Mabul Village Escapade!

Beach at the resort

The first night I was on Pulau Mabul I ended up having a few drinks with a group that included a couple of guys who were working on the island as divemasters.  They were mixing their own drinks after purchasing the vitals from the bar.  Tanduay rum, ice and coke.  They said you can buy the bottle from the bar, once the bartender gets to know you, or from a guy in the village you just have to ask around.  The next day after my three dives around Mabul armed with a bit of curiosity and a small sense of adventure I go for a wander around the village with the vague hope of finding the man who sells a bottle of rum for the same price as I could buy beer for.  Doubtful that I would find my target I was inspecting all the fruit and coconut trees and trying to determine if they were cultivated and the fruit sold or if they just happened to be there.  Upon passing a house the owner asked me if I would like to have a young coconut, and his daughter said "special price 5 ringgit for you".  I think to myself, okay 5RM not much compared to what I'm spending here anyway, why not?  So I agree and the man sends his son up the tree to retrieve a coconut.  Despite the tree being notched in a couple spots the climb still looked difficult and was impressive, just the show was worth 5 ringgit I thought.  While I was drinking this juice, 3 or 4 cupfuls I of course made conversation.  His name was Dennis, he was born in 1951, his daughter said she likes my tall nose and thinks I'm very handsome, he is a carpenter, his son is also 24 and an electrician.  They asked about my home, I told them how cold it can be and how far from the ocean I live, these are two facts that I find amaze people the most, because they truly are the most striking differences between Canada and a tiny tropical island.  Even though nobody I had asked so far knew what I was talking about to help find the Tanduay Rum I thought it couldn't hurt to ask once more.  Not only did he know where I should go, right next door, but he also wouldn't accept any money for the coconut milk. 

Resort's Jetty one of my best dives was off the end of it

I bid Dennis and his family farewell and tentatively approached the next house.  I was shown in and asked about the Tanduay, the man of the house sent a girl to get a bottle, opened one that had been sitting on the table, poured a measure into a glass and gestured for me to sit.  This was all done on less than a dozen words between us.  After I tested a bit of the rum straight a bottle of water was produced to mix with the rum, my question of how much I should put in was met with silence.  I nearly filled the rest of the glass and this produced a chuckle, apparently more water than I should have used.  I struggled to make conversation, and was met mostly with minimal answers and no questions in return although their english seemed quite good.  After asking at what age people usually start to drink or be allowed to drink, it occurred to me to tell a story, even though I was unsure of how much they understood of my english so far.  The story that occurred to me is how grandpa taught us to drink, or more accurately appreciate, Scotch Whiskey. It went something like this.

"When I was very young, only 12 or 13, my grandpa taught us to drink Scotch, Whiskey, you know?" (nods)  "One bottle, very old, very nice, one bottle regular, my grandpa drink all the time like this. (gesture to rum) - First he gives old, nice one.  Small sip. YUCK! bleh and a funny face.  Next he gives regular, Yeck, bleh, wooooooooblooohooohoohoo ten times worse faces than before.  Then old, good one again, hmmm okay not bad."

This is Sea Ventures ex-oil rig turned dive resort

Since the story is essentially Good whiskey, regular whiskey, good whiskey and lots of funny faces I fancy it was a bit of a hit.  After this they asked me more questions and also said more about themselves too.  Sarim was the one who was selling me the rum, the other two men I have forgotten their names.  One told me that he comes to drink at Sarim's every day after work until he sleeps, he told me he was an engineer with one of the resorts - he tells people how to build things so they don't fall down, he told me his sister thinks I'm handsome - I thought I should get out of the village before my ego got too big.  The other was a carpenter who works with Dennis, and Sarim works on a seaweed farm - aquaculture.  He told me these farms are usually near mangroves where the waters are usually calm and less than 10m deep.  He also told me that he sometimes plays his guitar on the beach in front of the Scuba Junkie resort.  When I told him I am learning the harmonica he got very excited.  Since I am in the habit of carrying one everywhere I happened to have it with me and since we were already on the third round of generous measures I was just drunk enough to be coaxed into a small performance.  I performed my entire repertoire of "Lavender's Blue" (from my learn to play book), Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and my adaptation of Great Big Sea's "Boston and St. John's" for an extremely appreciative audience - the biggest I've allowed to date.  Sarim tried to get me to stay for dinner, insisted I sample some of the soup, which seemed to be either lamb or pork seasoned beautifully with ginger, lemongrass and garlic.  He also tried to purchase my harmonica from me as they are hard to come by on Mabul and even in Semporna, I told him I had two at the moment, one being the one I played the most the other having sentimental value due to being a gift from a friend.  I couldn't make up my mind at the moment so I told him I would have to come back.  I finally managed to take my leave shortly after seven o'clock as dinner would have already been served at the resort.  Slightly stumbling through the dark on uneven paths I managed to find the main bulk of the village and from there the beach in front of the resort.  I was amazed by my fortune at having met these people and received their hospitality.  I later found it very odd how when I told this story to other travellers at the resort they found it to sound very adventurous.  I just went for a walk, looked around and then was friendly when someone started talking to me.

The day before I left the island I managed to find my way back to Sarim's place, unfortunately he wasn't home, but I hope he was excited when he returned to find he had a new instrument to learn.  It was easy as I thought it would be to replace the device when I was in Kota Kinabalu as I found a music shop by accident while I was walking around.

Sunset - the west side of the island was chock-a-block with village and resort huts

I was a bit surprised by the fact that most of the other tourists at the resort didn't go out and explore the village.  I suppose I only did because I didn't have anyone to hang out with in the time between the last dives and dinner (4-7pm) for the first few days.  My single venture turned into a great story!