Tag Archives: legend

Pom-Pom Island

Pom-Pom Island – looking for bom-bom girls

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Pom-Pom Island is a relatively new destination compared to other islands such as Sipadan and Mabul in Semporna, Sabah. Few people know that Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TSMP), also known as Semporna Islands Park, is the most reachable from Pom-Pom. In fact, TSMP is currently the biggest marine park of Malaysia and has richer marine ecology and biodiversity than Sipadan in terms of macro lives, many new species wait to be named and discovered.


Pom-Pom Island is 45-minute by boat from jetty of Semporna town. There are two accommodations on Pom-Pom. I was going to Pom-Pom Island Resort, the one which operates in environment-friendly manner. Without any fishing village and island residents, tourists enjoy more privacy on Pom-Pom. Don’t confuse Pom-Pom with another island named Bum-Bum.



The white sandy beach and crystal clear sea are as spectacular as other islands in Celebes Sea. Under the hot tropical sun, everyone just can’t wait to jump into sea. We even saw lion fishes and many other fishes under the jetty. To say it in a tacky way, Pom-Pom looks like the picture in dream holiday ad. Visitors can swim, dive, snorkel and kayak around the island.


In case you wonder if Pom-Pom Island has many hot pom-pom girls…


Actually Pom-Pom gets its name from the “Pom-Pom” tree (photo above), which is abundant on the island.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island


We checked in at their activity hall and restaurant (photo above). Welcoming drink was served (but no dancing Pom-Pom girls). It’s very nice that they sent our heavy luggage to our chalet with mini-tractor. I’ve been hearing positive feedback about the excellent service of Pom-Pom. Basically they take care of everything, so you are worry-free. They can even pick you up at Tawau Airport.

Island Chalets




>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island

Of course the most luxurious chalet is the Water Villa built on the sea, and of course I can’t afford it. Anyway, I was busybody a bit and took a few photos of Water Villa (see 4 photos above).

I remember an incident that a hotel put me and my male colleague in a room with honeymoon setting. There is only a transparent glass between the room and bathroom, so I can see what my roommate doing in toilet. I am not that “open-minded”, so I requested the hotel to give us a “normal” room. Well, even if sharing room with wife, I don’t think it’s romantic to see her wiping her butt after doing number 1?


Though I stayed in Beach Villa (photo above), it’s already a 5-star lodging to me. Yes, the chalet has electricity, hot shower, light, fans and air-conditioning, and the room is spacious.


Pom-Pom is a small island that needs only 40 minutes to walk one round, but it’s big enough to have the soil to plant fruits such as Papaya and Dragon Fruit. After sunset, a large number of fruit bats (flying fox) will fly to this island to enjoy the fruits. The big bats are just everywhere after dusk. By the way, they have jogging and cycling tracks on the island.

I went for a bird-watching hunt around the island. The sighting of Barred Rail is reported on this island. This bird species is common in Philippines but it is only recently spotted and added to the list of birds found in Sabah. I was told that it likes to wander in the grass near the fruit garden, but too bad I didn’t see it. I saw other birds such as sunbirds and kingfisher.

You can find a sense of humor in many little things on the island..


Mr. Bean dustbin?


Kampung House? (Village House)

>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island


OMG, a Plate Warmer? This is the first plate warmer I see in Sabah. I love food to be served on warm plate. One thing that Sabah “kopitiam” (Malaysian coffee shop) always make me mildly pissed off is when they give me the plate and spoon that are still wet. I think it is kind of disgusting.


Pom-Pom Island Resort also invests on reverse osmosis (R.O.) plant to use rainwater. It is the only island in Sabah employs such green technology. They also plan to use wind energy in future.

Below is a 2.5-min video about Pom-Pom:

Click Here to watch bigger video.

BOHEY DULANG

From Pom-Pom, you can clearly see Bohey Dulang, one of the islands of Semporna Islands Park.


According to the legend, a notorious Sultan of South Philippines eyed on Arung Salamiah, a beautiful princess lived on Bum-Bum Island, so her parents hid her on Bohey Dulang island. She vanished few days later and people believe that she was hidden by the spirits on the island and turned into fairy. Locals say they could hear her singing and her dog barking during full moon, and even occasionally see her walking on the island.


The romantic story of Arung Salamiah was even played in Sabah Fest 2010.


We dropped by Bohey Dulang island on the first day, not to visit Salamiah, but to look at the giant clam nursery. I blogged about this giant clam nursery before. FYI, you may snorkel here because they release many giant clams in front of the giant clam nursery.


