Hey, fam!
The title of this video is not clickbait.
Everything we're about to share actually happened.
And all the footage that you see is 100% real.
So recently we went to Mabul Island in Sabah which is in Malaysia.
Beautiful place.
But right before going...
a lot of our family and friends came up to us and said that...
"Hey, guys. Be careful because there's a lot of pirates in the island."
And over the last several years, there's a lot of cases of kidnapping especially for foreigners.
Oh my gosh! Everything like, "Oh, shoot!"
Like we've already booked the plane flights, the resort fees. Everything is settled.
Like we can't back out of this trip.
So we had to keep going and we did.
We took the flight in and then we took the boat from Semporna into the Mabul Island.
And let me tell you...
Breathtaking, gorgeous.
The whole travel there beautifully see all the different islands, the water.
And once you reach the island, the people were really nice.
They accepted us with open arms, You know, the fed us some of the best food.
And then not only that, they had a lot of activity set up for us, you know.
We had snorkeling. Oh my goodness!
We did snorkeling several times in several different locations.
And during these times you got to see all these different beautiful sea creatures.
We even did like island hopping, so we got to see like different parts of the islands which was great.
So on my like second and third day there...
I noticed there were a police crew like the marine police.
They were switching out crews, right.
So there's a crew coming into the island to stay for a month
and there was another crew that's going out to stay in the water...
for like two to three months.
It was crazy.
They had all their guns, military weapons.
They had all their cooking stove and their rations, everything. The whole time, I was like, "Man!"
So I just hanging out with those like police guys.
And what they say is they stay on the island for one month and then they go out to the waters for two months.
And they basically go out there and keep us safe.
I'm so thankful that we have men like that that want to go and protect us. That's amazing.
But I asked like one of the guys like...
"Hey, we're really curious like...
are there really like a lot of pirates around here and stuff like that?"
You know, I'm talking in Malay and he tells me like...
"If you want to talk about pirates, I've no comment."
that translates to "Hey, if you want to talk about pirates, I've no comment."
And I was like what? What's going on here?
So I mean it could be one of two things.
It could be like there's just no pirates, you know. Everything's fine like chill out.
Or it could be like, "Yeah, there's actually a lot of pirates, but I'm not gonna scare you.
I'm not going to instill any fear and you like chill.
We got it. We'll take care of the situation."
So fast forward to that last day on the island...
throughout our time there, we've been having great food.
But we are foodies...
and we thought like that last day we want a feast.
And we are on an island, so the best way to feast is to get fresh seafood.
And so what we heard that a lot of this fishermen come up to the island...
with you know all their catch and to try to sell to all the tourists there.
And what we do is, we, you know, tourists will buy all this fish and seafood...
bring it to the kitchen, the kitchen can cook for you and you can eat it.
Perfect, right?
And like we're thinking, okay like me, being an American...
if they see me there the fishermen are gonna charge me like double, triple, who knows.
So I decided, okay guys like I want to make sure we get the best deal...
I'm gonna stay far away from the fishermen while you're buying it. Yeah.
So me and my close buddy, Syafiq, so we were the two guys.
We thought like let's go and negotiate.
Leave all the girls behind because we don't want to pay more.
And we go up there we saw this one guy.
He comes up with his boat.
You know, he has all kinds of seafood.
He has crab, he has mantis prawns and all that.
And we go back and forth with negotiating and it was great.
We finally ended up you know getting some crabs, some mantis prawns, a few other things.
Awesome.
The plastic might tear up, right? It's not gonna tear up.
But after buying, I was like asking him, you know, they're talking in Malay...
and I asked him like, "Hey, what about fish?"
I want fish. Hold for a moment.
Big fish. Hold on, I'll bring it.
Go down, I'll take it.
And he's like, "All right. You stay here, all right?"
"You stay here. Wait for me here. I'll go catch fish and I'll come back, okay."
And we were planning to stay there anyways because we really want the fish.
At this point, Logesh came up and got me and our other friends
to come down because he's like, "Hey, we've already made the deal."
The price is fine, so you guys can come and hang out. Yeah, just come hang out.
We're like, "Okay, great."
So we're down there watching, waiting for the fisherman to come back.
