Gearing up for Temburong...

Tomorrow, at this hour, I will be on my way back from Temburong, probably be dozing off, very tired. (not like a deadfish a.k.a. Andrew - Lee Ming once said a dead puffer reminds her of Andrew, so Andrew, I'm just referring to her statement ar... )

My company is having a team-building trip to Temburong tomorrow, hence no diving for me. BooHooo. But, I am sure we will have loads of fun as we are very interesting, energetic, loud and adventurous people. Hehe...

Preparing for the trip, I had a chat with a colleague on what to bring and what to wear.

Me: Eh, what should I wear ar?
Nora: Definitely not long-sleeves! You'll be "fried". It is so hot. Just wear like normal when you go hiking at shahbandar.
Me: Oh.. I was thinking to wear my wetsuits or rash guard, 'cos right after water rafting, maybe i can 'trus' (straight-away) diving. Haha.. (I was kidding, OF COS! but, on 2nd thought, may not be a bad idea to wear my rash guard)Eh, what about kasut (shoes) ar? 'Cos my sport shoes are Nike, and yes they are originals, not showing off la.. but I don't want to wear my Nike in and then have them out as "Mike"...
Nora: YES! Definitely! If you wear your nike, you will get Mike after that.
Me: then how??
Nora: Go get those cheapo shoes and you can throw them right after the trip.

I had a chat with Eric and he said the same thing! Goshness... Will let you know if it was that bad and if I managed to get a "cheapo" shoes. Till then.. stay tune...

Arun's Wreck & Little Dale

Dive date: 16th July 2007
Boat captain: Hj Kula
Dive instructors: Azli & Kimmy
Dive Buddies: Edward, Simon, June, Rozie, Emily
Sea Condition: - but a bit windy, hence a bit choppy
Visibility: 3m
Skills learnt: Assist open water course


My favourites from these dives:

Nemoooooooooooo - Clownfishes

Others:

From top: Blackspotted eel, Nudibranch, Scorpion fish, Eye of scorpion fish

And... my very favourite shot for these dives has to be.... *drum-roll*

*deng-deng-denggggGG....* BLENNY!

"Hello there, cutie pie...!!!"

My Dream...

Ever since I heard of the phrase... "Wonders of the World" back in secondary school, I've told myself that I have to step my feet on those places; seeing them with my own eyes.

I still remember my conversation with my sister:
Me: Cher ("Sis"), I want to take picture at all the 7 wonders of the world, with a PEACE sign. (At that time, showing the peace sign is damn cool okie?)
Sis: Siao... ("Crazy")
Me: What? It is going to be my dream! And, then I will enlarge all 7 photos and hang them on my living room's wall.
Sis: ..... (Ignoring me)
So much so for encouragement from my sis back then.

Ever since we started working, me and my sis agreed that we will travel around at least twice a year with our parents. And, it is something that I always look forward to... my family trips. (Related post: My Ohana)

Recently, the New7Wonders organisation announced... well what else?... they announced the New 7 wonders of the world. I was so excited to see how many of those that I've visited.

The new 7 wonders of the world

The remaining finalist of the wonders of the world

Pictures adopted from www.7newwonders.com

Those in green ticks are places that I've visited before. Hopefully I will be able to cover all the other wonders of the world in this lifetime.

Wish me luck! :)

Brother Jeff's Birthday...

MSN - nudged by BO$$ (Jeff)

Then...

Jeff: Sis, remember ar... 14th July.

Me: Yes, bro. But I'll try. Might be diving the next day though.

Jeff: No excuse. You have to come. Else I spilt you into half!

Gawd... can you believe that is coming out from my brother Jeff?

Anyway, of course I was there on his birthday celebration. Late but at least I was there. Heehee.. We had a fantastic time, chit-chating, makan-ing and of course, some minum-ing too. Hee...Hee...Hee.. Since, it was a no-dive day the following day (canceled due to bad weather - Boo-Hoooo) I stayed a bit late and had a great time catching up with some friends and getting to know new potential divers... Hohohohoo...

