Tawau Tour

 
Tawau is a town on east side of Sabah. From Kota Kinabalu you can take a 45 minutes flight to Tawau Airport. From the airport take a taxi for 30 minutes ride to Tawau. There are plenty of hotels in Tawau but I stayed in Hotel Emas.
 
If you need Internet access, Sedap corner has free wifi. Its only 3 minutes walk from hotel emas. Ask the counter staff and they will show it to you. The food is good, the girls are pretty and friendly. If you are lucky you can also ask them out for dinner at the same time ask her to show you around town before you show her around your hotel room :).
 
From Tawau I went to Semporna. The journey took about 1 hour. At Semporna you can take a boat to go island tour. Go to the Jeti, beside the entry to Dragon Inn there a lot of small challet. Those are offices for tour and boat operators. Ask around and you can get good price for island tour. There are also diving packages there. Maybe you can dive Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai. In Semporna there are lots of hotels. Dragon inn is a good one. As for pub and karaoke there are plenty. Food?? Lots of food here. Seafood especially. For me I dont like to stay in Semporna coz its too small with nothing to do at night except going to the pub one after another.
 
My advise stay in Tawau and make daytrip to Semporna.

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Holiday Villa, Cherating

 
I stayed at Holiday Villa, Cherating in Kuantan, Pahang for 5 days. From Kota Kinabalu I took a 21/2 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur International Airport and from there another flight to Kuantan that took about 30 minutes. From Kuantan Airport took a taxi to Cherating Villa that cost RM55.
 
This time of year Cherating is very warm. Luckily the room has air-condition and its working well. I stayed in Challet by the pool. Its a big room, has good funiture and its comfortable.
 
Overall the room here are good. There are 2 swimming pool and if pool isnt big enough you can always go to the beach which is very near. There is also a karaoke there if you are looking for something in there but no girls in the karaoke. There is a Spa with reasonable price package. Internet access in the rooms there a none. At the lobby there is tmnet hotspot. Buy the prepaid at the counter and register online. Its RM28 for a 30 day access. If you are not willing to pay, there is a free wifi which not many people knew bout it. Eastern Pavilion has a ballroom. Inside the ballroom there is a wireless router. Ask the staff there to switch it on and you will get free wifi. You can sit at the SPA and surf. Good rooms, good facility and good service.
 
Unfortunately the food here is not good. Its not bad but try eating it for 5 days str8 and you will understand what i mean. Take a 3 minute walk and go outside. Turn right at the gate and you will find 2 malaysian food restaurant, 2 seafood restaurant and a bunch of shops. You can eat all you want and the price is good. The seafood restaurant also sell beer. The shops has all the basic needs and they even sell clothing. I bought 2 Cherating shirt for RM10 each. If you are looking for disco, The Legend is a resort that have disco. Leisure Villa (if im not mistaken) has a lounge with live band every night. The nearest town is Bandar Chukai which is 15 minutes away if you take a taxi. Bandar Kuantan is 30 minutes away. Along the way there are a lot of stalls selling Keropok Lekor. If you want to buy Keropok Lekor buy the dark ones. The white ones have too much flour in them. Sometimes the dark side is better.

Overall Holiday Villa Cherating is a good place to stay. As for the food you can always find a place to eat within 3 minutes walking distance. The rooms are big with lots of facility to choose. If you a planning a quiet holiday by the beach this is it.

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Kota Kinabalu Terminal 2 Airport

 
Kota Kinabalu Terminal 2 Airport is finish for about 6 months now. Its now working fully and no more smell of wet paint. If you fly AirAsia then you will be using Terminal 2.
 
Its now bigger and have a lot more room. Easier to park car if you are waiting but beware there are police wathing and will ask you to park the car at proper parking space if you wait too long. As for parking space there are plenty.
 
Terminal 1 is currently under renovation. Its going to be bigger better and can accomodate a lot more flights because the current airport is at it maximum usage.

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Dive into Sabah Waters

Pulau Sipadan, Sabah
Good for all level of divers, big sea creatures, challenging dives.