And while we were waiting, a second fisherman come by.
And he's like, "Hey!" Again, talking to us in Malay.
Like, "Hey, you want some seafood? This, that."
I was like, "I'm good, man. We already bought it from this other guy.
Now we're just waiting for fish.
And I tell him, "Hey, you got fish? If you got fish, then we can talk."
You know and he's like, "I got no fish."
And he's like he just went quiet for a while.
And then in Malay he told me like, "Hey, it's all right. I'll help you."
"You hop on my boat. Let's go catch some fish together and then we'll come back."
So basically he's telling me, "Hey, it's all right. Let me help you."
"You hop on my boat. Let's go together and catch a fish for you."
And I was like, "Dang, this is awesome!"
Because I had my camera with me. I thought... Let's go. Let's go.
Let's jump on this boat. It's gonna be an amazing experience.
I get to capture it, you know.
And what's even more exciting you catch your own fish and immediately cook and eat it.
And as I was about to go, Rachel's like, "Absolutely not. No!"
"You're not getting on that boat" is what I told him.
And I was like so disappointed. Like come on. You know like, it'll be fine.
I was like just gonna go. She's like no.
And I was like I told the guy like, "I'm sorry. My wife said no."
And he's like, "Don't worry. I'm not a bad guy. I'm a good guy. I'll help you. Just follow me"
He basically said, "Hey, brother. You don't have to worry.
I'm a good guy. I'm not a bad guy."
Famous last words for bad guy. I was like, "No, no, no!"
I'm not letting you go.
But anyway, so I ended up not going with the guy.
He's fine, you know.
And the other fish man everyone came back with the fish. We buy it from the guy.
You know, we took the fish bag. I said, "Hey, I'm sorry. Maybe tomorrow."
And I have that clip that I said like,
"Hey, maybe tomorrow I'll buy from you, all right? I'm good, you know."
Tomorrow. Tomorrow still got?
So I left because he's been really pushy at this point, you know.
I just like laughed.
So everything's normal, right?
But the night before leaving you know, I was having a conversation with the manager...
And he was telling us about you know, how the experience and everything.
And I asked about like, "Hey, what about the pirates? Is there really pirates?"
He's like, "Yeah, there are pirates here, you know."
In the last like two to three years, there have been like one or two cases.
You know, he was being honest with us.
But he said that you know if you guys here, you be careful, you stay in, then you'll have no problem.
But he did say one thing.
He said that, as far as we know, though you know, those fishermen that comes here...
they actually work closely with the pirates.
They are informant for the pirates and they help out the pirates.
And we were like...
And we told them the story about what happened the night before and he's like...
"Good job not getting on that boat." Yeah and I was like, "Oh my gosh."
So honestly we don't know what would have happened if I went on the boat.
It could have been fine.
Everything's going to be perfect.
The guy would have been you know helped me catch a fish.
It would have been a great vlog. Yeah. Awesome.
Or...
would have been kidnapped by pirates.
Anything could have happened.
And according to the manager that is what most likely would have happened.
Really really thank God that he protected me and...
And yes, Rachel also. You know. Thank his wife.
She was there. She made me not go.
But honestly guys like...
I had time to reflect about this and I was like really thankful I didn't go on that board...
because who knows what would have happened.
But I'm making this video to share awareness.
If you are in that situation you know to be careful.
You know, that's one and secondly...
Always trust your wife.
Listen to your wife.
If they tell you something, it's most likely for the best of you, so trust them.
I do want to say though the entire time that we were on Mabul Island...
we actually did feel very safe.
And so if you had the opportunity...
to travel to Mabul or anywhere else for that matter, do it.
Do it!
Go for the experience...
and have a wonderful time.
It's just that you know when your parents used to say like...
"Oh, don't go out late at night in dark alleys"
because something bad could happen to you...
It's the same thing here.
But on an island...
don't go on a boat with a stranger.
Because something bad could happen to you just make the safe choices and you'll be fine.
Thank you so much for watching, guys.
I'm glad that I can still make more vlogs going forward.
And I really hope you stick around.
If you haven't already subscribed, don't forget to do it.
We love you.
Hope to see you in the next one.
Bye.