The trip to Tawau, Sabah was super random. I think my dad suddenly felt like going there so he booked the plane ticket without planning much. It wasn't even a school holiday - we went at the end of January over the weekend. Which meant only two nights there and my sis had to skip school on Friday.
Later, we found out that Thursday was a public holiday and the following Monday was a public holiday as well. So actually, we could be there for four nights instead of two... Yay for random planning.
Anyway, Tawau is the third largest town in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It's located at the south-east coast of Sabah and in my opinion, it's not very large actually lol. My dad chose Tawau coz he has a friend staying there, so.. making things easier for us hahaha. First time in Tawau, first time in Sabah, first time in East Malaysia!
After a three-hour flight (I hate long flights when I'm taking Air Asia), we landed at Tawau Airport. OMG we could walk freely on the grounds where the aeroplanes land - not like in LCCT or KLIA. Lol so cool!
Our plane hehe. The airport is so simplistic and minimal; I didn't know airports could be described as that.
Dad's friend picked us up and we went straight to a market in town.
Aagh!
It's like a ukulele! Cheaper version, only RM10. Felt like buying one but nahh :P
Hmm, the thing about small towns is that everywhere is pretty much walkable. And I like that!
Cute name for a road, lol.
Pity these fishes! First time seeing a sight like this..
The town is surprisingly dotted with hotels. Every corner you turn, there will be at least one hotel along the road for sure. We stayed at Shervinton Executive Boutique Hotel - name sounds super posh but in reality, it isn't anywhere close to posh.
I mean, the rooms are nice and all that, but the service was exceedingly bad. When we checked in in the late afternoon, the receptionist told us that she can only give us two separate rooms, on two different floors! But we'd already booked the rooms in advance, so they should prioritise right? They told us it's fully booked but there seemed to be not many people around the hotel. After much talking and persuading, they finally gave us two rooms on the same floor - separate still, but no issue.
Then it turned out that they gave us the ones on the smoking floor! The cigarette smell was so strong when we entered our rooms, urrrgggh. Well, it makes no sense to give a family the smoking rooms right? We requested to change floors but it wasn't until the second night that they changed. So I had to endure a whole night breathing in the yucky smell :x
The hotel has two blocks, block A and B. We were staying in block B.
At night, dad's friend took us out for seafood dinner! Oh yeahh :D Tawau is really all about the seafood as it's FRESH and CHEAP! Hehehehe.
Prawns that are amazingly fresh! Sweet and juicy, I like! I normally dislike prawns, but I couldn't stop eating them that night :P
I think this is a type of Sabah vegetable. Cooked with belacan, it tasted a bit like kangkung belacan, albeit more delicious :D I love it! Another type of Sabah vegetable (the one in the background) is cooked plain, and the stems filled almost 90% of the plate lol. Not my cup of tea as the stems are harder than most vegetables' stems, and also the fact that I prefer leaves than stems :P
Steamed fish. So out of shape lol.
My favourite seafood - crab! My favourite part of the crab is the claws heehee.
Last but not least..... two huge lobsters. The meat is neatly hidden under the thousand island sauce haha. The presentation was so pretty I couldn't bear to eat it!
I really wanted to take these two lobster heads back and put it in my room as a decoration lol. But I figured it would be difficult to carry in my suitcase T.T
Wet night in Tawau.
Looks like such a deserted area.
Two or three hotels in one row!
Went up to Shervinton's Sky Bar, which was empty lol. Was expecting it to be crowded with merry people actually, hmm. Well that's okay coz I can take my time to shoot bokeh pictures hahaha.
Love the lights! So magical :D There's only one by the way; the lights change every few seconds hehe.
It's like the fibre optic thingy. Or maybe it is HAHA. So cooool.
The next morning, dad's friend wanted to take us out for breakfast - the Tawau way :P - so we just drank coffee and ate something light at the hotel's restaurant. Not much variety anyway. I see chocolate cake T__T
The place is quite nice la haha.
I didn't know we can see Philippines from here! OMG SO COOL. David Archuleta is in Philippines. #random
From here, it seems like walking distance from the hotel to the beach. Again, that's so cool. Imagine staying near the sea! Ahhhhhh.
We had yummy soto mi for breakfast, then went over to Sin On Market to have a look. Parents bought fresh catch from the sea to take back to KL, yayy!
To the sea! Low tide in the morning/afternoon so quite muddy as you can see :/
Can you spot the many wooden houses on stilts? That place is called Ice Box - what a cool name. Imagine telling people that you live in Ice Box, hahaha. The area is dominated by foreigners though, mostly Filipinos and Indonesians. It's kinda like their own community there, so they don't really mix with the locals.
I still can't get over the fact that I can see Philippines from here. I am so close to Charice's homeland LOL.
Fishing boats!
Went and bought some Tawau delicacies :D
Then dad's friend took us to his house haha. Umm, I should say bungalow! The koi fishes so pretty T__T
Such a neat and pretty house :D
I didn't know Tawau has so many bungalows and mansions.... There were a few up on this hill. AWESTRUCK.
We went back to the sea again in the evening :P
And this time, the tide is high :D
Enjoying the sunset by the beach. Wish I could stay here longer haha.
On the third day, I took some pictures of the town from the hotel's Sky Bar. Gonna leave the place in the afternoon!
Next time, I hope to visit the many islands near Tawau, like Sipadan and Mataking, hmm! :D
The following weekend, we had fresh tiger prawns for lunch! SO YUMMMMZ ARGH (Y). I am officially in love with tiger prawns from Tawau, haha. ♥ ♥ ♥