The first time celebrity diver Jacques Yves Cousteau visited this island in the 70s, he was so impressed with the island's biodiversity that he stayed on for six months and crowned Sipadan as one of the top five dive sites in the world. Tengku Datuk Zainal Adlin, Chairman of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia and an avid diver, agrees. " You can see everything in one single dive - turtles, giant parrotfish, schools of trevally jacks, sharks, and many species of reef fishes ". What makes Sipadan so unique is its location at the heart of Indo-Pacific basin, which supports a rich marine ecosystem dating back to 100 million years. shaped like a mushroom, the island is perched on top of a submarine volcano.

The list of dive sites in Sipadan is staggering and it is the playground of giants: turtles, hammerheads, manta rays, gray reef sharks and humphead parrotfish. Most of these creatures are hard to come by elsewhere in South East Asia. You get to surround yourself with a vortex of barracudas so huge that they eclipse the sun. Swim into an underwater cavern that sneaks up the 'central pillar' of the islan, or go to the Cleaning Station to see turtles and other big fishes behaving docilely while being cleaned by small reef fish such as moon wrasse and surgeonfish. When you want to take a break from the legendary wall dive, perch yourself at the edge of the Drop-off and stare into the deep blue. Prepare to be overwhelmed as ocean life plays out in front of you. Do like most divers do - group Sipadan together with Kapalai and Mabul in one extended dive holiday.

Lodging: There is none on the island. Divers stay at Mabul and Kapalai, which are just 15 minutes away.
Getting there: Fly from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau before continuing the journey on hired minivan to Semporna for your boat transfer to the Islands.

Pulau Mabul, Sabah
Good for Much Diving, Experienced divers.

Mabul holds the reputation as one of the best sites in the world for much diving (diving in shallow depths with limited visibility). The objective is to spot rare and sometimes bizarre macro species such as vibrant-coloured nudibranches, mantis shrimps, ribbon eels, seahorses, stonefish and ghost pipefish.

Lodging: Sipadan Water Village Resort is one of the premier places to stay.
Getting there: Same as Pulau Sipadan. Its adviseable to arrange for pick-up from Tawau airport for a fuss free journey to Pulau Mabul.

Pulau Kapalai, Sabah
Good for Beginners, night dive, macro diving.

Though it is very near to Sipadan, diving in Kapalai opens up to a completely different world. The island's relatively shallow waters is suitable for beginners, yet a quick dive off the jetty is fascinating enough with the presence of leaf scorpionfish, crocodilefish and lionfish. Kapalai is considered a heaven for macro lovers and a good site to spot rare creatures such as frogfish, blue-ringed octopus, harlequin ghost pipefish and sea moths. Hifzie Hassan, an underwater videographer who has logged in more than 500 dives, highly recommends a dive in the evening to steal a peek at the mating dance of the elusive Mandarin Fish.

Lodging: Sipadan-Kapalai dive Resort is a beautiful gateway tailored for divers.
Getting there: Same as Pulau Sipadan.

Pulau Mantanani, Sabah
Good for Manatee and ray spotting

Mantanani is a faily new dive spot but already, 16 dive sites have been identified along with three wrecks. The dive sites are home to the rare and gentile manatees, known locally as dugong. You'll also be able to spot many different species of rays, including the marbled stingray, blue spotted ray and eagle rays. Muck diving is also recommended, with high chances of finding imperial shrimps, pink-eye gobies and blue-ringed octopus.

Lodging: Mantanani Resort is the only dive resort on the island.
Getting there: Fly to Kota Kinabalu and the make your way by taxi to Kota Belud, which is just an hour away. There are speedboat connections between Kota Belud and the island.

Pulau Mataking, Sabah
Good for Macro diving

Mataking is linked to Sipadan via the 328ft deep Alice Channel. Of the 30 dive sites available at Mataking, Magic Rick, Mantis Reef and the Alice Wall are firm favourites. The island is known for macro and well camouflaged creatures, such as thorny and pygmy seahorses, scorpion leaf fish, robus giant pipefish and blue ribbon eel. It is also common to find trevally, giant clams, Spanish mackerels and dogtooth tuna in these waters.

