Tanjung Simpang Mengayau, Kudat, Sabah



Tanjung Simpang Mengayau or Tanjung Simpang Mangazou, also known as Tip of Borneo in English is the northernmost tip of Borneo located in the district of Kudat, in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. The tip marks the meeting point of the South China Sea and Sulu Sea.

The original name of Tanjung Sampang Mangazou comes from the language of the Rungus, an ethnic group which resides mainly in the district of Kudat. The words Tanjung (cape), Sampang (union) and Mangazou (battle) refers to this location of a battle that occurred when the ethnic Rungus defended their territory against the attack from Moro Pirates. According to legend, this place was a favourite landing point for the pirates. While the Chinese people call this place as Den Foh Liew, which in Hakka means lighthouse due to a lighthouse on a nearby island of Pulau Kalampunian can be seen from here.

Recently, I visited this place and I have to say that though the journey is quite long and can be tiring and the road leading to it might look suspicious especially if it's your first time there.... but the moment you reached the destination, trust me, all that is gone and I'm filled with absolute excitement and I'm glad to be there, finally....

I've heard and learned about this place from the words of mouth through my friends (that was in early 2014) and eventually I Google around to find out more information about it and finally after over 2 years later, I've been here and I'm proud of it... it's like saying "Shewsbury was here" LOL.

Now before we go continue, let's start with some geography (credit and thanks to Google Maps)...

This is basically certain section of South East Asia, showing Malaysia and the neighboring countries around it;



Malaysia is divided in 2 parts, West Malaysia also known as Peninsular Malaysia, bordering Thailand and the other part is known as East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) in Borneo surrounded by Kalimantan of Indonesia at the south part and there is Brunei Darussalam (another country) somewhere in the middle of it but we live in harmony...



Now this the map of Sabah and the red arrow is pointing our destination....



And now we zoom further into parts of the Kudat District of Sabah:


And after further zooming, this is basically the satellite view of the destination:

From the main city area - which is Kota Kinabalu the capital city of Sabah, according to Google Map it's about 186 km and it takes almost 3 hours to drive to Simpang Mengayau (without traffic - which means in the real world, you should add another 1 hour or so depending on how fast you drive as well)


From the Tuaran town, it's about 152 km and it takes almost 2 hours and 19 minutes to drive to Simpang Mengayau. Apparently I started my journey from this very town and it takes me about 2 hours and 30 minutes with the relevant traffic conditions and maximum top speed of around 120 km/h to 130 km/h managing my petrol/fuel consumption accordingly.
 

Simpang Mengayau is about 122 km away from Kota Belud town, the last decent small town (assuming if you head out from Kota Kinabalu or Tuaran) with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant and proper petrol stations.

An important advise to you (especially first timers), it is strongly recommended for you to fill in your petrol/gas up to the maximum while you are around Kota Belud town, trust me on this because beyond this point onward you wont find any other "normal petrol station" along that over 120 km route to Simpang Mengayau. 

Well, apparently there are some "vendors" at certain villages area who happened to sell petrol/gas but then again there are times when they actually "ran out of stock" so if you are on the lowest level on your way back, trust me you will be very worried. 

Another important tips if you driving here and especially if it's your first time, it is highly recommended to use GPS or Waze or those Google Maps on your Android/Apple smartphones. I've been using Waze for many years now I personally prefer Waze because it's quite accurate and it helps me a lot and made my life and driving a lot easier especially at night when it was dark and certain turns and corners are less visible :-)

Last but not least, if you driving your own car, please make sure your car and tires are all in good condition and able to make this long journey. If you haven't perform regular service on your engine recently, then please do so prior to your journey. If you rent a car or borrow someone's else car, then you better pray that car is in good condition because seriously, the journey heading to this Tanjung Simpang Mengayau is quite long and apparently you are to going to passed by plenty of remote village areas and huge palm oil plantation area where it's quite rare for you to see a decent automotive workshop around and on certain area, mobile phone signal can be scarce so if anything break down, it wont be funny...


The nearest decent small town from Simpang Mengayau which I assume have Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant and proper petrol stations is Kudat which is about 40 minutes away.



And if you are driving all the way from Brunei Darussalam, it can take you about 10-11 hours including traffic and the usual international borders procedures, thus you may need to plan your journey and timing accordingly to avoid fatigue and any unwanted situations....



OK, enough with the boring geography lesson, after the 2.5 hours drive... I arrived and first thing first I stopped at the toilet nearby the beach area heading towards the Tanjung Simpang Mengayau - it's just about a little over 1 km from the destination.

