We paid a visit to the imam who is also the village head ( ketua kampong) of Maiga very tiny village of about ten huts, who has been ailing sick and bedridden for a while. It felt really touching to see him lying on his bed suffering and still extend his hospitability for his wife and son to give us drinks. Bless him.

The journey took us from Brunei to KK  with one nite spend at KK and then Tawau the next morning. On arrival, we met up with the Ted Adnan crew from KL who arrived earlier .

The road journey from Tawau airport to Semporna took about more than an hour through hills and palm plantations. My first impression of Semporna is a small fishing town, a reminiscent of old BSB in the 1980′s and with shophouses and a mosque in the town centre. Our first stop was Seafest hotel, the only high rise building in this town right infront of the fisherman’s pier and market. Dinner was at Semporna resort that evening a session to get to know each other with Ted Adnan and Rabani, a renowned photojournalist. Semporna resort was a start of a good evening with many photo op with various subjects against the setting sun.

The next morning we set out on a huge boat to the  sea, first stop is the Bajau’s or sea gypsy village at Omaga.

After a good 2 hours here, we then went to atoll island, Busungan inhabited only a handful villagers . Lunch was a short stop at Kapalai Sea Resort, a 6 star resort with modern huts and a popular place for the avid divers and holidayers in middle of the sea. Apart from having its own diving PADI centre, Kapalai has its own impressive waste recycling technology and water salination system, with flushing toilets and running water in the middle of the sea. Each hut has its own glass flooring that open up to the view of coral floor below. Beautiful.!

After the buffet lunch and exploring, we left Kapalai for Mabul island where we will stop for the nite at Jeff’s scuba place. Mabul is an island with several cheap homestay for the back packers and budget travellers as an lternative to the expensive resort. Mabul also has also its own 5 star resort.

Mabul is an island of a small village community. It has also its own police post which is the base-camp for all the islands around Semporna.  Sunset was a beautiful serenity….

The main one being  my mum admitted to ER (RIPAS) and end up staying for 4 weeks in May.  It was a wake up call for the family, for me and most of all for her. It was emotional for me and  I bet my siblings too, seeing   mum, treated with daily doses of medications administered intravenously. She’s recovered and feeling better now with her weekly therapy session. We and especially her looks at life with a different view, eating healthy, staying healthy; which is a good thing that comes out of all of it.

More can be found on my Flickr.

A recent work from my studio, STUDIO+360;  The make-up on Savannah is by a very young upcoming and talented make-up artist, Ina Alimin who I have come to do several collaborations with in the past couple of months. The beautiful model here is Savannah Harris who is simply stunning and I must say very professional.

Stay Safe………….