Lodging: The Reef Dive Resort is a recommended place to stay.
Getting there: Pulau Mataking is accessible from Semporna via a 45 minute speedboat ride.

Layang-layang, Sabah
Good for Hammerhead shark spotting, experienced divers.

Layang-layang is not an island but an atoll of linked coral reefs that have never been polluted or fished. Hence, the biodiversity is astounding and rewarding to all levels of divers. The highlight is to swim with schools of hamerhead sharks, which gather here in April and May to perform their mating ritual. The visiblity at Layang-layang can reach up to 50 meters. However, ths can also be dangerous because you could easily dive deeper than you think, so check your depth constantly.

Lodging: Layang-layang Island Resort is the only dive operator and accommodation on the island.
Getting there: There are regular flights between Kota Kinabalu and Layang-layang

Pulau Langkayan, Sabah
Good for Quiet dive holiday macro diving

Victoria Hilley of Kota Kinabalu based Touchdown Luxury Yacht Charters prefers to dive in the secluded setting and quiet atmosphere of Langkayan, an island that combines a rewarding cocktail of reef, wreck and macro diving. Jawfish Lair is one of the mostloved dive sites. The resident yellow jawfish is well camouflaged and easily missed by untrained eyes, so ask your dive master to point one out to you. Who knows, you might see one with a mouthfull of eggs. Also try spotting mimic octopus, ghost pipefish, frogfish, devil scorpionfish, stingray and leopard sharks.

Lodging: The resort on this island is run by Pulau Sipadan Resort & Tours
Getting there: Fly from Kuala Lumpur or Kota Kinabalu into Sandakan. The speedboat transfer to Langkayan departs from Sandakan Yacht Club.

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Back In Kuala Lumpur

After 5 days in Cherating, Kuantan now I am back in Kuala Lumpur. The 1st thing I did was go to Low Yat Plaza. Its a place to buy computers, handphone, PDA, Camera and all electronic gadget. I upgraded my laptop RAM which is quiet cheap now. I spend RM150 on a piece of 512MB DDR 333 RAM. Then bought a new battery for my laptop cost me RM290. All of it come to RM440. Very reasonable comparing the price when I first bought this laptop.

It seems now that PC business no longer belongs to the chinese. At Low Yat Plaza now there are quiet a few Pakistani shop competing directly with the chinese. Most of the sell laptops and I upgrade my laptop at one of these pakistani shops.

I will be returning to Kota Kinabalu tomorrow. Hopefully I can post pictures and article of Cherating, Tawau and about Diving in Sabah. Now I am in Pandan Indah at Steven Corner. Its a coffee shot with free wifi access.

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Working in Tawau

Currently I am in Tawau Sabah. I am staying at Hotel Emas. I have been staying here for 3 days now. My flight back to KK will be at 2:40pm. Tomorrow morning I will be going to Kuantan, Pahang. Hopefully I can post pictures that I have taken of the places here.

In Tawau I am using a free wifi provided by Sedap Corner near Hotel Emas. Yesterday I was at Semporna for the whole day. The rest of the group went on island tour which I didnt go coz done that a few times already and to me only Sipadan Island is the best. Its cool its beautiful compare to other islands that are hot like hell.

There are a few internet cafe in Semporna but unfortunately no free wifi. The only available wifi is provided by an internet cafe called Email Express but its lock. Semporna also have a lot of good hotels now. The latest one is called Sipadan Inn.

Anyway if you happen to be in Tawau do stay at Hotel Emas. A bit far from the town center but for an internet addict like me, free wifi is just 2 minutes walking distance. Plus its a cafe. U can eat and drink here while wasting time surfing and looking at people.

I will be updating this blog if I have the time to upload some pictures form my mobile phone. Btw Tawau is a heaven if you are looking for night entertainment.

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