I spent a week scuba diving at Mabul, Sipadan, and other islands nearby, some of the best sites in Malaysia. Sipadan is frequently rated one of the top three dive sites in the world, and I can’t disagree with that. Mabul was really cool too.
(pictures are from Sibuan Island, where I went diving yesterday)
I came to Semporna expecting to dive a few days at Sipadan then continue on to Indonesia or somewhere, but it has turned out to be a great place to work, so I worked most of the week and will spend the next 4 days diving at Sipadan and nearby.
A couple days ago I went to the annual Thaipusam festival at Batu Caves, just outside Kuala Lumpur. Hindu devotees pierce their tongues, faces and bodies with metal skewers and hooks, and carry milk pots, coconuts, fruit and portable altars called kavadi along a 10 km route from the city and finally up 272 steps to the temple inside the cave complex.
(warning: some of these pictures are not for the squeamish)
After our dive trip Jeremy and I flew to Kuala Lumpur for a couple days en route to Malaysian Borneo for more diving. Both of us had developed some trouble with our ears after the last trip, so we hung out in KL for a while waiting for our ears to get better; I took the opportunity to get some work done.