Obtaining My Open Water Diving Licence

The PADI open water diving licence to be exact. Which means I can now officially dive until a depth of 18 meters or 60 feet! :)

I just came back from Tioman Island again last week with more sun kissed skin. I was there at the end of March (click to read post) and was back there again sooner than I thought. But my purpose there this time though was to complete my open water diving course.

Learning to dive and to obtain a diving licence have always been something I had wanted to do for a looooong time but there were always some limitations somewhere. I have always love doing water sports so diving is like my ultimate aim. There's no specific reason to why now, it's more to now is a good time because we finally managed to find time together.

The usual way of obtaining an open water diving licence, which is the most basic and the first step anyone will have to take before they can proceed to further advanced diving courses will be to spend like 3-4 days on an island, doing the theory part, both the confined water dives (where you learn to breath and float in shallow water so you be confident enough to then go into deeper water) and open water dives altogether.

But well with work and everything, it's not that easy to sometimes apply for 4 days off straight in a row. So, the good thing was I found this diving centre in JB that allowed us to complete our confined water dives first in JB itself before we proceed to the island and stay there for another 2-3 days to complete our open water dives and theory. And the most flexible part is, we can actually do all of these at different times according to when we are free.

And so, my journey into becoming an open water diver begins actually at the beginning of this month when I had two days off and I used them to learn my confined water dives in a swimming pool at a sports centre near my workplace. I don't actually mind doing it in a swimming pool because that's like the very first time where we actually breath and float underwater and I feel quite safe being in a pool. *laugh*. Only about 2 weeks after completing our confined water dives, we went on to Tioman for our open water dives. In fact, I'm beginning to feel glad for the fact that Tioman Island is actually so big that they are divided into several villages and that it is such a close getaway from JB city.

We departed for Mersing at one of the most unGodly hour, at 4.00 am and managed to reach the Mersing jetty in 2 hours time. Our boat to Tioman Island left at 6.30 am but by the time we reached Kg Salang, the north tip of Tioman, it was already almost 8.00 am.

Since we stayed at Paya Beach Resort at Kg Paya the previous time, we decided this time to stay at Kg Salang instead. One of my boss recommended that Salang is the most beautiful part of Tioman Island and it's one of the best places to stay in Tioman, so I was keen to see the place for myself

Salang Pusaka Resort- where we stayed. The room I stayed in was like a super basic room with just a bed, a simple mirror, a dressing table and a rather dim light. But amazingly enough, they have a refrigerator, air conditioner and water heater. The rooms are not sparkly clean but clean enough. The down side of this place though were the fact that my room had this musky smell (which gradually resolved fortunately) and that the walls are super thin. So even though we had individual chalets, I can hear clearly what my neighbours were talking if they forgot to keep their voices low

We spent our first two days diving basically, doing two dives on the first day and another two on the seond day. We swam to our spots, around the Salang House Reef which were about 50 meters from the shore for our first two dives. My first ever dive in an open sea was only to a depth of about 7 meter but honestly, my heart was pounding with a cocktail of excitement, partial nervousness and thrill as I made my descend to the seabed. And as pressure increases, my ears started to hurt and for a second I was almost sure my ear drums were going to rupture. But luckily, Mark (my dive master) was there to remind us to equalize constantly and that certainly save me from potentially losing my hearing for good. 

Our last two dives were even more exciting because we got to do boat dives (where we learnt how to roll backwards into the sea!) at Fan Canyon and Soyah Island; we dived to a depth of 18 metres and 15 metres respectively. I was really relieved that I can at last equalize and control my buoyancy ( that's how divers get to go so close to corals, fishes, seabed etc without touching them) properly by the end of all my dives.

Pre-diving
 

Resting between dives with my dive gears

Our diving centre

We in our wetsuits

Strike a starfish jump

After dive with Mark, our fun-loving and cool dive master

The only thing I seriously dislike about boat diving is the sea sick part. I don't usually get sea sick, not when boats are moving, no matter fast or slow but they gotta keep moving but if they remain static at a spot rocking left and right while the waves hit against them, my vestibular system starts going haywire and that's it - sea sick :(

After my first boat dive, I got sea sick real bad and it was really disgusting. Thank god after a rest and my vestibular system readjusted on land, the second boat dive was so much better.

