Sabah - Borneo - page 202

SINGAMATA
Not an island at all, but rather a floating village built onto a sandbar about 30 minutes
from Semporna, Singamata ( 089-784828; www.singamata.com ; 3-day, 2-night
diving/nondiving RM720/500) is a pretty assemblage of stilt chalets and decks with its
own pool full of giant fish (which you can snorkel amid). If you feel like dipping into the
water, you can literally just step out of your room (annoyingly, rubbish from Semporna
sometimes still floats into the vicinity). Rooms are basic but pretty and breezy. You may
feel isolated out here, but if you need an escape, this is a lovely option.

MABUL
Mabul is the main accommodation centre in the islands. This little speck is blessed with
one very small white-sand beach, fantastically blue waters and two small settlements: a
camp of Bajau Sea Gypsies and a Malaysian water village of stilt houses built over the
seashore, where most of the island's budget accommodation is clustered.
It's worth having a walk around the island, which should take you all of an hour or two.
Behind the resorts are generators and barracks-style housing for resort staff. The locals are
eager for your business; there's little shops in the villages that sell candy, crisps, cigarettes
and other little incidentals. Plus watching the sunset bleed over stilt houses, as the Bajau
set cooking fires in their houseboats, is mind-blowingly romantic, and a bit unexpected in
a place that's so marketed towards diving.

Mabul Beach Resort $$
( 089-785372; www.scuba-junkie.com ; dm RM95, r RM225-375; ) Owned and
operated by Scuba Junkie, this spot is all the rage with the flashpacker crowd. Chalets
with en suite bathrooms, porches and polished wood floors make for some posh digs
priced (relatively) within the top of the budget range. Note the room prices are for single
occupancy - rooms all have two beds, and are cheaper if rented out by two people.

RESORT

RESORT

Mabul Water Bungalow $$$
( 088-486389; www.mabulwaterbungalows.com ; 3-day, 2-night dive package from
US$1016, nondivers US$606; ) Travellers in Asia tend to love crystal-clear water
and temples. These two concepts come together with a heaping dash of amazing at Mabul
Water Bungalows, a gorgeously executed series of chalets-cum-Balinese shrines built over
the Celebes Sea. This is easily the best upmarket option on Mabul. Rooms are effortlessly
opulent, and the resort's only suite, the Bougain Villa (ha!), features a trickling waterfall
in the bathroom, its own private dock and glass floors revealing the starfish-strewn sea
floor.