Lepa Festival 2010 - Semporna (Semporna Trip 2010 - Part II)

This is a continuation from the Regatta Lepa previous post. If you missed it.. Kindly click this link REGATTA LEPA 2010.

Waked up in the morning here in Semporna is what im waiting for. Because the day we came to Semporna was night time already. So didn't manage to see the crystal clear water. I didn't wasting my time in the bed as i saw sunshine under our room. (Dragon Inn was an aboved water resort). Its not a floating resort (even they used floating name).

As you can see in the picture (aboved),
it is very clear and you even can see the seaweed beneath.

Corridor way leads to the reception centre

At the reception centre, you will find this gigantic preserved fish infront.

This angle will you see when u passing by the connecting bridge between the resort and the boardwalk to the Pearl Restaurant.

After going jalan2 around the resort, finally our breakfast time! Having ours at the Pearl Restaurant.. and i found the scenery was quite beautiful with the surrounding of Bum Bum island and the Tun Sakaran Marine Parks in a distance..

Bum-Bum island

The Old-men shaped.. as you can see the head and body.

After breakfast, we went to the Kadaiku booth to erect the Sabah Tourism Destinations nimlock banner and put all the merchandise to sell.

Friend of mine posing infront of the Arch. hehehe...
(nah ada sudah muka ko.. hehe)

Big advertisement of Regatta Lepa 2010 infront of Seafest Hotel, 1 Malaysia

We only managed to see the Keli-Keli qualifying round (a man-maded boat that used by Bajau Laut here in Semporna).

One of the qualifying round.

Back to the booth, i also joined them by promoting the merchandise such as rubber band, t shirt, SMB magazines, Sabah Tourism brochures and many more. I found out that people of Semporna is very friendly and sporting!

Regatta Lepa T's

Semporna Ocean Tourism Centre

The marching band by PDRM (Polis DiRaja Malaysia) troup.

Muslim girl saw I'm enjoying snapping

A lot of tourists came to see the beautiful Lepas being decorated.

The kids enjoying the 'photo-shoot' session, and each one of them brought back the Sabah Tourism brochure... Nice thing about them is they dont just simply take the brochure and they actually asked me for it... Well i said yes.. "Ambil sija.." (Just take it).

Before ending my post, here is the details about the Dragon Inn Floating Resorts.

DESCRIPTION:

The resort is located on Jalan Kastam in the town of Semporna. There are daily flights from KL to Tawau either by AirAsia or MAS.

Dragon Inn is not an island resort by itself. Opened in 1985, it is a popular pit stop for travelers heading to the world famous Sipadan and Mabul. It offers a very distinguished resort experience not many places in Malaysia can offer. The rooms are built on stilts and they have an amazing view of the ocean, Bajau Laut's lepa boats and sunsets.

FACILITIES:

In total, there are about 70 rooms scattered throughout the floating resort. There are 6 VIP rooms, 7 family suites, 33 singles, 16 doubles, 3 longhouse units (each can fit in 18 pax), and 3 dormitory-style units (can fit in 4 pax per unit).

The longhouse and dormitory units are only equipped with fans, but the latter only have shared bathrooms. The single and double rooms are air-conditioned and come with hot shower (though the water pressure was rather abysmal during my visit). The family and VIP suites are definitely larger and located on their own floating chalets. When I stayed at a family room, I also noticed the unit had some sort of a living room with wooden sofa and adequate windows that you can open to enjoy the immaculate sea breeze.

The resort also has a conference hall, a multi-purpose hall, a fabulous seafood restaurant called Restoren Bandar Mutiara and a number of natural aquariums where various types of ocean fish are reared for visitor showcase.

ATTRACTIONS:

Actually, there is almost no reason for anyone to come here except for the world-famous diving spots in Sipadan, and to some extent, Mabul and Kapalai. Daily dive trips can be arranged from Semporna to Sipadan and the boat journey takes about 1 1/2 hours. Considering one usually pays through the nose to stay at Mabul or Kapalai, staying in mainland Semporna isn't exactly a bad idea, especially for yours truly.

Other than that, the daily lifestyle of the local Bajau Laut tribe (or sea gypsy) is worth mentioning. I am always smitten by their exotic lepa boat design and how they associate themselves with the bountiful ocean surrounding them. A quick stroll to the nearby fishing harbour as well as the wet market is quite a spectacle, to say the least. Also, just right before sunset, you can witness the dozens of lepa boats parading themselves home, bringing back daily catch.

A short walk away out from the resort brings you to Semporna town with cheap bargains but the town itself is not entirely clean and organized. At night, you MUST try the floating seafood restaurant (Restoran Bandar Mutiara). Cheap lobster and coral grouper taken fresh from the water and specially cooked for you. Lobster goes for RM50-60 per kg, while grouper goes at about RM40-50 per kg. 4-5 people can enjoy 1-kg of grouper.


PRICING:

The VIP unit starts at RM135 per night, Family (RM88), Single/Double (RM66), Longhouse (RM15 per person) and Dormitory (RM20 per person).

Credit to Malaysia-Islands.com


Dragon Inn Floating Resort contact details:

Address :	No. 1, Jalan Custom, Bandar Semporna, P.O Box 168, 91307 Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia
Phone :	+6089 781088
Fax :	+6089 781099
Email :	info@dragoninnfloating.com.my
Website :	www.dragoninnfloating.com.my

Next post i'll writing about our tour to Semporna new tourism attraction, which is Borneo Semporna Proboscis Centre. Ciao!