Tag Archives: Semporna

Lepa-lepa boat

Regatta Lepa 2008

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For photographers who like to picture the colourful culture of Sabah, the annual Regatta Lepa is definitely on their list. Not only it attracts the locals, many overseas photographers also come to Semporna to see this grand tourism event. I went there in year 2006. Though I almost ended up sleeping on the street, I always come back again.


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There are two main groups of Bajau tribes in Sabah. Land Bajau lives in West Coast, mainly in Kota Belud town, famous as the Cowboys of the East and their Tamu (Native Market). The Sea Bajau lives in East Coast. They spend most of their time on the boat, which known as Lepa-Lepa. Some call Sea Bajau as the Sea Gypsies. Many Sea Bajau were pirates in the past (now no more).


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Lepa-Lepa sails with wind and was the main transport for Sea Bajau to travel among islands. The traditional lepa boat is nicely crafted and about 20 feet long. Bajau loves to use bright colours in their handicraft and textile, and such creativity also relects on their lepa-lepa. Now it has become a cultural heritage of Sabah.


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The dancers, who dressed in traditional Sea Bajau costum, on the lepa-lepa are also the highlight, especially when you see lot of them dance at the same time, under loud music from over 50 lepa-lepa. I took many many photos of them in year 2006. But this year I was using Canon 400D with polariser. I think the outcome is quite good. Probably you can tell me which lepa photo gallery you like better, year 2006 or 2008, or none?


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The event was good. I also have comment on 2 things. The first thing is — the floating rubbish on the sea is really an eyesore. Now we have more and more tourists. We hope they will see the beautiful islands at Semporna, but not an island of rubbish! Not only it gives tourists a bad impression, the junk will pollute the sea and kill the sealife. Compare to 2006, the year I first visited Semporna, it is getting worse. I also need to spend a lot of time to use Photoshop to remove the rubbish appears everywhere in my photos.


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The second thing – hmmm… the “Kiasu” (afraid to lose) advertisement bunting and commercial logo all over the lepa boats. Don’t get me wrong. Personally I really appreciate the sponsors who support the culture. However, if the sponsors are really, seriously sincere in promoting the culture, they should not overdo the ad, which makes our cultural heritage looks like something else. This year we got coffee lepa, noodle lepa, telco lepa and supermarket lepa. Wonder what will come next… Ice-cream lepa? Bank lepa? Or a Detergent lepa? Just my personal point of view. You can say I am conservative or whatever.

Related Post
Photos & Video: Semporna Water Festival, Regatta Lepa 2006

Photos taken in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Kapalai Island

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Everything seemed so perfect when I first met Kapalai Island. I don’t what words to use to describe this beautiful and dreamy destination, so it doesn’t sound like an advertisement, which always lies. May be I will just let my photos speak. By boat, Kapalai Island is about 40 minutes away from Semporna town. It is near to Mabul and Sipadan Islands, the world-class diving sites of Sabah.

200 years ago, Kapalai Island was once a “true” island before it was eroded by the sea. What leaves today is only a stretch of sand bar, which will disappear during high tide, thereby giving it another name “magic island.” I enjoy every moment of staying there.

Below is a “summary” of why I love Kapalai so much:

1. Crystal clear water

The sea water is so clean that you can see the bottom clearly even it is deeper than 10 feet. From my photos, you will see some “dark spots” in the water. Those are the corals and sea weed, the sign of rich underwater life. I better explain this coz some foreigners, who never go to sea, would think it is “dirty” stuff. Since this place is so far away from main land, it is also far from air and noise pollution.


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2. Fishes everywhere, some look delicious

Just look down from the boardwalk. But probably what would amaze you the most are large number of starfishes around the resort. They are so plentiful that they have become a feature here, making the water looks like the sky in the sea.


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Below is a 1-min video of snorkeling in Kapalai:

And you also don’t need to dive deep to see stingray, tiger fish, angel fish… At night you will see them wandering under the light of the jetty and chalets. I even saw a sea turtle passing by.


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3. Meal time

Food is plentiful too, in buffet style. Unlike the restaurants in town, in here seaview is the music, sea breeze is the air-con, sunset is the candle.


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Personally I like the opening in the dining hall, where you can see the fishes below.


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4. Spacious chalet

Very big room, as big as a house, even for 3 guests. You can open all the windows, so you can see the sea when you are on the bed.


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There is a small group of soldiers stationed on the island. They are not there for vacation, but to protect the tourists. I saw them only in late night. Well, it is not that our place is not safe. Consider in any part of the world, there are always politic extremists from other countries, who look for easy target. The presence of armed force nearby will be an added security though we would never use them. At least I could sleep soundly.


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You even can see sea turtles grazing seagrass just next to your chalet, as shown in video below:

5. Water Sport

Don’t you want to jump into its sea water at this point? Yes, you can do snorkeling, swimming, diving and kayaking all day long if you like to. They also have a dive centre on the island. I dived in the Mandarin Valley, about 17 Metres in depth and near to the resort. I saw flamboyant cuttlefish, eel, tiger fish, stone fish and many other macro sea life that I can’t name. Too bad I don’t have an underwater camera, otherwise can show you more. Tell me if you got any good bargain / suggestion for such camera.


