Ooooh.......water!

Image of the Day - Kuda Huraa Wide Angle

2008-05-15T00:13:00.001-07:00

Finally had an opportunity to test out the fisheye lens. Starting out with some easy stationary subjects.

One of our divemasters Nihad with a resident honeycomb moray eel. Not something that I'd condone, but it made an interesting photo.

Image of the Day - Landaa Giraavaru

2008-05-12T00:57:00.001-07:00

Just spent 5 weeks at another Four Seasons Maldives property on an island called Landaa Giraavaru in Baa Atoll. Got a new lens just a few days before leaving and managed to get a few shots that I was happy with. The photos are of the dive centre area of the resort. The fisheye lens distorts the image a lot, so it was tricky finding interesting angles and perspectives. The lens is so wide that in many of the images, I accidentally caught my feet in the bottom of the frame.

The Explorer

2008-03-27T04:30:00.000-07:00

A few photos of the liveaboard that we work on every few weeks for 3-4 weeks at a time. Truly the best liveaboard I've ever been on by far, even if it means working on it rather than living it up as a guest. Great crew who are always a laugh make the experience really enjoyable.

Random

2008-03-27T03:56:00.000-07:00

A snapshot of the reflection on a beer tap.

Seok busting some moves with her glow poi.

Adam with a smoothie?

Jo looking a little smug with her 'crown'.

Popping My Whaleshark Cherry!

2008-03-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that after 7 years of diving, I'm no longer a whaleshark virgin!

At first, it was awkward. We both didn't quite know what to do during our first time alone together. She came to me. I fumbled around quite a bit. She went on top of me, but I didn't know if it could fit. She was going faster and faster. I could barely keep up. Breathing hard, I didn't want it to end too quickly. I paced myself and after 10 minutes of our intense encounter, I withdrew and i was then seeing stars. What an incredible moment!!!

OK if you're the pervert I think you are, let me re-word that!

At first, it was awkward. We both didn't quite know what to do during our first time alone (in the water) together. She came (swam slowly) to me. I fumbled around (with the camera controls) quite a bit. She went (swam right over my head) on top of me, but I didn't know if it could fit (meaning it's head into my camera frame). She was going (swimming) faster and faster. I could barely keep up (again, swimming). Breathing hard (while chasing it), I didn't want it to end too quickly. I paced myself and after 10 minutes of our intense encounter, I withdrew (from the chase) and i was then seeing stars (from too little oxygen). What an incredible moment!!!

This whaleshark had been previously identified a couple years ago and at the time, measured 8m from head to tail. No doubt it would have grown some in the last few years. The location - Maamigili, South Ari Atoll, Maldives.

Amazing, amazing encounter. Special thanks to Guy Stevens for the photo.

And You Thought Life Is Short as it Is.

2008-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Joelle and I were having a discussion about the mundane thing we do everyday and got to thinking about how much time we spend in our lives doing them. Which became a whole mathematical calculation based on very general assumptions, with numbers scribbled down and tallied up on a napkin at cafeteria table during lunch. We ended up being freaked out by how we end up spending our time LIVING or NOT LIVING your life. But it did put things into perspective.

Let's assume that average lifespan is 70 years regardless of gender.

On average (and in very general terms):

I sleep on average of 8 hours a day = 8517 days in a lifetime
I brush our teeth for 6 minutes a day = 106 days in a lifetime
I have a shower for 10 minutes a day = 177 days in a lifetime
I pass motion (No.1 & 2) for 8 minutes a day = 142 days in a lifetime
I take 4 minutes a day to select, dress and undress = 71 days in a lifetime

So far, in a lifetime, I would have spent 24.7 YEARS doing absolutely mundane things.

If one were to spend the same amount of time working in a job (which he/she sees as equally mundane) as sleeping , that would mean spending 48 years NOT LIVING.

This means, that if you love what you do for a living, you'd have 45.3 years to live your life. And if you despise your work and workplace, you'll only get 22 years to live your life.