Evidently, I drive the fastest car in the world (LOL LOL LOL) to get here... the tiny Proton Savvy that provides almost 80 hp from the 1149cc Renault D4F I4 engine with maximum output speed of a mere 150 km/h with that tiny 13 inch wheels.


Done with the usual business you do inside those toilet, I decided to walk to the beach and enjoy the scenery around it and trust me it was brilliant, probably one of the most cleanest beach ever, the scenery is absolutely brilliant while the wind condition on that particular day (June 1, 2016 - around 2.00pm) is quite notorious. At this point, the excitement made me forgot about the long and tiring 2.5 hours journey that I just went through and I just can't help but to enjoy the wonderful scenery and windy condition around the beach, it was fascinating.



Zooming into the actual destination - it's not that far anymore, I practically arrived:



And after a few great moments spent on that beach, I arrived at the parking space area of Tanjung Simpang Mengayau.

No parking fee, it's free...

No entrance fee, it's free...

Many thanks to the Sabah Government and the Sabahan (the people of Sabah state) for this wonderful free facilities, God bless them all...



An as always, like in any other tourist spot nowadays, people will start taking selfie photos of themselves even at the parking space area.... awesome!!!



After a bit of a walk and so here I am... my eyes and mind is served with astonishing landscape view...



The path leading to the "Bronze Globe" - at the zoomed map above that is the area with the white circle thingy visible from the satellite view. Let's go there....



This photo is taken from the other end, at the edge of the Bronze Globe area....



And this is now the Bronze Globe area where you can see a flag pole and obviously that round thingy in the middle called Bronze Globe. The bronze globe marks the location of Tanjung Simpang Mengayau at Latitude 7 degrees North and Longitude 116 degrees East (Coordinates: 7°02′14″N 116°44′32″E) with a map featuring the island of Borneo is embossed in bronze and laid on a flat surface at an angle with inscriptions to mark the Tip of Borneo.




Let's explore the view around this Bronze Globe circle:





And so that's it, the rock is evidently the most north piece of Borneo land, that is the tip of Borneo, the final part of it, I will go there for sure...




A happy couple is enjoying their wonderful moment together at the tip of Borneo...



Let's go down a bit further...




Look at that view.... absolutely astonishing isn't it....



That is the tiny Kalampunian Island with a lighthouse on it:





OK, here I am heading to the end of the rock area - the tip of Borneo....



Here I am, finally at the northern end of Borneo and I'm so happy.... it's quite windy here....



The opposite view from where I stand:



The landscape view from the end of the rock area where I stand, left to right....


Yes, it was marvelous!! absolutely breathtaking experience and I certainly feel with lots of joy and happiness... Shewsbury was here, yeah!!!!... LOL LOL LOL...

I found this photo from the internet, I guess this could help you identify the location of where I took my photos in this article:


DISCLAIMER: COPYRIGHTS AND PHOTO CREDITS BELONG TO THE OWNER. I DO NOT CLAIM ANY RIGHTS ON THE ABOVE PHOTO.



OK, one last look at the tip of Borneo... again, an absolutely great view that is... thank you God for keeping me alive till this day so that I can visit this beautiful place...




And what a surprise!!! Look at what I found here, it's a monster LOL LOL LOL:



A self explanatory information board:



Once you done with all the exploring and fun photo taking activities, be sure to drop by here and grab something to eat, support those local business... there is a toilet available here as well, they charged RM 0.30 per entry (about USD 0.07 / SGD 0.09 / 7.85 Yen) to cover their maintenance charges.



Overall, despite the long journey to be here, at the end it was all worth it, every single rubber and petrol burned and those energy and concentration while driving to get you here is really worth it!!! I never regret any of it, it was brilliant experience, absolutely brilliant!!! 

Though it's not the place you would come often but the excitement and the memories you had around this place is something you will remember dearly in you heart. Someday in the future, I wish to be back here again for sure... that's a promise.


end

Comments

  1. Traveling is something you should do every now and then, in order to see the beautiful country (and the beautiful world) around you...

    I don’t travel as much as I want, you know, work and responsibilities never stop, but thank GOD, I have been able to visit some fantastic places in my homeland and just like you, even when the trip is long and tiring, really worth it !!!...

    That’s a really nice place to be (albeit the name is quite long)... I wish I could see the sea, maybe someday I will... =D

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's really a way to explain location XD now if there is tourist chopper to show around that would be perfect

    ReplyDelete

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