food in laos....

shared with a bunch of hardworking and strong ants!!

we've all heard abt stories of ants working together, and having strength to carry things beyond their weight...

here's us sharing our lunch w the forest ants at the kuang si waterfall, about 20+km away from luang prabang town. we packed a sandwich from the scandinavian bakery. stopped at one of the sites at the waterfall and munched our lunch. watever dropped onto the ground goes to the ants... communal living lah... ha ha.... i got elvis to take pics of them.... they sense the food real fast! and transport them real fast too!!


one ant with bread crumb





gathered to pick up a piece of onion...

and the waterfall....



the best view of kuang si waterfall we can find... :)

On the journey on the train...

I thank God for a seat... and so i’m writing an entry to my

Journey to Cambodia – 14 – 18 May 2008

It was a trip i wasn’t sure would materialize as it falls on one of the days i’[m teaching. By the grace of God, i managed to get approval to shift my lessons. So last Wednesday (tt din seem so far back) i made my way to the airport directly from campus. In the morn en route to campus, i actually felt like just skipping class and go straight to Cambodia. The good thing though was that I enjoyed the class that day.
I was early at the airport, so had lunch by myself. I tink i’m getting used to the idea of just eating alone. Eating used to be a social thing.. but now.. its starting to be come functional!

Anyway we arranged to meet at 2.30pm for check in. At approx 2.40 i handed over my passport to the lady at the checkin counter only to get this response: Mdm, is this your old passport?

GOODNESS GRACIOUS. I did pack in a rush tis trip. Only the evening before after teaching for 8 long hours. And i simply asked FM to pick up my passport from a little drawer, not checking the contents within.

I went quickly to FM and we sped home for my passport. Thank God we arrived in time. It had been such a rush few days prior to the trip. The only ‘rest’ i could expect would only come once i board the flight.

It was a good trip. I got to noe the youth better. Tis trip, i decided that i will build relationships unlike the previous trip. I spent time with ah ong and this elderly couple from Sarawak, eddy and rose. There i made chrysanthemum tea, barley, herbal chicken soup (we call the Da Chang Jin soup – the Korean drama – due to the packaging of the herbs). Helped out in the making of curry puffs for the fun fair for the 10th anniversary of the funfair. I even taught a gal there how to brew chrysanthemum tea. Only, a much more sweetened version for their taste buds.
There were loads of bugs too during the trip. Different types over the different nights. First night was stinking bugs, second night was flying insects which shed their wings all over the place the next morning when i was sweeping the floor i thot they could pass off as confetti!!

Ate a lot of bread. :D with fake nutella. Saw the lady at tutompong.

Anyway, i gotta stop. I’m reaching my stop soon. These few days will be super busy... so i’m glad for this time for a quick entry. Thank God for the seat. Ha ha.

dormant blog

well.. i hv pple complaining abt my blog being dormant... so here's a quick entry abt my trip to China 11 - 18 Aug...

Well, pple kept asking me "how was the trip?" I'm glad I had clear objective before the trip (yeah, teaching does help in making you write SIOs): To spend time with my parents. If not for a clearly stated objective, i'll have died of boredom and the lack of freedom.

My answer typically includes the following points:
1. boring
2. i hv a strange grp
3. packaged tours really aint my cup of tea
4. its not easy being with my parents 24-7 (the only break i got was the 3 hrs when they joined the grp for massage which i opted out of)
5. tho it hadn't been easy, tho not 'enjoyable' i neva regretted the trip because the objective was fulfilled (oh... still stuck in the system): i spent time with my parents. :)

Ok... why do i not like packaged tours?
1. you spend more time travelling to a place than getting to noe the place.
Here's a quick run of the itinerary i've recorded for the first few days (i gave up after the first couple of days) *hardly names given cos i cant rem, we move too quickly. i dun even noe the names of the hotels i stay in or how the exteriors look like.D1
- 5 hrs flight to Shanghai. 1 hr ride to the hotel. SLEEP
D2
- 1 hr ride to some pasar malam. (see, i cant even rem the name of the place. Spent only 45 mins there. Nothing to buy. Ended up with a mint freeze.
- 2 hrs ride to Wu Zhen. Followed by 1.5hrs tour along the river settlement.
- 3.5 hrs ride to Heng dian.
D3
- 1.5 hrs ride to a mockup version of the Qing Dynasty's palace, and spent 1 hr there.
- 1.5 hr ride to YiWu. 1 hr walk in the China's largest international export center. (which i read abt in national geographic, so its kewl, tho cant buy anything cos 1. not suitable, 2. urm... who's gonna buy wholesale millions of the same item?)
- 2 hrs ride to the lei dian ta (the one that trapped mdm white snake apparently) and spent 1.5 hrs at the tower.
- 25 mins walking ard the lake
- dinner followed by a very decent acrobat show.
D4
- 1 hr ride for a boat ride in Xi Hu, boat ride tt lasts 30mins
- walk ard the garden followed by 20 mins in a museum. (TWENYY mins in museum? i spent 5 hrs in the one in india!! no wonder i hardly learn anything abt this place)
- 30 mins ride to some chinese medicine talk and hard sell place. We spent more than an hour there. finally right? why? because they are trying to sell stuff to us, in which the tour company will get a cut of the commission.
- 3.5 hrs ride to Wuxi and 1 hr to shop along a street.
D5
- 30mins ride to the mock up of the palace of the Han dynasty they used to film 'three kingdoms' and 1 hr there.
- walk ard the tai lake. Btw, because the tai lake is one that cultivates loads of sea food and pearl, the water u drink from wuxi ACTUALLY HAS A FISHY TASTE! I'm not kidding!eeks... bottled water... oh.. and eutrophication is quite evident there.
- visit to the pearl center. more talks/demonstrations and hard sell.
- visit to the tea pot center. more talks and hard sell.
- 3 hrs ride to Nanjing, 1 hr spent at pasar malam ( i can't even rem how its like except for the pasar malam being recorded in my pda)
D6
- Visited teh song qing ling mansion
- visit to jade shop. more talks and hard sell.
- visit to a China's impt bridge. den an art shop. more talk and hard sell.
- 3.5 hrs ride to suzhou. followed by a 10 mins boat ride.
No more records.. get the picture right?

2. its rush rush rush. Did i mention that we wake up at 6am EVERY morn? including sat? (worse than sch days) and retire at 11pm on the average.