This isn't even including things like eating, waiting at traffic lights, waiting for your toast to pop up from the electric toaster, etc etc etc.. You could easily do the math and find out that even MORE time is spent on idle things. But I consider eating something enjoyable, hence being part of 'Living'.

By LIVING, I mean enjoying the pleasures of life :
- Spending quality time with loved ones
- Eating
- Having sex
- Traveling
- Shopping
- Discovering new things
- DOING WHAT YOU LOVE and ENJOY

Life is short! And we make it shorter having mundane things fill our lives.

So our conclusion was to stop brushing our teeth. It would give us an extra 106 days to LIVE.

*lights up a cigarette*

ps. smoking a pack a day at 7 minutes per cigarette would take out 1775 days out of your "Living" time in a lifetime (assuming you start smoking at age 20). THAT'S 4.8 years!!!! @#$%^&@@#!!!!!!!

Spare Time, Itchy Hands

2008-01-26T01:09:00.000-08:00

Had some spare time and managed to twist Adam's arm into letting me try out his DSLR underwater without his supervision. He was also kind enough to give me some photoshopping tips; because we all know, a good photo is attributed to BEING LUCKY and if that fails, there's always Photoshop to make a crap photo look good. LOL. (OK, its just a theory).

Messing around with the stobes to light the subjects was really tricky and using a 10.5mm Fisheye lens was way wider than I ever imagined underwater. Must've spent more time fidding with the strobes more than actually looking through the viewfinder or composing the shot.

Before
After
Before
After

Photoshop works wonders. :D

Image of the Day - On the Job

2007-12-10T05:24:00.000-08:00

I know it seems I'm either snorting glitter with Jo or eating chocs at the office all the time, but seriously, I DO work. Just an idea of what I look like when at the (underwater) office, here are a few shots taken by Sam.

Okobe Thila - a reef with lots of healthy hard and soft coral

Thousands of glassfish and yellow sweepers around a large coral bommie

Maldivian Clownfish in Magnificent Sea Anemones

Large school of convict surgeonfish grazing on algae

My Preciousssssssssss!!

2007-12-10T01:11:00.000-08:00

"One Toblerone to rule them all, One Toblerone to find them, One Toblerone to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"

Fun With Glitter!

2007-11-24T21:10:00.000-08:00

This is Jo - resident marine biologist. She works on exploratory coral transplanting research here at the resort. Revolutionary stuff!! This is the night before her big presentation on her research to the Board - about an hour before midnight. Powerpoint presentation ..... not complete ..... number of completed slides - one.
A blonde moment

Practising on technique. Mmmm....Mister Potato.....

Hard at work when......We find Glitter!!

High on Bling....

Jo fell ill the next day for 2 days....possible adverse reaction from snorting bling....

Watching Sun Setting During Sunset @ Sunset Bar....set...sun :P

2007-11-24T20:29:00.000-08:00

After a day's work, a drink and cigarettes while quietly watching the sun set at the bar is the usual way for me tospend the last remaining hour of daylight. Nothing quite like it.

This is Rao, who has just made me a Melon Martini to go with my solar experience.

*slurpppp* off to have dinner...

Image of the Day - Proud Parents

2007-10-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Down the House Reef of the resort, our resident family of Clarke's Anemonefish have been at it once again - becoming proud parents for the gazillionth time. New Nemos! Hooray!

I can just hear Sam yelling at me from the far corners of the resort saying, "They're not called NEMOs!!!!!"

nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...nemo...

Image of the Day - Alien Encounter

2007-10-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

Random

2007-10-09T03:24:00.000-07:00

Wondering how my monsters are back at home ...

Image of the Day - Manta Madness!

2007-10-08T00:58:00.001-07:00

In this frame itself, how many can you spot? I counted 16 in this single frame!

Image of the Day - Open Wide!

