What to do in Lahad Datu?

The Sea Gypsy shanty town

I got up for the 6am river cruise this morning, but we didn't actually see very much today. There were a couple of silver langurs in the distance and some long-tailed macaques, but few and far between. Still a nice way to start the day, though. Breakfast was chicken nuggets and toast (?) and then we were off on our journey to Lahad Datu. Captain Jay dropped us at a nondescript Indian cafe on the side of the road, where the minibus left from. The driver told us it would be an hour before we left, so we settled in with a drink. Suddenly an enormous reptile ventured over, ferreting through the rubbish bins. We weren't keen to go too close, as it was the size of a goanna. No sooner had we taken 45 photos, than the bus driver told us it was time to go. We got in the minibus with a Malaysian lady and her two impeccably behaved young children. It was about a hundred degrees inside, with top quality ripped vinyl seats, and these two kids (about 3 and 4) sat quietly without speaking once, for about an hour. They got off halfway and we continued on to Lahad Datu.

Seafood restaurant

Arriving in town, we were ripped off blind by the minibus driver but it still wasn't very much money and his kids will eat well tonight. We'll know to ask first next time! Every bus driver in the city came up to ask us if we were going to Semporna, so at least it will be easy to find a bus for tomorrow's journey. We were stinking hot, and very tired, and went down the first street we found that looked ok. With Yvon this is more of a backpacking adventure (I am more of a "research the place, find somewhere to stay that looks ok and get a taxi) and I am the worst backpacker ever, given I have no backpack. We asked a man at a shop for tourist information, and he pointed us up the street towards the sea. We got to the end and were met with a chorus of "hello, hello, hello, hello..." by the shanty town kids. Obviously in the wrong place, we turned around to find the man pointing towards our oasis... Wong's Hotel. Ah, Wong, you most excellent purveyor of fine hot showers and airconditioning! For only $15 each you have provided us with so much!

Kuching Plant

We melted into the room and took long showers while the aircon cooled us down. Feeling refreshed and renewed we ventured outside in search of lunch. Just down the road was a decent cafe with many locals so we sat down... only to remember that we couldn't speak Malay, and since we were off the tourist trail, nobody could speak English. We fluffed our way through the menu for a bit until we finally saw "mee goreng" and ordered with relief. I have since learned that "ayam" means chicken, "talur" is egg and "pisang" is banana. I'm on my way. After lunch we walked around town, dodging the feral sea gypsy beggar children and generally being the absolute talk of the town. Apparently, all the white people arrive at the airport and go straight to Tabin or Danum without going into the town, so to see one is very rare. Everybody in town was excited to see us! It was like being a celebrity. We walked through a fabulous fresh food market where all the produce looked so fresh and clean that I wanted to buy some, and a fish market that was quite impressive. I also got a Malaysia phone number so if you need to SMS me the number is +60 12 806 3919.

Me, Yvon and Nazmi

After all that activity, we went back to the hotel where we crashed and burned. It's been a big few days! At about 6:30 we decided to skip dinner because we were tired, but then thought we might get hungry later so went after all. More language troubles, not helped by a general lack of teeth, led us to order 4 different dishes in the hope that we'd like one of them. When it costs RM2 ($0.65) per meal, this is a viable option. We continued to have a bit of trouble and a local man,  Nazmi, came over to ask if we needed any help. He sorted us out and sat down to chat, and we found that he works for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency - ie pirate control!! He asked if we wanted to come with him and his friends to karaoke, so we had a quick conference and balanced our exhaustion against the value of having an evening with the locals. Curiosity won! He picked us up at 9pm and took us on a tour of Lahad Datu while we waited for his friends. Turns out we're in the dodgy part of town - well no real surprise there. Sri Perdana is a much nicer area of town with lots of restaurants. If there was a tourist information near the bus stop, more people would probably go to Sri perdana and say that Lahad Datu was a nice place!

Doing the hornbill dance with the locals

Nobody is afraid to sing here, in fact everyone shouts into the mic. Actually it was far too loud and my ears were almost bleeding by the end. But we had a good time, and Nazmi's friends were also nice. Imagine our delight when the hornbill dance song came on, and imagine the astonishment of everyone else in the bar when the two stark white foreigners started doing a Malaysian traditional dance! We soon had quite an audience, and one local who wanted to join in. We are very bad at the dance, perhaps that's why.

Finally we went back to Wong's Hotel at 1am to find that the lovely girls had actually waited up to make sure we could get inside. We fell into bed, and slept for 9 hours.