We also checked out the cultivation of abalone on the island. The species of our abalone is relatively smaller.

Our initial itinerary included a 30 to 45 minutes trekking up to the high point of Bohey Dulang (probably Salamiah stood on this hill before?), to get a bird eye view of Tun Sakaran Marine Park. Due to time constraint, we had to cancel the plan, too bad, next time then.

Mantabuan

Later Pom-Pom sent us to Mantabuan Island for snorkeling. Being one of the islands of bio-diversified Semporna Islands Park, we saw so much in only 8 Meters of depth! Luckily coral bleaching does not affect the cooler Celebes Sea of Semporna, so the corals are in great shape. In merely 1 hour of snorkeling, we saw stack horn, brain corals, blue corals, lettuce corals, thorns of stars, huge sea cucumbers, puffer fish, crocodile fishes and 3 Green and Hawsbill Turtles!!! I was told by my friends that they also spotted turtle when they snorkel near the jetty of Pom-Pom in next morning. A scuba diver also said that she found 13 turtles in the sea in front of the jetty.


Above: Mantabuan Island

The sea current was not strong and the visibility was about 9 Meters. To see more, you can join scuba diving to see the precious black corals in deeper water. It’s about RM365 (USD$110) for 2 boat dives, permit fee and rental of dive equipments. Pom-Pom Island Resort has a dive center.

Night Patrol

Another feature of Pom-Pom is the night patrol for sighting of turtle laying eggs. The staffs of Pom-Pom were trained as the wildlife warden, so they know the right steps and measures on conservation of sea turtles. The nesting records will be submitted to WWF and Sabah Wildlife Department. The guests were offered a night walk with the guides around 8pm.


No turtle nest found during my stay. I only saw a ghost crab on the beach. The luck was not with us that night.


If any turtle nests on Pom-Pom, for better survival rate, the staffs will collect the eggs and move them to a protected turtle hatchery next to the dive center. The eggs will hatch after 2 months and the baby turtles will be released back to the sea. The staff (Sally) told us the number of eggs of Green Turtles and Hawsbill Turtles are nearly equal. FYI, you can sponsor the nest.


Before we departed on second day, two turtles showed up near the jetty, as if they were saying goodbye to us.

To know more about Pom-Pom Island, you may visit their website at:
http://pompomisland.com
They also have an interesting and updated blog.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island

Photos taken in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Linangkit Cultural Village, mysterious past of Lotud people

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Linangkit Cultural Village (LCV) is located in Kampung Selupoh (Selupoh Village) in Tuaran, about 40 minutes drive from Kota Kinabalu. Linangkit is a unique form of needle work and handmade decorative embroidery using interlacing knots. It is used to decorate and join seams by Lotud, who is a sub-ethnic of Kadazandusun and have a population of nearly 10,000, most reside around Tamparuli, Telipok and Tuaran areas.

LCV offers a platform to display the colorful culture and mystical history of Lotud tribe. Lotud is very famous in their skillful weaving, and personally I think their traditional dress is one of the most beautiful and elegant costumes in Sabah. That’s why the Lotud dress is the favorite choice for beauties who compete in the annual Harvest Festival Queen beauty pageant (Unduk Ngadau).


>> Click Here to see more photos of Linangkit Cultural Village

With striking red, gold, silver, white and black colors of the dress, Lotud girls always become the center of attention and most photographed target in any cultural fair.


Same as other indigenous people of Sabah, Lotud people also live in longhouse, but the difference is – each Lotud longhouse only hosts one family. The longhouse in LCV is in fact a “treasure house” with many antique items of Lotud people.

Linangkit Cultural Village (LCV) is open daily from 9am to 6pm for tourists, but you are advised to contact them (Tel: +60 88-787382, Mobile: +6013-8803738 / +6012-8667236 (Mrs. Alice Tee Jilan)) at least 3 hours in advance to make prior arrangement (for guided tour, food, cultural show, etc.).


>> Click Here to see more photos of Linangkit Cultural Village

You may watch the video below to look at the surrounding of LCV.

Click Here to see wider video.

Upon arrival, you will be taken to a traditional Dusun Lotud longhouse, where you could gain better understanding of the culture and the lifestyle of the Lotud. The house has a good collection of ritual tools used by Tantagas, the traditional priestesses of Lotud. Nowadays, many indigenous people are converted to Christians and Muslims, so the mystical practices is gradually fading.

