We are Malaysian Chinese who decided to go for a short trip this year, and coincident my husband, Jack and her sister, Mandy introduce this fantastic place for us, and I can't wait to share with everyone of you after the trip.
Semporna is a beautiful place near Tawau, Sabah. This place have the combination of all races of Malaysian, Bayao and tourists. I hardly imagine this is still Malaysia(my first time been to Sabah), this is because this place is not really well developed (i guess that's why all the islands still remain naturally), people here are mostly dark color skin(might due to sun burn a lot i guess?). You can see tourists everywhere, and 99% of them are China Chinese. Our leader Nelson told us that without tourists, Semporna will be a "dead city", coz there's no harbour or any other natural sources over here, it is quite difficult to develop without tourists, luckily this place have many beautiful islands around which can attract many tourists. To me, Semporna seems like Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Thailand combination, which is really quite a unique place to visit.
One can still see the innocence character of the children here where they can just kick the plastic bottle(like coca-cola or 100 plus) beside the roads(even though it's so dangerous, cars sometimes just hon them to avoid knocking them), or throwing small rocks to each other when they're playing. But be careful, some of the children might help you around with your luggages or point you routes and asking for numerous tips.
Semporna, Sabah Trip 16th-19th July 2019
Cost for two people:
Airasia flight: RM900
Hotels for 3 nights: RM600
(shared van with others) in between Tawau airport and Hotel: RM100
Packages for 2 people (2 days-around 6 islands hopping–snorkelling packages): RM600 (around RM150 for one day package)
Breakfast: RM20.70 + RM12
Brunch with agent (KFC): RM42
Lunch (rice with Abalone & Oyster): RM64
Dinner for 3 nights: RM70 + RM85 + RM100
Local products: RM300
Total one person would be less than RM1500 included everything(mixture of budget and luxury lifestyle).
Hotels:
We booked through agoda, first 2 nights stay at Memory Boutique Hotel which is slightly far from the Public Jetty, and the last night stay at Grace Hotel which i think it's much more comfortable compared with Memory Boutique(and of course it's more expensive).
Transportation:
Kuala Lumpur–Tawau, Tawau–Kuala Lumpur:
by Airasia flight (I heard that JB also have flight to Tawau).
Tawau airport to Pekan Semporna:
There're lots of shared car/shared tourist van (拼车) which you can pre-book with your agent, get it on the spot or even book your Grab on the spot(one van can fit up to 10 people).
Pekan Semporna:
They do have grab over there, but it's still not so widely famous to use(it's still a bit ulu here). So I would strongly suggest to book hotels near public jetty for conveniences as all eateries restaurants, watson, guardian etc are nearby by walking distance.
When one reach Sabah or Sarawak, even Malaysian also need to go through their custom with either IC or Passport(it's like going through oversea, but it's faster), and they will give you a piece of paper(like a pass to stay for 90 days), please remember to keep properly and Don't Lost it, you will need to return it back at the Tawau custom again when you want to fly back home.
We reached our hotel at Pekan Semporna around 6pm after 3 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur and 1.5 hour sharing basis van from Tawau airport. We rest after our checked in and dinner. Dinner at Restaurant Gembira Ah Loong which is just opposite our Memory Boutique hotel, don't really recommend that restaurant, it's quite pricey with so so foods.
2nd day (17th July 2019): Bohey Dulang, Matabuan, Sibuan Islands and see the Bayao population.
Wake up early in the morning and went to this shop name Cham Chuan Kee (詹全记) for their local breakfast, their teh tarik and the local breads are superb delicious!!~ and their Roti Canai is just okay..
Local bread with teh tarik
Jack and Nelson (at Public Jetty)
One can see the clear water and can you imagine it's just near the shore, not yet to islandssss...can't wait for it~
The first stop we went is Bohey Dulang Island at Tun Sakaran Marine Park. One must remember to wear your hiking shoes to climb up to the mountain to see the astonishing scenery, it took around 1 hour for all of us to reach the top of the mountain, and there're a lot of big and small ROCKS in the journey going up the hill(that's why must wear sport shoes, or else you'll hurt yourself by one hour up and one hour down)...You can rent the shoes over there–1 pair for RM5.00. I don't know why most of the tourists also wanted to rent(maybe their agents did not let them know to bring sport shoes?), i strongly suggest that you wear your own shoes so that you can save your time and no need to wait for the shoes(quantity of shoes are limited, you'll need to wait for the hikers come down from the mountain only you can go up if you need to rent).
Here's the awesome and fascinating landscape on top of the Bohey Dulang Island(珍珠岛), Tun Sakaran Marine Park(敦沙卡兰海洋公园) (The winds are quite strong on top of the mountain, you're unable to use those flying camera such as DJI etc to capture the scene, only by hands).
Top of Bohey Dulang Island, Tun Sakaran Marine Park
After that we went for some islands hopping at Matabuan Island(曼达湾岛) and Sibuan Island(军舰岛). Both of the islands are really peaceful, calm and beautiful, with crystal clear water, like the infinity pool...
