Sunday, 23 May 2010
We decided not to stay at Mabul any longer, wanting to get out and stretch our legs, so are off to Semporna to spend a night and organise a bus to Sandakan. Waiting for the boat trip back to the mainland you realised how lovely the water looked and so inviting, if only everything hadn’t just dried out. On the boat trip back, the heavens opened and a tropical storm ensued which meant we arrived in Semporna in the rain and stuck our packs on and struck out for a backpackers in the waterfront side of the town. Waving goodbye to everyone on their bus back to Tawau airport, this is the first time we haven’t been surrounded by a team of scuba divers – yeah, hopefully no more bugs.
The backpackers (Semporna Inn) is clean, small room, but quiet and central. We dropped our bags off and headed out for a walk around to get our bearings. Last time in Semporna we arrived in the dark. We headed to the bus station and very easily (too easily) booked a bus for tomorrow to Sandakan (luxurious according to the sign) and then wandered back through town. It is absolutely stinking hot now the rain has finished so we found a small cafe and had a veggie roti and Mee Goreng. Scott was keen to try the Idly but it had finished (along with the Dosai) so we will try and come back tomorrow, starting to crave Indian food. We went back to the hotel for a short lie down and organise some accommodation etc for the next few days. Scott is also starting to feel a tad more human and is slowly on the mend, thank goodness, if not we would have been on a flight home.
We headed out to an Indian cafe I saw on my sojourn after lunch and had another roti and watched the world go by for a while before walking back through town to see what was happening etc – not much, except lots of rats near the food and fish markets. It seems fairly quiet, a few western bars but as we aren’t drinking etc, called it an early night. I am trying to finish a book to review for a great website (www.ourbookclub.net.au).