The sea is so blue there isn’t really another colour to describe it. The sun is high above though it is early in the morning still. The day starts quickly in Sabah, without much fuss or ado. The folks in the town, in Kota Kinabalu, have been awake and running around for hours already. Aye, the morning is well under way.
But this is a Sunday, a day of rest. We ought not to work today. Not when the sun is so bright and the sea is so blue. There must be something better, more suitable to do.
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I find myself at Jesselton Point, walking along the boardwalk. Simply soaking in the heat of the sun, the slight breeze in the air not enough to chill me. It is a good warmth. There are rows upon rows of speedboats at the jetty waiting for passengers. And there are tourists waiting to be passengers on those boats, waiting to ferried off to the islands.
Why not, I ask myself, why not join them?
.
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So I buy my ticket and obediently clamber down onto the designated boat waiting at the waterfront. I sit down and find my neighbours are tourists and holidaying families alike. Everyone is smiling and happy. Who wouldn’t be? We are off to the islands, for some sun, sea and sand. The three island/beach clichés but oh what fun clichés they are!
The sweetest smiles are from a couple of girls from Sweden, Anna and Jenny. Their skin already kissed by some rays but they want more, they tell me. Before flying back to the coming winter. It’s already fall back home, after all. I nod; I have been through the cold seasons myself. No one could be faulted for seeking some tan-lines, some memory of the tropical heat that is awaits one’s return some day, from miles away.
.
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The boat starts and we are rushed across the waves, white foam bubbling in our wake. The speed makes the winds stronger and finally we feel some chill on our faces but it’s refreshing. Barely twenty minutes later we catch sight of the island we chosen – Mamutik, the smallest in the national marine park.
There are other islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park but the crowds are there. Here we are promised some peace and tranquility, and indeed, only the Swedish ladies and I disembark. The speedboat leaves us and ferries its remaining passengers to the other islands.
I stop and take a deep breath. I look into the waters; the shoals of fish are dancing in a synchronised frenzy. What a welcome!
.
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Of course, as few of us as there are on this nearly deserted island, we are not completely alone. I spy with my little eye a lifeguard watching over us from his post. The signs say ‘No Entry’ and ‘Beware of Jelly Fish’ and doubtlessly we shall obey, for the lifeguard looks as serious as stone. He means business.
So we are safe and feel secure under his steely gaze (from behind his silver shades), and that’s the way to start a vacation, really. We can be ourselves and not worry about criminals, jelly fish and other natural (and un-natural) dangers. And if it means we are being watched by the lifeguard the entire time, well, that’s a smile price to pay.
We don’t really mind voyeurs anyway. Consider it one of the many hidden perks of being on a holiday.
.
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And so it is.
How the hours are spent. Lying on a towel on the beach, re-reading the first part of The Lord of the Rings as my bare skin bakes under the midday sun, as the sounds of the waves, a deeper, thunderous sound than what I am used to, lulls me to slumber. (The Straits of Malacca encloses us whereas the South China Sea opens one to the oceans and the storms that hide and wait beneath the deceptive calm.)
And just when I am about to drift off to a nap (one that I would likely regret when I awaken with needless sunburns), I shake myself free of half-dreams of Elves and Halflings and run to the water. I swim and I let the fish weave between my floating limbs. The sky and the sea, the sand and the sun, they almost make a vow never to cease, and if they did, I would want to believe.
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Walk down to the water, walk down to the sea
The fish are waiting, for you and your dreams
Sink into the water, dive down into your sea
They wait for your river, they wait for your streams
They wait for the mermen, they wait for you and me
Take my hand, my brother, and dream your dream with me.
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Mamutik Island • Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, Sabah
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Copyright © 2010 Kenny Mah Ying Fye.
~ BORNEO: Tales, Trails and Travels in Sabah & Sarawak ~
Part 1 • Sabah I: Merman
Part 2 • Sabah II: From Dusk Till Dawn
Part 3 • Sabah III: Kinabalu
Part 4 • Sarawak I: Kuching
Part 5 • Sarawak II: Tua Pek Kong
Part 6 • Sabah IV: Mamutik Island
Part 7 • Sabah V: A Town Called Tuaran
Kenny Mah believes in the good in people. He has been blogging for over ten years. No, his hands aren't tired. Yet.
Suddenly everyone’s off to Sabah!
@Paul: Well, some of us like to visit Sarawak too. Maybe Miri the next round?
I can do with a beach holiday now!
@ladyironchef: Dude, haven’t you just been on one holiday after another? I have no clue where you are now, Hong Kong? Paris? Hahaha…
omg so breathtaking!!
makes me want to jump on a plane to some island with blue waters at the end of the year..
but everything is so exp!
