** I’m a little behind on my blog because my laptop was stolen in Malaysia. Will need some time to sort things out, so for now I am skipping the Philippines and Singapore posts. **
Sipadan Island is ranked one of the top 10 dive destinations in the world. It has 12 dive spots, with the most famous one being Barracuda Point. I was with a group of 8 divers (2x local dive masters + 2x Sweden + 2x France + 1x Netherlands + me) and did a total of 3 dives: Barracuda Point, Turtle Patch, and the 600-meter deep Drop-Off. Sipadan is famous for its barracuda and jackfish “tornado”, white-tip reef sharks, coral reef, and a whole lot of other marine lives.
What makes Sipadan special is its location: The island lies right on the border of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Although its ownership was controversial, the International Court of Justice ruled that the island belongs to Malaysia. After the kidnapping incident in 2000 (20 tourists were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf rebels from the Philippines), all the resorts on the island were shut down and there are machine-gun-holding Malaysian Navy personnel on the island at all times. No one is allowed to stay overnight on the island (except the military). Most divers who visit Sipadan fly into the city of Tawau in east Malaysia, take a minibus to the port town of Semprona, stay overnight on the nearby Mabul Island, and do a day-trip to Sipadan Island by boat. Only 120 divers were allowed per day and most divers reserve their permits months in advance. Although I did not reserve a dive permit beforehand, after inquiring at 8 dive shops I was fortunate enough to be able to secure a permit with Billabong Dive Shop in Semprona.
The 3 dives at Sipadan were truly out of this world, especially the 2nd dive at Barracuda Point! During the 1st dive at Turtle Patch, the 4 advanced divers were able to see white-tip reef sharks since they were allowed to dive as deep as 30 meters. Meanwhile, the girl from Sweden and I did not see any reef sharks during our 1st dive because we were open-water certified and were only allowed to dive as deep as 18 meters (although we saw plenty of sea turtles and had a near-miss experience being attacked by a triggerfish); during our 2nd dive, we all dived at the world-renowned Barracuda Point and saw some incredible white-tip reef sharks and barracuda “tornado”; finally we were at the Drop-Off for our 3rd dive – Experienced a cave dive, swam along the 600-meter deep Drop Off, and witnessed a jackfish swirl before surfacing.
Divers often say: Once you dive at Sipadan, you are spoiled and no other dive will look the same again. I think there is definitely some truth in it.
Filming my dive buddy from Sweden, swimming along with thousands of barracudas.
@Sipadan
White-tip reef shark.
@Sipadan
White-tip reef shark.
@Sipadan
White-tip reef shark.
@Sipadan
Dive buddy from Sweden taking a selfie with sea turtle.
@Sipadan
Barracuda tornado.
@Sipadan
My 1st cave dive. Cave diving is quite a nerve-racking experience because it feels like you are diving in confined space. Normally when you dive in open water, if anything happens you can always ascend to the surface (although you need to have a safety stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes to avoid decompression sickness); during cave-diving, on the other hand, you have nowhere to go but to go forward.
@Sipadan
Diving at the 600-meter drop-off.
@Sipadan
Diving at the 600-meter drop-off.
@Sipadan
@Sipadan
@Sipadan
I was wandering around Mabul Island, stumbled off the main route, and ended up near the house of these little kids. Seeing me being a little lost, they ended up holding my hand and took me back to the main route. Super cute kids.
@Mabul
Little kids who live on the island.
@Mabul
Little kids who live on the island.
@Mabul
Little kids who live on the island.
@Mabul
Little kids who live on the island.
@Mabul
Islanders live on water houses and transport by boats. Sadly the water houses for tourists look quite a bit nicer than those they live in.
@Mabul
Islanders live on water houses and transport by boats. Sadly the water houses for tourists look quite a bit nicer than those they live in.
@Mabul
Kuala Lumpur could have been a fun city to explore in. Unfortunately, my time in KL was nothing but miserable – My laptop and phone were stolen by a sophisticated thief.
