Day 46 / Tag 46 April 27. From Ao Nang, Thailand to Semporna, Sabah

All alarms go off at 4 am: Wake up, Travel Time again!!!

I started this trip from Berlin on March 13th.
Now, 46 days and 62 dives later, I leave Thailand and go further, traveling to Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia.Into the unknown.

Taxi arrives at 5.
Arrive in time, I have some time to kill, but there is not a lot you can do at Krabi International Airport at 6 in the morning ;-)

My flight to Kuala Lumpur is late, 40 minutes delay, we arrive half an hour later than planned, KLia2 is a terminal with looong ways to walk, I wait more than an hour in line for immigration, and BANG! there goes my connection flight to Tawau, Sabah. 10 minutes too late for check in.

I have to buy a new ticket for a flight three hours later, inform Scuba Junkie Semporna by email, that I need a later pickup. Unfortunately they don't confirm as I had asked for, so after some more than an hour I get nervous and call them from my German phone. They already planned everything for my new arrival time!
Three minutes after the phone call they confirm by email (I'm looking forward to that phone call on my bill for April...)
Get some money from an ATM, these bills look unfamiliar, a Euro buys you around 4.7 Malaysian Ringgit.
Try the bills at KFC with a two piece plate, fries and cole slaw. Works ;-)

Nice seat on the plane, row 14 on an Airbus 320-200, that means emergency exit with a lot of room for your legs. Took some notes and semi-sleep.

Tawau, Sabah is one of those small airports, where the plane parks in front of the building
and you just walk in.

Queue again for Sabah immigration, there are only 3 other non-Asians on our flight, definitely leaving the mass tourist areas now. The officer is a really friendly man, asks me how I am, I tell him about my missed flight and he recommends Malaysia Airlines, where you just have a small fee instead of buying a new flight completely. Even wishes me a nice evening in Sabah. Remember, this an immigration officer…

After 78 km and 1:15 hours on a minivan with beautiful starry skies (not much light pollution here), we arrive in Semporna. Check in at Scuba Junkie Divers Lodge




and following the hint by Christoph, a belgian diver,  find a beer in a nearby muslim restaurant.



Beer is not on the menu and not on display, not shown anywhere, but yet available, under the counter, Carlsberg.
I have two and go to bed early, have to show up at the dive center tomorrow 7:15am

First impression of Semporna: It’s dark, dirty, smeary streets, it smells bad and after 10:15 pm it becomes a ghost town..
But this is only the gateway to some supposedly great diving…!
!!!

See you under water