There are many interesting items inside the longhouse. A guide will tell you the story behind each item. Actually, they don’t allow photo taking in exhibition area, so I only list a few here…


For example, the hundred-year-old “Gusi” jars above are for housing the spirits of the ancestors. Lotud would appease them regularly. Many heard strange noise or human voice in the jars at night.


Above: an accessory for warrior. They believe this gives them strength and magical power.


Above: a symbolic ritual tool used by Tantagas as a “torchlight” to see in “other” world.


Above: Lotud was once a headhunter. Each hair cluster means one head.


Above: they have good collection of old decor and items, which remind me of the era of my grandfather.

There are lot more stuffs. I’ll let you to find out there.



Above: they also have the longest linangkit in Malaysia.
>> Click Here to see more photos of Linangkit Cultural Village


By the way, do not forget to chew some betel nuts and smoke the local tobacco, to perfect your cultural adventure.




After the tour in longhouse, depend on your package, they may take you to the activity hall to watch cultural show and enjoy local delicacies.




You will love the delicious food at LCV.
>> Click Here to see more photos of Linangkit Cultural Village

As I am always attracted by pretty Lotud girls, they teach me how to spot a single by looking at their costumes. Look at the photos below. You may flirt with the Lotud girls that wear belt that has no black color (first photo).

But if you see black color in their belt, that means she is not available (see photo below).

Please visit Linangkit Cultural Village to see the most beautiful tribe of Sabah today!


>> Click Here to see more photos of Linangkit Cultural Village

Photos taken in Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Long Pasia – Rapid Shooting (part 2 of 6)

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Continued from Part 1…

DAY 2 – AN EVENTFUL DAY

It’s a cold morning in Long Pasia, so cold that all the chicks seek for warmness under the belly of their mother hen. After a heavy breakfast, we got ready for a long trip to Fefukan Waterfall. The journey will start with 3-hour of rapid shooting (river cruise) on Matang River (Sungai Matang) to Lelawid camp, then a 4-5 hours of jungle trekking (about 10 KM).


>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia


Click Here to see bigger video

Rapid Shooting

At 8:30am, we gathered at the riverside next to the village. When I saw our boat transport, I felt apprehensive. It’s a wooden long boat powered by an engine at the rear. To me, it is only a bit better than a bamboo raft and its wobbly body does not instil any confidence at all. For newbie who tries to stand on this boat, there is a 90% chance he will fall into river within 3 minutes. The slightest wrong move seems to be able to capsize this boat.


Above: gather at riverside


>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

We loaded our backpacks onto the boats then we departed. To keep the boat balance and stable, everyone must sit still in the center. It sounds easy but my butt hurt in long hours of cruising, and I have to shift my weight occasionally (right and left butt haha).

Besides a boatman who controls the engine at the rear, there is a navigator at the front. He will read the river for a safer route and use his long pole to push the boat away from bumping into boulder or to hold the boat in strong current. Only person with strong muscle and balancing skill can handle such tasks.


>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

It was quite a smooth ride on Matang River. I enjoyed the cool breeze and beautiful riverine forest view along the river. At first I worried that the water would splash my camera, but very soon I took out my camera and started shooting. For birds, I saw egrets, heron and stork-billed kingfisher. The river is a bit murky but cold and clean.


Click Here to see bigger video

As you can see in the video above, later our wooden boat proved that it’s the best river transport. We got around fallen log, went against stream, moved between rocks, and cutting through numerous rapids. There were a few times we had to get into the water and push the boats over shallow river. After 1.5 hour, we stopped briefly at the monument of Prince Henrik from Denmark, who camped there in year 2002.


>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

Ancient Burial Site

At 11am, we stopped by an ancient burial site next to the river. There are more than 10 “coffin” jars scattered inside the forest. We also found fragment of human skulls and bones. It is a traditional practice for our ancestors to bury the dead inside a big jar, and then they will move the bones into smaller jars. And most of these jars are from China hundred years ago. It is not too hard to tell that the jars are “Made in China” coz some have figure of dragon on them. I am not an expert on antique. I only know jars and ceramics of Ming and Qing Dynasties were widely traded in Borneo in the past.


>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

Batu Narit – the Love Rock

We went on with our rapid shooting. 15 minutes later, a white boulder caught my attention coz its color looked different from other boulders. And I was right. The guide brought us to the opposite side of this boulder and we saw unusual circular carving on the surface.