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I usually stay in hostels when I travel, and most hostels have lockers. My valuables are practically safe once in the locker. But for various reasons, I stayed in a hotel with dormatory rooms in KL, and the hotel didn’t have lockers. The 4-bed dorm room that I stayed in had a lockable door, which prevented anyone from entering without a key – But that did nothing if the stealing was from the inside.
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Although the room had 4 beds, there were only 2 occupants during my stay: Me and a millennial from Sabah, east Malaysia. During our brief chat that morning he told me that he was traveling in west Malaysia for 10 days before heading back to the east. Before heading out, I put my laptop and phone (the bad Nexus phone that I broke in Tajikistan) in separate compartments of my fairly robust Swiss Army backpack, and I locked both compartments with separate combination locks at the zipper buckles. Meanwhile, his iPad and phone were randomly lying on his bed, so I thought I was being more cautious than he was – At least that’s what I thought.
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After being out exploring KL that afternoon, I was back to my room at around 8pm. I realized that he had already checked out, which was surprising because I thought he would stay for a few more days. Then I looked to my backpack, which was still sitting exactly where I put it, facing the same angle, with both combination locks still intact. I proceeded to unlock the laptop compartment, and realized that my laptop was gone. Then I unlocked the main compartment and my Nexus phone was gone as well!
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What made him a sophisticated thief is that he was able to steal both items without messing up anything else, leaving everything else in the backpack exactly how it was – It almost felt like he did some sort of magic trick to make the laptop and Nexus phone disappear: The Nexus phone was in a Samsung packaging box (the Samsung that I bought in Tajikistan and currently use), hiding all the way at the bottom of the main compartment underneath all my rolled clothes. He was able to take out the Samsung box, stole the Nexus phone and one of the two charging cables (!!), put the Samsung box back to exactly where it was at the bottom, without messing up any of my clothes or even opening the lock! Later I realized that he must have used his tool to detach the zipper buckles from the zippers, so that he could open and close the zippers without opening the locks. It is a fairly robust Swiss Army backpack with fairly robust zipper buckles, so I am not sure what kind of tool he used to detach the buckles. What amazed me was that he took the time to put the Samsung box back and re-attach the zipper buckles to make it seem like nothing had happened. It was almost like an art!
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The next 24 hours were spent watching CCTV recording, seeing him leave the hotel with MY yellow plastic bag (probably with my laptop and phone in it) at 4:22pm, going to the police station 3 times to file police report and take statement, personally texting and emailing him (no response of course, a long shot), and purchasing a new laptop to get my life up running again. Fortunately I had all my photos backed up on an SD card and all my data on the cloud, so I didn’t lose much in terms of data. I also had travel insurance that would pay up to $500 in the case of stolen electronics (I would have to suck it up and pay the difference for the new laptop). I had all my program installers on a thumb drive so I was able to get my new laptop up running in a few hours.
@KualaLumpur
Kuala Lumpur could have been a fun city to explore in. Unfortunately, my time in KL was nothing but miserable – My laptop and phone were stolen by a sophisticated thief.
\\
I usually stay in hostels when I travel, and most hostels have lockers. My valuables are practically safe once in the locker. But for various reasons, I stayed in a hotel with dormatory rooms in KL, and the hotel didn’t have lockers. The 4-bed dorm room that I stayed in had a lockable door, which prevented anyone from entering without a key – But that did nothing if the stealing was from the inside.
\\
Although the room had 4 beds, there were only 2 occupants during my stay: Me and a millennial from Sabah, east Malaysia. During our brief chat that morning he told me that he was traveling in west Malaysia for 10 days before heading back to the east. Before heading out, I put my laptop and phone (the bad Nexus phone that I broke in Tajikistan) in separate compartments of my fairly robust Swiss Army backpack, and I locked both compartments with separate combination locks at the zipper buckles. Meanwhile, his iPad and phone were randomly lying on his bed, so I thought I was being more cautious than he was – At least that’s what I thought.
