Night in Tawau,night in Kota kinobalu ???

[sipadan diver]

While in Tawau try the Seafood Market near the water front. It's a night market sort of open air restaurants with lots of sea food, life in tanks as well as on ice - a real delight and almost as good as looking at them underwater

 

[dm_junkie]

Hi,

I am wondering when I look at your question and the answers...KL or KK ?

Anyway, if you really have some spare time in KK, do some local dive, do trekking (at least 2 days one night), night time in KK, seafood is a must. Usually by their local taxi should not be more than RM4. There are afew hotels as mentioned by the various well travelled. If you are on a budget and do not mind a simple stay; try the backpacker's Inn. They actually do help to fetch you and back the airport as well for a mere fee.

If you wish to simply relax for the night and fly off the next day. Try some of their local disco. Really fun and you can see how rich the rich can be...rows of expensive cars. But never forget to try their seafood at the hawker that is cheaper and you will also have a local feel. Those restaurants beside the hotels costs slightly more but you do not get to eat that much of a variety of the exotic seafood as mentioned int he thread.

As for Tawau, there is a hotel or two. Not much to look around in Tawau; probably not much information yet. I've stayed in a hotel but cannot remember; their cost is about RM70 and is located near some local shops just like typical KL double storey rows of shops. Or should I say like Semporna town but larger and scattered. OF course there are some highrise buildings there.

You might want to try one of the local pub that is pretty peaceful and quiet.

Transfers from Tawau to the airport is about 20 min to half hour depending on where you are. As Tawau airport is not as busy; perhaps most taxi's may charge you slightly higher. I took the mini bus offered together in my package with a group of divers so not much to recommend.

Hope that helps.

 

[hallboy]

Coming from europe, i will arrive in KK at the begining of the afternnoon and take a filght early the day after to Tawaw that leave imediately to Sipadan ( mabul ).

On the way back , il will arrive at the end fo the afternoon and sleep in Tawau that i leave early in the morning, directly to Kuala lumpur, where i ll be at the begining ofthe afernoon, ( 1 PM ) and with a connected flight at 22.30( i will have already my boarding pass for the decond flyght and malaysian airlines will have already my bags. )

 

[bubblemonkey]

Hi can someone confirm something for me please..

the flights from KL or Singapore fly into Tawau you then have to get from there to Semporna is that right? why do you have to go to KK?

thanks

 

[malaysia-islands]

Hi can someone confirm something for me please..

the flights from KL or Singapore fly into Tawau you then have to get from there to Semporna is that right? why do you have to go to KK?

thanks

bubblemonkey, there are two parts to your question.

First, Semporna is about 100 km to the east of Tawau. Journey by mini bus (bemo) or airport taxi. Cost varies (I've tried them both).

Second, in general, there aren't many flights that fly directly from KL to Tawau airport. There is no direct flight from Singapore. The rough frequency:

Malaysia Airlines (MH)
KL-Tawau 1x time a day (direct flight)
MH flies KL-Tawau 5x a day (via Kota Kinabalu)

AirAsia (AK)
KL-Tawau 2x a day (direct)
Kota Kinabalu - Tawau 2x a day (direct)
KL - Kota Kinabalu 9x a day

In short, some travelers do find the need to stopover at Kota Kinabalu, be it for a few hours or overnight, prior to flying into Tawau. I guess it boils down to how the travel agent in the originating country books the flight for such traveler.

Semporna used to have a small airport served by rural air service (Fokker 50) but now the airport is closed

 

[malaysia-islands]

Coming from europe, i will arrive in KK at the begining of the afternnoon and take a filght early the day after to Tawaw that leave imediately to Sipadan ( mabul ).

OK, then you should just look up for a place to stay in Kota Kinabalu. There should be plenty of hotels and resorts to choose from. The airport to city centre takes about 15 minutes by taxi.

On the way back , il will arrive at the end fo the afternoon and sleep in Tawau that i leave early in the morning, directly to Kuala lumpur, where i ll be at the begining ofthe afernoon, ( 1 PM ) and with a connected flight at 22.30( i will have already my boarding pass for the decond flyght and malaysian airlines will have already my bags. )

There aren't that many hotels to choose from in Tawau. Belmont Marco Polo, Hotel Emas or Heritage Hotel comes to mind. Distance from town to the airport is about 30 mins.

At KL International Airport, since you are travelling light, just stamp your passport at the immigration. Then take the Express Rail (ERL, RM35 per way) to KL Sentral (train station hub). From there, are plenty of options to use light rail (Putra LRT, KL Monorail) to tour around the city for a few hours. ERL takes 30 minutes from KLIA to downtown KL. You should time your mini detour to downtown KL properly.

 

[bubblemonkey]

Malaysia Islands

sweet thanks, we will probably save a few £s and travel by mini bus to Semporna rather than Fly at least that way we will also get to see a bit of Borneo

one more question : is the only way onto Malaysian Borneo by plane from KL then?

PS..what did you pay roughly for a dive out of sempona.

thanks again


edit : its ok I have just discovered that you can fly from Manilla to KK which is perfect for us.

 

[malaysia-islands]

Malaysia Islands

sweet thanks, we will probably save a few £s and travel by mini bus to Semporna rather than Fly at least that way we will also get to see a bit of Borneo

Thrilled to help. To do the mini bus thingy, you need to transfer from Tawau airport to the town centre. Then look out for places where mini bus (aka passenger vans) with sign placard "Semporna" in front of it. Usually fits in 12-15 ppl and will only depart when it is full (waiting ranges from a few minutes to 1-2 hours). Price? Peanut @ RM5 per person. Obviously there are some +ves and -ves of doing this.

Your pick. Direct airport taxi to Semporna is RM95 per journey (I received email from ScubaJunkie that they can book airport taxi at RM70 per way)

one more question : is the only way onto Malaysian Borneo by plane from KL then?

OK, I stand corrected. I do recall flights from Manila, BKK and Brunei into Kota Kinabalu. There are probably passenger ferries that connect Eastern Kalimantan to Tawau area. But otherwise, from Peninsula of Malaysia, there isn't that many airlines to get to Borneo.

PS..what did you pay roughly for a dive out of sempona.

thanks again

It ranges from RM300-350 for 3 dives inc equipment ex Semporna. Rates based on trips in 07/2002, 01/2003, 05/2006. In recent days, more dive centres are opened. So a few centres quoted me RM300 for 3 dives to islands, not only Sipadan, but Boheyan, Mantabuan, Sibuan, Mabul, Mataking, etc, as well.

 

[bubblemonkey]

again thanks for all your help...

 

[gaudencio]

hi malaysian island,
I also plan to go to sipadan ( the oil rig) this march, Is there any other flight plan that I could get, since I am coming from Manila. A flight going there from davao or whatever.
I only know of is the flight MANILA- KL - TAWAU, OR MANILA - KK- TAWAU.
thnaks,