Celebrating the 18th July triplets - Jack, JEFF, Hals

A year older, a year wiser ar, Bro! Hee... Happy Birthday! Great fun... great party... great nite...

No more wisdom...

I couldn't sleep on Thursday night. My gums hurt. In the morning I told Aunty Rosmarinah about it and that I can feel something sharp (like edge of a tooth) on the side of my left upper gum. Aunty advised me to see a dentist for consultation and x-ray.

Wisdom tooth? Wow... I always hear my friends and colleagues having that problem with wisdom tooth, going for surgery and all. I never have that problem... until.. now?

I went to the dentist at Kiulap and was greeted by a very friendly nurse. She calmed and settled me down on the "all-kids-scared-of-chair". Fine.. I am not a kid anymore, but I am still scared and I can feel my heart pounding faster when I sat on that chair. Then, the nurse gave me a sunglasses. Wow... I didnt know we get free sunglasses for dental check now? The nurse then asked me to put it on and it is to reduce the glare from the light when the Dr. check my teeth. Oh...! Silly me..!

The Dr. came in shortly, asked the usual doctor-ish questions and then ...

Dr.: Ok. Your tooth at the back is causing your wisdom tooth to grow sideways. So, you've got two choices here. Option 1 - extract the tooth. Option 2 - Leave it.

Me: Oh..! I can leave it there? So the pain will be gone by itself.

Dr.: No. The pain will just get worse each day. You'll just have to stand the pain till you can't stand it anymore, then go for option 1.
Me thinking to myself... "Derrrrrrrrr is that even an option?!"

Me: So if I were to go option 1, when can I do it?

Dr.: Right now.

Me: Har?! So soon? *shaking*

Dr.: If not, it will just get worse, it is your call.

Me: If you do it now, can I still go diving?

Dr.: Oh, you dive? If you don't do it now. Then you shouldn't go diving. The pain will be worse with the pressure.

Me: Ok. Let's pull that tooth out now! *No hessitation*

Dr.: Right.. with this option, there is two possibilities.

Me: (What the hell? Apa lagi ni?) And they are...???

Dr.: I should be able to pull it out with no problems, but if there are problems, then you will need to go for surgery.

Me: SURGERY!?!? What's the percentage of me needing the surgery?

Dr.: Can't tell. Depends on your luck and my skills.

Me: (GREAT! I am never lucky and how will I know your skills when it is my first time? But if I don't do it... then no diving? Hell No...!) Bah.. pull la.. no choice.

After 20 minutes of agony, changing tools ("spanner"-like tools), pulling my left mouth trying to have a good look of the tooth (I felt my lips going KOYAK!), a lot of "krik-krak-krik-krak" sounds... (Goshness, writing about it gives me goose-bumps still.)... finally... the tooth is out. HUGE and the Dr. asked if I want to keep it. Ermm.. it still look bloody and ermm... no.. I am not going to put that tooth in my bag. Anyway, I have to say that the Dr. is very skillful and the nurse is very friendly.

Back at work, my colleagues were shocked that I got my wisdom tooth out in just 1hr away from office.

I chatted with Rachel, my diving buddy (who is currently taking a 9 months break from diving. Why 9 months? Try guessing... ;)).

Me: I got one tooth less now.

Rach: Har? How come?

Me: I went to see the Dr. and he pulled out my wisdom tooth already.

Rach: Wah.. so fast? Aiyor.. so now you got no more wisdom? Haha...

Me: *GULP*

After reading my blog, a friend buzz me and said. (My friend would like to remain anonymous.)

Friend: That explains it.

Me: Explain what?

Friend: I've seen the chart. I don't have any wisdom tooth at all. No wonder I am stupid!

Me: *FAINT* hehe...

Fly kite?