\\
After being out exploring KL that afternoon, I was back to my room at around 8pm. I realized that he had already checked out, which was surprising because I thought he would stay for a few more days. Then I looked to my backpack, which was still sitting exactly where I put it, facing the same angle, with both combination locks still intact. I proceeded to unlock the laptop compartment, and realized that my laptop was gone. Then I unlocked the main compartment and my Nexus phone was gone as well!
\\
What made him a sophisticated thief is that he was able to steal both items without messing up anything else, leaving everything else in the backpack exactly how it was – It almost felt like he did some sort of magic trick to make the laptop and Nexus phone disappear: The Nexus phone was in a Samsung packaging box (the Samsung that I bought in Tajikistan and currently use), hiding all the way at the bottom of the main compartment underneath all my rolled clothes. He was able to take out the Samsung box, stole the Nexus phone and one of the two charging cables (!!), put the Samsung box back to exactly where it was at the bottom, without messing up any of my clothes or even opening the lock! Later I realized that he must have used his tool to detach the zipper buckles from the zippers, so that he could open and close the zippers without opening the locks. It is a fairly robust Swiss Army backpack with fairly robust zipper buckles, so I am not sure what kind of tool he used to detach the buckles. What amazed me was that he took the time to put the Samsung box back and re-attach the zipper buckles to make it seem like nothing had happened. It was almost like an art!
\\
The next 24 hours were spent watching CCTV recording, seeing him leave the hotel with MY yellow plastic bag (probably with my laptop and phone in it) at 4:22pm, going to the police station 3 times to file police report and take statement, personally texting and emailing him (no response of course, a long shot), and purchasing a new laptop to get my life up running again. Fortunately I had all my photos backed up on an SD card and all my data on the cloud, so I didn’t lose much in terms of data. I also had travel insurance that would pay up to $500 in the case of stolen electronics (I would have to suck it up and pay the difference for the new laptop). I had all my program installers on a thumb drive so I was able to get my new laptop up running in a few hours.
@KualaLumpur
Patronas Towers, used to be the tallest buildings in the world during the 2000s.
@KualaLumpur
Patronas Towers, used to be the tallest buildings in the world during the 2000s.
@KualaLumpur
Batu Caves, one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India.
@KualaLumpur
Underwater selfie taken by Jeremy, dive buddy from France. Not sure what I was doing in the back.
@Sipadan
Bajau tribe, the last seaborne nomadic tribe (also known as the “Sea Gypsies”). They depend 100% on fishing and live in houses on water with no access to electricity, fresh water, and communication to the outside world.
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As we were approaching the Tategan area sitting in our fast boat, kids from the Bajau tribe started coming from all directions pedaling their wooden boat toward us asking for food and snacks – Quite a sad but eye-opening scene.
@Tategan
Bajau tribe, the last seaborne nomadic tribe (also known as the “Sea Gypsies”). They depend 100% on fishing and live in houses on water with no access to electricity, fresh water, and communication to the outside world.
\\
As we were approaching the Tategan area sitting in our fast boat, kids from the Bajau tribe started coming from all directions pedaling their wooden boat toward us asking for food and snacks – Quite a sad but eye-opening scene.
@Tategan
Bajau tribe, the last seaborne nomadic tribe (also known as the “Sea Gypsies”). They depend 100% on fishing and live in houses on water with no access to electricity, fresh water, and communication to the outside world.
\\
As we were approaching the Tategan area sitting in our fast boat, kids from the Bajau tribe started coming from all directions pedaling their wooden boat toward us asking for food and snacks – Quite a sad but eye-opening scene.
@Tategan
Kids living on the Sibuab Island. Apparently there is huge Income inequality between islanders and people living in big cities like Kuala Lumpur.
@Sibuab
Kids living on the Sibuab Island. Apparently there is huge Income inequality between islanders and people living in big cities like Kuala Lumpur.
@Sibuab