3. in packaged tours in China (cant speak for other destinations as this is my first packaged tour ever), they put you thro talks of products and HARD SELL (ref above) u stuff (at exorbidant prices)... and its PART of the PLANNED ITINERARY!! we spent more time for the hard sell for pearl, jade, art pieces, some chinese dragon fengshui thing, silk, chinese medicine than 'free and easy', tea (refer #4)

4. the definition of "free and easy" is 1.5 hrs of 'shopping' in a shopping centre / street they drop you on. Doesn't matter if you are interested in the stuff in the centre / street. Just come back in 1.5 hrs.

5. Weird characters in the group.
we have an old couple who claims to be bro and sis (dun lie lah...) who are smoking like ALL the time, attention seeking, think very 'havoc and kewl'.. but i see as 'lao wan tong'. came back late for one 'free and easy'. y? not because they got lost.. but cos they were DRINKING. they look really red when they came back. and it wasn't apologies when they were back but 'bu yao jing'. sigh.
another very very lao shi and blur old lady who keeps asking pple to take pics for her using OUR cameras and later SEND (SNAIL MAIL) of the processed pics to her?!?! my mom says she's happy go lucky. i say.. yeah she blur blur happy, but the poor travel companion will be totally stressed. my mom din get the meaning of my statment until on the last day, she got really lost one day for 30 mins in a super crowded tourist attraction place... and my tour guide's heart nearly popped out.

Did i regret going therefore? I neva believe in regretting. I believe in learning from watever experiences. I got to spend time with my parents.. and i have a taste of packaged tours and can say confidently that its not my cup of tea (unless i change 40 yrs later, who can tell...) meanwhile, no more 'follow the flag'.... nuts...

Day 7 - and still counting

India has been incredulous!If anyone asks me how my trip was, I wldn't even noe where to begin! It is definitely not the place for the faint-hearted, if you decide to do it the 'free and easy, on your own' style.


This is really not a chill vacation. Imight probably return more exhuasted than when I left. Here, its so stimuating. Everything on the street is demanding my attention. The colors, the sounds, the movements, the contrasts of wealth and diversity of things happening... Physically, I've been on the move. Mentally, I've been challenged. Need to start to sl owdown (which is almost imposible here).

For the past 4 days, we spent 2 days with BJ and her family. So for a while,my guard was down. It was n ice to be around people you can trust. I take back what I said inmy earlier entrythat India's nottoo bad a place in terms of safety. One really h a s to be on his toes all the time. No wonder BJ's family(locals) were worried for us to be on our own. Pple are out for your money and physically ifthey can. After all the encounters, my mantra for this trip is "Trust no one". One really dunno whlo's sincere and who's not.

We went to Agra to se the taj mahal o n fri only torealise thta its closed. The red fort was closed too by the tim ewe reached the place. SO,for 4 hrs of traqvelling to Agra from Delhi, we did not see wat we expect4ed tosee. In any case, we will be taking a 6 hrs drive to agra againtmrw from jaipul the crazytown i'm in now to spend ourchrimstasthere.

Yest, we arrivedat Jaipul. If anyone thinks that Delhi is bad, Delhi's only an ORIENTATION to INCREDIBLE India! It wascrazy. horse carraiges, camel carts, rickshaws, tuktuks, minivans, buses of al assortments, bikes, death-defying pedestrains (we have joinedthe ranks), bicycles, etc all on the same street! Of course, tere are a million things going on atthe same time... guys trying to entice you (harass actually, iwas physically harrased by a 5 yr old boy! til i gave him a loujd 'hey' followed by a teacher-stare), guys using the 'public bathrooms - a.k.a walls', vendors peddilng ALL SORTS of goods (brushes, metal utensils, bags , spices, jewelry, shoes, etc.), pple making candies, touts trying to sell their ware etc.. all going on simultaneously. If Kalimantan was surreal, this beats it all hands -down.
Well, I'velearnt much. Its just hard to imagine whn I'm back in the classroom treaching, these scenes still exist constantly here. I ask God where is my place in this crazy world (not India per se) and just wait and see. :)

Meanwhile, will be traveli ng back to Agra tmrw to seethe Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Its prettykewl. Taj Mahal either on CHristmas or my bday. Den it'll be back to Delhi and then home.

I do look forward to home just as much as i find India fascinating. One has to move on... in order for more 'adventures' to come. Asking the Lord for new inspiration in teaching, so taht I can hopefully inspire my kids too. :)

Signing off for now... Apologies f or bad typing. Keys are stiff, and the spacebar is constantly stuck. *laughs* That's what I call 'character'. Afterall, I'm in India. ;)

day 3 - and still more adventures...

Ok. Today, my blog entry will have less typo-errors, as I've finally secured a proper internet place, with an hour to use, unlike the previous nights.

Prior to my trip, someone asked 'you are looking for adventures?' i replied 'no. i'm not going to go round looking for adventures, but if they come along the way, i'll ride on them.' actually, as long as we are on journey with God, life will be full of adventures! *chuckles*

today, JJ and i decided to spend the day venturing without a guide like yesterday. but while looking for breakfast, don't ask me how, but we ended up in the travel office again having breakfast! Of course, they tried to do hard selling for us to engage their services for today and the trip out of delhi. finally, we managed to 'break loose' from their persistence and went off on a motor-rickshaw (the equivalent to the tuk-tuk in thailand). First stop: National Museum.

We spent freaking 5 hours in the museum! We already spent a fair amt of time in other museums and memorials yesterday, so i told JJ, i love museums, but i tink its enough for the trip! :) There was much to see, archaelogy, musical instruments, buddhist arts, miniature paintings, etc. But there were so so so many paintings and statues of the hindu and buddhist gods, that i really ask God "Where are you in the lives of these people, who have crafted these, truly believing in the things that they are (re)"creating"."

But the ADVENTURE OF THE DAY occurs when we were finally leaving the museum. DUe to confusion that arose when we entered the musuem in the morn (there was a coachful of Chinese-Hk/Twnese entering the same time as us), we left our bags outside at the instruction of... i don't even know who - a worker from the museum or the grp's tour guide. When we left the museum, of course lah, our bags were no longer there. JJ and my cameras were in our bags as we couldn't bring them into the musuem. We got a 'reprimanding' from the lady security officer at the entrance when we tried to engage their assistance. So we got sent from one office to another. But the miracle was: WE GOT OUR BAGS BACK! Imagine: India, bags left OUTSIDE in public, for FIVE HOURS. ANywayz, we both prayed quietly throughout the entire process and truly, God protected us. It was quite an interesting adventure, not that i'll wanna go through it again. :)

Next stop was Dili Hardt. I have no idea where it was. Suggested by JJ's frens to visit. We took THE PUBLIC BUS!! Fare was really 'reasonably'-priced. And ride was... interesting. yo've read it before in guidebooks. crowded, mostly males... jst cramped. i stood like 'superman' with both arms forward and up holding on to whatever strucutre i could hold on for support. but unlike what the guidebooks said, we (female travelers) weren't really harassed physically in crowded bus. my bus driver quarrelled with some passengers right before me... so it was interesting...