We had to study these too. Of course you will want to read it actually because it is your life that you are putting on line while diving, so if you don't read, you don't know and that will endangers your own life underwater

One of the things we do when not diving - hanging out at the dive centre using their wifi (trust me, wifi is extremely precious on islands so you don't get them at much places plus Digi totally died on us so it was good we had a spot to go online for free) and reading, a good time to be reading the manual *hehe*

Sunset. The sky was a beautiful mixture of colors as the golden ball of the sun sunk into the horizon

Just for fun, the exact sunset but this taken with the D90 instead

Salang at night

Salang at night is definitely more happening than Paya, almost like a mini Perhentian or Redang. While Paya goes total quiet after dark, Salang still have restaurants open and places to chill.

We tried this restaurant on our first night. They have a nice setting where you can have your meals by the beach and soothing beach songs playing but the food is so-so only. Their roasted chicken is my best recommendation here

On our second night, we ate at the restaurant at Salang Pusaka instead. They have movies playing every night too and they were playing Blood Diamond (a really good movie btw if you have never watch it) that night

We ate mainly from the bbq-ed corner there and honestly, I think their bbq-ed fishes are pretty good and the prices reasonable too

The rest of our time were spent just strolling the beach and absorbing the relaxing, stress-free atmosphere

Those chalets on the hills there were actually abandon hotel chalets. They looked so pretty from afar and we had thought they were opened initially until another of our dive friend told us the place is as abandon as it can be now and perhaps even haunted

AJ, another dive master based at Tioman

New found friends

Panaromic shot of Salang, Tioman Island

Officially divers on the 19th - with Mark, Fiona and their handsome little boy Keane at their dive centre in JB

One last pic of a lengzhai - A sulky Keane (still looking so cute, just like me *hahaha* kidding. Our similarity being I used to sulk when taking pics as a kid too)

Salang is definitely a prettier part of Tioman with more activities. I can't say for sure it is the prettiest until I'm done with all the villages but the water is clearer and bluer and they have white sands on this part of the island that I really love. But their accomodation is not as luxurious though, more suitable for backpackers alike. The one thing that I prolly don't quite like about Salang are their abundant monitor lizards but as long as they don't terrorize me, I'm fine with them sunbathing and joy swimming within their own community.

Diving can get pretty exhausting especially when you are carrying some 20 kg oxygen tank at your back. Of course, it is also a dangerous sport/ hobby (not forgetting expensive); just imagine all the risks you can get while diving; burst ear drums, sudden malfunctions of equipments, strong currents, narcossis etc. But the returns definitely outweigh the risks which makes diving worth it. It was simply amazing swimming 18 meters below water with all the fishes truly swimming with me, gliding past the rest of the underwater livings, with Nemos aka clownfishes being only about 2 cm from your nose you can literally smell them, looking above me only to find more circles of fishes right on top of me and listened to the sound and movement of the sea creatures. That kind of experience and euphoric feeling is something only can be felt through diving. I totally love diving and I certainly look forward to be doing my next dive already. :)

Read More

Got Shot, Bruised, Down and Dirty

Yes, only in a game of paintball, you find people who pay to get shoot, bruised, pain and down and dirty - all in the name of fun of course.

Last Sunday, the 3 most chilled departments in my hospital decided to get together and have some fun under the sun shooting each other out at one of the paintball field in Johor Bahru. It was certainly cool to have specialists, MOs, HOs and MAs coming together as one to play. The field we went to was in Desa Tebrau and it was seriously cheap to play there. For 500 pellets and 4 games, we only paid RM 85 per person! So cheap can. The last I played, I paid RM 200 for 200 pellets and 2 games at a field smaller and the environment less exciting than this. The Desa Tebrau centre have both jungle field and speedball field so we were really jungle-aware playing in the jungle; camouflaging, hiding and shooting among trees and getting real muddy and dirty. We also played at the speedball field and like it's name, it was all about speed and there's less stamina and energy needed, more to just shooting your hearts out.

My first time playing paintball was in KL but this was definitely a much more bruised, aggresive and painful game. And surely one of the best stay-awake recipe especially for those who post call or post night shift. I was working the whole night before and barely got to sleep and usually that means going into lalaland till the very next working shift but I managed to stay rightfully awake (and pretty much concentrated) for the game. I guessed when adrenaline runs, the sleep centre automatically gets suppressed.

