I am back at the internet cafe in Semporna, finally feeling sorted out about the rest of my trip. For a while, I was wanting to cry for booking so many flights in haste, and for coming all the way here and being told that there was no availability to dive Sipadan, one of the top dive sites in the world. But my good karma has come back to rescue me this time!
Tiffer and I caught our cab to Sandakan Airport this morning. I think I already wrote about that, but I didn't mention the crazy thing about cab rides in Malaysia... Almost every time I've been in a taxi for more than 5-10 minutes, the taxi driver pulls into a Petronas station (yes, the oil company that the Petronas twin towers is named after) and fills up with gas. And not natural gas, something called NGV which is natural gas or propane -- we haven't figured out which it is. Well, this morning in Sandakan, the cab driver pulls over on the highway and says, "one moment" and runs across 4 lanes of highway to what appears to be his apartment complex, and comes back with an adorable little girl in a school uniform. The errand during this taxi trip is dropping off his daughter at school. She was so cute in her uniform, I'm guessing about 7 or 8 years old, that I had to take a picture. The driver smiled proudly.
Tiffer's flight to Kota Kinabalu was for 8:15am; I had to wait until 8am to speak with the Air Asia sales office, and if I couldn't get a refund/credit towards another flight, was going to buy a ticket at Malaysia Airlines from Sandakan directly to Tawau, the airport closest to Sipadan.
I was not able to get any sort of credit on Air Asia. The same girl at
the ticket counter who told me that I forfeit all three of my one-way trips was up at the Customer Service desk, and a second
girl at the Customer Service confirmed the fact.
I went to the next airline ticket counter and bought a ticket from Malaysia Airlines. The guy who sold me the ticket asked me if I was Chinese, and was surprised to see my Japanese passport. He later found
me in the boarding area and called out to me -- "Mami, Mami, did you have breakfast already?" I thought he was being nice, but it's probably like the Thais who can't believe that anyone would travel ALONE. He invited me to have breakfast with him, and after I refused three times(I had already eaten upstairs), I ordered an iced tea to make HIM feel better and we had a nice long chat -- probably for about an hour. He seemed interested in the Japanese girl living in the U.S., and when I told him I was from Chicago, he asked how everyone feels about our new President-elect. I swear, everyone knows all about Barack Obama. We discussed everything
from history to politics of Sabah/Malaysia to his family and
Filipino-Chinese heritage. It was super interesting! His name is Martin Garcia -- the Spanish last name is because his father is Filipino, and his mother, Chinese Malaysian. He identifies himself as a Sabahan more than Chinese/Filipino -- born and raised in Sandakan, he is proud of his province. He has two kids, 17 and 11, and when I asked if the older one is going to university, he said he didn't know yet. He has worked for Malaysia Airlines and says he loves the company, but Air Asia has come into the market and is providing tons of competition. Martin is very worried about the future of Malaysia. He said that Malaysians are very divided -- by ethnic background, by province, by socioeconomic status. Immigration is proving to be a HUGE problem. The wealthiest seem to be the Chinese business people (same in Thailand), followed by the Indian merchants, but he said there are tons of new entrepreneurs/illegal immigrants who grow vegetables and sell them in the markets; they are doing even better than the "lazier" more established ethnic groups. Because Sandakan has a very well known Japanese POW camp, I asked how Malaysians feel about Japan now. He said that what happened in WWII is the past, and now Malaysians are shifting their focus from the U.S. and looking to Japan to learn how they can become a more modern and developed society. That kind of surprised me! He said there are Japanese businesses putting money into Malaysia and helping development. He said that someday, he hopes Proton (the Malaysian automaker) will be like Toyota and Honda, and that Malaysia will be able to overcome its social issues. A heavy conversation for breakfast!
After saying goodbye to Martin, I called the Scuba Junkies, the dive shop in Semporna, and they arranged a pickup for me
at Tawau Airport. For 80RM, I was picked up at Tawau and dropped off at the
dive shop about 90min later. I checked in with Scuba Junkies and am
staying at their backpackers lodge. I first said I'm okay with the
dorm room for 20RM, but when I walked into a tiny room crammed with 6
beds (3 bunk beds) and it SMELLED like boys' socks in there, I reconsidered and shelled
out 55RM for a private room with private bath. I went to the dive shop
to ask about 2 days of diving (3 dives per day) and was disappointed to
find that there were no more permits for access to Sipadan for the next
4 days.
I ate lunch at a little Indian place -- banana roti -- but I have to
say it was nothing like the amazing late-night roti that Tiffer and I had in Sandakan. I went to
a very nice internet cafe to check for an email from Vince to see if
United Mileage Plus will allow me to skip my Bali - Singapore leg
without canceling my entire string of flights home, but it would not. Bryan was online on Facebook, and he confirmed it also. UGH!!! I tried to research flights on the Air Asia website, but it was SO SLOW and kept timing out. I gave up to look for an Air Asia office in town.
I was walking around town and happened to find what I thought
was an Air Asia office. It turns out it was a travel agency, but with
an Air Asia sign out front. A young woman was trying to help me, but
her internet connection was super slow too. After much back and forth,
I decided that I would like to change the dates of my Kota Kinabalu -
Kuala Lumpur - Bali and use the trips I had already booked... only to
find that the 2 hours I spent with her made my original itinerary less
than 48 hours away, making it useless. I was SO PISSED, but what can you do... I tried
to calm myself down as much as I could, but I was still soooo angry
(not at her), and she worked at booking me a whole new ticket (Tawau -
KUL - DPS) for quite some time until she finally gave up 30 minutes
after closing. She spent 2+ hours with me and got nothing out of it.
I went back to Scuba Junkies and paid for 2 days of "regular" diving,
because they didn't have any more permits for Sipadan. I ate dinner at
a bar across the street and ran into an American coral reef scientist who
suggested another dive shop, Uncle Chang's, to try to get to Sipadan, and they had
permits available for Friday. When I went back to Scuba Junkies asking
for a refund for Friday, they seemed really upset... and lo and behold,
they came up with an opening for Sipadan on Friday! UNBELIEVABLE!!!
They said it was a coincidence, but I'm not so sure... Anyway, I am on the Sipadan boat on Friday, and it is
easier for me to stay with Scuba Junkies so that I don't have to change hostels on the second day.
I am now back at the internet cafe and was able to book my flights. I
spent another $300 or so, but the travel agent had explained that I
would have lost about 200RM in change fees anyway, so the overall loss
isn't as much as I first thought. That's the cost of changing my mind
and deciding to dive instead of go to Bali! But now that I'm diving
Sipadan, I am okay with it.
Now I'm all caught up with my blog, and no longer stressed about the flights nor about missing out on Sipadan. Happy happy!!!
asami
asami