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Overall, it is a 5-star experience and I wish to stay longer. Just check out my photos for more.

Sorry for not updating my blog for nearly 2 months. I was extremely busy on a project. I’m sorry that I couldn’t respond to the poke, hug, water bomb… from the Facebook. But if you drop me an e-mail, I will definitely reply.

Photos taken in Kapalai Island, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Regatta Lepa + Water Festival, Semporna

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I was in Semporna from April 14 to 16 coz of the Regatta Lepa. “Lepa” means “boat” in the dialect of east coast Bajau. Semporna’s Regatta Lepa is one of the most popular and colourful annual tourism events. All the hotels there were fully booked and I saw more foreigner tourists than any other events.

The territory of Bajau people is not only limited to the land, as we see in Kota Belud’s Tamu Besar. The Bajau at east coast, someone calls them Sea Bajau or Suluk, is good at sailing too. I consider Bajau got the most colourful culture in Sabah. They like to use bright colours in their costumes, handicrafts and even boat (lepa). In this festival, they decorated their boats with colourful flags, trying to win the first place in Beautiful Lepa Contest.


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After you see my photo gallery, you will understand that why I was willing to “risk” myself sleeping on the street (coz all hotel room fully booked). It was a fruitful and rewarding trip. I took nearly 700 photos in 2 days. Don’t be shocked. Usually I take multiple pictures of the same object, with different angles, timing, distance, camera setting, etc. At the end, I would only like one (or none) of them.

The Lepa boat has existed for several hundreds years. It was mainly used as a public transport in Semporna district, to transfer passengers and goods from island to island, village to village, between Borneo, Sulawesi and Suluk. Now we usually see lepa in wedding ceremony and special occassions such as National Day, celebrations and festival.


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There were more than 50 lepa, each represented a village, participated in this regatta. The colourful boat is not the only thing that makes this event so interesting. Every lepa got its own dancers and band. As early as 8 AM, they already played the gongs and drums, the dancers were wearing colourful traditional Bajau costumes and faked long fingernails, performed on the boats. Just imagine 50 boats made loud noise together. It was so grand and lasted until evening. You may check out my video clip (Format: Windows Media Video, Size: 7 MB, Length: 3:30 minutes) to get the idea.


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Needless to say, I was as excited as a kid, busy taking photos of the lepa and dancers. I particularly like seeing the little girls in their colourful costumes, so adorable and look like doll. I was there for whole day, so I knew they got two set of clothing, one for morning, one for afternoon. They were very cooperative. Everytime I just did a simple eye contact, they would smile and look at my camera.

After the festival was over, the heat was still on. I saw a “Lepa Car” Competition in the stadium when I was on the way leaving the town. So funny… You may check out the photo gallery for more pictures.

Trip to Semporna

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My last destination was the regatta lepa (Bajau’s colorful boat) + water festival in Semporna from April 14 to 16. I was really pissed off. It was supposed to be a comfortable and exciting trip.

I had booked a room in Semporna one month before the event, but when I got there, the hotel told me, “No, there was no room reserved for you. And our room was all full.”

I was very very very angry. I had left my phone number to them earlier. If they need deposit, why they never called me?

I knew I was in deep shit already. The Semporna Water Festival was the peak season, the accommodation might be fully booked. I really wanted to go so I decided to take the risk. The worst scenario was to ask a local if I could stay in his house. After nearly 9 hours of traveling by bus from Kota Kinabalu to Semporna, I arrived Semporna around 5 PM. Of course the first thing I did was to get a room for overnight. I went to over 10 hotels, inn, resorts… and got the same answer, “All room was full until April 16.” The sky was getting dark. At last I came to a lodging house. The owner also said the same thing, full. Then I said, “Really? I could take storeroom. Got or not?” (You see. So hopeless already. I even won’t mind to take haunted room) He looked at me and replied, “I still got a room but it was very small. You wanted to take it?” Well, guess I had no choice then. It was really small (and smelly), enough to fit in one bed and a small fan only. All for RM20 but for one night only. The following night I slept on the chair in that lodging house (RM0. FREE!). Basically, the whole night I hugged my camera like teddy bear, worrying that they got stolen. Practically only half of my brain slept, other half was in alert state. Terrible…

Well, I only can tell you that all my photos is full of blood and sweat. For the Lepa Festival alone, I was exposed under the sunlight for 2 days. I am very patient. I could stay at a site for whole day to make sure I won’t miss anything. Very stressful to my body coz I didn’t sleep well. If possible, I will blog and upload the photos of Lepa Lepa (Bajau’s colorful boat) tomorrow.

Semporna is a town near to the sea. Just like other small towns, the locals are actually quite friendly. I think the main tourist attraction is the Semporna Ocean Tourism Centre. They got “floating” restuarant, inn, etc. The concept is quite similar to Gayana Resort. The whole structure is built on the sea, so you can see corals, seaweed and ocean life from the walkway. On Sunday, there are hundreds of locals gathering and hanging around there. Semporna is famous for 3 things, (1) Lepa Lepa Festival, (2) Seafood, and (3) Diving at Sipadan Mabul Islands. I will talk about lepa lepa tomorrow. Hmmm… I wonder if there is any poker room around for me to pass my time.