Dili Hardt wasn't a touristy place. ended up in a wet market which was like WOW. fish, live poultry (including turkey!!), etc. Took a motor rickshaw to parhargarj, a backpacker's area ( i love this place!) , where i'm using the Internet at a cheaper rate now, and later I'll be going back to connaught later. less lively, but oh well, at least i've got accomodation.

Tomorrow, AG will be joining us. SO the dynamics is gonna change, but nonetheless fun! :)

As to the questions that i've been musing over yesterday:
How is Jesus different from the other gods or the philosophies that the 'wise/enlightened' offer?
1. Jesus is real, a historical figure. SOme religions are more 'mythology' and 'philosophy' rather than really based on history.
2. Jesus is Savior. No other religions/wise/enlightened men claims that they save.
3. Jesus is relational. We have a relationship with our Lord even to this day through the Spirit and in days to come. ONly in Him is there true hope and certainty of being in His presence for eternity.

SO, anywayz, even though i thought i was on a vacation to just chill, it hasn't been that simple. Its been pretty intense on my little brain, but God has chosen to reveal more of HImself to me, so that's realy kewl. Anywayz, my one hour is almost up. and I'd better go.....

THank you Daddy,Abba,Bapa!!

day 2

i dun usually blog my trips so often. but.. india is just full of stuff.. if i dun.. i'll forget.

anywyz, more observtions:

1. india is not as chaotic as how ple imagined it to be. its not as dangerous as well.

2. where are the ladies? u see men everywhere.. and few women. yest, we went into a pastry shop and guess wat? there wasn't a SINGLE female in there. we were the only 2 females! today, we found out from our driver for the day that tt's cos 80% of workforce in delhi are men. tt explains.

Other things today:

1. felt how its like to be walking 'exhibits'. was at red fort. there was many school kids. some excursion. when they saw jj and i... they started looking at us.. talking and laffing/smiling. guess chinese gals are not usual there... so... as we walked on, we just et looks and sniggers and comments... at a point of time, the kids even started shaking our hands and say 'hello'.... like some weird things they wana rem for.

2. gandhi-fied... went to quite a few memorials and musuems on gandhi and his family. many thots... philosophical, intellectual and all... visit to a temple to. exhasuted with many questions in my mind.. lookng at these pple's 'realities', comparin gandhi and Christ, comparing the hindu god and Christ, comparing the social and economic disparities.... and at the end of all the qns, my main qns is: What is it that Christ has to offer that the other (relgions/gods/philosopies) do not offer?

Day 1 in New Delhi

Yes. I am finally in India! One of the countries I've always wanted to visit. Its hard to believe I'm here, and it takes some time to adjust because of the rush from church to packing to kalimantan debrief yest and early flight tis morn.

The time now in India is 7.06pm, 2.5 hrs behind sg. I begun my trip at 6.30am SGT after being awaken by my mom at 4.30am SGT, sleeing at 1am last night. So i'm pretty zonked out now. 5 hours 45 mins flight.

India's interesting. We are staying in a guest house at connaught area. Just spent the afternoon waiting.. to clear immigratio.... waiting... for pre-paid taxi. We are tahnkful to be able to find acomodatio, because that was our concern. We hvn't goten accommodation settled before we came. So thank pple who have prayed for us, ad God too.

Guys in delhi are quite 'frenly'. This silly guy at the airport counter. i went to buy a bottle of mineral water. he gave me change that's short of 100 rupee. So i told hi... and he said.. sorry.. not enuff sleep. i said.. its k. next thing... oh... u look very sweet... ca we be frens? OF COURSE NOT!

Discovered.. that along the streets in New Delhi, the walls are just... the gents. You ca just walk alog the street and see guys facing the walls.. and a foul smell.. gosh.

Being in Delhi is like... being immersed into a sea of pple. Pple pple pple everywhere. And vehicles... and none-stop honkings.... Pple are just vying for your attention.

We had KFC for dinner. The servins are smaller. Ad they dun cost much cheaper. We haven't foud the cheap places to eat yet. Hopfully will find those soon.

THere is no supermarket. We were directed to a place.. ad only found that there was a Shankar market... which is... nt a supermarket. THey have 'emporium' which is like our old emporiums back at home with many small shops. But nothing that resembles supermaket. There goes my snacks and chocolates.

Anywayz, those are just random ramblings. I'm slowly etting the hang of crossing the busy roads 'my way' like the road belongs to me. tmrw's gonna be an exciting day. gonna tour ard the city. tonight just gonna go chill, read, ad pray ... and experience the 'beauty of waiting'.

sept hols

has been awesome.

dive trip was interesting. saw HUGE moray, HUGE turtle, cuttlefish squirt ink, nurse sharks, pretty nudibranches, HUGE bumpheads, set fish free from abandoned fish trap, got lost w buddy n did our safety stop the primitive manner going 'one thousand two thousand three thousand...' til 3 mins, played with curious nemo (one just kept coming towards me - my mask n let me play with it), long and cold night dive. i'm sure i saw more things but forgot. tis is the first time i dun really log my dives properly. as in the way i usually journal. maybe there're just too much i no longer rem the details. but tis trip, i noticed the different colors and textures of the corals more than usual. awesome.

once again, we had pretty good company. somehow we just stay @ the immigration for long periods of time. en route to tioman, at the immigration, one gal realized she brought her old expired passport. we waited 1.5 hrs @ the checkpoint for her to cab home for it. luckily someone brought uno. so we played it, tekaning mohammark @ the same time, who kept waiting to play intercept like a little boy. when coming back, got stuck again cos we had 2 jap gals doing their owd w us. due to the imf, security in checking the foreigners' passports was tighter. after we cleared immigration and customs, we actually waited 45 mins before they cleared.

all in all, it was a good trip. minus the rocky boat @ night (hard to sleep), and the COLD water. water was colder than usual, made every dive more tiring. tink body compensating the loss of heat. and made every dive something one must psych oneself up before taking the stride.