2007-10-07T02:05:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka - Land of Dilmah Tea

2007-10-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Been quite a while since the last post and this is probably a little overdue. The trip to Sri Lanka was sorta an unplanned trip or one with very little planning. Sam and I were supposed to get our work permits extended from a 3 month permit to a 12 month one. Apparently, to do that, applicants have to be out of the Maldives during the processing period, which usually lasts about 10 days. Sri Lanka is the usual 'refugee' destination for those undergoing the application process for good reason - its close proximity to Maldives and good sightseeing opportunities for the length of the stay.

The trip was organized about 3 days before departure, which barely gave me any time to do any research on where to go and what to do on the trip. So me and Sam just decided to wing it and do things as they came to mind - which worked out well in the end.

So first day in Colombo was an laid back day just getting settled in the service apartment that we stayed in (the not so lovely Nesum Apartment). Sam and I planned did some planning and budgeting for our trip. Naturally, we decided that the chaotic mess of Colombo wasn't the place we wanted to spend the bulk of our time in and so we decided to backpack around the country for 4-5 days and then return to the apartment after to check on the status of our work permits and flights. But before that we did manage to sqeeze in a laze around the pool of one of the Hotels around Colombo Fort where we had a bite to eat and watched the sunset.

The preferred method of transport around Sri Lanka is by 'tuk-tuk' or three-wheeler and costs around US$0.40 per kilometre. Prices vary and there's no such thing as running meters on these things. Obviously there is that potential that you'd be robbed blind if you didn't know the 'rates' any better. Thank god for the Lonely Planet Guide (the bible i later lost during our travels).

The next morning we decided to check out the Colombo Zoo just because it was a stone's throw away from the apartment. It was not TOO bad. For the most part, it was only mildly amusing. Bears, tigers and jaguars pacing back and forth aimlessly and a flock of pink flamingos frolicking in the drain water wasn't exactly riveting stuff... The only consolation was that I was able to distract myself from their sorry state by practicing with my new camera.

Zoos no longer bring me back to that 'happy place' as it did when I was a child....

We quickly shrugged off the whole zoo experience and headed for a walk in the lush green vegetation of one of the city's sprawling parks to get some fresh air and take some photos. Great thing about these parks is that it allows you to forget about how haphazard it is beyond the park's gates. We both sat down on one of the park benches to catch our breath and for me to have a cigarette. After about 5 minutes of rest, I began to feel little tickles on my legs. No....Sam wasn't trying to play footsie with me. I looked at what it was, and it was a tiny little black ant running up and down my calf. I swept it off and the tickles intensified. I looked down again and immediately jumped up with an "Oh SH*T!!!" and Sam goes "What?! What?!...OH F*CK!!!" and leapt out of her seat with the same lightning speed as I. We'd stirred up a whole brood of ants (eggs, babies and all) nest during our period of tranquility and by now our skin was crawling as we reeled in utter disgust. Sri Lanka is full of surprises, and by then we'd had about enough of them for the day.

Early the next day, we took a three and a half hour bus ride to Kandy - the Hill Country in central Sri Lanka in an attempt at some cooler weather and lower levels of exhaust fumes of Colombo. The journey was rough with winding roads and a crazy driver. Drivers in Sri Lanka can put any other driver from developed countries to shame with their maneuvering and overtaking skills. We got to Kandy a bit dazed and confused in the middle of a fruit market, which led us to consult our LPG (Lonely Planet Guide). We'd made reservations with the Queens Hotel and got there after a 10 minute walk through the hodgepodge of market stalls and its patrons.

That day itself, we managed to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens as well as the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic before enjoying a cultural dance performance at the Performing Arts centre. The botanical garden was impressive, with its manicured lawns and huge collection of exotic and indigenous plant species spread out over a large area. One particularly interesting attraction was the century-old ficus/fig tree that grew there. It's so huge it that its branches had to be supported by bamboo beams cut to shape for that particular purpose. From afar, the whole tree looks like a hilltop covered with lush vegetation, but you can walk inside its canopy to discover a labyrinth of winding, intercepting, tangle of branches - every tree-climbing kid's dream. Stunning!

