more Muslim on the surface than I thought it might be, in Borneo the islanders are actually a pretty diverse and interesting mix of Malay muslims, Chinese christians, native islanders, Filipinos and Indonesians.
The most surprising was the Chinese element, with a lot of shops run by Chinese and Chinese script all over the place. To then find out that a huge portion of the Chinese population of Borneo was also actually christian was a big surprise. While nearly everywhere I visited or went past in Borneo, whether a small city or tiny island village, had a mosque, there were quite a few churches around Semporna, all run by Chinese. As I discovered on this trip, it seems there are quite sizeable Chinese populations all around South East Asia, and even as far as the French islands in the Indian Ocean, something I found surprising, as the Chinese never struck me as a people who would have emigrated in such a way.
In turn this mix made the food in Borneo, and KL, quite interesting. While I was expecting to be able to find some Malay cuisine quite easily, what I did end up finding was a lot of Indian and Chinese restaurants, serving their own cuisine but with local twists. It wasn’t until I got back to KL on my last day there that I actually found a Malay restaurant and indulged, or more accurately over indulged. But more on that later.
Another thing that made my time in and around Semporna really memorable was the reception from the locals. Of all the places I visited, Borneo was the one were I felt the most welcome in a way, with locals always smiling and being inviting. The kids and younger ones especially were always like that. I went on a bike ride one day, leaving around lunchtime and on my way out every kid or group of kids I came across smiled at me, waved and said hello, something I just haven’t seen anywhere else and which only adds to the feeling of relaxation and overall happiness you end up swamped with while staying in the area. In comparison to say Vietnam and Cambodia, Borneo just felt a lot more welcoming and inviting, and the fact that most people in Malaysia speak English to some degree also makes it easier to feel relaxed and not like such an outsider – though the fact that I managed not to memorise any words of Malay in my time there did make me feel quite conscious, as it always does when you visit a place and can’t even say thanks or hi in the local language.
The other interesting thing about my time in Borneo was visiting the islands were most of the diving and snorkelling takes place. I didn’t make it to Sipadan, with money prohibiting somewhat, and neither did I learn to dive (see reason a) but snorkelling alone was worth the whole trip.
What I saw just swimming around with my head stuck in the sea was just out of this world. In three days out to sea I basically entered my very own underwater documentaries, coming close to all sorts of underwater life I’d only ever seen on TV, and in some cases coming real close to it. The reef and coral around some of the islands was just teeming with life, and as the tide retreated in the afternoon you could actually swim a mere 50cm or less from the reef and seabed, coming real close to fish, plants and all sorts of animals I’d only ever seen on TV. To top it all off I got to swim with turtles and watch them up close on a couple of occasions, an experience that totally blew me away and humbled me about the state of things today and the beauty and majesty of some of the species on this earth. The other funny thing about snorkelling was just how much Finding Nemo became a reference point for things I was seeing, a pretty cheesy but in its own way hilarious side effect of watching Disney movies.
Away from the underwater wonders of snorkelling in some of the best spots in the world, visiting the islands of Mabul, Kapalai and Sibuan was also a real eye opener. Mabul is nearest to Sipadan and the main island where tourists can now stay overnight. It’s a pretty sizeable island by the standards of the area, with five star tourist resorts on two sides, stretching into sea bungalows (the kinds you see in brochures for places you could never afford), and in between are two small ‘villages’ of sorts, one occupied by natives, and kept relatively clean, and the other occupied by sea gypsies, who are, or so I was told, the only people tolerated in the area by the army.
Seeing the contrast between the beauty of the island’s nature, both on land and around it, the five star resorts were tourists hole themselves up for a holiday and the locals living in make shift wood huts and feeding themselves off the sea and other scraps was captivating and at times shocking.
While the islands’ beauty is undeniable, one of the most shocking things was how some of them, namely Mabul and Sibuan (a much smaller dot on the sea with only palm trees, a military base and some gypsies on it), were quite polluted, with plastic and other trash floating around in the shallow ends and strewn all around the beaches. More shocking in a way was to see the islanders actually throwing plastic bags and other rubbish into the sea, when I originally thought the majority of it might come from the tourists and elsewhere. It turns out to be a mix of both, with rubbish washing from Semporna and the coast, as well as coming from the locals and other tourist resorts. I guess in a way it’s hard to blame them for being like that, considering how their habitat has been taken over by foreigners and how they’ve been thrown into the modern world in a way, all because of what lies around the islands they inhabit. What we take for granted in terms of education regarding recycling and protecting the environment doesn’t apply with these people, especially considering how their world has been thrown around in the last few years with the boost in tourism in the area. The guys at the dive shop I was with actually try and do their bit by giving their left over to kids once a week in return for them picking bags of rubbish from around the island, in a way trying to educate them but also help fight what is a direct consequence of their business.
Contrasting that was meeting and seeing the island kids, both on Mabul and Sibuan. On one day we had to stop over in Mabul for a bit before heading back, and on the jetty we were anchored at a bunch of kids came up and started hanging around us. As soon as I took my camera out, this one little girl started heckling me, posing and asking me to take pictures non stop and to show them to her. This then triggered all the kids, a good 10 or so, to strike poses and do all sorts of funny shit in front of the camera. The way they spoke broken up words of English and their spontaneity and happiness really struck me. They didn’t want anything, they were just happy to be around us, doing something they don’t always get to do and just being incredibly open. And their happiness and enjoyment was incredibly contagious.
Again contrasting that was meeting the kids on Sibuan, some of which actually refused to have their pictures taken unless I gave them some money. The younger ones though were just busy playing naked in the sand and water, surrounded by plastic rubbish, which made for an interesting sight. Even more interesting was seeing them come up with the most ingenious ways to turn rubbish into toys and ways to entertain themselves. And with Sibuan being a lot more deserted, you can also ask the kids to fetch you coconuts from the palm tree tops and chop them up for you to drink from, a pretty nice way to end a day in what can only be described as a slice of paradise on earth, literally (the picture at the top of this post is of Sibuan).
I left Borneo feeling more relaxed and at peace than I have for a long time, with my head full of incredible images and memories. The place is full of contrasts, incredible sights and some of the warmest and friendliest people I’ve met. From the lush green rolling valleys in the inside of the island (leading to the jungle) to the crystal clear blue waters of the coast, Borneo is an amazing place, not only visually but also culturally. It really does feel like one of the last paradises on earth, one that is slightly but surely being more and more encroached by modernity. Unfortunately it feels like only a matter of when rather than if until it loses most this magic and attraction.
Read your surprise on chinese diaspora in malaysia albeit an old article. If you havent already read more on it.. the stories of chinese & japanese migration during war & famine during ancient times will provide a fresh new perspective of the world. there’s a china town in many parts of the world. In jamaica, there is a large population of chinese that control alot of the businesses.
hope you visit asia again!
Yeah it’s something I really didn’t think about until I started travelling around Asia. It makes sense, just that some of it, like Chinese immigrants in the old French colonies in the Indian Ocean, was quite surprising. Will definitely look into it more!