on mon, went to sis's place to play w nephews. fun. took DN out to ntuc to shop. he's so adorable in the stroller.

tues, went town to help sis get her cosmetics while bringing JS with us. He actually slept in my arms while waiting for the salesperson test out the stuff on my sis's face. kewl. we went for tea at cedele, and had great time talking. i had great fun, fellowship and counsel from my wise sis.

wed. went jb w haz. we basically shopped, chilled, feasted and splurged. i got a pair of wedges, 3 tops, a pair of three-quarter slacks and a bag. we ate and ate. hungry or not. but it was great great fun. :) supposed to stay over, but din come to pass cos we cldn't get the hotel we wanted.

thurs (today). met stv for lunch, show - singapore dreaming and jalan. show's not bad. quite sad actually, but v real. typical pressurizing life here. poor stv was pretty sick so yeah, now i'm home, resting as well.

tmrw.... work... will be bringing kids out for perf. hv to start preparing for next wk's work. sigh.. i wish the hols neva end. i wish i can dive and dive and dive and dive. lol. as usual, en route there, i wasn't excited. i thot i had lost interest in diving. but NOooo... now when i'm back.. ah ha ha ha.... i wanna go dive again. but in warmer waters lah. lol.

anywyz, its been a fruitful hol. i cant believe so many days hv passed cos its so eventful. i'm really happy and grateful for the qlty time spent w pple i value. diving w sandfly, time w mom, nephews, sis, haz, stv. :) simply thankful.

salang... sea... sand... sun... snockel....ssssssss.....

i wanted to blog this last week, but neva got to do it. abt to give up, but got the motivation from ag's sms just now, which says that she's gonna blog it. indeed... must blog gd stuff b4 i forget.

effectively we were in salang for only 1.5 days. But i've gotten my fair share of the sun, the sand, the sea, snockeling, and sotong. and the most exciting thing is I CAN NOW SNOCKEL WITHOUT A LIFE JACKET! To some, its trivial. But to me, that is really an achievement that left me beaming with joy in the sea while i was there. :) I'm still beaming when i think of it. Thnx to ag for being there, esp in the beginning. Its great to hv someone beside me when i'm so like... scared....

snockelling is an entirely different experience from diving, though i must say diving does make snockelling less uncomfy for me because i'm used to breatching with my mouth and dealing with my mask. when we are sufficiently near the corals, snockelling is as beautiful as diving. only when the water is deeper do i wish i cld just go nearer and below the little crevices to see what hides beneath. the sense of snockelling without the life jacket is LIBERATING! for the first time, i also heard the crunching sounds whenever the bigger parrot fishes bits into the corals. we saw quite some interesting things. file fish, sea cucumber, urchins, sea grapes, some weird looking fish, hardly any soft coral tho. the excitement of being able to snockel without a life jacket make me for once, not crave for compressed air while walking pass the dive shops or dive boats. *laughs* but i don't know how long this would last...

in one of our trips, i was pretty pissed off with this particular father tho. the family of 4 went on the boat trip to 3 snockel sites with us. it was great for the father to bring his kids out at a younger age (upper pri and sec) and expose them to the beautiful sea (well, i'm only aware of corals in my 20s! wat we learnt in sec geog doesn't count). HOWEVER, he picked up corals for his daughter. i din wanna tell him its not right in front of his kids. but i'm pissed. i just looked at the coral unhappily. so irritated.... no wonder the poor corals are suffering.... ggrrrr.....

noteworthy of mentioning... 1. we saw pple squid fishing @ the jetty at nite.. i saw how the squid caught changed colors! wow.... 2. delicious seafood.. i recommend the one at some indras thing... good and cheap... 3. the weirdo who kindof followed us... freaky. we bumped into him 3 times... at the different ends of salang.. ag was so freaked out she started laffing n told me to shout @ him.. i'm like... shout wat? lol

Anywayz, here's the itinerary:
THurs
0600am, Queens Street
Met up w Ag, Yy to take SJB (S$2.40) to Larkin.
0740, Larkin.
BOught 0830 bus tix (Ringgit 8)to Mersing and had a Mackies breakies.
0845, depart from Larkin to Mersing
1030, Mersing
Arrived at jetty and bought 1100am bluewater ferry tix (Ringgit 70)for tioman.
1400am, Salang
Went to the place (Indas something) ag booked for accomodation (70 ringgits per nite for 4 beds, AC, attached bathroom), checked in, lunch.
1600 n beyond...
we were snockelling
TIming has been perfect so far. and ag said... when everything's smooth, somethings will crop up.. and that happened for dinner...
Cnat rem the timing, but we waited like 1.5 hours for dinner.. .the servers completely pissed us off. the worse thing was, there was no one to complain to. no boss... everyone just shifts the blame ard.. irritating... anywayz, we took the extra pc of grilled potato and fed the fish @ the jetty. in ag's words 'it gives new meaning to fish n chips'. lol
2300, i'm in bed...

fri
0800 woke up, breakfast (i had half boiled eggs, banana pancake and some shake.. pig rite?)
09++ went to the little hut we signed up for our snockel trip (ringgits 50)
1030 depart salang for coral island
snockeled @ 3 reefs... cant rem the first, long beach for second and genting for 3rd or was it 1st?
1330 came back to salang, feeling a bitta sick. the last site was horrid the waves. how can anyone snockel there decently.
washed up til abt 1500
lunch... some spicy noodles.. :(
1600 nap.. i really needed the nap.. the sun and the waves from the 3rd site...
1700 hv to struggle out of bed for the final round of snockeling. after all, we've traveled so far and so long... and we fed the fish w leftover biscuits
den.. it was shower... seafood dinner (we paid ringgits 87 for 2 squids - 14; 2 slices of mackeral; and 2 crabs - 10 per pc)... a walk by the beach, by the jetty, watch pple squid fishing... we stopped by a little 'hut' for shakes and beer... an angmoh couple there just commented how they just got their dinner after an hour.. gosh... typical it seems...
2300.. i'm in bed again...

fri
0600 rise n shine
0645 had super cheap breakfast (curry puffs and kuey kueys going at an ave of 3 pcs for a ringgit, and mee goreng n nasi lemak @ 1 ringgit per pax)
0730 boarded ferry back to mersing
abt 1000... got stranded near mersing cos of low tide. they finally brought in transfers.. whcih were super overloaded, and i dun even get to sit... and halfway, the water flooded the floor of the boat, and my pack got wet! *grrr*
1100.... looking for tix back to sg. took a cab at 120 ringgits back to city square.
1300... arrivd @ city square. had lunch @ secret recipe. walked ard...
1500... left jb
and cabbed home...

tht was a super long entry.. i tink shld help me rem enuff lah.. plus with all the pretty pics ag took.. good lah. :)

back from dayang.. w sandfly bites n rash threatening to return...

its an unforgettable trip.. because its a stressful trip... w some highlights and lowdims...

i was totally sleep deprived prior to tis trip. (pple who noe me noes i cant live if i dun get enuff sleep). thurs evening, went for my pool session (kindof traumatized) n rushed to my students' chalet and ended up staying over cos it was v late. cldn't sleep the entire nite tink cos i was like tensed after the pool. next morn, luckily my RO allowed me to cancel my appointment w her cos i seriously needed to rest, but still i cldn't sleep. was stone... and temp was a little higher den usual. anywayz, i made my way out... for the trip in the evening nonetheless.