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic has a long history behind it. I'm not really a fan of history (my highshool grades can proove this), but in a nutshell, this sacred place is said to be the final resting place for one of the molars of Buddha himself, which was taken from his cremation remains after his death. The tooth itself has made epic journeys amidst civil wars from almost 2 millenia past, up until the more modern Dutch and British occupations of Sri Lanka - changing hands along the way. Visitors are frisked and our bags were checked before entering the compound. But unfortunately, no one is allowed to sneak a peek at the sacred tooth. However, VIP guests like the Japanese are allowed to enter the chamber where its housed due to the Japanese government's generous donations to the temples in Sri Lanka. Tour guides were plentiful at a cost, but we decided to just leave the interpretations of the frescoes inside to ourselves instead of having a flowery and self-righteous picture laid out for us. The architecture of the temple was very reminiscent of the country's colonial past, which was a bit of a disappointment. But the fascinating story of the tooth was enough to detract from that.

The day ended with a Sri Lankan cultural dance performance that's performed every night for tourists. During the day, we felt like the only tourists around Kandy since we didn't see many other foreigners around and were constantly being hounded by street peddlers and tuk-tuk drivers all because we stuck out like a sore thumb. But when we entered the Auditorium, it was packed with tourists of all nationalities. By the end of the show, the mass of camera-toting tourists dispersed once again. The show itself was quite entertaining, culminating in a fire dance and fire walk.

Sri Lanka is known for its populations of Asian elephants and the local's have an affinity towards these beasts of burden. Therefore, we had to go and pay homage to the famed Pinnawela Elephant Orphange where around 60 orphaned elephants are cared for by their 'Mahouts'. Everyday the pachyderms would be led to the riverside for their daily mud baths along the heavily eroded riverbank. Watching a whole herd of these mammoths walk down the narrow road in between shoplots was quite amazing. Their sheer size and bulk was enough to make anyone dart out of their way in an instant, as the elephants wait for no man to take cover. We perched from the safety of the stands built for watching the spectacle and were awed by the beauty (and lack of grace) of these magnificent animals. Two thumbs (or trunks) up!

Our next stop was a 2 hour drive away to see the Dambulla Cave Temples, where many centuries ago, Buddhist monks inhabited the caves and painted beautiful frescoes and erected statues of their divine Buddha as a place of worship. The caves are on a hill top which is about a hundred meters from its base. The heat of the midday sun would've been uncomfortable had it not been for the cool breeze that blew through the hills. Many locals still climb the hill barefoot to make offerings in each of the 5 caves where the shrines lay.

Our pitstop for the night was a small family run motel called the Globetrotter Inn, which was also listed in the LPG. At US$30 a night with hot shower and A/C, it was a little pricier than what was stated in the book, but the personal service and friendliness of the owner towards us was first class. The owner had a tragic story of his one of his family members going to the US and died of a heart attack while there just a few days before our arrival. The US customs did not allow the repatriation the body to Sri Lanka in time for a funeral in line with Buddhist religious customs. Nevertheless, he was still a pleasant and hospitable man. We felt for his loss.

Sigiriya was next on our agenda. The ruins of Sigiriya is given the status and protection of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's the ruins of the old kingdom's palatial grounds erected in the 5th century AD. There, the king built his palace on top of a 370m tall magma 'plug' of a long extinct volcano with sheer drops from all sides. Breathtaking views from atop the natural structure can only be appreciated after scaling the dizzying spiral staircases, flimsy scaffolding and steep walks uphill towards the summit. On some of the rock faces were delicate frescoes of bare-breasted women, said to be King Kasyapa's wives or concubines. It's said that he had in access of 500 of them. Lucky bastard!

