Semporna - Tawau

Having just returned from tawau. i feel i should write another entry.. after arrving in sandakan following a missed flight, i was forced to stay one night then proceeded to semporna the following morning. the bus ride was quite nice bust extremly boring, they didnt play any sort of movies..just indonesian music videos.. When i arrived in semporna, i headed by foot to the scuba junkie HQ but got turned around along the way. finally i found my way and registered to go diving the next day. i stayed in their dorm room and met a very friendly girl from Ireland named Fiona (like the ogre from shrek hehehe) we spend the next few days hanging out and talking. unfortunatly she had gotten tonsilitis and couldnt dive for a few days. on the first dive day we headed to Sibuan island, where i saw my first mandarin fish after 9 years of waiting.. the second daay was spent at Mabul and Kapalai house reef where we observed the mating rituals of the Pharaoh cuttle fish. the thrid day was at Mataking where the underwater mailbox resides atop a sunken wrek called the sipadan mermaid. lastly finishing off at Timba Timba with its amazing coral reefs. the next day, my Uncle james from came to get me and we headed to Tawau, the town where i was born. Met some cousins and my uncle Beltran whom i hadnt seen for more than 10 years. we smoked and drank together and jammed on the guitar. the next day i went to visit the grave sites of my granddad and uncles donny, edroy and ferland. was sad to see the state of their graves.. afterward we went to Tawau hills park and i got the chance to see the worlds tallest tropical tree at 88m tall.  the following day, i was taken to the old NBT town of Brumas whee my grandparents used to work and stay, and i visited the old house and surrounding compound. while there we loaded up some old tractor tires for my uncle oil palm plantation. that night i flew back to KK and today i will be haeding to Manila to meet my cousin there. sorry for the rushed format of this entry but i will refine it at a later time. more to come!