Highlight 1: Company was great...
after i got to noe them. many ex-GMers.. its farnie how we make up @ least 1/2 the grp. some nice frenly gals to hang out w. once i got to noe the gals better, immediately i told them i was super nervous.. and they thot i looked 'zhai' (first impression). HA. pretend only. i was so scared i wanted to just go home on my way to the shop.

HIghlight 2: den i realized i wasn't the only one doing the rescue! :) Another guy, QY, my mom's fren's son was doing it too. small world ey... so anywayz we proceeded.

Low dim 1: The boat was ultra slow despite its 'turbo' engine..
and got lost. we arrived dayang @ 6.30am. means less time to rest b4 the first dive. also, d boat was so rocky, i was up all nite again. 2nd nite of deprived sleep. but we count ourselves fortunate it wasn't raining. given the design og d tiny boat, we'll be dead if it was raining.

Lowdim 2: i was so tensed
i did not enjoy almost all the dives. nothing was nice to see. nothing wows me. i cldn't even descend. that was like super crap.

Highlight/Lowdim: one of the rescue dives...
cldn't descend. ha ha. so QY got tt guy. n was made to tow him round the boat while giving rescue breaths. poor boy. i wld hv sunk.

HIghlight/Lowdim: one of the rescue dives...
it was my turn. i just got out of the bathroom when QY became 'panicky' i was in self denial and i asked him 'r u serious?' lol. tt is not wat one is supposed to do lah! the farnie thing tt got EVERYONE on the boat and the instructor in the water laughing their guts out: during my 2nd attempt to throw QY a flotation device, it so accurately hit him on his head, creating a 'boing' sound and bouncing back (that's wat they told me. i dunno!) imagine, the way to save a panick diver is to hit him unconscious first. AH HA HA. kidding. but its farnie. it'll be remembered 10 yrs down d road if/when anyone of us bump into each other during any dives. its classic.
so i tink iw as nervous again, cldn't descent when he sunk. anywayz, got him up. and suay suay, while trying to tow him n do the rescue breathing, one of my fins threatened to like drop out. sheesh. anywayz, thankfully it remained in position despite the strap coming off. but there was less effectiveness cos i din wan it to drop. i'm dead it it drops. almost died at the end of the tow when i hv to keep ourselves afloat. but Jk was like v encouraging @ the side n so were the 'audience' on the boat. survived.

Highlight 3:
skipped the nite dive for a nice slow dinner. but we waited an hour for dinner. still it was nice to just chill by the beach w some real jokers ard entertaining us.

Lowdim 3: i felt so yuan wang
the dm dropped my tank accidentally when i was on the 2nd deck. those on eht 2nd deck w me were like... OH NO... HER TANK DROPPED and sounds like the reg is dead. but iwas like dead certain i secured my tank. so i felt super suay, cos if a tank dropped, no one will believe u secured it. (and we were previously warned by Jk to secure it, becos we had no extra reg). so i went down, and saw Jk's face. super blk. He was tinking wat to do, so i din wanna disturb him to tell him i secured my tank. thot i'll let him noe later. but i felt so upset cos i thot he was angry tt i almost din wanna dive. there was a change in plan n i felt like my suayness like made everyone suay. but the pple who were on the 2nd deck w me who were not aware of wat really happened were really sweet n tried to like make me laff when the rest went to dive first. i was so upset throout tt dive.. so later during bf, i was like so upset my other gal pals were like wat happened... so i told them i felt v yuan wang. tt's when they told me wat exactly happened... MAN.....

the rest... were usual... or off the usual.. but too lazy to blog. anywayz entry is getting too long.

meanwhile, i finally got to sleep last nite...but sandfly bites kept me awake (just a little bit) and my rash.. oh... pls dun return...

and life goes on.. its time to work...

of rash... passport... kim chi... rescue or not...

rash is mostly gone. not visible only. just taking care and beingmore careful over the affected area. *happy*

passport collected yest... my old trusty passport i'd been proud of has expired... its really w sadness tt i hold my new passport... gone are the precious marks of the places i've been to. no. the new passport will not be filled with the marks of special moments i had... trips to msia w my entire family (now all over the plce)... my first virgin flight.. trip to cambodia... my 3 months there... my first and subsequent dive trips... mountains of the himalayas... mountains of thailand... checkpoints by land between thailand and cambodia, vietnam and cambodia... my first backpack trip to southern thailand following the amazing race season 2's route, trips i had w my honors classmate... jb shopping trips w EC, w G, w dive gang on different occasions... first trip to developed cty aussie... learning how to bring kids to china... learning myself while spending time in khaolak some of these changed my life (diving n cambodia), others enriched my life, without those, i am not who i am now.... i'm sure the new passport will have in it new marks of adventures ahead, but i shall hold dear that old trusty one, in which, keeps the traces of my life...

kim chi... yest was the first time i tried korean food. decided to go for the seafood kimchi vermicilli. the dish looks ferociously spicy from the display pic. being the stubborn me, who just wanna try it, decided to go for it, much to the bemusement of ana. it took me an hour to eat up 2thirds of wats in the bowl. some tears and a fat tongue (i mean, it felt fat). ana was just bemused and resisting telling me 'huo gai' (u asked for it). i stubbornly finished as much as i cld. the way i look at it... at least i've tried it... i wldn't try it again. but i've got a try that's good enough (than just a mouthful). that's me. just wanna try. even if i'm suffering or incapable... stubborn... which comes to the next item: rescue dive course. to take or not to take?

this is the only weekend i can make it. if not, i tink i really shld give up oredi (it was my resolution to takeit up last yer). but suddenly i'm feeling really apprehensive because of the fact tt i'm not v strong and i cant tread water properly.... so this one's.... still a question mark.