The Mirror Wall was a smooth polished wall that is scribbled with graffiti over the ages dating back to the 8th century AD, which archaeologists have studied intimately. The local language, Sinhala, can be seen evolving through more than a millenia of this 'vandalism' and it is said that modernisation of the language through time was an insult to the true poeticism of the language. Kind of how the English (or any other) language has turned out in this day and age. Surprise surprise!

It took a bit of persuading before Sam agreed to climb to the top with me. She has a morbid fear of heights, but like most irrational fears, its not insurmountable. We both made it up safely and in good spirits and the winds on the summit were howling. Great fun! We could see for miles and miles around us and we watched the sparse clouds dapple the vast expanse below with its shadows. The walk down was much easier than anticipated and much of it was spent watching a lady in front of us crouch on the stairs - sitting on each and every one of the steps as she made her slow progress downwards for fear of tumbling. She basically arsed her way down. Hilarious!

We headed back to Kandy to catch a train ride back to Colombo in order to head to our next destination. The trainride took about 3 hours.

The view en-route to Colombo was of nice green fields of rice and rich vegetation as the train chugged along the hillsides. In the small towns, we saw large fruit bats hanging from their final roosting perches - powerlines. Once back at Colombo, we headed straight for the bus stop to catch a bus to head down south to Unawatuna - a small beach resort town with a tsunami stricken history. We stayed for 2 nights at Sun n Sea.

The owner of the small hotel held on to the front door at the entrance while the waters of the Boxing Day Tsunami flooded the coast. A wooden remnant of that same door still remains at the now rebuilt Sun n Sea. The sign reads:

"Muharam Perera held onto this splintered door as the 26/12 tsunami swept through the Sun-n-Sea. The strength needed for this grip on her beloved Sun-n-Sea will surprise no one who knows this wonderful woman."

She survived the ravages of the rising waters that fateful day only to succumb to cancer the following year. Her siblings have since taken the reigns of running the business with the same fervour their predecessor.

The food of the restaurant was good and waking up to the sound of crashing waves in the morning was more than welcome.

We headed to Galle Fort, a Portugese occupation fort built in the 16th century and later modified during the Dutch occupation in the 17th century. Walking inside the ramparts of the fort was like walking thru time and experiencing life as it was in in the 17th and 18th century. In the backstreets, we were led into family run jewellery stores in attempt to get some business from us. With our background, we weren't exactly looking for the perfect star sapphire setting to match our wetsuits. So we politely declined.

As fate would have it, I left the Lonely Planet Guide in one of the jewellery stores, forgotten and never to be seen again. We only realised once we were halfway out of the fort that we had lost our bible! We decided to let it go instead of going all the way back into the maze of merchant shops. We felt kinda lost without our bible. But fortunately, we had already reached the end of our backpacking trip together.

On our way back to the Sun n Sea, we stumbled upon little crafts store where the owner was hard at work, carving out an elephant figurine from a block of wood. It was the final piece to go with the collection of elephants of various types of wood to be sold as a set instead of individually. His craftsmanship was quick and precise, probably after many years of carving the same design to eke out a living on this southern coast. I liked the unfinished elephant he was working so hard on that I asked if I could buy it. He willingly obliged and sold it to me for a dollar.

The next morning, we hopped onto a bus for another 3 hour journey back to Colombo where we hoped our work permits would be approved and waiting for us.

Sam's work permit was on time and she managed to come back to Maldives on time, whereas my own was delayed by a day, and because of a hiccup in the flight arrangements, was delayed yet another day in Colombo. So in the time that I had after Sam had left, I headed on my own back down south but only halfway. There, on the West Coast, lies a popular volunteer operation funded privately and by tourist donations. It's a turtle hatchery where eggs laid by turtles on the nearby beach were collected and place in the safety of their hatchery for a 60 day incubation, after which the baby turtles will hatch and be kept in large holding tanks for 3 days. The 3 day period is for the turtles to absorb their entire yolks to be strong enough when released in the cover of darkness by the volunteers. The tourist dollars are also used to purchase the eggs from poachers; to be incubated instead of ending up on the dinner plate. Baby turtles are the cutest things.

