The fishing village of Semporna

Well I call it a village, but it is probably the closest thing to a city for 50 miles. The hotel in which I’m staying for the week is easily the most modern building in the region. It is not much different form any budget hotel in the states. It seems very out of place in this isolated community. It is located right on the river at what appears to be the main pier that all the fishing, crab and squid boats use to unload their catch each morning. Across the river is a small community that I will likely not have time to visit during my stay, but it appears to be very similar to this side of the river, only less developed. The people here are vey friendly. One thing that has been unexpected is the lack of people begging for money. For the most part, hello here simply means hello. The people here don’t have much, but they are getting by and seem to be content with what they have. This morning before work I took a walk out to the dock to watch the fishermen unload. Walking through the narrow alley between two rusted out tin roofed buildings I couldn’t help feeling a little bit out of place. But aside form a few quizzical looks from some of the people milling about, no one gave me a hard time. As I reached the end of jetty I heard the call of “hello friend” from one of the buildings. This appeared to be a small coffee shop that serviced the fishermen with breakfast and coffee after a night out on the water. They wanted to know whether I was American or Australian. Apparently this is also a decent dive spot, so they occasionally get young travelers here on daddy’s money taking a “find yourself” journey. We talked for a short while and I told him I was just out to look at the boats. He said, so come see them, and ushered me through the building to the other side where more squid boats were docked. He also posed for a picture. Nice folks, but I have work to do. I’m off.