9th year running and still a good place to call "home" for a couple of weeks. This time round I lost a week in Mabul as I was prancing around cities instead of island hopping!
My departing gift from Uncle AhLong - it was so sweet of him to steam up this lobster for me just before it was time for me to leave for Semporna.
Mabul is pretty much the same, but this year I hardly ventured out to the village. Business with the local Bajau's are "as usual" and glad to say this year I missed the Mainland Chinese crowd so it was "peaceful and quiet" at UC.
Curry puffs are still highly sought after, so I made a batch to satisfy the UC staff. I was just happy we made the /chicken crab porridge as I carried 1 dozen of pee tan all the way from Singapore for this pot of liquid gold!
The above is Bajau food we had for lunch with Sing2 and Din in Semporna town. It is a new experience for me as most of the dishes were new to my belly. Happy to say that I liked the puffer fish dish and would order it again next trip back to Mabul.
June is heavily pregnant and we managed to catch up a couple of times this trip. Happy to say she has a son - same day as my departure from Mabul. I was racing to the airport and she was racing to the hospital but she had baby A before I boarded my plane for KL.
Sipadan will always be Sipadan.... beautiful and my fav place to snorkel/free dive. Just a shame that my UC Sipadan Boatman Nizam is no longer in Mabul. He just knew where to find the Barracudas, Jackfish and Bumpheads etc. and the current boatman for Sipadan is hopeless so needless to say, this trip I did not get to see the Barracudas!!!
One of those nites was also Sudir's birthday, so Uncle AhLong had a BBQ going and we had several special dishes prepared just for our red clothed table... highlight was the lobster salad dish as shown in picture above. It was a long dinner and Jamilah and Aufa surprised Sudir as they came over to the island by another resort boat. Obviously, they brought the birthday cake with them so we all had cake!!!
 |
| Pot of liquid gold - Crab/Pee tan porridge |
My last night at Semporna at UC's mansion. Jamilah and Sing2 organised a pool side satay party for my farewell. Each year, UC always puts on a big dinner when I arrive and this year, UC has been made Datuk, so they were away in KK and we were in KK too but we did not attend the ceremony. At least we managed to catch up on my last day!!!
Yes, Semporna is flourishing .. there is a huge Starbucks Cafe, and now even Maccas!!! Who would have thought each year, more and more budget hotels are being built and the town is buzzing with hype! To be more precise, the Mainland Chinese are coming and going in droves!!! In some respect, it even looks like they have taken over the place and spreading themselves on to Mabul.
Who can tire of this sunset? I can look at it everyday and after a few weeks reluctantly have to say goodbye till the following year. Will I return next year??? It will be my 10th consecutive year to UC and so far only PR holds this record. Even if I cannot break it, PR will not be the only one - so I will have to try my darnest to "crack this egg" as I am his "side kick" on the island!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment