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THE PLACE THAT BROKE & STOLE OUR HEARTS | š: MABUL ISLAND š²š¾ (& goodbye Malaysia... for now)
5K views
Sep 6, 2023
It was hard to make this video... We've never felt this way about a place before. Mabul honestly broke our hearts on day 1, but it felt so much different after our short 3 days on the island. We hope you understand where this video is coming from. In the end, we are grateful for the time we spent there and cannot wait to be back next year so we can dive in Sipadan š²š¾ (one of the best diving spots in the world, very close to Mabul). All we want for Mabul is to thrive, so we hope this video creates some kind of awareness at least. ā NEWSLETTER WE SENT 4 WEEKS AGO ABOUT MABUL ISLAND: (no need to sign up to read it) https://ckarchive.com/b/8kuqhoh0ggx0x ā NON-PROFIT WORKING TO HELP MAKE MABUL ISLAND BETTER: https://www.scubajunkieseas.org You can donate to a beach and reef clean-ups here: paypal.me/SJSEAS Everything helps to buy much needed supplies! ā OUR ACCOMMODATION IN MABUL ISLAND: https://fave.co/3oCiuvy
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hello from beautiful Mabul Island. So we thought a lot about whether or not we should make this
0:06
video about Mabul. I mean on one side this is an absolute paradise. It's incredible. Look at the
0:12
surroundings and the diving here. So this place is known as one of the best diving spots in the
0:16
world and the diving has been epic. We don't know if it is but like for us like it has been
0:22
life-changing. I can't stop thinking about turtles. Thank you
0:59
nothing will ever seen dozens of turtles like the size of small cars yeah it's been amazing
1:20
on the other side there's i think another side of the island that you don't see online and for us
1:25
it was kind of shocking like when we arrived here the first day a little bit heartbreaking too yeah
1:30
we were shocked and and sad and so now you're wondering why yeah so this island of mabul
1:39
it has a little bit of a trash problem yeah and obviously that's like a multi-layered issue
1:44
but it's honestly the worst that we've seen anywhere during our travels yeah we can't
1:48
imagine how it could get worse than what we see on the actual island yeah it is devastating
1:54
especially because you see how these people are living like in trash and also like people come
1:59
here to dive so everyone like loves the ocean and even though there's a lot of marine life and it is
2:05
beautiful like there's also a lot of trash in the water and why we decided to make this video is
2:11
kind of like an fyi if you're coming here because i still think that it is worth coming here yeah
2:16
it's spectacular so for context we're here with some other couples and they were also very surprised by what they saw on the actual island like there's not a single square meter
2:25
where you can just like sit on a beach and relax yeah besides for one resort yeah very very
2:31
expensive resort but besides for that it's just literally the most shocking yeah we've ever seen
2:38
i don't know what our message will do to make the plastic problem better or the garbage problem
2:44
i don't know but it's just an fyi for people that are coming here like if you're not a diver then
2:49
you're not gonna have a super lovely time, I guess? I think so
2:54
But on the other hand, again, we want to stress that we really have had a great time here with the people
2:58
They're so kind. Also, the villagers on the island, so many friendly smiles
3:02
Everyone's trying to practice their English with you. It's just the reality of..
3:06
Yes. So where we're staying, even though it's a little bit more rustic than I thought it would be
3:12
like you are with the owner. He takes care of you. I don't think you will get better service anywhere else in the island
3:18
this place is amazing it's a very rustic over water bungalow and then you step i guess outside
3:23
the front door and we're just on a stilt village it's been very cool we'll show you we're gonna
3:27
walk that way um with the camera so we can show you we'll try to be like a little bit
3:31
unique neighborhood we've ever lived in yeah sure yeah it is really cool and now like we're day three
3:36
here and it feels like home like we were quite shocked the first day but now we kind of have
3:40
gotten like used to the vibe here and obviously we have done the best types of our lives and it's
3:46
It's been very special underwater. Yeah. Can we have three? Three? Yeah. Okay
3:53
Three. Yeah five. Yeah yeah yeah. Five. Yeah. Two. Three. Three. Three
4:16
fresh coconut delivered to our dock How cool is that Look at the size of this thing thank you bigger than your head thank you so much we heard from our host that these are
4:27
picked i guess from the coconuts in the graveyard so they have extra nutrients
4:33
we didn't eat the pears in romania yeah but we'll drink coconut water from the cemetery
4:43
it's really good so you probably don't know this about me but I'm from Venezuela I grew up in
4:49
Venezuela when I was a teenager I decided that I didn't like coconut water but our friends here
4:53
told us to try it and the cemetery coconut water is pretty good but we know what we're gonna put
4:58
in the fridge and we'll have it later because apparently it tastes way better when it's cold
5:02
so this is nice so another thing that has been very special about staying here in Mabul is that
5:08
there is an ethnic group that I think is protected by UNESCO they're called sea gypsies and I don't
5:13
that's the proper term for them i don't know their actual ethnic group we'll put it here but they are
5:17
nomadic sea people so right now they're living in boats off the coast of mabul they rarely if ever
5:23
go onto the mainland so in the afternoons you can see them fishing uh in the shallows and they come
5:28
by and some of them have some kind of like face paint yeah really cool just to learn about them
5:33
and to see how they look like it's crazy so you can buy coconuts from them every afternoon and it's
5:37
cool to support their livelihood yeah as well but also like didn't you see like a like the documentary
5:42
that they're like the best free divers in the world. Yeah, so they're... I think they can go under for like 10, 15, 20 minutes
5:49
and I also read, this is on Wikipedia, that some some of them spend five hours a day underwater
5:54
So they're just fascinating people and they live right here. Right below us is basically a mini coral reef
6:04
It might be a blue ring. It could be, yeah. Uh-huh. I'm filming that
6:15
Oh my god. No, you just turned yellow. What a psycho. I think it's time to show you around the mainland so you can see how cool is this, our little neighborhood
6:35
You'll get a little better perspective of how it looks on the actual island. Yes, we'll show you definitely like the trash problem, but we'll try to be respectful of people
6:42
but sometimes they like cameras so they will try to not show much of that but just to give you like
6:50
a really like a glimpse of how it is and we're also gonna show you the other side of the island
6:55
which is where all the fancy resorts are and they're more over like fancier overwater monglots
7:00
Yeah, yeah let's go. Time to hit the hood. welcome to our neighborhood this is so cool the first time that we walk here we just realized
7:30
that we were like living like with the locals basically so these are all homes they actually
7:35
like live here and our hotel was built like right next to it like facing west side so we have like
7:39
the best sunsets but this was like our favorite part when we arrived like just being here because
7:44
this is so different and unique we saw like the jetties in georgetown and this is kind of like
7:50
that right like uh it's a jetty it's not touristy at all yeah not too full yeah exactly well how cool
7:56
how amazing like we're part of the neighborhood Hey Hello Hello hello
8:50
so this behind us is the little neighborhood mosque and it's really cool because ramadan
8:53
actually started yesterday or the day before they had a very long call to prayer yesterday that went
8:59
for hours essentially that's just cool to see how they're living over here
9:05
i think most of the people living in mabul are undocumented immigrants from the philippines and
9:11
i think that's a big reason why they don't get a lot of social support so i guess improve the
9:15
conditions that's what we heard from our hosts but they all have huge smiles and they like to
9:20
talk to us so we feel very fortunate to be here because really the most foreign place i think
9:24
we've ever been yeah so far yeah it's very unique
9:54
those kids are sticking their tongue out there's a rooster in the thing hello
10:08
hey kiddos hello stop nice gopro a good camera
10:24
Just give high five to the neighbors. I'm good. Everyone's very excited
10:33
They're cute. As you can tell, we've changed clothes
10:59
We had to hurry back to the hotel to go for our last dive of the day. And honestly, I'm not just saying this, this might have been my favorite dive of my entire life
11:07
It was amazing. It was so beautiful, amazing. But now we walk to the other side of the island. It takes about five minutes to cross the island, and this is where more of the upscale of resorts
11:14
are and dive shops. I think one of the resorts is like 1,000 euros per night
11:18
Mind blowing. But it's also one of the places where you see more of the ocean garbage problem happening
11:23
And it's kind of weird because we think this is one of the things that could be done better by the resorts and the different dive shops where there's like a win-win to improve the conditions here, I guess
11:33