who said diving is relaxing?

just had a very very exhausting trip... no thanks to the currents. *laughs*

pulau semakau, reef check. met up @ keppel marina, loaded up and we set off. it was nice on the overall. visibility was 1.5m at its best. i saw crabs, butterfly fish, 3 nudibranch (white w purple linings), 3 other usual nudibranch. Cant rem wat else i saw. The first dive was my record, 1hr 18mins. Second dive was darn tiring cos of currents. i really almost cldn't make it back to the boat... in any case, the amazing ting was.... I DIN GET THE HIGH TIDE... usually i'm like need the bathroom 40mins into the dive.. today was like.. miraculous!! but also good, if on the second dive i need to go, i'm so dead. i took at least 5 mins finning underwater against current to get back to bouy and at LEAST another 5 mins (maybe 10?) on the surface somewhat against current again to get back to the boat which was darn far away. if i kena high tide, i'd rather die... but generally nice company... away...


Passport update:
they finally called late PM on fri to say my passport appln prob got lost in the mail. i'm tinking... it took u 3 days and 2 calls? not v efficient.

Rash update:
Its ok in the day. But gets real real real itchy in the middle of last nite and now... i wonder y. even the oral medication to stop the itch took long to work. and supposed to last 24 hrs. i took one last nite @ 2am. its itching again now!

Meanwhile hving this 'arguement' w my mom. Thot finally when the smallest one is married we all can move on.. but nooooo... my mom cant. so i'm still living under her shadows... i was super super super pissed... this time w my mom... enough is enough....

down the memory lane...

1 year ago on 13 May:
i was irritated w some gals from my kunming grp who made me misunderstood by the tr-i/c
i did major damage control cos i gave the wrong location for the concert i was bringing my guitar gals to

2 year ago on 12 May and 14 May:
i was still dealing with the penguin and giraffe issue
my dear keiki n cookie were still alive, and i loved watching them
i went to jb w EC, but too tired ended up watching TROY
looking for a digital camera
stuck in all the boring nie talks
sent in my resignation letter to moe n signed on as an aided staff

how time flies....

holiday@tioman

diving was good. Not the best I've been to, obviously, but good enough to make me happy to get a break.

tis trip, it was much more comfy becoz unlike the usual, i do actually hv a place to sleep in on the boat en route to tioman. also, we arrived earlier, at about 3.30 instead of the usual 5am. on top of that, both morns, we got up late and started diving late. so, i did get sufficient sleep during tis trip, which is nice. lol.

being spoilt by the beautiful sites in the similans, sites were boring at first. but two were my fav. in one of it, its got beautiful beautiful corals. we even found like many nursing sharks! i tink i'm getting a little better at spotting things. hek hek hek. tink some of the dives cld hv been better/more interesting, but cos the experienced instructor got 'boated' due to some booboos along the way, we kind of have to make do with less experienced DMs who can spot things, just not as much, esp during nite dive. :) but all in all, i'm happy, so doean't matter.

i thot i'll neva really go back to tioman/dayang to dive again. but after the trip, i do realize the feeling's different from diving in thailand. thailand's real nice and comfy. like no need to travel like siao like this. but trips like these, are like real short getaways from work, so its different lor.

ok lah. nothing much to blog abt also.

lasik enhancement yesterday was like... like that lor... had to go thro the traumatizing ordeal again. tis time round, i'm a little myopic, for now, at least tt's wat the eye doc says. so we'll see how lah... anywayz, i'm gonna miss a survey dive at pulau jong tis weekend cos of the lasik. and i cant go blading tis week cos of the lasik too. sigh.

Typical colors and pictures along the road - colors of reconstruction


My 'bungalow' - its a quarter of that building. hehz

THAIKEA - another of TVC's project

Scenery from Boat yard - TVC's another project

Police boat that got beached 1km in from the coast

Tap Tawan team @ our communal table. Think the animals are under the table. :)

On truck going to work

First septic tank i dug

Beginning stage

Wall coming to a completion

Laying the last brick of my wall

End-product of each house of my project


Sunset @ Nang THong Beach

Viewpoint of Ko Similan

Ko Similan's beach

From the viewpoint on Ko Similan

Addicted to nitrox

Another pair of trusty shoes I left behind

Weeks ago....

Five weeks ago Saturday, I was at the dentist, yet to pack my stuff.
Four weeks ago Saturday, I was on the dive boat. At this hour, I'd probably just did my first dive at the Similans.
Three weeks ago, I was on my way leaving Khao Sok National Park.
Two weeks ago, I was on my way leaving Khao Lak, where I left part of my heart in.
One week ago, somewhere in Singapore, I can't really be bothered to know what happened then.

The entry about my trip was long overdue. Not because I'm busy. But simply, I do not know where to begin. People ask me how the trip was, there is too much to say. The only word that I could use, despite its lack of substance to describe everything is 'Awesome'.

Memorial bits include the daily cold showers in the early morn and late evenings, the wonderful people I've met in my project, doing the basics for the people there, the parties at night, the beautiful dive sites and great dive people I've met, some impromptu things that happen when u travel, the simple routine every day, good and bad things I've seen and learnt about human ....

The simple routine....
We work on weekdays. Life is pretty straightforward. Wake up at 7.30 Cold shower. Change. Sunblock. Tell my two pigtail. Pack. Leave my place at 8.15. Reach Nang Thong supermkt at 8.30. Say hi to my teammates and get a yoghurt. Get picked up on our truck and drive to work. Work is the only things tt's not routine as you never know what you'll be assigned to do, and well, things just don't go the way they should. SOmetimes, just a lot of waiting. No electricity. No water. Power tools fail. Something's missing. Typical. :) First thing at work site, go to tool shed and pack whatever we need for our tasks assigned. Lunch at 12-ish with the rest at our table. Usual cat/dog/chicken/pig fights to entertain us during meal times. Continue work. Pack up. Keep tools at tool shed. Take the truck back. Silly conversations on the truck. Back at my place, cold shower again. Wash my work clothes (I only have 2 sets I wear on alternate working days). Meet for dinner. A couple of nights a week there may be activities. Sleep.

My teammates....
People from all over the world, all ages, different experiences, different personalities. One thing great though is, everyone's real. Here, no one needs to be nice for any motives. They are just nice. It makes my heart so warm to work with them. I miss them all. I could just sit here and type and cry at the same time thinking of the times spent with them. Special friends I'm met include Kara, Kate and Sukhy.

