Mantanani Island🏝🌅

Hey guys,

Time flies so fast and more than half of my trip is already over 😢

The travel day from Tioman to Borneo/Kota Kinabalu was fortunately less hectic than expected. My schedule was quite tight as I had to catch the evening flight from Singapore and the immigration from Malaysia seemed to be very time-consuming. There was an alternative flight from a nearby airport, which, after some consideration, seemed just as tight but definitely the better solution. As luck would have it, I met a Malaysian at the bus station who came from Tioman just like me and needed to go to Senai Airport. So we decided to go there together and share a taxi from the bus stop. With his help as an interpreter, the bus driver let us out halfway and that secured my flight.

My destination is the small island of Mantanani in Sabah/Borneo, which can only be reached once a day with a private speedboat from Kota Kinabalu. So I will spend the night in a hostel near the meeting point and leave early the next morning. The one-hour journey with the speedboat is quite challenging, we are rocked heavily and occasionally hit high waves.

But when land finally comes into sight, I can already see how beautiful it will be. We arrive at Pulau Mantanani Besar, the largest of the three Mantanani islands.

It's truly fantastic here. The turquoise water and white sandy beach make this place a paradise. Swimming can be compared to a pool.

😍

I will spend the first three nights in the backpacker hostel. I share the "dormitory" hut with only one other guest, a super nice Dutch guy. The huts are right by the water and you can hear the sound of the sea.

Hot water and electricity are only available between 7 PM and 6 AM (but only if you're lucky) and the Wi-Fi has only worked once so far. To be honest, in the first few hours, I thought that even the mobile network wouldn't reach here, but it was just because my phone couldn't find the network. I had already imagined what it would be like to live a week without WhatsApp, Instagram, and Google... The horror scenario in my head was not having a way to let anyone know that I arrived safely and my mom, out of despair, would call the German Embassy in Kuala Lumpur... In the evening, suddenly I had 4G on my phone and everything was fine again, although a digital detox would certainly be very interesting as well🤔

In total, I will spend a week here, so there is plenty of time to relax and unwind (you all know how busy my daily life is right now😋).

I don't wake up too early in the morning, I enjoy the Asian breakfast consisting of noodles and then settle into one of the hammocks where I spend the next few hours. I read, doze off, and listen to the sound of the sea😍 In between, I eat loads of Oreo cookies and listen to the Spotify playlist "This is Kygo" for the 47th time. I really feel great here and I'm looking forward to the next few days in this idyllic environment.

One thing that caught my attention in a negative way is the partially littered beaches. When taking a walk, you can see plastic bottles and old chip bags, which bothers me as an environmentally conscious person. Snorkeling day trips are offered, which bring in a lot of Chinese tourists and unfortunately a lot of trash to the beaches...

Tomorrow, I will move to a different accommodation. It's only a 15-minute walk away, but with my backpack, it will certainly be a small challenge 😅

Sending you relaxed greetings☀️

Your Brownie Mary