Mabul, we didn't expect

day 8 1, May

Last day on the Mabul Island.

As is always the case, divers get to know each other, and exchange information. 2 people on the same diving team told us that you can go walk on the island. One of them ( an intelligent couple from KL ) told us that the inhabitant of the filthy village is either Indonesians or Philippines, but definitely not Malaysians. I was very curious what was going on the island, since it was very obvious that 100 meters away, economical difference is 10 times or more. On the water village, people spend US$ 200 per night, and just over there, US$ 200 seemed like their annual income.

Well, so we went , off the water village and into the Mabul Island. I left everything in my room so that I wouldn't get robbed.

Ok, so this is what the people on Mabul Island is seeing everyday. Their house = a boat ( which probably is a residence for more than 6 people ) and the water village that we'd been staying at.

Kids everywhere. Some kids had no clothes on.

One of these kids came up to me and said, " hello, money" while sticking his hand toward me for money. I just had to tell him the truth. " I don't have anything", but my husband did. He happened to carry a small bag of snack with him. Kankichi gave that small bag to a small kid. Small kid seemed to be very very pleased, but he only had that bag for about 5 seconds. The bigger kid took it from him...

What do the parents do for living ? They seemed to be fishermen, wives tend to be a sales women at their own shop like this. If you are wealthy enough, you'll get to have a shop like this, and sell shark's bone, sea shell, and corals. Yes, CORALS ! It seems as if they broke the corals just to sell it here. One European guy who was on the same diving boat was furious about this fact, but these people got to live, right ? It may be better if someone told the village people that divers are not interested in purchasing those corals, instead divers want to see them underwater, so start selling something else !

Total spent time in the village: approximately 20 minutes. I couldn't bare being there longer.

After coming back from the village, we packed our diving gears and got ready to leave the island. We did a good job in packing that we started to drink in the bar while waiting for the boat to pick us up.

We got to talk to the bartender (whose always very busy at night) . He told me that he was from the Philippines, and some of the other members of the staff were, too. Most of the staffs are from Malaysia, and some are from the Mabul Island, but not from the village we'd visited. He said that there's a decent housings ( where he and other staffs live) on the other side or the island and even a school.

We left the resort with great memories of diving, but a bitter feeling lingered. Living on a paradise island that divers dream of, is not necessarily a paradise.