Lait told me that according to the carbon dating done by a local university, the age of the carving is about 600 years old. The carving is so smooth that they wonder what kind of tool was being used. Based on the legend of Lundayeh, it is a finger-drawing by Upai Semarin, an ancestor giant with super natural power. Another version is – it was carved by a man who missed his deceased wife, so romantic…


>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

This boulder seems to have life (or you may call it my superstitious feeling). I touched it and the surface is a bit soft. Personally, I think it is possible to produce such carving if we use wood with rounded-tip to scratch the rock surface persistently. This historical remnant really needs protection coz the algae is slowing eroding the rock face.

Lunch Break

When we were getting closer, there was a rapid almost every 50 Meters. Oh yes, we reached Lelawid, the starting point of our jungle trekking, at 12pm. It is next to a convergence point of two rivers and they lay a fishing net across the river (you will know what we got later).


Above: laying fishing net


>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

Later we will need to walk about 4 to 5 hours in jungle to Fefukan Waterfall, so we have our lunch at the riverside first. It is like a picnic, so fun. We had some Long Pasia rice, with curry and hot dog. What I like the most is the small and salty “Ikan Sawah” fish. It’s so soft that you can eat its bone.


Above: Long Pasia rice with salty Ikan Sawah fishes

At last, the toughest activity of the trip is about to start… We will walk to the Fefukan Waterfall campsite.


Above: get ready for jungle trekking

>> Read Next Article (Part 3)

Photos taken in Long Pasia, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Impian Lake, a lake made by volcano

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Sabah does not have many natural lakes. The 20-Acre Impian Lake (Tasik Impian) in Kunak is a very special one because it was a volcano crater about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago.


Even though the volcano had long extinguished, the underground thermal activity is still carried on. There is a hot spring just behind the mountain.


Impian means “Dream” in Malaysia language. It is indeed a beautiful lake. The lake view is just not so “Sabah”. Most lakes I saw around Sabah are small, murky and covered with green algae (due to pollution).


Impian Lake also plays a part in shaping the human history of Sabah. If I heard the guide correctly, this lake was used to be a river, but later its exit point was blocked and it became a lake. The water stopped flowing to a very important archeological site of Sabah, i.e. Tingkayu, one of the most advanced civilizations during that time. The Tingkayu Lake dried up, so the people was forced to move to Madai.


Impian Lake is inside the Mostyn Oil Palm Plantation, a private land under Sime Darby. The company turns this area into a golf course and builds a resthouse (Lake View Resthouse) for the members. They do a great job to maintain the area.


The yellow floating plant is Salvinia molesta from South America. It looks pretty but it’s an invasive water weed that spells disaster to the lake ecology, because it can deplete the oxygen of the lake water, threatening the fishes and aqua-animals in the water. They are trying to remove it.


Thanks to Sime Darby for keeping this lake and didn’t destroy it for development.


You would see a big crocodile skull inside the Lake View Resthouse. It is facing the Impian Lake, where it was belong to. The older generation still remember that in 1966, a white man jogged around Impian Lake and saw a white crocodile. He took out his rifle and shot it. After the white crocodile died, it rained so heavily that this area was flooded for 2 days. The people of Borneo believe that white crocodile is the avatar of the supernatural force and they should not harm the white crocodile (or they will be punished by natural disaster).

Photos taken in Kunak, Sabah Malaysia

Sabah Fest 2009 – Mystical Sabah

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Late, late, late… yes, I am late by a month to blog about the Sabah Fest 2009 (was held in May 2-3). Anyway, I am glad to be online again coz right after Sabah Fest, I was sick for 2 weeks. Even now, it really drains my energy to choose and touch-up 120 photos for this blog.


Click Here to see more photos of Sabah Fest 2009 >>

Sabah Fest received great response this year and the seats were almost full (in 2008 most bloggers said it was boring). There were so many bloggers came to photograph the event too. The next few days on the Net, I found about 30 blog about Sabah Fest. The show was extended one more night (May 4) for the Prime Minister. Many politicians are already singing and dancing with his 1Malaysia concept. Well, if this gimmick is not about equality, it is rubbish then. When you ask our tourists comment about Sabah, for sure they will say they are impressed by the friendliness of Sabahans, and how they live together in peace. So it is a good idea Najib came to Sabah to learn how different races live in harmony.


