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Hubby farts his way through the night
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So, Borneo. But: what is Borneo?
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Indonesia's region of Borneo is called "Kalimantan", while Malaysia's region of Borneo is called East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo. The independent nation of Brunei occupies the remainder of the island. We are in the Malaysian part, the north east part of the island. The only reason we came here, even the only reason we came to Malaysia is: Sipadan. This is the number 2 of the top 100 dive sites of the world. Like I collect Hard Rock Café pins, Dr T collects those 100 dive sites.
I included a map of Borneo:
Pink = Brunei, 2 separate pieces of land
Green = Indonesia
Blue = Airport Tawau
Black = Semporna, where our hotel is, 100 km drive form Tawau
Hotel and airport are located in the state Sabah
Sleep in was the plan. T wakes up early (contrary nature) and plays with his laptop, sitting on the side of the bed. I do sleep in. No coffee maker, no fridge in the room, only lukewarm water to drink. We go downstairs, just before noon to change rooms. Turns out: the room showed to me by the boy, yesterday is a sea view, for which we have to pay an extra 4 Euros/night. This is not worth it for us. Again the same discussion, if we stay for a week, can they give a discount? Or give the sea room view at the non- sea view price. The rules are the rules: 10 percent discount if you dive with the neighbors, 5 percent more to pay with Visa. Sigh, we book 4 nights and move. The room does not look the same as the one I saw yesterday: there is more desk and less sofa. Which suits us fine!
We go for breakkie at the end of our street. There is a bag in my coffee!!! Fried rice with anything you want: 1 Euro and it is a big plate plus a soup for free. We have a view on: our bar at the corner, next to it: dive shop with whom we HAVE to book at least one dive an then our hotel. All called Sipadan but not owned by the same people.
Then it is time to sniffle the town and inquire for the diving. We walk to the tippy top of the town and see houses at the other side. We are not sure if it is on a separate island. There is also houses on stilts from the sea gypsies. A lot of activity. Fishing boats come and go. We find a terrace and a beer.
We liked the 'cheap and cheerful' scuba junkie shop. It is in the hotel, we originally tried to book. The advantage is that we get the talk to an English native speaker, so we understand each other and it is slightly cheaper than next door. But: Sipadan dives site is fully booked till the 7th of April. There are only 120 divers a day allowed.
Next door, we meet Jerry (Austrian), who can fit us in the 29th. Done! We also book a random dive for tomorrow.
We get ready for the evening and take our laptops to the bar next door. The 2 nerds having a beer and being on internet. Then something I have NEVER seen happens: Tony has the same meal as yesterday!!! We also watch a movie taken today at Sipadan: we cannot wait.
At home, everything is neatly prepared for tomorrows dive. 8 o'clock but it is only next door.
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