The turtles were a nice ending to the trip and before long, I was on a Boeing 777 for a 1 hour flight back to sunny maldives enjoying Finding Nemo on the in-flight entertainment channel. I've mised the fishies.

Blessed Be Thy Mantas

2007-08-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

In the Maldives

2007-08-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

Touchdown in the Maldives on Wednesday the 15th evening at around midnight Maldivian time. The airport is an island on its own and waiting to greet me were Scubazoo crew Owen and Samantha. Already there was a luxury speedboat waiting to take us to the resort - the kind that they use to ferry actual guests. The water surrounding the airport was already crystal clear with fish swimming around doing what they do. Was a shame that the flight wasn't in the daytime. No doubt the arial view would have been spectacular and worthy of some airborne shots from the plane. Nevertheless, the landscape, even at night, is quite amazing. No signs of hilltops anywhere on the horizon. It's said that the highest point in Maldivian territory is only 5 metres above sea level.

As soon as we reached the resort, I unloaded my dive gear at the office and headed straight for the house that I am now living in, which is another island just a stone's throw away from the resort island.....literally! There's a shallow channel that separates the two islets with only about 30m of water between them. The island that we live on is called Buda Huraa and is where most of the male resort staff live, and is a whole community in itself with shops, a school, mosque, restaurants and other things. Only thing is that NO alcohol is allowed on the island.

After a good night's sleep, I headed over to the resort to get all the formalities sorted and was given uniforms. That afternoon, Sam and I went for a dive at Lankan - a cleaning station for Mantas where I've been told, up to 30 mantas can be seen at a time visiting the little rock that they station themselves on to be cleaned by cleaner fish everyday. Saw my first 2 Maldivian mantas on that dive and was blown away by how close they come to the divers. Keeping the camera viewfinder to my mask was a little difficult because I was so in awe of them that I felt like just sitting back and enjoying the view. It wasn't exactly in the same abundance that I've been told, but still a jawdropping experience nonetheless.

Still getting settled in and I'm sure in a couple weeks, I'll get into the swing of things. Still a little paranoid of protocol we must take note of since we ARE in a 6 star resort. So I'm just taking a back seat and making sure I'm observing what's the resort's way of interaction. Some of the vocabulary that's used in the resort takes a little of getting used to. For example, when asking about laundry, one of the laundry staff says to me, "let me have your soiled uniform". I don't think I've ever heard of anyone using the word "Soiled" for laundry. Everyone I know says "Dirty Laundry". I guess soiled is a more 'professional' term for dirty. Little things like that was kinda bizarre for me. But I guess, it wouldn't be 6 star service if they just said "Give me your dirty jocks!"

The staff cafe is not bad either. There's a smoking area and non-smoking area for the resort staff. Indoor or outdoor. Hot or cold meals. Coffee or tea. Juice or water. Soy sauce or Tabasco. Mains and dessert. Self service of course with a buffet style selection of curries, plain or briyani rice, vegetables, pastas, cakes and custards. Pretty impressive considering its a staff cafe. Twice a week, we're allowed to have meals at the resort restaurant, where on Friday, we had a delicious seafood buffet with unlimited salmon/tuna sashimi, lobster/vegetable tempura, sushi, desserts, etc. Of course I gorged myself on the desserts more than the seafood. All in all, a very nice meal with 6 star service.

Overall, I'm very impressed. Of course, I say this with all the enthusiasm in the world, but who knows...one can get bored after some time. But at the moment, things are super. Will take some photos around the resort to share when I have the time.

Home!

