Staying at a Hotel Over the Ocean off the Coast of Borneo

travelstheworld (54)in #travel • 6 years ago (edited)

Hello Steemians!

A few months ago my girlfriend and I were traveling around Sabah province of Malaysian Borneo and while looking for a place to stay I stumbled across a budget over water hotel about 10km from Semporna out on the open ocean. The price seemed to good to be true so we emailed them and sure enough it was legitimate, so when we booked 2 nights and when we got to Semporna we were picked up at the jetty and we were off.

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Sunsets were so beautiful here

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A view of the rooms

Lato-Lato

Normally I am not a fan of all inclusive resorts but I had never stayed in an over water bungalow and the price couldn't be beat so we kind of had to do it. The resort included 3 meals, free drinks, free snorkeling gear, and a queen room for $35USD/person. The meals were traditional Malaysian with fresh seafood every night and the rooms were clean and spacious and the bathroom off the back of the room was open air with a view of Pulau Bum Bum. Obviously for the price the place isn't the Ritz but it was everything a backpacker could hope for and more. The resorts name is Lato-Lato and they have capacity for about 20 people so we had a lot of mixed company which was nice because all the meals were served family style.

The view from the room

The dock leading to the rooms

The view from the water

What We Did

A whole lot of nothing! Seriously, we were out in the middle of the ocean for 2 days and all we did was relax. Like I said before there was free snorkeling gear so when the tide was high we did a lot of that in the surrounding reefs , which were chock full of starfish and all types of fish. But mostly we just spent our time relaxing in the beach chairs, reading and taking in the surroundings. After a few weeks of carrying our bags from place to place it was a welcome period to relax, kick our feet up and just enjoy the moment.

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Snorkeling!

There were dozens of starfish in the surrounding waters

My girlfriend taking a swim

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Frankie Says Relax

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A selfie at sunset

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Another shot of the beautiful sunset

A silhouette of the cabin

The view from the deck

At the end of the day I still really do not like resorts and resort culture but to spend a couple of days on the ocean away from cell towers and wifi was quite an amazing break. We only had power at night and next to no signal so it was just me, my girlfriend and the ocean, which I will take any day of the week. Thanks for reading!