Home ATTRACTIONS City/Village Pesta Regatta Lepa Semporna Sabah 2019 Part 2 : Rehearsal

Pesta Regatta Lepa Semporna Sabah 2019 Part 2 : Rehearsal

April 23, 2020

Location : Semporna Town, Semporna District, Tawau Division, Sabah, Malaysia.

The Regatta Lepa is an annual festival celebrated by the Bajau Laut (also known as sea gypsies). Lepa is a traditional single-masted sailing boat of the Bajau Semporna. On that day, thousands of Lepas sail into town to compete for the ‘Most Beautiful Lepa’.

The second day weather was a lot friendlier with some short spells of the sun and blue skies which was perfect for the Lepa rehearsal. Within a short time the boats gathered with their colourful sails flapping in the wind.

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Water Festival, Sailing Boat, backpackers, Sea Gypsies, Suku Bajau Laut, ethnic, culture, Tawau, Tourism, tourist attraction, travel guide, Cross Border, 马来西亚沙巴, 仙本那旅游景点, 巴瑶民族传统文化 — Low tide can be quite a nuisance for the boat people

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Pesta Regatta Lepa, Sailing Boat, destination, Sea Gypsies, ethnic, culture, traditional, Tawau, Tourism, tourist attraction, Cross Border, Borneo, 探索婆罗洲马来西亚, 仙本那巴夭民族, 沙巴海吉普赛人 — All businesses transacted on board over the edge

The locals claimed that 2019 was the highest in terms of number of boats participating. Gong and drum could be heard playing from the boats. A rather noisy afternoon.

Bajau ladies dressed in traditional black dresses entertained the crowd with their dances.

Water Festival, Pesta Regatta Lepa, Sea Gypsies, Suku Bajau Laut, ethnic, culture, traditional, indigenous, Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia, Tourism, tourist attraction, travel guide, Trans Borneo, — Male dancer clicking away his 2 pairs of wooden stick like in some old Chinese movies.

Their fake long and curved fingernails made their gestures looked very Thai like.

All went well for the rest of the day except for one little incident that got us quite annoyed at one of the restaurants where we purchased a bottle of mineral water. The local staff was heard telling another in the Malay language to charge higher for Chinese nationals, thinking we were tourists from China.