Not your average hotel, Seaventures, located in Malaysia (Celebes Sea), is the first oil rig hotel in the world. A few caveats: “the rooms are tidy but tiny, there’s hardly any closet space and the air smells from the oil powering the generators.” Continue reading for a video, more pictures, and additional information.

Video

The rig sits in the Celebes Sea, the part of the Pacific Ocean ringed by the island of Borneo, Indonesia and the Philippines. Getting here involves a flight to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia; another flight to Tawau, on the east coast of the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah; an hour’s drive and an overnight in the tiny port city of Semporna; then an hour’s boat ride to the oil rig, now called Seaventures Dive Resort.

Pictures

Most Westerners come from England, with plenty of other visitors from Japan, Hong Kong and China. Americans make up fewer than 5% of Seaventures’ clientele. “For some reason, Malaysia isn’t on the tourist map in the U.S.,” says Cahlan Mazur, a 31-year-old math teacher from Washington, D.C., staying on the rig. “I was at [Australia’s] Great Barrier Reef for the better part of a week and probably saw more fish here in one day.”

[Sources 1 | 2]

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