Diving....
Is awesome. I went there the first weekend break. Perfect weather. Sites are awesome. MANY MANY things to see. Met cute people. Quirky tho. Usual asses. Also met nice folks. Kara, Kate and I managed to have the boat to ourselves after the day-trippers left. Our two dive guides then brought us to Ko Similan's viewpoint for a couple of hours while the boat went to stock up freshwater from a waterfall nearby. We talked. about many things. Happy stories and sad stories of the tsunami experienced by our guides themselves who were there during that fateful day. Starry night. We even had dolphins circling our boat all nite. My dive instructors told us that has neva happened before. I guess we just have loads of flying fish ard our boat for the dolphins to hunt. Its awesome!!!! A whole school of them, seven inclusive of two baby dolphines.... aw..... My guide tells me I'm a good diver. SO HAPPY!! :) I went on a second liveaboard on the last 2 days of my trip in Khao Lak. This time, I was alone as Kara and Kate have left. Weather was cloudy. No sun. :( Strong widns and hugh waves. Neva dived in such big waves before. But I'm glad I took the challenge. I'm much more confident now. The captain of the boat later hand-signed to me 'big waves... u dive... u good...' lol. Whatever conditions, diving in the Similans is still amazing. :)

Sotong...
I've been eating like squid everyday... Phad Thai with squid. Noodle soup with squid. ... ... I LOVE SQUID and they are so affordable there!!! :P

Squid-fishing
My team had the opportunity to go squid-fishing one afternn with the villagers. We knocked off 2 hours earlier and followed them to the beach nearby and saw how they fished for squid. Tools: just a twig with little crab meat at the end poked into it as bait and a sharp metal rod to poke them in their holes one we've lured them out enough. Our catch, ten plus of us, was... 2 tentacles. LOL. PATHETIC!!!

Impromtu event 1
During the second weekend, Kara, Kate, EC and myself decided to go to Khao Sok National Park, about 70km away for tubing (that's sitting on a rubber type - for mine, just sinking into it rather, cos its too huge!!) down the river for the day and return to Khao Lak. But thanks to the previous night's hangover, plus the fact that the journey took 2.5 hours instead of the 1 hour we expected, we arrived there at about 3.30pm, only to realize that the last bus leaves there for Khao Lak at 5pm!! So, only in shorts, tank top and my swimwear, with nothing else except a waterbottle and some cash, WE WERE STUCK AT THE COLD PARK FOR THE NIGHT!! Went tubing anywayz. Got pants and tshirt for the night. But its an 'ulu' place. So, watever patterned clothes, we just grab, as long as we can keep warm for the night. lol

Impromptu Event 2
The false alarm! On the last day of work, there was a short siren followed by a short announcement in Thai. My Thai teammate looked worried. We asked her what it was and she said it said 'big waves'. She tried to contact our Center for more information, but no one was really sure except people from our other projects were evacuated into higher grounds as well. So anyway, we did evacuate to higher grounds. No one knew what was going on, as there was no prior information that there was going to be a drill. Later, we realized, the technician in Bangkok pressed the button by mistake when the drill was supposed to be the following day. MY GOSH! I had to go back and knock down one brick I just laid as I did not have time to set it straight before we left the site, and the cement had set, the crooked brick. GOSH! Irritating (its a lot of work!). But iwasn't alone, Sukhy was complaining too. *laughs* When I'm home and recounted this story, someone asked me how I felt then. Honestly, I did not know how I was supposed to feel. When we were evacuating, I wasn't worried because I knew it takes time for tsunami waves to travel, and as long as there was prior warning, there would be sufficient time. But I was also feeling.. strange... Another tsunami, even with warning, would still mean... deaths.... I hated that part.... And then, I wasn't sure if I want to hear any more deaths. There's been enough. Too many lives have been taken. Too many families wrecked and separated. sighz...

Work there...
Two days of literal shitholes and weeks of brick laying and occasional foundation setting. Shitholes are 2m deep holes dug from the ground. When digging them, you get wet and dirty from groundwater that keeps flowing in despite using a pump and bucketing them out manually. Our project manager promised us no poop with his fingers crossed. We found something and retained it for his view. Kara went 'it looks like poop, it smells like poop, it is poop'. Andy, our project manager used a stick, poking the stuff and scrutinizing it went 'it looks like poop, it smells like poop.... its probably poop.' That was the end of our shithole job. lol

Reconstruction....
can take place very quickly if resources are available and if they have an incentive to. First day I reached Khao Lak, the bus stopped us like....in the middle of nowhere... literally. The entire 'road' was simply... sand and gravel!!! First week I was there... tarring of the road took place. Second work, they built a road divider. Overnight, trees were tranplanted into the road divider. Walkpaths at the sides were being tiled. Third week, lampposts on road divider. Road lanes were marked out. By the the end of third week when I was leaving, the road ... was... amazing. Comparable to Singapore's road that sort of thing. Reason? The anniversary is coming... Everyday from the second week onwards, new shops open. The 'in the middle of nowhere' i stepped into suddenly became a developed tourist destination. My question though is, why so late? Money turns the world around doesn't it?

I cannot continue typing anymore. There's just too much. :) Brings back such good memories I may start to feel blue again! :) One thing tho I've learnt, when I'm there, I enjoy it, appreciate the time. Now that its 'over', I am not going to be upset that my 'happy' time is over. But rather, I'm happy I was there, my life has truly been enriched.

one word: Awesome.

adventure@hantu

0810 Arrived at RSYC by cab.

0830 Met the rest and we all split into 2 grps for 2 sites.

0930 At hantu reef. Saw a OWD course going on. And all joked how there would be no fish to record today cos all the fish will be frightened away.

1000+ Tape-layers descended, followed by fish 15 mins later. Inverts (my buddy n i) supposed to follow 15 mins later, but buddy did not hv mask, so hv to wait for tape-layers to surface to lend her mask. But ended up, we din get to dive at the beginning because.......

A CONVECTION RAIN CAME!!!
Geography lesson: Prior to rain, VERY STRONG drafts of wind. Rain is of high intensity (ouch) and short duration lasting between 1 - 2 hours.