Sibuan Island
Snorkelling time!~
I love this transparent boat so much!!!!~~ have lots of fun with it!! (at Matabuan)
We also seen some Bayao population(巴瑶族) who lives in the sea. Our boat leaders mentioned don't give them money as don't give them a habit that to take something for granted. They will just hop to your boat and ask for foods and money(Actually the best is don't give anything, but at the end we gave candy as we want them to stay longer for us to take more photos).
After the island hopping we went back to Pekan Semporna. After rest, we had our dinner at 海滨海鲜餐厅(beside Seafest hotel) with our new friends (boat members–young couple China tourists) tonight. They are from Si Chuan(四川) and love seafoods so much!!! They said their prawns are super tiny in China..lol...This restaurant also comes with steamboat seafoods if you're a steamboat lover~
We ordered sweet and sour Crabs, chilies Prawns, salted egg Squid(sotong), giant garlic Shells, some coconuts as well as Avocado drink!!~ Do you know that Sabah produces lots of Avocados?! Avocado is one of their local fruits and it's a must to try over here!!
We checked out in the early morning and move our luggages to Grace hotel(we try another hotel for our last night), we can only check in after come back from the Island Hopping(check in time is after 2pm). Had our breakfast at corner of the Indian mamak stalls near the public jetty(same row with Seafest Hotel–Boutique Wing), easier for us to walk to the jetty after that.
After we reach Mabul island, we need to do some walk and went to a resort called Mabul Water Bungalow Resort and took photos. Then our diver bring us to snorkelling nearby the resort at Mabul island, and near Kapalai island after that.
Seriously saying I have a little bit disappointed as i reached Mabul island, at first i thought i can straight away snorkelling, mana tau we went to one of the most beautiful resort at Mabul Island–Mabul Water Bungalow Resort and given time to nearly 1.5 hour (only took photos) before had our lunch and go for snorkelling, somemore we need to pay extra RM20 for that(i guess maybe they think tourists like to take lots of photos during their vacation and checked in?, we couldn't do anything but just follow our boat leaders~). Anyhow, we need to pay RM20 as this is a private resort to give us like a "permission" to go in and take photos. The view are outstanding even though it's really a sunny day, which is a good day for outdoor photos. For those who like to take lots of photos, you can consider to bring along your DSLR camera instead of phone camera.
The astonishing photos on top is where the sunshine around 12pm–bring out the wonderful sea water(the man is selling huge lobsters which are more than 1kg each)
And more seafoods–lobsters(they will come to you and sell their seafoods)...Do you know that you can buy seafoods from them and ask the restaurant to cook for you? of course restaurant will charge you, but you'll never know that sometimes you can get bigger size seafoods than the restaurant. This photos is taken in Kapalai island(Kapalai consider as private island, we can only snorkelling beside it but couldn't go up to the beach to play, it is same as Mabul island).
After heading back to Pekan Semporna, we checked in, took shower and take a nap before having our dinner again. Dinner with four of our boat members today(China tourists from Beijing and Cheng Du). We ordered 3 big chilies Crabs, 1kg salted & pepper Prawns, 5 Abalone(they will cut it slice for you), ginger Shells, and also steam eggs with Sea Urchin–海胆(seriously saying i never eat this before, but it taste not too bad), we also went to a fruits shop for our dessert after that~
4th day (19th July 2019):
Last day in Semporna, wake up early and have our breakfast which are included with the hotel package at 南海渔村(one of the restaurants near our hotel).
虾肠粉prawn chee cheong fun with 豆浆 soya milk
We treat our agent Nelson who bring us around and arrange everything for us nicely at KFC and tealive for our brunch.
Can you see how huge is this fresh oyster? I can't even grab the whole oyster.
I manage to buy some local snack (豆沙饼) at the old store of Cham Chuan Kee (詹全记) before went to Tawau airport. Like it so much!!~ It taste not too sweet nor salty, the texture is just nice!!
One can see Musang King culture everywhere, no matter it's the real durian or ice-cream etc(probably due to China tourists? They like Musang King so much) 
See, there're really full of tourists, the whole plane are full of people, there's no empty seat at all~ somemore Airasia fly several timing to Tawau everyday...
Overall, i really felt that Semporna, Sabah is really a must place to go in your lifetime(lots of tourists came back here every year), i even heard some people saying that it's much more beautiful than Maldives? But it's all depends on own opinions(i'm not sure coz i never been to Maldives before, but i can certainly saying the sea water is so crystal clear to the bottom when we go for snorkelling). After the trip only I know why Hong Kong people will purposely fly over Sabah and have a seafood meals, most of the seafoods here are all sell alive, fresh and cheap(even though we heard our agent said that seafoods are getting more expensive due to tourism).
Although there're some risk to come over here, some people will scare that there're pirates visited this area(near Sipadan), and some cases such as "bomb fish" case etc, what I would said is if you don't wanna go and see all these natural places, you might not able to see the them anymore in the future. China so well develop nowadays but most of the tourists are from China, they would also like to see all these beautiful nature, how come we as Malaysian also never been here before??!! In terms of the cheap cost travelling, there are so many jaw-dropping views, sea water, culture and people around which give this place the first choice to be.
Note: All my photos are original and no filter, please don't save due to copy right, TQ.