@lotsofcravings: Save up, bro – and then do some plane-jumping and island-hopping and blue-water-diving soon! You won’t regret it, I assure you. (And we all need a break, right?)
wonderful.. simply MARVELOUS! and what i would give to lose myself in the deep blue!!
@ciki: The deep blue. That’s a perfect way to put it… How I miss its depth and its, er, blue-ness now… :P
wow so beautiful, i feel like having a holiday too!
@babe_kl: Oh dear. I’m so gonna get in trouble for getting all of you in a holiday mood on a Monday morning…
I’m just going to say what everyone is bound to say after reading this: “I need me a holiday.”
Seriously though, at the rate you post about travels and stuff, it just feels like you don’t have work to do. Is it true that you’re a job-be-damned-i’m-going-on-a-holiday person I should emulate?
@Michelle: That couldn’t be further from the truth – I am actually going through a burnout from work, work, work (with only the inevitable year-end slow down to look forward to).
All the work does mean I’m totally behind in terms of my travel posts and overall blogging. If you could only see my backlog!
Honestly though, I take my job too seriously (and it helps that I love it) to just dump it aside for a holiday on an impulse. I don’t anyone could really enjoy a vacation if they know they have unfinished jobs to tend to. Better to finish it and then go on a break with nothing to worry about.
Simple travel philosophy, yes (if you can call it that) but it works. *smiles*
Deep Blue Sea, you are vast in your glory
What tales you know, telling your story.
Standing by your sea shore, here all alone
I find a place so peaceful, yet so unknown.
Embrace me my friend, my beautiful deep blue sea
Your waves are like hands, reaching out to touch me
To draw me nearer to you, nearer each day
I love you my deep blue sea, there is nothing more I can say.
@jemima: Wow. My friend, that is simply beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
*hugs*
i like ‘azure,’ but it might sound a bit pretentious to describe the sea that way :D
eh, how come never chat with the lifeguard wan? maybe he’s so somber because he’s lonely on his perch. or at the very least, if he was truly observing you intensely, maybe he was hoping to get an eyeful of something (and for that matter, his was one photo u could have blown up bigger) :P
damn. i traveled thousands of miles, and my vacation photos are not even half as good as yours in sabah!
@Sean: The sea is generous, I reckon, and doesn’t mind any moniker, pretentious or otherwise. We may take notice of it or we may not; the question is, does this great force of nature notice us?
As for the lifeguard, well… I didn’t want to distract him. After all, he was busy with a rather important duty… protecting me. Heh.
It’s not the miles, my friend, but the memories we bring back, in photographic evidence or the nostalgia in our souls in the years to come. I bet yours are amazing, you modest little mouse.
ahhh.. how refreshing these photos are. It’s the feelings and the happy joy that one feel on a trip that brings us back in memories. Sounds like u had an awesome time! :)
@daphne: I think that is why we travel – to remind us why we work so hard in life for: the simple joys in life!
It looks like a great place to visit :)
@Selba: Sabah is an amazing place to visit – not just the islands like Mamutik here, but the towns and the markets and of course, Mount Kinabalu. I can’t wait to return for more of its natural beauty!
My tan’s gone and I want another holiday. I hate you.
So what other kinky stuff did you get up to with the Swedish girls, the hard and stony lifeguard in the caerulean, azure, sapphire, turquoise coloured waters of Mamutik?
@A Lil Fat Monkey: My tan’s gone too, actually. A few hours under the Sabahan sky is nothing compared to four days in Krabi, my monkey friend.
And what went on between those Swedish girls, the local lifeguard and me – well, let’s just say it stays in Mamutik…
oh i’m sure the sea notices us … and it doesn’t appreciate the tons of trash, the oil slicks and the chemicals that we’ve dumped into it, slaughtering its denizens of the deep. but ermm, ok, it’s hypocritical of me to speak as if i’m environmentally ethical (considering i don’t even recycle), but it’s also sad to think that someday, you might not be able to describe the sea as blue anymore…
re the lifeguard, why didn’t u pretend to be drowning, so that he’d pull u _ with those muscular arms _ back to shore and perhaps administer a little, ermm, bouche a bouche to revive u? :D
awwww, u sweet little, errm, squirrel. well, here’s to more marvelous memories ahead for all of us (i’m mulling maybe new zealand next year, or maybe my first-ever trip to japan, but won’t really think about it or plan until 2011 actually arrives)!
p.s. consolidating my comments here, i have ‘empire of the sun’ on dvd, and despite your disastrous borrowing track record, can lend it to u :P
@Sean: Oh good point, that. I don’t have kids but my nephew and nieces may, one day, and it’s sad to imagine that their children, in turn, may never experience the deep blue of the sea and the sky above it.