Kong : Eh.. where you go ar? Never see you online lately.
Me : Layang-layang.
Kong : Har? Go fly kite bo kio laaaaa...! ('bo kio' is 'never call' in hokkien)
Me : What fly kite? It's an island la.. I went diving! *faint*

Beautiful Sunset

Layang Layang has been a relaxing trip... hmm.. wait.. actually I lied. It was a "not-so-relax" trip after all.

It started off with... flight delayed! Goshness... I couldn't meet up with my friend Cecilia who offered to fetch us from the airport, then for seafood dinner and karaoke! (BooHoo0! I missed KK prawns.)

At Layang Layang, I thought our luck has changed... cos Yanni greeted me upon arrival and told me they saw school of hammerheads, saw thresher shark and also.... WHALE SHARK! Gosh.. can u imagine how wide my smile was at that time?

with Yanni the Borneo Turtle

Day 1
First dive and only about 10 minutes after we descent, we saw eagle ray! Goshness... is this a sign to a good beginning... well... no sign of hammerheads though.. but during safety stop..."ting ting ting ting" (ringer from DI Jasper) everyone quickly descent following Jasper from the back. Guess what? A school of pygmy devil rays!! At least 30 0f them. I was soooo happy! :)



Day 2
Hmm... no sign of hammerheads but we saw manta ray, leaf scorpion fishes, frog fishes and the usuals... :(

Manta ray performing sommersault

Day 3
We've got Seok from Scubazoo (whose picture recently appeared as the coverpage of Australasia Diving Magazine) with us in the morning. And towards the end of the dive, Jasper spotted 2 hammerheads and yes! Seok caught it on video! WoooHooo.. no pictures from me though.. as it was too deep :(

We also spotted ghostpipefish, frog fish and pygmy seashorse... Weeeeeeeeeeee....



Day 4
"Hammerheads hunters" (hunt with camera only ar..) are you ready? YES! We were all so excited. My buddy Elvin jumped down and then shouted "DAMN! #@$@#$" All of us were so worried. We thought he flooded his camera again. (Yes he flooded his camera twice before. Hehee) Then we found out that he forgot to put back his memory card in his camera. Doh! So, there he is all ready to photograph the hammers, but... no memory card. He was soooooo upset!

Jasper believe that this means luck and we for sure gonna see some hammers. AND.... WE DID! HoHoHoHooO... Two huge hammerheads and they turned back to check us out. So, we saw it twice. HeeeeeeHeee... I was trying to shoot the picture of the hammerhead and then suddenly... BooM.. right in front of me, buddy Elvin asking for his picture taken with the hammers. Gosh, he looked like he "fell" in the water. HeeHeee...

Day 5
We only did 1 dive and then headed to the Birds island for ... what else? Birds watching lor... Heehehe...

On the following day, we were all set and ready to head home and then... the chartered plane won't start? Goshness... we were not worried at first because our connecting flight is late in the evening. Waiting... waiting... and more waiting... till my buddy Tat decided to take his swimtrunk and went into the pool for a dip. Then... it is 4pm and we knew that we will not be able to make it for our connecting flight back to Brunei. Goshness.. we started the trip with a delayed flight and now.. we gonna miss our flight? Yes. We did miss our flight. We only managed to fly back to KK late around 7ish at night. We stayed overnight in KK and then catch a morning flight back to Brunei. When we are on board the flight back to Brunei, we thought that it should be the end to all the bad luck that we had... no... we were wrong. Started off with a delayed flight, then missed our connecting flight, and it ended with.... a delayed flight. We got stuck in the plane for a good 1 hour before it took off. *Speechless*

Oh well... nonetheless, we had lotsss of funs and I am sure my buddies agree so. :)

Here are some of my favourite shots from Layang Layang:

Till then.. hopefully I will be back. I miss those hammers. Real one.. and the fake ones like the towels below... :)

Bye bye Layang Layang