2007-08-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

After 6 weeks at Seaventures, I'm now back home in KL, albeit not enjoying the air with a poor pollution index number. Suddenly got a bout of hayfever with a runny nose, blocked sinuses and a heavy head after enjoying my time without the smog. Good to see the ol folks, motorhead brother & his very random girlfriend, the furry ones at home, and the buddies. Will be home for a week and a bit, after which I'll be shipped off to the MALDIVES. Thanks Scubazoo! Will be great to meet up with the rest of the team there and experience diving of a different kind.

In the meantime, today's stay at home day to take on the role of maid. Home is exactly the way i left it 6 weeks ago - so some cleaning and organising is in order. I'll save you from having to look at pics of heap of mess. A couple loads (probably more) of laundry is also on the agenda today since handwashing was never my thing on the rig. And later some quality time with the furry monster - Jiggles the bottomless lab - oh how I missed you.

Photo courtesy of Chingz

Fish are Friends, not Food

2007-07-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

Finally had some time to do a fun dive at Sipadan with my trusty PnS camera today. Water temperature was a chilly 27 degrees for most of the time, dropping a further degree down at around 30+ metres. Snapping away when you're shivering is not that much fun but at times, there is an inbuilt water heater inside my wetsuit that does ease the suffering momentarily. ;)

Reef with anthias hovering above. Anthias are always nice to look at since their color varieties are so psychedelic.

Turtle shell patterns

Nudibranchia Pikachuicus. Ok, not its real name, but people here call it the Pikachu Nudibranch for obvious reasons.

Finally, one of my most favourite macro subjects the Lobsterus Hairius (also not real name) a.k.a. Hairy Squat Lobster. Eve our divemaster is a master at finding these little bastards

Random

2007-07-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

I've been dreaming of pork these last few days. Partly due to an evil blogger who wrote a piece on how fantastic her spam fried rice is just despite me. Which has led me to write a list of things I must eat when I get back to KL for a break.

1. Cans of Spam
2. Char Siu with extra charred fatty bits
3. BBQ Ranch Burger @ Chillis
4. Peking Duck @ The Ming Room Bangsar
5. Hokkien Mee @ Damansara
6. Siu Loong Bao @ One Utama
7. Dim Sum @ Taman Megah
8. Spaghetti Bolognese @ home
9. Sushi @ The Green Room

*drool* The list may grow as the days pass and finding the time to eat everything on the list will be a challenge in itself.

This isn't to say the food on the rig ain't good. It's fantastic! But we always crave the things we don't have. Tonight's dinner is BBQ on the sundeck and that's always good. BBQ lamb, chicken wings, burgers, prawns, fish and pasta........more than enough to forget the cravings for the time being.

Nutritously nutritious?

2007-07-21T23:12:00.001-07:00

I believe that most of us are quite fond or our favourite "Vitamin C" drink Ribena. It's the stuff of our innocent childhood (and not so innocent adulthood), where remembering the naked Ribena berry Adam n Eve prancing around in the jungle with leaves covering their privates brings us back to a much simpler and uncomplicated time. Aaah I used to think that Ribena was such a great substitute for eating raw veggies and fruits, convincing myself that if it had 4 times the vitamin C of oranges, it had to be healthy.

Earlier this year, GlaxoSmithKline was fined a total of almost AUD200K for false advertising after two 14 year old students found no detectable traces of vitamin C in Ribena after having conducted a school science experiment. You can read about the article here.

Doesn't it make you wonder how much we believe in corporate advertising and what's written on a label on your favourite food packaging? Seemingly nutritious fodder may be just edible rubbish. Not that it really bothers me, since I eat a whole lot of rubbish anyway, but aren't there watchdogs out there that keep errant food manufacturers in check? Or are these companies just taking advantage of the apparent lack of them? Remember, the Ribena scandal was discovered by 14 year old highschool students......BY CHANCE!

I still love Ribena though. Blackcurrant flavoured sugar water is still a whole lot 'healthier' than a lot of other things we shove down our throats.

......ponder....ponder......