The speedball field

Essential helmets

There are huts line up for players to rest in between games

Safety briefing by the marshall

We can also rent these army like clothes from them at RM 10. Definitely a good investment because our underlying clothes were kept clean

Surgical team

Spot me among everyone. Bravo if you spot me on first time. haha!

Post-game - at the end of 4 very exhilarating, painful and sweaty games

I certainly ended up with quite a few lovebites, and pretty huge ones I must say all thanks to the game and i'm not kidding when I say the pellets can be deadly. Even when shot from a distance, it can cause sufficient pain, bruises and swelling so NEVER take it for granted and shoot anyone in near range. I'm suffering from all the post-game consequences right now, nursing in sore muscles, painful limbs and ugly bruises, but then again, if you ask me for another game (just not right now), I believe I will still give it a yes. *haha*. Well, although it paints us as much as much as it pains us, it was still a very exciting and thrilling game.  :)

Read More

Banteay Samre, Pre Rup and the South Gate

Cambodia post!

Before I leave for my diving trip tomorrow, a post on the continuation of the Angkor temples. In the past, for tourism purpose, many tour agencies like to divide the temples within the Angkor Archaelogical Park into the 'Little' and 'Big' circuit. So the 'Little' circuit mainly covers the Angkor Wat and a few major and minor Angkor Thom (the city right beside Angkor Wat) temples while the 'Big' circuit covers Angkor Wat and more Angkor Thom temples. And because there are so many temples within the archaeological park, it's almost impossible for everyone to cover all of the temples in just one day. So likewise, Sophea tried bringing us to see all of the major, 'must-see' Angkor temples which includes the Angkor Wat and the other previous 3 temples I had blogged about and in between, he made brief stops at some of the minor temples along the way. We didn't follow any particular circuit though, it was just our very own circuit.

Among the few minor temple ruins that Sophea brought us to were the Banteay Samre, Pre Rup, Terrace of the Elephant, Terrace of the Leper King and also the South Gate of Angkor Thom.

Banteay Samre

My first impression on this temple was that they have similar walls to those of Banteay Srei. It was a pretty small temple, so we finished it pretty quickly to move on to our next temple.  Nonetheless, although small and not as statuesque as the major temples, their bas reliefs and motifs were just as admirable.

The entrance to Banteay Samre

Notice the similar laterite walls it has to Banteay Srei?

Motif of a sleeping Buddha

The central tower

Less popular but still a beautiful temple

Pre Rup

The most outstanding feature of this temple is the fact there are three steep tiers that probably rises more than a dozen metres from ground to the summit platform where the towers are. And I'm not kidding when I say the stairway leading up to the summit is indeed quite narrow and steep. Certainly not suitable for those who are afraid of heights or those who gets vertigo easily but for those who successfully made it to the summit platform, we were treated to a refreshing scenery of the jungles and rice paddies of the Cambodian countryside.

The entrance to Pre Rup

The three steep tiers and the quincunx of towers at the top

This is how everything looks when you made it through halfway

And finally, to the top. Yay!

I'm afraid of heights, I seriously do but I braced myself to the top just because I refused to give up and I wanted to see how gorgeous the scenery below really is so badly

Lush greeneries awaits once you are at the top

South Gate

There are five gates (entrances) into the ancient city of Angkor Thom. Each of these gates are crowned with four gigantic faces and coming back from the Bayon temple, Sophea drove past the South Gate of Angkor Thom and stopped shortly to allow us to admire the magnificent architecture of the gate before moving on to our last temple of the day, the Phnom Bakheng (more in next post).

The South Gate with an entrance small enough to permit one vehicle only at a time

The statues along the road by the South Gate. Most of these statue heads were actually stolen by art theft leaving behind a headless torso. But most of the stolen heads are now replaced with replicas so that the statue will not be left without a head

Our main mode of transportation around the Angkor temples- the beloved tuk tuk. I don't know if it's just me, but I think the tuk tuk of Cambodia looks somewhat different than those in Bangkok

It was definitely a very eye opening day marveling at all the grand art of the ancient Cambodian. How they creatively came up with those extensive motifs and bas reliefs, how meticulous they are at such intricate work and how magnificent and unique each of the temples are truly blew me away. But wait, there's still one last temple I had yet to blogged about, one last one to wrap up our amazing journey visiting the Angkor temples of Cambodia. Till then, take care and have a happy week ahead. :)

Read More