Sunday, September 30, 2007

Sabah Trip - Tawau

I’m sad. I’m down. I have been aeroplaned. Quit clicking on thesaurus or pulling out massive dictionaries. You won’t find such Manglish word there. It means moi have been abandoned, neglected, forsaken, deserted etc etc etc. No no no not relationship but a vacation to Miri, East Malaysia. Thought this trip is secured since all 4 confirmed but I guess 9 months is a looonnnggg time. One bogged down with new position in Hong Kong, one is on probation due to new job and one have to juggle some maid issues. Left me. The return flight tickets were obtained for free in Jan’07, so names or flight dates changes are strictly not allowed. Tickets burnt. Calm down Tree-huggers, Air Asia’s booking confirmation ticket is only a thin sheet of print out, the open burning is negligible. *sigh*

Maybe a flashback on the highlights of a recent vacation will lift my holiday deprived spirit up a tiny bit. Bear with me, k.

End of June, 7 of us went to the Land Below The Wind, Sabah. Our initial plan was to trek Danum Valley, which none of us had been before, for a few days and then fly to Kota Kinabalu to conquer the highest mountain in our country again (Yes, most of us did this before. One did it 3 times!). Keyword here is ‘initial plan’. Found out Sabah’s world famous virgin forest reserve Danum Valley is accessible vide Lahad Datu, not Tawau. To further distort our ‘initial plan’, we failed to secure lodgings for a night at Laban Rata at the top of the mountain. So, the climb is out too. (Personally, I was glad. Phew.) Flight tickets already paid for and nobody bailed out, so we flew.

Tawau, a slow-paced quiet town. Quite dusty. Anyone knows why?

Being in Tawau without going to an island would be akin to visiting Penang not eating hawker fare – blasphemous.

Presenting Mataking Island Resort!

After much bargaining with it being the low season (according to our land transport driver, we just missed the influx of giggling Japanese beauties and yet a month too early for the invasion of the masculine Italians! What luck.) and our considerably high number, it was still pricey. RM350++ including land transfer from hotel to boat, boat ride to island, main meals, ONE night accommodation and transfer to airport to catch our flight to Kota Kinabalu the following day.
BUT wait. Look at what we enjoyed:- I broke my camera second day into the trip (mentioned briefly here whereby my sis got me this. Feel like dancing again .. ) so pictures were taken with my friend’s Canon (Actually quite a number of these were taken by her).

All aboard..

About an hour later …Marked territory ...Corals and crab visible above water

Fishes. Captured these without getting wet. Bet your haven't seen that flourescent yellow fish before!Clothed beach bunniesMain meals were served buffet style. Nothing to shout about but decent enough to keep us satisfied. Here's a 'lil peek ..Plain water, tea, coffee, cordial juices were available the whole day.

Now follow me to our chambers ..

2 to a garden chalet like this ..Envious? Good!

For my next post on Tawau, salivation will be induced by food not S.A.M - Single Available Malaysians. Let's not give more reasons for friends to up the price on my head ..

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match.
Find me a find, catch me a catch.
Matchmaker, matchmaker, look through your book
And make me a perfect match.

Sliced and diced from here

15 comments:

teckiee said...

Woman you make me cry.... your post reminded me of the wrong flights I paid for me and 4 other of my friends.. wasted the tix. Remember to get the airport tax refund tho.

backStreetGluttons said...

u got everything wat , so nice blue sea , very nice food , such nice co, nice funs nice ...
so why sad wan ?
miss sombodies issit ?

fatboybakes said...

i'm confused. who needs a match?

sc said...

oohh..lovely pixs..makes me wanna go for a holiday yet again!

Big Boys Oven said...

Did you try Tawau homemade salted fish! they are truely fantastic!

New Kid on the Blog said...

you need a match???

MeiyeN said...

my oh my.... da water is crystal clear! so beautiful...

Tummythoz said...

teckiee, don't cry. *Fish out mirror* See? Not pretty d.
Can refund? Will ask. Thx.

team bsg, that was 4 mths ago. If not being ffk-ed, I would be on holiday again last week. *sniff*

fatboybakes & new kid on the blog, those gorgeous Single Available M'sians featured here-lar. Not me tho. So, got good recommendations? =P

sc, I know you are going on an adventure yet again soon.

big boys oven, Oh sadly, we didn't even know about it.

meiyen, remind you of your island trips?

Anonymous said...

Aww.. poor girl. *hugs*

Ask the gang to pay for your tix on your next trip. *evil grin*

Rasa Malaysia said...

Wah, jeles lah, looks pretty like almost a paradise.

Tummythoz said...

jackson, wah you make it sound like we went together! But it would had been more fun with handsome jackson along. If no girlfriend yet, then I could play matchmaker!

jason, been bugging them. *evil grin back*

rasa malaysia, but still not at par with Maldives..

wmw said...

The beach is always a lovely place to go to. Oh, I didn't go with you...hahaha..

Xiu Long Bao said...

dear fren, i burnt my ticket to KK as well :(

Miri is a nice place, been there twice..the beaches are lovely and the seafood are like from heaven. Ooppss..Sorry, shouldn't tell u all these things :p

Tummythoz said...

wmw, I realise, miniscule wmw! =P

xiu long bao, Arrghh sakit so sakit.

Happyjessica said...

I am planning a trip to mataking too..normal price is Rm600 but we manage to find a cheaper one.Is around RM400 per person wo..and we have to pay for a tourist guide which costs us Rm350.that means we pay 400 each + 350 for a tour guide.Can u give me the contacts for the Rm350 package?And did u all pay for any xtra tour guide?

Locations of visitors to this page