So we heard from the guy that runs our hotel that the World Wildlife Federation was here several years back and they paid the locals to clean up the trash and the island was pristine
11:42
But then COVID happened and something fell through and it's no longer happening. But we think there's some kind of win-win and we wish we knew a better way to, I don't know, think about it and resolve it
11:51
there's a lot of money being made here and somewhere the locals need to get
11:55
involved to help protect where they live and also it's just like a more long-term sustainable venture that way you know like the locals will have more
12:03
money from tourists and more people come here if it's cleaner so better for the reef yeah better for the reef of course so just to show you guys how it is here
12:11
in Mabul craziest thing that just happened the guy that you just saw walk behind the
12:20
screen he's actually i think one of the managers or owners of one of the bigger dive resorts here
12:24
and we just mentioned like there should be a win-win situation here but it seems like a lot
12:28
of the resorts are trying to do something but it's like a huge political issue so there is an
12:32
NGO on the island and they're trying to get buy-in from the minister of i don't know i guess the
12:37
state of saba or malaysia to help clean up around here so there all are people trying to make this
12:42
place better but it's just such a complex social and i don't know governmental issue that it's very
12:49
slow moving so i take back that resorts aren doing anything about this it seems like they obviously do care you know this is their livelihood they love the island they love the people here so yeah very interesting so we going to go check out if the ngo is open and see if we can get some more
13:02
information but yeah let's find rachel let's find rachel that was so crazy that that just happened
13:10
right very very good timing oh sorry you guys are moving a little bit we're back in our little tower
13:15
just in time for sunset but we have to tell you about what happened so we spoke to rachel and you
13:19
want to say yeah one of the bigger dive resorts and she talked to us about the different initiatives
13:24
that they have going on through their resort to do different things like save the turtles and also
13:29
work with the locals to alleviate the plastic problem but just like the complications and
13:34
challenges that they're facing in terms of like resources and social like education like a million
13:42
things and they share like their website with us and we're going to link it in the description so
13:46
so you guys can check it out. If you, like, we're gonna try to donate, like
13:50
like, what we can, like, yeah, please, like, consider, like, doing that
13:54
So what she mentioned, too, I think this is interesting, is that it's so easy to get money for turtle hatching
13:58
so, like, saving the turtles, but for picking up plastic, it's, like, an entire different issue
14:02
It's, like, not sexy and no one wants to donate, so it's difficult for them to get funding
14:07
But, like, the plastic is pretty big here, but we're really conservative in, like, what we showed you
14:13
because, like, we don't want to, obviously, like exploit that but it's it's it's hard it's not pretty it's i think what was very interesting
14:19
too is that they are excited for this word to get out that we're like making this video and showing
14:24
all sides of mabul because like there has to be awareness about like both people need to know and
14:29
this place is so special and we only spent like three nights here and we fell in love even though
14:35
it was really shocking at the beginning once we were diving like walk around town and like
14:40
seeing like everyone like smiling and everyone just being so nice so we're super excited this
14:45
video was like bouncing all over the place like a pink yeah like but things just develop and we
14:51
decided to like include it in the video as well and this is like or goodbye to malaysia that we
14:56
were so disappointed like two days ago we didn't even want to make yeah this is like the grand
14:59
finale we thought we were coming to paradise and then we saw the trash like oh no yeah and it was
15:04
heartbreaking but now it it feels like it was like the perfect goodbye yeah i'd love to do something
15:09
despite all the blemishes this place is so so special we cannot wait to be back
15:16
malaysia i mean you're thanks for the warm welcome thanks for the friendly smiles
15:21
all the hellos all the what's your name all the questions all like the food obviously the people
15:27
here are something that we'll be back for more because we just scratched the surface to malaysia
15:32
we will we still have one more video to share um it's like a longer video about like malaysia kind
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of like a travel guide and in that video we'll share what's next because things have taken a turn
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in our life um we probably don't even know what's next but we don't know yeah but stay tuned again
15:49
thank you we'll give you a proper goodbye in the next video because that's like officially
15:53
your last video but malaysia i mean this is this place is awesome like malaysia is incredible and
16:02
and we had no idea. Does he have coconut? I don't think he's selling coconuts. Oh he is selling
16:07
coconuts. He's selling stuff. Oh he is? Yeah. Should I get some? We should get some coconuts
16:12
Alicia we love you. Thank you for watching. Thank you. Leave questions in the comments
16:15
Check the description. Donate. Bye. Thanks for watching. Coconut please. thank you thank you
16:31
this never gets old money well spent the perfect goodbye yeah also funny to know it i don't think
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they speak malaysian and just like thank you Cheers! Cheers
16:50
Time for the sunset! Yep. Bye guys! Thank you for watching. Thank you for watching the Malaysia Travel Series
16:58
We'll see you in the last Malaysia video. Bye! Enjoy the sunset
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