Pollution sucks. We suck, I guess, since we contribute to it. I wonder if my Paul Smith t-shirts are environmentally friendly? Hmm…
Re: the lifeguard. Dude, I would never pretend to drown – if I look like I’m drowning, trust me: I AM DROWNING! *gurgles and yells for help*
Re: Squirrels and mice. You so obviously do not get my reference to Modest Mouse, my favourite indie rock band. I should pass you some of their music. You’d hate it, then if the fish in the waves are in a good mood, you might even learn to love it.
And I’ve got, like, 15 chapters (17, if you count the prologue and epilogue) of my Tokyo trip for you to refer to for yours. Aren’t you lucky?
P.S. Danke, danke, for your generosity and vote of confidence. But my shame is too great – I cannot allow myself to touch another treasured possession of yours before I tackle that damn WKW DVD…
if u ever discover that paul smith actually makes their t-shirts out of baby seals and dolphins, and u decide to throw them away out of disgust, pass them to me. i’ll wear ‘em :D
maybe u were drowning. drowning in those deep pools of his beautiful eyes (assuming he ever takes off those sunglasses) :P
i have a modest mouse cd lah. ‘good news for people who love bad news.’ but yeah, the only reason i have it is because of ‘float on’ :D
hmmmm, not sure how closely i’d follow in your footsteps (except for the tsukiji market). though truth be told, my knowledge of japan is so shallow that i only know for certain that i’d wanna do food crawls and hot spring crawls :D
p.s. maybe a mindless movie would be easier to pick up and watch. i could lend you adam sandler’s ‘big daddy’ instead :P
@Sean: Now why would I let those poor baby seals and dolphins sacrfice their lives in vain? Easier just to continue wearing them and not buy fresh threads from whatever company that butchers for fashion’s sake.
Speaking of fashion and animals, I love my Paul Smith zebra tee. So cute.
As for drowning in eyes and otherwise: Mr. Yoong, I never knew you could be so emo and eloquent at the same time! More surprised am I still at your possession of a Modest Mouse CD. Try their older albums like ‘This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About’ and ‘The Lonesome Crowded West’ – you might just like those.
My only advice for Tokyo, food-wise, is to avoid the bigger, brighter restaurants (sometimes touristy) and hit the very clean back alleys for fare the locals actually eat.
Should we warn the poor onsen-bathers of your impending crawling and such? Little guys wouldn’t know what hit them…
P.S. Only thing I’ve watched of Adam Sandler was ‘Punch-Drunk Love’ (and that’s mostly for Paul Thomas Anderson and Emily Watson).
Re tees: if u find a Paul smith/uniqlo shirt that features cuddly rabbits, I might consider it. Maybe. Zebras are so … primitive. :D
Modest Mouse is not my kinda music leh. Not catchy enough. Not resonant enough. As far as American modern rock goes, I like The Wallflowers (that Jakob Dylan … Sighhh).
Japanese back alleys with no outlet name are very hard to blog about! Ooh btw my first blog entry on europe comes out tonite :D And don’t think we’ve forgotten that u still haven’t REALLY blogged about your European summer jaunt this year.
Little guys at the onsen? C’mon, they weren’t THAT “little,” right?! :p
P.S. There’s something heartwarming about Adam sandler’s comedies. Go pick up “50 First Dates,” his absolutely charming romance flick co-starring Drew Barrymore. If you don’t enjoy it, I’ll .. I’ll eat your Paul smith zebra tee :D
P.P.S. Emily Watson. I have the DVDs for ‘Breaking The Waves’ and ‘Hilary & Jackie’ too in my lending library :D
please kidnap me to the beach right now!!
@Sean: Rabbits are ho-hum. Zebras have pizzazz and swing!
You are so pop or at least pop-rock lah. Where did the 80′s rocker in you go, bro?
Try “Japanese Back-alley Diner #1″ and then number accordingly from that onwards. And Europe? What European summer could you be talking about? Ahem.
As for “little guys” I meant stature, my friend, as in how they might figuratively cower in the presence of a Big Bad Malaccan-born Wolf, and not other forms of measurement…
P.S. Oh drats. I did watch “50 First Dates” and even have a post inspired by it (sorta) called “50 First Movie Dates“. Oops.
P.P.S. Oh oh oh. I want those two! Damn, now I really gotta finish that WKW DVD, at least the interview bits.
