#47 – Indonesia to Malaysia with the sea gypsies while swiming with the fish

It was getting close to the expiry date of my Indonesian visa and I wanted to reach Malaysia. I had insufficient time to see more things in Indonesia, I’d like to come back and visit Indonesia for a second time in the future.

I crossed from Tarakan, Indonesia to Tawau on the Malaysian side. I then took a bus for 3 hours from Tawau to Semporna, and right away I felt the difference. The buses in Malaysia are cleaner and they have a schedule, very easy to find someone who speaks English and also the way they drive is more organized than Indonesia.

Semporna a little town located near many islands that are known to be the best scuba diving sites in the world. It’s also where you get to see the Bajau people who tend to move around the seas in this part of the world, they are known as the sea gypsies. Some of them live in a boat on the seas, and others build floating houses in the middle of the sea or the ocean. They live by fishing and sometimes they try to sell something to the tourists or locals. They come originally from the Philippines but now they are more likely to be found here. A lot of them don’t have any paper to proof their citizenship to any country. Totally different way of thinking about life, their kids don’t go to school, they live very basic life.

Another thing I found interesting about the local life of the people who live in Semporna and some of the islands, who are not Bajau was the diversity. This is a place that’s probably the most diverse of any of the places I’ve ever visited. There are Malayan, Chinese, Filipinos and many others. One of the dive masters who accompanied us can speaks 7 different languages. In fact most people here speak at least 3 languages. It’s hard to guess the origin of the person by just looking at him/her, he can be Chinese and one of his parents is Malayan or Filipino. So he speaks Chinese but look like a Filipino or Malayan.

I decided since I am at these amazing diving sites, why not try some diving, it’s an opportunity of a life time to be near these great sites. For the past few days, I’ve been leaving on a boat in the morning and come back in the evening. Every day we go dive near a different island. Diving is really an amazing experience, I thought it’s like snorkeling but it’s a way different, you get to swim with the fish as they say and it’s very true. It was a very enjoyable experience to watch the coral reefs and the amazing marine life.