What happened for us was very strong surface (and reported in the shallow waters we were dealing with as well) currents. Our little boat started to shift closer and closer to the breakwaters and we were abt to hit it. had to drag one fish-gal who lost her buddy out so the boatman can start the engine to move the boat before we hit the breakwaters. I saw with my own eyes a tree from the island break its trunk and fell into the sea. Anywayz, a huge HUGE barge was also drifting towards us and the boatman wanted us to get the rest out of water (LIKE WE CAN CONTACT THEM?!?) because it would be dangerous for them if the barge did drift any closer. Cant raff the engine to signal to them cos we need it to keep us away from the breakwater, so i resorted to the second (not too effective, in fact, not effective, just try lah) method of recalling the pple. Knocking metal to the ladder. Anywayz, it was rocky, painful (attack from the raindrops). F9inally, we got all of them up. I got totally wet, my wet suit's first saturation is rain water and not sea water. And ha, the rain subsided after quite a while, but within the 1 - 2 hours time frame. Next qns: to abort or not abort survey? Decision: Not.

1300+ I was cold n shivering even before i was in water. ANywayz, lost buddy once. Overweight. Too small BC. My BC cant inflate. @#$#&*(@ A pair of divers reeled up the first transect making my buddy n i lost for a while. Vis wasn't too bad for hantu. ave about 1.5m. Of course, when silt is stirred up, vis is 0.00m. Not bad lah.

1430 Finished survey. Got up. Had lunch. Served up brownie and fruits. lol. Waiting for bentic to surface.

1545 Left site. But we were heading further from mainland. reason: boatman went further to chekc on another boat which was grounded (hit coral). It was tilting pretty badly. Poor boatman gotta wait till high tide. And worse, a TANKER got grounded too. Many bigger boats (than ours) were like trying to drag it or something like tat.

1630 Arrived back at RSYC. Unpacked. Showered. Came home.

Wash gear Wash gear Wash gear.

Its a long entry. I noe its boring. But hey, now i can print this and stick it in my log book! dun hv to write again. lol

Meanwhile, marking starts tom. So will prob MIA for a while.

TiS d sEaSoN 2 b mArKiNg fA La lA La lA La lA La la.....

bandaged...

since i'm on the topic of footwear, here's my 'injuired' shoe while i was in kunming. (yeah, all my footwear gave way there) and its final resting plce was in a 3-star hotel in Kunming city, together with my faithful sandals. They have served me well.



Oh yeah, and tt's wat is good abt taking first aid course and a first aid pouch w u wherever u go. LOL

Before & After...

First one taken in Ang Snoul, Cambodia, en route to river near the orphanage w kids in June 2004. Second one taken in Xundian, Kunming, China, on the last visit to the Pri school when we bid them farewell, June 2005. Left it behind in China, never to see it thereafter. Dun ask me y i take pics of my sandals (esp the first pic). I dunno. lol

hitting the lows after the high

It was an interesting dive trip. Was away for the Project AWARE - Reef Check survey over the weekend. Even before I left the country excited things oredi happened.

Pre-trip:
Divers to meet at 7pm. But the school function started at 7pm. So I was expected to be late. JK was aware tt I'll leave sch at 8.10pm and fly to his dive shop. But there was a change of plan....

When I got up the cab and gave him the directions, the cab driver was SO BLUR. So I attempted to call JK to get even more detailed directions.

JK: Where are you?
ST: In a cab
JK: Where exactly?
ST: SG area
JK: Get down the cab
ST: huh?!?
JK: We're going to your school to pick you.
ST: ?!? Where are you now?
JK: Outside your sch. Where exactly are you? Stop wherever you are.
ST: Near the stadium........ .... more exchanges on location .... .... mess... ....
ST: I din noe you were coming
JK: I tried to call you. But you did not pick up.
ST: I was in a service cant pick up.
JK: You shldn't even hv .... aiya, watever.
ST: Anyway, my mobile din even register your call.
JK: No reception den. Are you at the ... .... I'm at the ... ...
ST: I dun see the van/
JK: We are in a car.
ST: black color car? I'm behind the car's junction...
..... ..... ST ran to the car 100m away in her pants and heels...

In the car... after the brief greeting formalities...
ST: Did you bring my stuff?
JK: Yeah.
ST turned back and saw her gear bag.
ST: Did you bring my red haversack?
JK: @#$^&*@ JK called a couple of ppl... confirmed ST's haversack was in shop. JK instructed JL to drive back to shop....

Throughout the trip:
Company wasn't fantastic. Pple pretty exclusive. Cos the pple oredi knew each other from their YEP trip or were from the shop, my buddy and i mostly talked to each other, ate aside from others, or i just walked by the beach myself. (They were not terribly exclusive.) But its ok. I understd and am not upset. Enjoyed the quiet moments anywayz. :) I"m hear for the dive, to try out something new, and tt's enough. GOod company is a bonus.

Dives:
Different from the usual. INstead of moving ard, movementw as very restricted. There was a lot of focus on the demarcated area. So the scope of visual was limited, but intense. Never had I scrutinized rocks or corals that closely. Did fish and bentic survey. Fish survey was boring... and cold... Bentic was challenging but more fun, especially the snapping and reeling back of tapes and pegs. Was having fun with my new accessories - slate, rattler/shaker cum pointer, and my black gloves. Love the gloves. lol.

I did not participate in the nite dive. first time i said no to a dive. primary reason - i was tired and not feeling too good - bad state to dive. secondary reasons - the company wasn't good to dive w, and of course, JK made it clear tt he did not really welcome non-staff to dive, but asked out of courtesy?!?!

Only leisure dive on Sunday morn was like.... sososososo... y? cos i got a fairly new DMT. He's a nice chap. But still fairly inexperienced. I'm not extremely good in directions,but thot the route he took was weird. My buddy (who's a freelance instructor confirmed my view, tho she said she kept quiet out of respect for the dive leader) Anywayz, he took us across loads of currents. Most of the time I just stayed real low to reduce the influence of the currents and at times while waiting for him to figure out exactly where we are heading i just find a rock or depression to hid in from the currents (learnt from previous trips. lol). I tink i spotted more interesting stuff than he did!

Final dive was a cleanup dive. It was the battle between the genders of who's gonna pick up more crap from the sea. And guess wat? We won hands down. We managed TWO FULL mesh bags of crap including fishing nets, lines, plastic bag, satay stick, glove, .... as well as an ANCHOR!!!. The boys? A mesh bag hardly full. lol. It was fun lookng for crap and manuevering abt to pick them up esp with some requiring some untangling from the reefs etc.

All in all, this was a VERY DIFFERENT trip from all the previous. It wasn't 'fun'. Different company. Different perspective under water. But I appreciated it just as much. Meanwhile, feeling very sian from the low after the high nitrox.... lol.... BLEAH.