Day off

2007-07-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today's the first day off that I'm giving myself for the last 2 weeks. I thought I'd actually be bored if I took a day off. It's 9.40am and after breakfast, I'm still undecided on what to do today. My hard drive (internal and external are packed with episodes upon episodes of TV series, movies and the latest addition - anime. Choices, choices, choices....... I've put off watching the latest season of Nip/Tuck until an opportune moment to totally veg out, but looking at how things are at the resort, that will very rarely happen, so Nip/Tuck will have to wait. I've yet to treat myself to watch the last 2 episodes of Heroes first season. Don't exactly know why, but it's something to do with prolonging the suspense and saving it for a better climax (ahem). But recently, my fellow workmate here has been kind enough to give me a new series to boot. An anime called Bleach - Soul Reaper. Was never really a fan of anime, but having watched the first four episodes in the last couple of days, it's actually quite addictive. There are now 30 episodes on my computer and the series has apparently been running for over a hundred episodes to date. I guess boredom won't be much of a problem for a while.

Of course, I could actually go diving in place of vegeing out in front of my laptop, which I think I'll do. Might capture some cool animal behaviour for the stock footage library, which is always a good theng. Will be something much more productive on my day off as well.

Decisions, decisions..........isn't life hard? ..........

Not a pretty sight

2007-07-19T03:27:00.000-07:00

banana hammock (n) - A men's style of undergarment that holds the genitalia in a sling-like hammock apparatus, allowing the meat knot to protrude offensively. Favored by greasy Europeans at the beach, and even greasier weightlifters during competition and posedown sessions.
Souce: UrbanDictionary

Ok, not THAT kind, but you get the picture. The following pic shows what my office door looks like with its attached clear window pane plastered with some posters. The empty space on the bottom of the glass pane leaves little room for imagination when fully grown men are walking around with nothing else visible from my point of view other than their lower half. Depending on which way the're walking, most angles are exposed. *shudders* Today was one of those days where traffic in the corridor was pretty high leaving the eyes stinging and watering from indecent exposure. I need to re-arrange the posters on the window....

All in a day's work

2007-07-17T02:40:00.000-07:00

So if you don't already know what I now do for a living, I look at fishies underwater and spook them with this bright blue piece of metal stuck in front of my face so that they go darting in all directions. FUN! In other words, I'm a new underwater videographer (fancy name).

This is what I mean. Photo courtesy of Seok

Me from another angle

Seok asked me to HOLD her camera on a dive but i took the liberty of clicking away and this is what I got. Mind you, the settings were all done by her, and I just pressed the shutter. Thanks Seok!

On Seok's and Jonni's last night in Seaventures. From Left: Me, Jonni, James, Nelly

The things we get up to after hours. That's Seok, my trainer, by the way.

After one too many, the night becomes more of a blur

Many thanks to Seok, who's been patient with me during my training, especially after I flooded the camera. Ooops!

The Workplace

2007-07-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

So the intention of having this up and running is to let people know what I'm up to. Something like a mass email but instead, people come here instead of me having to remember email addresses.

This is where I work. Seaventures Dive Resort off Pulau Mabul, Sabah. Talk about luxury accommodation.

This is my office window facing Pulau Mabul and Sipadan Water Village Resort and Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART)

Clearer view

Sunsets on a good day are something like this. This one was after a sunset dive at Mabul and we were treated to a gorgeous one.

Couldn't ask for more. :D

Officially a Blogster @_@

2007-07-08T03:27:00.000-07:00

So....this is a blog. Not entirely sure what supposed to be in one, but I'll give it a try anyway. As a lazy friend has told me, "If you're lazy to write to your friends individually, just start a blog so you don't have to write to anyone personally." Makes sense, I guess.

This is a start, so no pictures just yet. When I have more time, the photos will start popping up, so watch this space. In the meantime, be patient and stay tuned.

Not a great writer, so I think a photo blog will be more appropriate with descriptions of what you're looking at for a better idea of the random posts that I come up with.