A  HOT Stream

Mountain stream water is always cool, as else where in other jungles and forests.  But in Tawau we have a mountain stream of HOT water as hot as the hot water we used for bathing in our house.

Local people use the spring water for medicinal skin treatment. Bathing in spring water is popular here.

Above picture show warm spring water drain beside a  major road construction site.  The construction site is only 200 meters from the hot sprigs and due to complete by middle of 2007

Direction Map to Tawau Hot Spring

1024 x 1344  183KB

All 8 hot sulphurous springs occur along the 50 m stretch of mountain stream. Some springs outlets are on the riverbed, others by the bank.

The spring waters are acidic. A strong hydrogen sulphide smell can be detected before reaching stream.

Elderly  villagers  come  here  for
ritualistic food offering,  to please
the spirits of nature  as  well  as
deities  and ancestors.  Rice offerings
on banana leaves is common in Malaysia.
Families  come to offer in return
for 'Selamat' (blessing).

City people with  skeptical temperament can view such village spirituality as  superstition. But local Tawau people enjoy  good harvest (in oil palm, cocoa, coconut and other cash crops) years after years and a continuous economic growth  for decades with stable social harmony.

Villagers affix a 'blessing' to a tree when ever they come to pay their respect to mother nature.  

A 'blessing'  could be color string/ribbon, a poetry, a personal note, a religious passage etc.  Having affixed their 'blessings' to the tree the villagers return home with joy and feeling of confirmation from God.