@fufu: But kidnapping is a criminal offence…
zebras have no swing! u have them confused with gazelles, which have plenty of panache. more in one hoof than a zebra has in all its stripes combined, in fact :D
i have several duran duran CDs. that counts, for 80s rocker brownie points, right?
sigh, summer does seem like so long ago now, doesn’t it? it’s barely even autumn anymore? sigh, sigh, sigh :P
yay! so they’re big guys, huh, in other forms of measurement :D
p.s. which means u liked the movie!
p.p.s. alas, emily watson hasn’t made a really good movie in years. wonder if she’ll ever bounce back to her former heights…
@Sean: Gazelles? You mean those graceful animals with long, long legs? Kinda like moi? Ahem.
Duran Duran is 80′s, certainly. Rock? Nope. On their rockers? Probably. (Aren’t they grandpas by now?)
Is it almost winter? Hmm, may be a good time to bring back memories of summer, then. *hint, hint*
As for the little/big guys, let’s say for whatever some lack in stature, others make up in other endowments. Ahem.
P.S. I did. Sweet ma.
P.P.S. Whaddya mean? Emily Watson was really good in an understated performance in “Fireflies in the Garden”, I thought. Julia Roberts too, in a very small supporting role.
u’re more giraffe-ish than gazelle-ish :P
duran duran are working on their 13th or 14th album, ‘all you need is now,’ to be released next year. and simon le bon is only 52 lah. but alas, no longer in possession of his youthful beauty anymore…
it’ll be rather jarring if u shift from tuaran to budapest in a single post :P
i can’t wait! i hear korea has good hot springs too. dilemma … which one, which one to check out first :D
p.s. yeah. a not-guilty pleasure. ok lah, maybe semi-guilty :D
p.p.s. that movie went straight to dvd :P
@Sean: Giraffe? Are you saying my neck is LONG? Grrr…
Duran Duran. Hmm. The only remote interest I have in them is how closely their name resembles our national fruit. Hehe.
Oh maybe not a single post. I am sure I can arrange something for this Friday that will be a nice segue…
And why worry about which? Go for both! Korea AND Japan sounds much more exciting than just only one.
P.S. Still a pleasure.
P.P.S. Still quite ok. Even has Ryan Reynolds and that Matrix femme fatale. Not Monica Bellucci, the other one – the one in full body latex.
well, u know what they say: long neck, short … never mind :P
gasp! ‘come undone’ is one of the greatest songs of the 1990s!!!
how to segue from tuaran to budapest? what’s in the middle of the two … tibet? :D
hmmmm, unless there’s a cheap flight between seoul and tokyo (like how we could hop from paris to lisbon for only 40 euros on easyjet), i’ll take ‘em one at a time :D
p.s. yeah, but pleasures can be diminished if guilt is involved…
p.p.s. i don’t recall seeing anyone in full body latex in ‘fireflies in the garden’ :P
@Sean: Long neck, short temper? What? Heh.
Oh that is true. I do like ‘Come Undone’ quite a bit. So retro.
What’s in between Tuaran and Budapest? Not Tibet, but something as spiritual. Heh.
There might just be a cheap flight between Seoul and Tokyo. Go google.
P.S. True, so true. But sometimes guilt makes the pleasures even more exciting, no?
P.P.S. No, I mean one of the actress was in full body latex in ‘The Matrix’! *fainteds*
simply beautiful…and wandering at its best !
@rokh: Wandering without a purpose… that’s life!
*hugs* Kenny!!!
You jz gave me a bril idea wer to bring my darling to for a holiday… but need 2 shed some pounds b4 i step out in a swimsuit 1st… >.>
@asstha: Oh fantastic! You guys will love all the islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, I hope. I plan to go back and try out all the other islands one day. Woo-hoo!
well… I love islands… I love the sun, sea, sands n mountains… not too sure bout d bf tho… but dun care, I love can ady… :P
One day enuf 2 try out ALL the other islands ar???
@asstha: Haha, I love how confident you are about your boyfriend’s agreement with All Things Asstha. Brilliant.
One day may be a bit rushed. Perhaps no more than 2-3 islands per day? The point is to relax, is it not?
cos u said one day ma… kikiki… ok imma being cheeky… :P
On da bf’s agreement ah… he always said arguing wit me is futile as I always have 1001 reasons/excuses to make my point. so to save himself the torment of hearing me lecture… he’d rather jz agree on watever it is i want… :P
@asstha: Okay, I may have overstated things… some what. Ahem.
Your boyfriend sounds lovely. Or maybe just very smart. Hehe.