Click Here to see more photos of Sabah Fest 2009 >>

“Mystical Sabah” is the theme for Sabah Fest 2009, an annual cultural show that put our vibrant and diversified traditional heritage on stage. The best thing is – there is no stupid protocol such as listening to uninspiring tissue-paper-length speech of the ministers. There were a few new creative elements, and I like the opening. You could some rare display of rituals and ceremonies. Before most population of Sabah was converted to Christians and Muslims, black and white magic prevailed in the land below the wind. People relied on priestesses for medicinal service, cleansing and blessing, and these priestesses can travel in spiritual world. Even today, this is not the thing that you can laugh at.


Click Here to see more photos of Sabah Fest 2009 >>

The most impressive costume display is probably the brass neck and leg rings wore by Rungus women as a symbol of beauty. I’ve heard about this “antique” but first time seeing it. They can be the last generation wearing these. Of course the young is no longer wearing these heavy stuffs.

Dusun Lotud also had some nice exhibition of their rituals tools and medium. The Suluk Sandakan dancers, who performed on stage, told me that they learn the dance coz of interest, not for making a living. How nice we still have young people who are proud of their culture and pass on the heritage.


Click Here to see more photos of Sabah Fest 2009 >>

Last year I missed the Sabah Fest in Sabah Museum, of course I didn’t miss it this time. The Mystical Sabah still carried on and I got an up-close look of the cleansing rituals. Though those were demo, they were so real and creepy. For example, the Rungus redeemption ceremony to cure the sick by slaughtering a chicken. They cut off the chicken head and burn its body on the fire. Without head, the chicken still struggled in the fire. For the weak-hearted, this bloody scene can make them very sick.


Click Here to see more photos of Sabah Fest 2009 >>

However, many arrogant modern people sneered when talking about the spiritual world. They say they will never believe this unless they see this with their eyes. Being skeptical about unproven facts are good, but overly count on science will blind us too. The spiritual power could be an energy that yet to be undiscovered. In science, anything that can’t be quantified by math formula is wrong, and you can’t use a 3D ruler to measure a 4th dimension world.

Related photo albums:
Sabah Fest 2006
Sabah Fest 2007
Sabah Fest 2008

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Sook

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Sook is a small town near to Keningau, a interior district. I know Sook was once a lumbering town, and you can see along the way that there is not many dense forest left.

After all the forest was clear and all the timber companies left with billions of dollars, there is nothing much left for the people of Sook. The area remains remote and backward, looks like a 1950s countryside. 70% of houses are built from wood and the road is covered with gravel. We saw many students went to school with car 11 (on feet) and felt sorry about the cloud of dust stirred wild by our cars. The KK students are so lucky.

Without much resources, tourism would be the only mean to help this town to grow and develop. I saw some forest replantation programme scattered along the road. However, I also found that oil palm was replacing hill paddy. No doubt very soon the roadside in Sook will look like the feature-less roadside, which is full of oil palm other than replanted forest, like Tawau and Lahad Datu.

The old legend of a village can be an attraction. There is a rock named Loyang in Sinar Baru Village of Sook. Loyang means Male in Murut language.

The locals believe that the rock was formed from a wild boar in the old day. Well, it doesn’t look like boar anymore due to the water erosion. But it seems to be a foreigner object in the river.

They said in the past, there were two hunters got a wild boar. One of them cleaned it and removed its organs next to this river. It was a rainy day, so this guy went away to get his friend to help. When they both came, the wild boar was gone and there was a new big rock there, so they thought the boar was turned into this rock.

They also say its underside is hollow. You can find a hole when you swim under it. The people think whoever plays with this rock can get cursed. So next time you see a big rock in the river, don’t pee on it then. An elder villager was interviewed about this story.

Along the road of Sook, I saw many small wooden huts near the road side. I was told that these were the graves of Murut. Some of them are hundred years old. They don’t seem to have a centralized graveyard, so you could see a small group of graves for every few KMs. Some mixed with the Christian graves, probably belong to those converted Muruts.

Most of them are decorated with interesting color motive, with name and date of deceased written on it. If you see the photo below, you would see the soil piled up like a pyramid in the hut. I wonder what it means. I saw some huts got flowers hanging in it. The interior is just like another world to me.

Imagine there is no street light and you walk along this road at night… creepy.

Photos taken in Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Mari-Mari Cultural Village

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“Mari-Mari” means Come Come in Malay. This new cultural village is located in Kionsam of Inanam and received many positive feedback from tourists. There are five indigenous houses in the village for you to see how Sabah ethnic groups, i.e., Murut, Bajau, Dusun, Rungus and Lundayeh lived in their past. The air there is fresh, maybe the village is inside the forest and next to Kionsam River.


