Traveling through Sabah (Malaysia) Part II

When we arrived in Semporna we took a local taxi to drive us to one of the tiny fishing villages that we spotted on Google Maps. It was a pretty random pick. We new that the people there are called the Bajau (or Sea Gypsies) and live mostly from the sea. We wanted to experience their culture first hand and therefore hoped that we could stay with some people there.

The taxi driver was a bit of a thug and dropped us off at the wrong place at first. We met a guy there that was willing to drive us for free to the village we wanted to go to, yet he was very worried that our plan would not succeed. We exchanged phonenumbers in case something would happen (which proved to be a very smart move later on).

The village was only a few houses large and as soon as we arrived a bunch of kids came out to meet us. We asked one of the residents if it would be okay to set up our tent in his backgarden. He agreed and we continued. The place was beautiful with mangroves surrounding the villages and monkeys all around. We quickly got invited by our hosts for a meal and some chitchat. Everything seemed to be going just the way we wanted, especially since they offered to show us some of the islands in one of their boats.

It was when they (or actually just one guy) started to pressure us for a lot of money that Hans started to get a bad feeling. The guy seemed to get quite agressive when we made clear that we could not pay as much as he asked for. He even insisted that we would all go to an ATM together so we could pay him.

After we ate with the family (a tiny shark, which tasted surprisingly well), we tried to get to our tent. The guy that wanted money followed us, as a kind gesture but actually wanted to have all the money we got on us. We had no choice but to give him that. It was night and we both decided that we wanted to sneak out. When we assumed the people in the village where sleeping we packed our tent and silently left.

We had to sneak through the houses and gardens hoping there would be no dogs (or people for that matter) to attack us. We both felt that we had to be extremly cautious because we noticed that the mentallity of the locals could be pretty hostile. It was extremly hot and we both were drained in sweat with our heavy backpacks. We scanned for every light, every movement and car passing by to make sure no one would notice us. We were pretty tense and felt ourselves extremely clumsy because of the lugguage we were carrying.

When we just got out of the village a car suddenly showed up and we had nowhere to hide ourself. As it probably appeared quite strange with two foreginers with way too much luggage walking around in the middle of nowhere at this time of the night, the car eventually stopped and we got the opportunity to explain ourself to a very curious driver. Of course we did not know the guy, which might as well have been one of the villagers we tried to escape from. We got some quite intense minutes trying to explain ourself as it was very hard for the guy to believe that a friend of us would get there at this time to pick us up. We were almost forced to go with him when we finally got in contact with the guy that had dropped us off earlier. He came instantly and offered a place to stay at his house instead. We had not much of a choice but to accept.

It turned out that this guy, Imran, and his family were extremely kind to us. We stayed with them for three days, sharing their meals and going on small trips together. They were also Bajau and explained to us that some of the locals really saw foreigners as cash camels.

We finally got the experience we were looking for. We got to know the family very well and shared our stories with them. We even took a small trip to some of the islands. Although this was a beautiful experience we could not help but notice how much plastic was drifting in the water. The corals that were supposed to amaze us where all bleached and there was not much life there.
Some of the corals where however in tact and had lots of colourful fish.

We decided to get back to Tawau to move on with our journey and said our deep farewell to Imran and his family. Back in Tawau we went to eat in a local restaurant. When we wanted to get our bill we got invited over by some Muslim men. They were very interested in us and we had a great time with them. We were surprised that they actually payed for our entire meal and drinks. In addition, they reserved (and prepaid!!) a place in the restaurant so we could a free lunch the next day. We were both completely baffled by this kindness.

It was like this our experience in Sabah ended. We spend a bit over a week on the island. The nature and the people especially left a deep impression of us. Hans has traveled in 47 countries by now and has experienced all kinds of hospitality. Yet, where hospitality often comes with lots of alcohol or demands, the hospitality of South Asian countries is very respectful. People consider our needs, look after us and take responsibility. Sabah is by far one of the places that gave us the most friendly encounters with people.