Above: tourists try Lihing the local rice wine


Above: experience traditional Bajau mock wedding

Tourists are presented the traditional way of bamboo cooking, rope making, tree bark processing (for making Murut’s cloth), blowpipe making, etc. You also can try out the traditional food and even experience their activities such as blowing blowpipe and smoking local cigarette.


Above: trying lansaran (wooden trampoline) in Murut headhunter longhouse

The guide will bring you to visit each houses and explain the ancient lifestyle. Some “staircases” are quite steep. As a local, I find that I know so little about our cultures. At the end of the tour, you can enjoy the performance of traditional dances and lunch after that.


Above: watch out for chicken dropping above your head

You may try the local cigarette. My grandmothers likes to make her own cigarette by rolling tobacco into dry leaf. The taste is light and not as strong as commercial cigarettes, though it has no filter.


Above: starting fire with bare hands and bamboo in less than a minute


Above: guests are invited to try bamboo dance

The most interesting part for tourists is probably getting a tattoo. They demo the traditional method to create a tattoo.

Then visitors also can ask them to tattoo a favourite figure on their skin. They use something creamy to draw the tattoo and it will leave a stain that can last for a few days (not permanent). Not sure if you can ask them to draw tortoise on your arm.

Besides Mari-Mari, Monsopiad Cultural Village in Penampang also offers the similar things. If you ask me which one I like better, it is hard to answer coz both have its uniqueness. The best of Monsopiad is its House of Skulls, a real historic heritage, but Mari-Mari gets better cultural experience. FYI, Mari-Mari does not take walk-in tourists, so you need to book the tour in advance.

Photos taken in Inanam, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Kampung Minyak (Oil Village)

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Kampung Minyak is the main reason I visited Kudat last month. I had seen hot water (hot spring) and mud (mud volcano) coming out from the ground, but I haven’t seen petroleum does that. The oil seepages are inside a tidal mangrove swamp nearby the Kampung Minyak (Oil Village). It is quite accessible, though you have to drive through a few KM of gravel and muddy road and take a 5 minute walk in a jungle trail to reach there.

Oil seepages of Kampung Minyak

The oil seepages of Kampung Minyak Village are inside a mangrove

From the photo above, you can see that there are 3 oil seepages. They are basically the same thing but look a bit difference to one another. The water at the left is darker. The one in middle is filled with murky water, probably due to the soil washed in by the rain. The one at the right is the biggest one and supposed to be the most active one. Because of vast amount of oil, the tar on top becomes harden, forming a layer of hard bitumen that seals the opening.

The smell of gasoline is quite strong here. At first impression, these wells look like the smelly ponds formed after a heavy rain around an greasy car junkyard. You can see oil films and lot of oil droplets on the water. And there are bubbles constantly float to the surface, suggest the presence of earth activity. I presume each bubble carries thin amount of oil and gas.

The surrounding soil of the seepages is greasy because of the oil deposit. They told me that in early 1900, strange black liquid seeping out from the earth astounded local community and they turned the site into a sacred ground.

Colorful reflection of oil slick

According to the research by Joanes Muda: “village elders used to offer animal sacrifices for various reasons such as for healing from illness and for protection from diseases and other calamities. One-month old newborns were also brought to the area for anointing on the forehead with the black liquid. During those days, anyone visiting the site had to sacrifice a chicken and consumed it there.” (Source: Oil seepages at Kampung Minyak, Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia 56 (2010) 49 – 52)

During World War II, the Japanese also tried to mine the oil here. Then they stopped suddenly because many of them died from a mysterious sickness. Another story says that the Japanese cooked with the oil, then the rice turned into sand in the following day.

Hopefully someone can do a detail documentation about its history, as I think the stories can be far more interesting than the little oil seepages.

The oil seepages still active and release gas and oil

There was oil company had surveyed this place. May be the reserve of the fossil fuel was not big enough for them to mine it.

Greasy soil next to oil seepage

According to them, this biggest oil seepage (see below) is very deep. Nobody knows how deep it is. They used measuring stick up to 100 feet but still didn’t touch the bottom. The tar is solid to stand on, even though you can feel that it is soft underneath.

The oil seepages of Kampung Minyak Village are inside a mangrove

They also build a shelter and 50-feet boardwalk at the site. If you go there, do take a look at the beautiful mangrove trees there. In fact, there was a team of Italy TV crew went there to document the place.

Boardwalk to the oil seepages

Photos taken in Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo