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

The story of Dear-Dears

I was cleaning up my MSN space and I found this album I created specially for Linda and Sebastian. Hehe.. Enjoy the story...

A new chapter...

Finally... I've done migrating my old blogs from my msn space to this blogspot. "Pheww..." But I have yet to update those old blogs with some photos though.. hehe..

Anyway, I can't wait to start writing about what had happened to me over the last weekend. I was back in KL (not Kuala Lurah ar...). Hmm.. does that mean no diving for me? Of cos not! Says who that you can't dive in KL? Haven't you heard of Aquaria KLCC? Hohohoho...!

Yes! I dived the following day after I arrived KL. It was a shallow 4.2m aquarium with lotssss of sharks. Leopard sharks, tawny nurse sharks, white-tip sharks and the best of all.... 5 sand tiger sharks; Cheryl the biggest one is 8ft in length. And, yes.. "I survived" diving with the top 7 most dangerous sharks in the world. Hooorrayyyy... :) There are lots of cow-nose rays, a giant blotched fan-tail ray, eagle rays (one playful eagle ray kept waving goodbye with its left wing when we ascend! I wonder if it is trained to do that.), a giant grouper known as Bob and lots more fishes. [For more info visit http://klaquaria.com/]

After the dive, I had a busy day, very very busy day hunting for a dress and a pair of matching shoes for my brother's wedding. My brother got married on 07-07-07. :) I was the usher and the emcee and also the IT coordinator - setting up projector, laptop, arranging for slideshows, videos etc etc. I finally learnt that multi-tasking is a pain! :P

Before I left KL, I managed to meet up with two "old" pals from Taylor's College! Belinda and Pei Chee. Gosh.. I think we have not seen each other for almost 10years. We had a great time catching up at Hometown Kopitiam, The Curve. Bel & Chee, I hope we can see each other more often and let's strive to achieve our get-together again in April 2008! :) Miss you gals lotssssss!

PS: Check out our yummy food... hehehe...

Hmm.. so who do I look like?

Conversation with c-Soi aka Hammy the Squirrel...

Soi: "Oi.. call me Stephen from now on..."
Me: "Why?!?!?!"
Soi: "Cos i look like Stephen Chow... "
Me: "Har? You gotto be kidding me..."
Soi: "It's true.. check out my Friendster"

So, there I go.. check out his Friendster... and he does 80% look like Stephen Chow. Haha..

Me: "Oh well, I like Stephen Chow.."
Soi: "Try it out and tell me who you look like yea?"

Now, who do i look like. I uploaded a photo to the My Heritage "program" to scan and analyse my face... then.. ta-daaaaaaaaaaa... I look like Sammi Cheng?! UNBELIEVABLE! HohoHoHo....!!



Now, let's try out another photo... and.... the result is....


Great.. i still look like Sammi Cheng... Nothing against her... in fact, absolutely "kambang" to have that result.
For those of you that disagree.. talk to http://www.myheritage.com hehehe... for those who is interested and curious who your celebrity look-alikes are, visit the same webpage as well. It is absolutely FUN and FUNNY...!

ps: I tried out some photos for a few friends... some of them looks like Prince Harry, Tung Chee Hwa, Jay Chou, Richard Gere (another Unbelievable result!), Eddie Murphy... hehe... okie.. the classic and the funniest one is... P.Ramlee... Beat that one and i will bow to you via the Internet! HoHoHoHo...!

written on 30th June 2007

Why women cry?

I was tidying my desk and found a piece of paper titled "Why women cry?". It was from Puan Apsah during International Women's Day. Reading it again, makes me feel ... i don't know how to describe... it is just something that will make your heart sort of melt a bit, felt a little bit of pain, plus sadness.

Why Women Cry?

A little boy asked his mother, “Why are you crying?”
“Because I’m a woman,” she told him.

“I don’t understand,” he said
His Mom just hugged him and said, “And you never will.”

Later the little boy asked his father,
“Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?”

“All women cry for no reason,” was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.

Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone,
He asked, “God, why do women cry so easily?”

God said, “When I made the woman she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.
I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.
I gave her the sensitivity to lover her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.
I gave her strength to carry her other half through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.
I gave her wisdom to know that a good partner never hurts her, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.
And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed.”

“You see my son,” God said, “the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart – the place where love resides.”

written on 22nd May 2007

Sipadan Wonderland - 8th to 13th April 2007

It has been fantastic dives at sipadan - one of the top dive sites in the world. What have I seen so far at Sipadan?

The follows are some of the fantastic underwater life that i've seen - some that I've always wanted to see:
- school of grey reef sharks
- white-tip sharks
- frogfish - black (giant frogfish), freckled frogfish, clown frogfish
- mandarin fishes - LOTS of them and I watched PORN! FISHporn :P saw mandarin fishes matings
- juvenille lion fish
- flambuoyant cuttlefish
- shrimps - anemone, anbonian
- pink squat lobsters
- orang utan crab
- crocodile fishes
- stargazer
- flounders
- LOTSSSSSSSS of turtles
- napolean wrasse
and much much more

Words cant describe how beautiful sipadan is. Thanks to Sipadan water village and the wonderful staff here.
Divemasters that had been really helpful and fabulous service - Lee (for organising), Jimmy, Jay, Allan, Ron (the manta)
Boatmen - Karangan, Abdullah and more :)

I've enjoyed the dives lotsssss... but i am not too sure what else to write. Maybe cos i am quite upset at this moment. My memory card has just corrupted and i lost 4 dives worth of pictures for today. So, sorry guys, no photos of juvenille lion fishes, nudies, school of barrucadas and jacks doing circles, clown frogfish and flambouyant cuttlefish :(... I am just so upset that i feel like crying...

written on 11th April 2007

U2 cravings...

Lately, I've got this craving for U2 musics... the best of them all in my opinion is the song below... Enjoy the lyrics

If God will send his Angels - U2
Nobody else here baby
No one here to blame
No one to point the finger
Its just you and me and the rain

Nobody made you do it
No one put words in your mouth
Nobody here taking orders
When love took a train heading south

Its the blind leading the blond
Its the stuff, its the stuff of country songs

Hey if God will send his angels
And if God will send a sign
And if God will send his angels
Would everything be alright

God has got his phone off the hook, babe
Would he even pick up if he could
Its been a while since we saw that child
Hanging round this neighbourhood
You see his mother dealing in a doorway
See father christmas with a begging bowl
Jesus sisters eyes are a blister
The high street never looked so low

Its the blind leading the blond
Its the cops collecting for the cons
So where is the hope and where is the faith
And the love...whats that you say to me
Does love...light up your christmas tree
The next minute youre blowing a fuse
And the cartoon network turns into the news

If God will send his angels
And if God will send a sign
And if God will send his angels
Where do we go
Where do we go

Jesus never let me down
You know jesus used to show me the score
Then they put jesus in show business
Now its hard to get in the door

Its the stuff, its the stuff of country songs
But I guess it was something to go on

If God will send his angels
I sure could use them here right now
Well if God would send his angels
I dont want to lie(where do we go)
I dont want to have a feel for the song
And I want to love, and i...(where do we go)
And I want to feel alone

written on 2nd April 2007

Australian Wreck, American Wreck & Pelong Rock - 25th March 2007

Sad to say that I do not have any pictures for these 3 beautiful dives. It was definitely dives to remember and filled with mesmerising memories. Although it was not captured by camera (sob sob, missing my camera) , the photos are printed in my mind and most importantly heart. (But I've curi some photos from my buddy Tat's camera... HoHohO..!)

A few important things that I've noted in these dives. Buddies briefing are really important. Sometimes we got so comfortable with our buddies that when we have new dive buddies joining, things may get disoriented. Buddies went separate ways or ascent without the knowledge of others. "For those without a dive computer, please watch your time!" A note from a retired DI who felt responsible to look after Esjay and myself, since both of us has got no dive computer.

Beautiful "photos" captured from this dive:
1. Esjay the sea-snail - PUKE-NO-MORE... i am proud of you! She did 2 deep wreck dives and she's loving it! We definitely love to have you with us in our future dive trips :). Well done!

happy esjay

2. Beautiful and i mean, absolutely BEAUTIFUL jelly fish with little fishes around it who are immune to its stings. EXCELLENT

3. Lobsters - one huge lobster about 1.5 feet long who defended itself when we try to get close - a bit scarie la...

4. Lots of snappers, yellow-tail barracudas and giant barracudas

5. OK, maybe this one is a not-so-nice memory, but it is definitely worth-sharing.
"When we were at Pelong, Tat, Han Pern and I were showing each other "jewels" of the sea.. such as nudibranches. And, as I was diving, i felt someone pulling my fins. Excited, i tot somebody must have spotted more "goodies", I turned back and quickly follow Tat who is the one that pulled my fins. I have got a smile on my face until i notice the "jewel" that he was pointing out for me is actually a piece of Sh*t!!!! Excuse me, but i mean it and it is literally a piece of LONGGGGGGG brownie Sh*T!!! NO KIDDING! I have to scream out of disgust underwater and i am very sure Tat heard me screaming. I did ask him to take a photo of it and he actually took a MACRO shot of the sh*t! It was too late by the time he realised that he was so close to it. Haha..!"

Check out the poo! Who did this??? :P

Pictures:

1. Elvin holding bullets - who loves exploring historical wrecks

2. Flabellina nudibranch

Purple, Green, White... and GOLD

BAG Networks International Women's Day Celebration

with Datuk Dr Jemilah, Ruzita Hj Misbak and Lee Ming

Purple, green and white are the official international women's colours.

The colours originated from the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), in the UK in 1908. The colours were said to represent:- white for purity in public as well as private life- purple for justice, dignity, self-reverence and self-respect (and representing the women's vote)- green for hope and new life.

More recently, two changes have occured:- the use of the colour white has more recently been rejected as 'purity' is a controversial issue and attitudes towards the role of 'purity' from women differ greatly- the introduction of the colour GOLD representing 'a new dawn' has been commonly used to represent the second wave of feminism. (adopted from: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/colours.asp)

I am very lucky to be working with BAG Networks - where our management is very supportive and recognises the capability and contribution of women within the company. (ehh, boss, if u read this - remember to gimme more increment ar? )

I am also very lucky to be present during the interview with Brunei Times and some of the most prominent women in Brunei. They've inspired me endlessly. And some of the interviews were so touching that we weep as they speak. The courage, strength and self-believes in them are so powerful that I believe is the main cause of their success. One has mentioned that we need to keep life simple. It sounds easy, but with all the parental, siblings, relatives and peer pressure around, keeping things simple is never easy. Another has mentioned that we should never go for self-pity. We need to do things in life with sincere. With sincerity, all the good things in life will come naturally. We need to find our self-worth. We know what our parents want from us, what our siblings want from us etc... BUT, the most important thing that we need to know is "What do we want?" It is our life - we do what we want. Life is too short to be spent arguing about things and doing things what other people wants. One of the interviewee asked me, "So, what are you? Take out your job title. What do you want?" A lot of us refered ourselves as our position. But without our job position, what are we? What do we want in our lives? I felt proud, that at least I have got something else to refer myself to. I am very much indulge with my hobby - diving. Without my job title - i am a diver. What do i want? Dive till there is no freaking way for me to dive anymore.

We need to value ourselves. We continue to grow each day... continue to learn new things everyday... Find out what we want and go for it. Do not take things personally. Leave impacts; good notes on people's lives, with sincerity. Welcome the new dawn with fun - make life interesting and Live a Legacy...!

written on 22nd March 2007

Dreams

Garfield - created by Jim Davis

How do you define dreams?

It depends on what context you are looking at? Are we referring dreams to visions? Aspirations? Goals? Hopes? Or, hallucination? Fantasy? Desires? Something that we wish we could have but yet know we couldn't? And we define it as dream because it is something we can only have when we imagine/ fancy/ visualize when we sleep?

There is a proverb that says where there is no vision, the people perish. Life is meaningless without a vision; without a goal. Are we going to take day after day as it comes? People need dreams. People need an objective which will then guide them with directions to achieve it. To move towards their goals. To move towards their dreams. What we see, where we want to go, what we want to have, depends mainly on what we are looking for.

Do we keep the same dream all the time? I ever heard from a friend that it is his dream to own a BMW. And, he has worked hard, saving up to attempt to achieve his dream. Now, he is recently married. Still saving up to buy a BMW? The answer is No. His dream has evolved. A nice sports car is like a cosmetic to his life. He is going for necessities now. His dream has changed from a BMW to a house. Driving a BMW is still one of his dreams, but not the top priority. Not the directions that he is moving towards to.

It touches my heart when I once heard from a friend that his ex-gf is his dream. He has always wanted to be with her and she is all that he is looking for. This guy is full of dreams. Full with the emotions that any gals are looking for. Who will not want to be referred as “a dream” to his/her partner?

But what happen when our dreams are not achieved? We will be devastated. It will be our worst nightmare. The greater our hope to achieve something, the greater our disappointment will be. What should we do then? Should we not dream at all? Or should we just keep our dream really small? But is this going to make us look like we have very little life aspirations? Not keen in moving forward? No goals in life?

That’s why dream changes. To fit into the change in the environment. We can’t live without dreams. That will make us lost. Lost in our lives.

A man’s dreams are a symbol to his greatness. No dreamer is ever too small, no dream is ever to big. With the changes in the environment, in our circle of friends, in the surroundings, in situations, in our life, comes the evolution of dreams…
written on 5th February 2007

Expectations

Since the day we're born, we've been carrying a lot of expectations. Expectations to talk, to walk to be a good child of our parents. When we finally realise we are also capable to demand for things from our parents/friends/etc, we then start building our expectations of others too.

Is expectation a good thing or a bad thing?

There are two different ways that we can look at expectations, one is to take it as a constructive feedback and start building / improving oneself to meet that expectations. Take it as a challenge to raise oneself to a higher level. However, if expectations are deemed over or too much, it will bring negative impact such as arguments, stress and may even cause depressions and worst of all insanity. (sounds very scary huh?) I wonder if it will ever go that bad.. but it happens in movies.. hahah..

When we are in relationship, then there are also expectations that we get from our spouse. I was googling last nite and i found this article that i find very interesting... it has got 10 tips to maintain a happy relationship. I find it applicable for maintaining a good relationship not just with your partner in life, but with your family as well. Here it goes...

Tip 1: Cultivate the ability to compromise
Bring up your ideas and brainstorm it with your partner/family.

Tip 2: Routinely express love
I particularly find this one interesting. A friend of mine ever asked me, have you ever said "I love you, dad" to your dad before? I replied no. I told him there is no need to. My dad knows that he is the number man in my life. Then when i read this article it finally made me realise how wrong i was. The article came with a story of a man who had been married to a wonderful woman for 25 years. One day he found her crying in their bedroom. "What's the matter", he anxiously asked. "I'm feeling very sad becuase when we were dating you told me you loved me. Now you never say that to me," she explained. The husband responded:"Look, I married you 25 years ago and told you then that I loved you. If anything had changed since then I would have told you!" While there may be some humour in this legendary story, the greater truth in that story is this: love withers and dies because it cannot endure indifference. Relationshops flourish and expand when they are filled with daily expressions of love and affection. <--- This I cannot agree better. Tip 3: Say "Please" and "Thank you"
Simple courtesies strengthen and deepen any relationship. So if someone asked you to do things without saying "please" or "thank you", remind them to say the "magic" word... :)

Tip 4: Share sorrow
Be receptive and sensitive when your partner/family is experiencing a hardship. Set everything else aside and be there to listen, to share and to care. "Your tears run down my face, too. Your suffering aches inside my heart as well. I share your wounded place".

Tip 5: Establish and maintain rituals which promote closeness
A lot of us are busy with work, but we should always set some time on a regular basis to renew relationship. My family and I agreed have family vacation at least once a year. So far, we've been going for vacation three times a year, sometimes four.

Tip 6: Be mindful rather than mindless
Pay attention to the other's emotional needs, desires, wishes and expectations. Be responsive and responsible.

Tip 7: Apologise, apologise, apologise
Acknowledge your flaws and respond to your human imperfections by simply saying "I'm sorry". A simple and sincere I am sorry keeps a relationshop free of emotional clutter. When you are quick to apologise to each other, it creates the ability to live in the present and not restricted by events of the past. Of course, when someone does offer an apology, be quick to accept it graciously, soften your edges and open your heart.

Tip 8: Be a BETTER listener
A lot of times we think that we are a good listener. Here are some ways that we can improve our listening / communication skills and be a better listener
- offer your undivided attention
- put yourself in your partner's shoes
- interpret the meaning behind the words
- listen with deep love
- evaluate the information rather than judging
- respond in ways to show you value your partner's point of view

Tip 9: Expect some struggles, but deal with them
Whenever you hit a rough patch, just sit down and thrash it out. Don't quit trying - communicate, and work at it. Don't let disagreements fester. Say "You know, we're going to make this thing work. It's so valuable and precious, when you do make it work, you're really glad you did"

Tip 10: Depart and reunite with loving gestures
If you're going to be away, be sure to show gestures of love before and after you are back.

I learnt a lot from reading this article. There are a lot of good articles in the website. For more, you can visit: www.womanslifeins.com

I would like to conclude this discussion with a passage from the bible.

Corinthians 13
Love is patient, Love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

written on 20th January 2007

Comments i received:
from Narnia
Good reading. Definitely needs to put effort into making a relationship work. ^ Love never ends, correct, but it always evolve.
January 29 3:11 AM(http://calgarycity.spaces.live.com/)

from Elvin Hii
Love never ends......
January 26 8:37 AM(http://elvinhii.spaces.live.com/)

The Quest for Dive 100

I am desperate. So desperate to hit the "jackpot" for number 100. My heart sank and I felt so upset... so depressed when I found out that we couldn't dive at Miri last week. I was so disappointed as this means I cannot get my 100th dive at Miri.

As our dives in Miri are cancelled, we headed back on Sunday nite 24/9, hoping to dive on Monday. I was still asleep when my mobile rang. It was Lee Ming. The first thing she said was "Babe, sleeping ar? Look outside the window, I think we can't dive." Another disappointment. It was pouring heavily and the wind were strong.
On Friday, finally.. I managed to dip myself into Mel's Reef. Viz was bad, probably about 5-7metres. And I only managed to do 2 dives. This means my total dives todate is only 99.

Yesterday I tried my luck to hit 100 at Tutong. But the dives were cancelled, again, due to bad weather. Strong waves at the shore but calm outside. We cannot get our boat out. When Captain Hj Lamzi signalled the "No-Go" sign, I couldn't smile anymore. Oh well, since we were out at Tutong and there were heaps of sandwiches, buns and other munchies, we ended up picnic for breakie at Tutong Beach. Then we headed to Tutong town for lunch. When we reached Bandar, we rang up Azli and he agreed that we shall try our luck for nite dives at Pelong. Pelong?? Oh, why not? I am desperate to hit 100.

When we were out at Pelong, the waves were terrible; rocking the boat. We checked the viz and it was bad. To make it worse, we spotted lots of jelly-fishes. Azli warned us - strong surge and look out for jelly fishes. Without wasting any longer, we headed down and descend using the anchor line. I was trying my luck to take a few pixies but everytime after I focus on the coral, I got pushed away by the strong surge. I failed to take any good shots. Then Azli signalled for us to follow him. We followed but within a minute or two, our group got separated. The viz was really bad. We went around trying to look for the rest, but failed. Azli then signalled for us to ascend. We headed up and found the rest. It was only a 13 minutes dive and I only log a dive that is at least 15 minutes bottom time. It was a bad idea for a nite dive as the waves were strong, many suffered sea-sickness and Uwais got stung by a jelly fish. Nonetheless, it was a good experience and we learnt something new every dives.

So.. now.. for the big question... Whennnnnnnnn....??? When can I hit my dive 100?

Please pray with me for good weather and good viz. Perhaps I can do my 100th dive this weekend.

When we can't dive... we "fly".. hehe.. the "jumping divers" at Tutong...

Goshness..! We looked sooooooo constipated... HoHoHohO...!

Comments i got:
from zyan
you can come to my house to hit your 100th dive, got mini shark (look alike). but i heard some old folk said any divers who hit 100th dive must buy BIG BIG dinner (e.g. abalone, lobster, bird's nest, etc) to other divers, otherwise it will &*$$&amp;amp;^*^$&*..... haha :p
October 02 5:28 PM(http://zyaneric.spaces.live.com/)

from 我吻你应该（磨合中）
I like dive, which must be done in Hainan in China.
November 29 4:12 PM(http://justinq.spaces.live.com/)

Dive Marathon continues...

Hellew fella' readers... you must be wondering. Haven't I been diving lately? Of cos I had and planning for more dives every week! hehe.. Oh dear... It has been super busy days lately and I haven't got the chance to update my blogs.

So, let's see if I can squeeze all the dives that I haven't yet log in here. I'll be keeping it really short with just the highlight of the trips.

Sept 8 - Exploration Dives with Azli.
My very first exploration dives and it is simply amazing. Interesting to find out how ones really go about exploring and locating a new dive site. In addition, to experience the success of finding a new site is just indescribable! Saw lots of fishes, a GIANT puffer about 2-3 feet long, white-eyed moray eels out hunting, huge golden trevally (but i didnt get to see), man-of-war (lots of them and one was in the shape of "C" becos of the current), got scared by a sucker fish, Hj Kula and Keem spotted a baby whale shark from the boat while we were diving (boo-Hooo! ) . We did 4 dives, but I logged only 3 dives for this trip becos the first dive I did is only 15 minutes.

Sept 9 - Turtle Point Night Dives
Takako FIRST night dive in Brunei's water. And, she was scared! Adeh-deh...! hehehe.. What's the highlight of this dive? Turtle of cos! Haha... Spotted coral catshark, great barracuda attacking Steven's torch, lots of nudis, lots of puffer, green lobster and more. Oh, i spotted a fish that has got a horn on its forehead, like a unicorn. According to steven the ADI, the fish is aggressive. Hmmm....

Sept 10 - Cement Wreck Night Dives
Always beautiful to see this underwater garden rated top 10 in Asia! Wonderful to visit it at night. Spotted a 3 feet long grouper, box puffer, a funny looking puffer with a bum on its head (again like a unicorn!), lots of lobsters, cleaner shrimps, white-eyed moray eel, green shrimps, crabbies, scorpion fishes, lion fishes, and grouperssssss. First night dive for Kei Kei.. Well done!

Sept 14 - Princess Avenue Night Dives
Led by Eng the DI. Spotted coral catsharks (one juvenile and one big + long! They followed us throughout the dives! Scarieeee...), great barracuda at the side of my buddy (Angel freaked when I told her!), an injured harlequin sweetlips :((, lobsters, big shrimps and crabbies (made me and angel hungry!), beautiful cuttlefish, blue ringed angelfish, the "unicorn" fish again!, one jack that got lost in its group :P, nudi branch the size of my face, flat worms, slipper lobster, cowries (one pink in colour... Pretty!).

Sept 15 - Cement Wreck Day Dives
Back at cement wreck again, this time enjoying its beauty under the sunlight. The highlight of this trip has to be the YELLOW LEAF FISH! My very first time! Yippeeee...! Buddy Lee Ming spotted a HUGE and I MEAN HUGE barracuda! I think it is almost 5 feet long! On the animal planet's website, it is stated that the great barracuda can reach up to 2 meters in length. Amazing. Crossing over the top deck of the ship, I came face to face to a 1.5 feet long titan trigger! I freaked and almost pee in my wetsuit!!! Tat spotted the octopus that we tot went missing or migrated. It did migrate but to another site in the ship. Haha.. also, spotted lots of beautiful scorpion fishes, lion fishes, batfishes, groupers, fussilers, school of juvenile barracudas, cleaner shrimps, and more... Tat and Anny shared their chips with the fishes underwater.

Hmm.. so what's for tmr? Let's bring not your broom but your knives and tools to clean up the beach! Yay! Have you registered for the Beach Clean Up Day?
And, what's coming up after that? More dives? You Bet! I am gonna log of 100th dives soon! Yippeeeee...

Dive Marathon - 3rd September 2006

How does 2 day dives, 1 sunset dive and 1 night dive sound to you? Good? It was simply WONDERFUL! Haha.. Linda, Sebastian and myself decided to do that yesterday. It was totally cool and we were not exhausted until after the night dive!

We had decided on our sunset and night dives at Bolkiah, I was still deciding on my day dives at Rig Reef until yesterday morning. I woke up early and couldn't sleep back. Then... I thought.. Oh What the heck? Just do it! (as Nike says)

It was a beautiful day, sun shiny with 4 open water students! It was really memorable diving with them! Not that I've dived with them before. We just met. But, the memorable part comes in funny as I observed the way they dive. It reminded me of how I was before, on my first open water dive. Haha... Struggling, panicky, bad buoyancy and out-of-air fast! Haha...! So so interesting. On the 2nd dive, they were so happy to see clown fishes! Just like me before...! I just went.. Oh goodness, nemoooooooo so cute! hahah... Memories...!

We were led and supervised by Ing Ing the DM trainee and Norman was conducting the course. Linda and Sebastian were observing while I was free "Fish" wandering around and saw lots of nudibranches!!! A BIG FAT ONE and a super tiny one smaller than my fingernail! Linda passed me her camera on my 2nd dive and I managed to take some pictures.We spotted a big trumpet shell with a "snail" inside, titan trigger, a pair of harlequin sweetlips, snappers, a pair of blue-ringed angelfish, lots of moorish idols, lots of nudi branches, flatworms, giant clam, goatfish, played with a goby and partner shrimp and more... Oh.. Not forgetting.. NEMO-ssssss... :)

On the 3rd dive, the current was getting stronger. Azli the Instructor went down and came up telling us.. "Later... go down slowly.. lots of fish.. don't scare them away..." All of us went.."Woo-HOOO...! Let's go..!" Within minutes, we headed down and hoping to meet the giant groupers again. Unfortunately, the groupers had decided to feast on Vietnamese cuisine at the Vietnam Wreck. (as quoted from Cute Manta)Doh! We tried our luck again during the night dives (my fourth dive for the day!) and had gave a plan to bang our tanks to wake the groupers up, probably might be sleeping inside the wreck. At bottom, no one dares.. Haha.. Only occasional banging when spotted something cool. We spotted some goodies though.. lots of puffer! Baby pufferfish, a giant starry puffer, a map puffer and more... There was a school of barracudas with one big great barracuda, lion fishes, crabbies, lobster, cleaner shrimps, hawkfishes, scorpion fish and more... Saw the remains of the toilet in the wreck and we did a good 3 minutes penetration inside the wreck, led by Azli.

Our divemarathon ended about 10pm and we left for the shore. It was a longggg day and I could not believe that I've spent more than 12 hours in the middle of the sea, above and underwater! Haha.. Nonetheless, we had heaps of funs and Linda and her dear dear are already asking for the next one... Hmm.. This coming weekend??

Comments I received:
from dj faith
thats a pretty site . really .i mean you are great
March 19 10:02 PM (http://focmcloud95.spaces.live.com/)

Burn's Patch & Rig Reef - 6th August 2006

Are you ready to see the pygmy seahorse? "I AM...! Me Me...! I want to go...!" Basically everyone was replying along the same line, eager to see the pygmy seahorse. We ascent and examined every sea fans that we can see as potential spot for a pygmy seahorse. Sadly, we didnt get to see any. But, it's okie... that means more diving to look for the seahorse...! We spotted lots of nudibranches at Burn's Patch.

Upon surface, we took turns one by one to get up to the boat. I was 2nd in queue. When i got up, i saw reddish water dripped down from my face down to the boat. I was scared. I tot my nose was bleeding. I turned back to the sea and asked Anny. "Anny is my nose bleeding?" Anny said she can't see as her mask is fogging. I asked Angel instead who is just behind Anny. Angel replied "No. BUT U R BLEEDING ALL OVER UR SKULL! It's all over your face!" Then I laughed when the rest were shocked. I knew then it was my hair colour. I just coloured my hair red! Haha... I jumped back down to the sea and rinsed my hair. Hehe... When Anny got up, she told me... "When i heard you asked if your nose is bleeding, I knew from that point of time that i need to quickly get up to the boat." I was touched. I told Anny that it was so sweet of her that she want to quickly get up to check and make sure i am ok. (Anny is a doctor). Then, she replied, "No.. blood means shark. So i must get up quickly!" Dohh...!

On our 2nd Dive at Rig Reef... we descent and found a small patch surrounded by sandpatch... the only special thing i can remember is a juvenille titan triggerfish. Then, buddy Lee Ming asked me to pair-up and cross to sandpatch, see if we could find anything interesting. The moment we "enter" the sandpatch, we spotted a sting ray! Not Bad..! Haha... Then we swam a straight line trying to see if we can spot any other coral patches... We cant see much and I signalled to her to go back... She agreed and we went back to what we think is the reciprocal heading... Unfortunately, we didnt mark our compass and the current must have drifted us for a bit. We could not find our way back. We decided to surface. Upon surface, Jessie (boatman) together with Hj Zainal came and took us back to the anchor line. This time, Hj Zainal asked us to descend using the anchor line and it will lead us to the correct site. We decent and found a school of parrot fishes feeding! It was beautiful... We sort of followed them and observed... We spotted a few boulders and I signalled to Lee Ming to check those crevices out to see if we can spot any sharks. Haha... Towards the end of the dives, Lee Ming spotted a BIG titan trigger... it gave me a chill, reminding me of my experience in Koh Samui where a titan trigger bit my fins like a DOG!

Weather hasnt been so promising lately... I hope I can do at least go for a night dive and day dive before I begin another Land Adventure!Oh Mr. Sun .... SUN... Pls shine down on me...!

Comments I received:
from zyan
yalo... no see pygmy seahorse, i no see titan trigger :( and our buddy system very special... one north one south... supposely one buddy group 7 diver end up 3 different buddy group.. :p
August 10 10:15 AM (http://zyaneric.spaces.live.com/)

Bolkiah Wreck & Oil Rig Wreck - 30th July 2006

It was a beautiful day... not sunny... not raining... not too hot for diving... just perfect...

We headed for Bolkiah Wreck as our first dive. Upon arrival Azli gave a longgggggggggggg detail briefing on wreck penetration specialty for his students. I in particular were very excited as I get to do this as a "refresher" course for my specialty. This time, I get to do wreck penetration using the reel, reference line and even a pony bottle/tank. Upon descent, we were delighted to see hundreds of fishes around the wreck! It was just beautiful...! Visibility was good and no underwater current. What more can I ask for? Thye marked the reference point from the anchor line and then we headed for an entrance point. Elvin took the lead as he was holding the reel, followed by Linda with the pony bottle, Thye, Azli and then me. I was so excited that I spotted a scorpion fish right after I entered the wreck. I just got in for like a minute and Azli signalled me to exit. I was a bit disappointed because I haven't got much time to look around. Azli asked us to exit as the space was small and someone was stirring too much silt up from the sandbed! Hehe.... and.. we practises Last in First out... so.. i was the last person to enter, hence the first to leave. DOH..! We then look around the wreck and spotted lots of fishes... school of yellowtail barracudas, indian lionfish, batfish, groupers, blotched hawkfish, hundreds of small fishes and beautiful soft corals.

After about an hour surface interval, we headed for our 2nd dive. Before we descent, another group of divers (Chegoo, Dk and gang) surfaced and told us about a giant grouper. In my mind, I tot that this must be the giant grouper that Rueben mentioned on our very first dive to Bolkiah. Without any time wasted, we descent to look for the grouper... Thye took the lead with the reel this time after Linda marked the reference point to our entrance. At our entrance point we saw the giant grouper! When i first heard the word "giant", I didnt expect it to be really a GIANT! It was a HUMONGOUS grouper! At least 5 feet in length! Azli said it is definitely more than 100kg! GOSHNESS...! I felt like my jaw has dropped and my regulator almost came out from my mouth! It was totally undescribably the coolest that I've seen so far. I tot it was some kind of sea monster! Haha... I tried to take a pix of the grouper but it was too fast. It went ard inside the wreck and then disappeared in the dark. We turned on our torch and enter the wreck, hoping to spot the grouper inside. Deep inside, we felt a bit scared... what if we came face to face with the giant grouper? Hmm... We enter the wreck, couldnt see much as the silk from our first dive has not settle. I took a good 2 mins look ard and then we headed out. Again, I was the first to exit. I waited outside the wreck near our entrance point to take photos for the rest of the wreck divers. Then, I spotted the giant grouper again! I saw it going ard the wreck really fast, headed towards our entrance point but did not enter. It went down the wreck using another open space. I went up the wreck to see if i can get a good look it from the top view. But it's gone... After a while, Elvin came out really fast and then followed by the other divers. He said he came out slowly but came face to face to the giant grouper! The grouper was hunting for fishes and he saw it ate a fish. He suspects that the giant grouper got a shock seeing him as well and that's why it headed down the wreck so quickly. Elvin on the other hand was shock and stayed in the wreck for a while before he quickly flee out from the wreck. haha... Eric and Chris were outside the wreck and Eric said that he spotted two of the giant groupers! I wonder if the one we saw before and after we penetrate the wreck is the same one; or not? Chris was really disappointed that he only saw the big yellowtail barracudas. When we surfaced, we couldnt help but kept talking about the giant grouper. Simply amazing that we will definitely return, hoping to spot the beautiful giants again...

The weather and visibility was so good that we had decided to do a 3rd dive. This time, at oil rig wreck. I can see the rig wrecks from the top... wonderful! This dive, we spotted a school of yellowtail barracudas (about 2 feet in length), blue-ringed angelfish, starry pufferfish, spiny pufferfish, bartailed goatfish, nudibranch (purple and black in colour), red sea bannerfish, two band anemonefish and beautiful seafans. I spotted an anchor and decided to move it near Azli's anchor. Perhaps, he might want that anchor as a spare? Maybe for his other boats? Upon surface I told Azli about the anchor I spotted. Azli went down to take a look and then came up without the anchor. He said the boat is already too heavy with the tanks and divers. He will return on his next trip to collect the anchor. Hope the anchor will still be there... Hehe...

It was a tiring day... I felt cold when we returned and later at night I dont feel good at all.. I was down with fever. I took two panadol and went to bed... The next day, I had a really bad cough... I guess no diving for me this week... Sobsssss...

But... no worries.. I'll be back...! More dive marathon?

Comments I received:
from zyan
The one I saw two Super Grouper should be different from the one in the wreck. They were swimming away from the wreck and it was the time when you guys penetrate into the wreck. I was chasing them for a while and I wanted to ask chris to come along but he wasn't within my sight distance. It was a bit scary when I was away a little bit from the wreck. I couldn't see anything as the viz was poorer than 1st dive and was alone, so I decided to turn back to the wreck. On top of that this day is the day I lost "my" virgin... hahaha
August 02 11:15 AM (http://zyaneric.spaces.live.com/)

from Elvin Hii
The giant grouper was magnificient. I waited in the wreck on my 2nd dive was because I was too afraid. I think the grouper was about my size, but much more heavier than me. I really dunno what to do at that point of time, what if when I swim out, the grouper confront to me? hehe... next time when I go back to that wreck, I will definitely ask my buddy to carry a baseball bate and ready for the grouper to know him out. He is just too big, big guy..but definitely would like to see him more.
August 02 8:27 AM (http://elvinhii.spaces.live.com/)

Blue Water Wreck & American Wreck - 23rd July 2006

BW IV - The Manta's BACK! Haha....
Nice to be back to blue water again this month! It has been a hot-spot for divers lately. We were delighted to see the water was so calm, so clear and so BLUEEEE.... We geared up and headed down excitedly. We were looking for the school of batfishes but couldnt find any. Instead, we saw lotsssssss of barracudas, jacks and trevallies. I was surrounded by barracudas at one point that it gave me a chill down my wet suit! hehe... We met the usual residents there, namely the trumpet fish, the lion fishes, the stone fishes (this time i spotted a small one too), clown and titan trigger fish and more. Uwais and Joseph spotted a 1-metre long sting ray! (Dammit! i didnt see that one). Upon ascent, we spotted one batfis following us to our safety stop to say GOODBYE... Till we meet again at blue water....

This trip, we had the BEST surface interval picnic ever! Rachel brought curry chicken and bread, and tuna sandwiches! YUM YUM! Linda brought macaroni salad and egg sandwich. Elvin brought nasi lemak and roti telur! GOSHNESS... I ate till I felt that I needed extra weight to make me sink! After the sumptuous meals (hehe) we headed for American wreck. "Captain" Elvin took over the control of the boat to bring us there. Azli was the first to head down for the wreck, making sure that we are at the right place and set the anchor line to lead us straight to the wreck. He came up and briefed us that the current was strong and do not let go of the anchor line. We dressed in, backroll down and grab hold to the anchor line. When everyone's ready, we headed down. I took the lead, followed by Uwais, Linda, Joseph and... I cant see the rest... the underwater current was so strong that I literally horizontal while holding on to the anchor line. At about 10 metres, I stopped and I could only see Joseph, Linda, Uwais and Azli. Didnt even notice he was behind me. But... where are the rest? I could not see my Elvin, Sau Wei and Rachel. Azli signalled to ask me where are there. I signalled back - I donno. He signalled to ask us to descent and he will go up to check. We paired up - Linda and myself, Joseph and Uwais. We descent and the current is better. We heard the boat engine started, I suspect that they got drifted and Azli went to pick them up. We then went around the wreck, spotted nudibranch, cleaner shrimps and then I went around to look for bullets as promised to show Linda. Yes, I managed to find it and Uwais spotted a slate with condolences messages to the victims of the ship. At this point, we were reunited with the rest of the divers. Unfortunately, we had also reached our max bottom time and we need to ascend. I signalled to Azli and he also noticed that Rachel has lost her weight belt and could not sink. We ascent, to the disappointment of the rest.

Joseph has requested to do another shallow dive near a Red Buoy. We took abt 30 minutes break and then headed down for our 3rd dive. As advised by Azli, it is good for us to do the shallow dive as it will be like an extended safety stop after 2 deep dives. Again, the current is as strong but we have decided to do a drift dive this time and Azli will follow our bubbles. Joseph took the lead and we followed. Interestingly, this is the most relaxing dive as we hardly need to kick. Just let the current take us around. We spotted lots of gobies and some anemone fishes... We stayed for a good 20 minutes before surfaced to an island for yet another picnic! BLOATED....!

What did I enjoy most in this dive trip? The FOOD! Haha...!

Pelong Rock Sunset & Night Dive - 21st July 2006

It has been our long awaited event... to start the Manta's Dive Marathon again...! Our very own "Fit Manta" (hhmm... alsoknown as the Humsup Manta) haha... is back! Great to see you again Sau Wei!!

Anyway, we were supposed to have lotssssssssss of dives... but I was recovering from my flu and cough and Eric just got sick, Rachel was coughing for a bit and Sau Wei came to brunei with fever. Goshness.... anyway, we decided to do sunset and night dive so that it is not too hot and more relaxing.

We planned to have our sunset dive at Bolkiah wreck and then night dive at Abana. It took us abt 20 mins and we only arrived at Pelong Rock. The ride was really choppy, so choppy that Azli said it will take us more than 1 hr to reach Bolkiah Wreck. He advised us to dive at Pelong instead. We were sad as we've been diving at Pelong for so many times and there is nothing much to see. Azli told us not to worry and he knows where to look for "stuff". This kept our spirit high and we were excited and curious on what are those "stuff".
Upon descent for sunset dive, we saw schools of fishes all returning to their "claimed" corals as their home. It was a beautiful! Reminds me of how we behave on land. Upon sunset, the school bells rang, adults finishes at work and everyone returns to home. As for night dive, we moved over to another site at Pelong. Again, Azli told us we will be seeing different things. And Yes he was right!

This trip, we saw school of juvenile catfish, school of big catfish (superb!), blue spotted sting ray, sleeping coral catshark, parrotfish, lobstersssss (one purple in colour, one GIANT in size), beautiful white stonefish (that Elvin thinks is a frog fish eventhou we told him it is not and now he has decided to name it as a new species and called it a "moon-fish"), glass shrimps and more...! Yapppp! All these at pelong rock...! Surprise Surprise!

Next on our list... BLUE WATER WRECK...!

Brunei Patch Night Dive - 12th July 2006

Moonlight Divers were in the water again yesterday nite! Gosh... dunno if it is me not getting enough sleep, i still feel as if i am on the choppy boat ride. Hehe... Cute & Slick Manta was feeling sea sick yesterday.

Oh well, yesterday we had Farid the DMT (DiveMaster Trainee) to guide us. The first time we descent, we got drifted and we couldnt find the patch. Well, we found sand patch though.. hehe..after about a 2min search, Farid signalled to ascend and we got up, relocate and descent again. This time we found the patch. It was an excellent dive as we spotted lots of underwater goodies. Not treasure la.. but i guess i will call it the "underwater treasure". We spotted cuttlefish, blue-spotted sting-ray, humphead parrotfish, sweetlips, six-banded angel fish, great barracuda (who was following us like a predator!), nudibranch, cornetfish, scribbled leather jacket and more...
Farid was really good and he spotted most of the stuff for us and some from the Bitch who sneak off work early and "moon-ing" (haha) using his new torch. Hehe... On the 2nd dive, Farid spotted a cleaner shrimp which was just beautiful. I was trying to take a closer look at it when i spotted something that looks like a spider! I used my tank banger to touch it a bit and it moved! It was a decorator crab... simply beautiful! On our 2nd dive, we also saw what i will call "staghorn paradise"! Lots of staghorns.. and in my mind.. i was calling out for the seahorse. I was really hoping to spot at least one for Slick Manta... but I couldnt. I turned around and i noticed that everyone else was doing the same. I laughed inside my heart, feeling that we were like sea-horse hunter... except we just hunt with our eyes and camera...
My buddy's torches (primary and secondary) decided to die on him on the 2nd dive and i gave him my primary light and i switched to my secondary. Not long after that, we ascent and end our dive. When on surface, i noticed that my torch was not on my wrist. I dropped it! But, the light is still on. I put on my mask and I can see it in the bottom, my buddy wanted to go down with me to get the torch but DMT Farid offered to go. Unfortunately, he could not find the light! The current was strong and we got drifted from our point of ascent. Boo-HOO.... when we are leaving, i gave out a shout... a shout of farewell and full of sadness.. "BYE BYE Princeton-Tec" ...My very first dive torch... and it is with white lights! Oh.. and i forgot to mention that my O-ring burst on me too yesterday. Gonna get Cek Li to help me fix it... sigh.. sad sad sad.. but good learning experience. Look at the bright (moon) side... We lose something, but we gain another...

So... what's next??? Let's get some day dives and i can probably search for my torch!

Blue Water Wreck - 9th July 2006

Now.. I've got BW II - The Return... for Blue Water III... it will be... BW III - The Orange Cloud...

The day before BW III dive, it was pouring! Pouring so hard that DI Normie asked me to pray to wutever God i prayed to for good weather. Although I didnt manage to pray, someone must had because the sea was calm and the weather was just right! Within 25minutes or so, we arrived Blue Water and found the marker buoy...! Excellentttt.... The batfishes were alreday showing their fins to greet us. (Cute Manta tot that it was a shark. Hmmm....) After a quick briefing from DI Normie, we all geared up and back-rolled down.... We were happy to meet our "frens" there again; the batfishes, barracudas, yellow-tail trevallies, jacks, the huge stonefish, groupers, clown triggerfish, long-nose hawkfishes and others...We also saw some bones from either a big fish or turtle perhaps? While doing our safety stop, we suddenly saw wut i call " The Orange Cloud" that's coming towards the wreck. In my heart, I thought "OMG, was it a shark attacking some big fish that is bleeding?" When at surface, I asked DI Normie and he told me that it was a school of Krills! No wonder the trevallies and batfishes had their mouth wide-opened! It was as if they were saying "YAY..! FOOD! FEEDING TIME...!"

During our surface interval, which is also OUR feeding time (haha!), we saw a liveaboard ship - The Dive Master from Thailand. The DM from the DM boat came and greeted us. He then told us at 34metres which is bottom right after the descent line, we can actually see black and yello frog fish! We decided to look for it. Me and Eugene was searching for frogfishes when suddenly we heard ring-ring... it was Elvin's ringer and he spotted something! I turn to look for him but Chang's fins was stirring up too much sand and the viz went very bad. I couldnt see a thing and just wait for the sand to settle. I then saw something.. what i tot really look like a frog! When the viz got clearer, i found out that it was just a metal from the wreck and my imagination! I must be thinking too hard of frog fish! haha.. Elvin then pointed at a cuttlefish. So he rang becos he saw the cuttlefish... Doh! But, oh well.. better then seeing nothing and spending less dive time at 34m.

We went to Rusukan Kecil for our 3rd dive. The current was sooooooooooo strong that Angel couldnt complete her underwater navigator. Anny managed to pass her Advanced skill! Yay..! We got up after like 15 to 20mins... we were drifted and could not swim back to the boat. Thank God for the "Storm Whistle" that we managed to call Hj Kura to the rescue! Haha...

Wonder what the next episode of blue water will be called? Next dive... night dive anyone?

Rig Wreck & Rig Reef Night Dives - 6th July 2006

The weather has not been promising but we have been craving for night dives so much that we decided to have it on last thursday. We could not believe our eyes when we saw how calm the sea was. We were delighted. After a bit of a hiccup on the coordinates to use, we finally found the rig wreck. Thank goodness for Hj Kula's Fish Finder. There was 10 of us excluding Azli, our guide for the evening and his helpful assistant, Uwais.

There was a lot of first time in this dive. It was my first night dive on a wreck dive site. And, it was also the first dive using my own set of COMPLETE gears. I was soooooo excited over it. Beautiful view and experience!

At Rig Wreck, we saw beautiful corals which had grown on top of the desserted oil rig wrecks, a big chubby puffer, lots of shrimps and other fishes. At the reef, we were really lucky to see a seahorse. (Yes! 2nd time we spotted a seahorse!). The seahorse was spotted by Reza not long after we descent from the anchor line. SWEEETTTTT.....!! We also saw a scribbled leather jacket, parrotfishes, crabbiesssssss, shrimpsssss and more...! Azli saw a coral catshark! Damn! hehe...

We finished very late after those 2 dives, approximately 12am! We were exhausted but filled with lots of good memories. Memories of the beautiful underwater sites, of Reza's regulator's O-ring which decided to burst on him when we are planning to dive, Angel lost Norman's torch when we completed our first dive, Rachel could not find her brand new virgin torch, Tat almost lost one side of his Force Fins (Yes another fins, luckily he managed to grab hold of it when it came loose), Lee Ming having sea sick even after she took her sea sick pill (poor gal), Bitch Manta has decided that his Mares wet suit is too hot that he decided to make the hole bigger for conditioning purposes (haha!), Rachel's two on-loan torches decided to fail on her (low Batt!) and many many more.. Hmm.. I wonder if those are beautiful memories, but they are sure something that I would like to remember to put a smile of my face...

Well done, Anny & Tat! You guys had done your first night dive... and hoping for more?

Blue Water Wreck - 25th June 2006

I would like to call this dive... episode Blue Water II - The Return...! :) Hehe

It is indeed another good dive trip at Blue Water. The journey there is always painful. Longggggggggg ride.. this time it takes us longer. It felt like 50mins ride there. I cant be sure as i didnt keep track of the time. To make the ride more painful, the wind was strong causing current. After the choppy ride, we finally spotted the buoy tied to the wreck. We were delighted, excited and cud not wait to get into the water.

The viz was excellent! As we descent from the anchor line, i was once again mesmerised by the beauty of the wreck with the backdrop of blue blueeeeeee blueeeeeee water.... Sweet! It was such a pretty site that i felt that i might miss something when i blink my eyes.

On the first dive, we spotted a school of barracudas, yellow fin jack, batfishes, lion fishes, 2 trumpet fishes, 2 white-eyed morray eels and long-nose hawkfishes (Eugene told us that these fishes usually eats the pygmy seahorse, so if u c them, that means u cant see pygmy seahorse ). The batfishes were so cheeky and playful that they followed us to our 5 metres safety stop, playing with us, swimming ard us making the 5 mins safety stop felt so short. There was also a small golden-coloured fish (pai seh i dunno wut it is called) that claimed territory at the buoy line at abt 6 metres. The first dive was so good that we decided to return for a second dive. Chegu, Dk and a few more divers on the 2nd boat decided to go to Kuraman instead. Imagine changing tanks with the current so strong? After some tiring tanks exchanged (thanks to the guys especially those future DMs :)), we went down for our 2nd dive. It was again an excellent dive, the special sea creatures spotted were cleaning shrimps and a huge stonefish about 1 feet long. We also spotted a sleepy lionfish. Hehe... The underwater current was strong on the 2nd dive and it felt really short but tiring.

After the dives, we headed to Kuraman Island to look for the other boat. We had fried chicken wings, noodles and milo kosong to keep our body warm! :) hehe... We rested there for about 3 hours as the wind are strong and we had to wait for it to settle down. Linda played with a tortoise who then decided to pee on her hands. hehe... Eugene were happily playing with the dogs there and had been given a new nickname as Papa Gene by Cute Manta. The Bitch decided to join in and started feeding the dogs. We met up with Clovis and his family who decided to spend their Sunday picnic at Kuraman.

Papa Gene was really happy with this site. I was glad to hear that and i asked "Will you come back to Blue water again?" He replied, "OF COS!" Hmm... I wonder when episode BW III will be out?

Comment I received:
from zyan
ni jiu suang lo... can go blue water wreck dive... i have to wait till mid of july.(http://zyaneric.spaces.msn.com/)June 26 9:33 AM

My reply to the comment received:
ni jiu suang lor... got us as ur pom-pom supporter.. nvm la.. after ur "NBA" tournament we will bring u again? but u pay urself ar... hehee... "wor yau juo xin cher"... vroom vroom vroom...! :P(http://keileem.spaces.msn.com/)June 27 5:54 PM

Brunei Patches Night Dive - 22nd June 2006

Praying through the day... No rain no rain.. We were so happy that the sun was out and shining...! I called up Azli and he said, "Okie tu. The Dive is On!" Yay..! I cudnt wipe the smile off my face after that. Excited over the dive, Lee Ming and myself was planning already on what time to get our gears and prepare for the dives. Haha..

We saw a dead porcupine puffer on land. It was kinda sad to see a big puffer dead and imagine what a pretty fish it will be underwater. We sailed off around 7.30pm. Azli was quiet, very quiet when taking us to the site. I know that it was not a good sign as Azli usually talks a lot if the weather was good. It was getting cloudy and on-and-off we can see some lightning. "Looks like the storm is building up", i said to myself. Perhaps, he noticed that I was a bit worried, the Cute Manta jokingly pray that the weather will be great and the thunder will go away.

It was a longggggg slowwwwww ride to brunei patches. When we're there, the current was so strong. So strong that it pushed me waist high while i was holding to the anchor line. When all divers are out from the boat, we quickly descent. And then... the adventure begins... as of today, I will rate this dive as the best night dive...

I spotted a SEAHORSE! It was pure luck.. PuRE GOOD LUCK.. Thank YOU for letting my torch shine on it while it was swaying itself beautifully in a humongous staghorn; asleep. I cudn't believe my eyes and stare at it for a good 5 seconds. Totally amazed and excited, i was searching high and low for my tank-bang while keeping my eyes at the seahorse to not loose sight of it. I finally found my tank-bang and banging all the way till i got all divers' attention. What a Bewdy...?!!

That's not all... we then spotted a cornetfish (which i tot was a trumpet-fish) hehe... We saw lots of beautiful fishes asleep, crabbies and shrimps. Azli spotted a big lobster and baby lobster as well. I was following closely to Azli as I know he always spot good stuff and will quickly signalled us. I was looking at some corals trying to find another goodies when suddenly I felt a "calling" signal from Azli. This time, the signal was really fast and I felt a shiver under my fins! Hehe.. When i looked at the light Azli shone, it was a shark! A coral cat-shark (which i tot was a leopard shark! :P Guess i need to do some fish ID! Haha..). It was swimming really fast but we managed to take a good 30 seconds look at it. Now, isn't this an excellent dive! A coral catshark and a seahorse! But.. it's that all? NO...! We then saw not one but TWO humphead parrotfish hiding in the boulders. It was awesome... it was just fantastc that I felt like dropping my jaw but i can't becos i need to keep the regulator in my mouth. Haha...

I was so happy that I felt like living underwater in brunei patches. So happy that i felt sick after surfacing! Haha.. I vomitted for the first time... Donno why... felt a bit dizzy and headache. Hope i am not suffering from a mild DCS. Heheh... Nonetheless, it was a fantastic dive and i will definitely go back to Brunei patches!
Next dive... BLUE WATER... YIPPEEEEEE!

Abana Rock - 18th June 2006

Ahh... It was so good to be underwater again after a good two weeks vacation on land. Getting back from Vietnam and Cambodia made me craved for dipping myself into the water again. Disappointed that I did not get to dive in Vietnam... not with my mummy's presence. hehe..
We had to switch to Abana Rock instead of Brunei Patches due to the weather. It has been cloudy and rainy for the past few days. Nonetheless, it was nice to return to Abana Rock again. Before the dive, I had the funniest pre-dive briefing. Not that the dive is gonna be funny but it was becos the briefing was given by our very own, Bitch Manta who is doing his DM course. It was his first training and we took every opportunity to "train" him as a great DM. Haha...!

There was a bit of current but not as bad as the one we had in Scott Patch. Noraini and Tat claimed that they always had bad luck in diving but thank goodness this time round the current was good. But I guess the luck in diving is not yet on their side, Tat lost one side of his fin during the first dive. Hmm... how he lost it? Don't ask me... i dont even know how that is possible.. We spotted the usuals anemone fishes, angel fishes, lionfish etc... and the highlight of the dives is octopus. We spotted two of them! When i spotted the one, i bang my tank to get the attention of other divers. But, to my surprise, only our DM trainee Mr. Bitchy Bitch Manta came.... Again, Tat and Noraini didnt get to see much out from the dive, because they tot i was asking them to stay put. Do'H!!! We saw two "bubu" during the dives and it is sad to see some of the fishes were trapped inside and some are dead.

Anyway, after both of our dives, Tat has decided to make this trip an expensive dive trip for him by throwing his prescriptive mask down the water. Hehe.. Of cos, he didn't do that on purpose. He was planning to throw his mask into his basket but unfortunately he missed and the mask fell out from the boat. Blooppp Blooopp underwater... We pitied him but meanie meanie we also luffed. And to be more meanie but grateful, we gave a big round of applaud to our DM trainee for changing tanks and gear-up and de-gear our equipments... It was a very relaxing dive trip. Well done, Bitch and keep up the good work in changing tanks for us!

Lagoon Dive - 28th May 2006

It was another beautiful day but we received a call from Reuburn the Dive Instructor from STI that the wind is building up. Again, we were disappointed that we could not go for wreck dives. Nonetheless, we decided to go to Princess Avenue and Suhiro. 9km more before we arrived at our dive sites, the current got too strong that we decided to head back. We did one dive at the lagoon also known as the Stable as sea-horses were spotted in that site. Unfortunately, we did not spot any sea-horses. We spotted crabs, lobster, anemone fishes and lotssssss of sea-cucumbers.

This marks the last diving for me for the month of May 2006.... Next, some non-diving adventure to Vietnam and Cambodia....! Angkor Wat here I come...!

Mel's Rock Sunset Dive - 27th May 2006

It has been raining for the last few days and I could not believe it that the weather is so good when we scheduled for a night dive. Instead of doing the specialty night dive, I've decided to postpone to have this done together with my usual dive buddies. So, I've opt for a sunset dive and night dive at Mel's Rock. Weather was great but the wind was building up causing strong surface current. The Sunset dive was good but we did not spot any sharks.

After the first dive, we did our surface interval and it was just absolutely beautiful; enjoying the beauty of sunset view in the middle of the sea. It was a breath-taking view! Then, we proceed for our night dive. My second night dive in Brunei. We spotted lobster, slipper-lobster, spanish dancers and a cute little bobtail squid.

Comment I received:
from L33Ming
U got it right babe, the feeling is indescribable. With good company, i.e. a bunch of jokers, perfect sunset on one end of the world, and thunderstorm at the other end, it felt like we were locked in between. It's the most amazing moment ever! Has it sunk in for you yet, what we have discovered?? the beauty of diving with the sun above us, surfacing to the orange and red sky, watching the sun go down and waiting for the fishes to fall asleep, then immerse again to total darkness. Our adventure has only just begun... ;)
(http://spaces.msn.com/l33ming/) May 30 5:16 PM

My reply to comment received:
Yes Babe...!!! Can't wait to do more divessssssssss.... Gonna take a couple of weeks break for some land-adventure first.... but.. i'll be back! :)
(http://spaces.msn.com/keileem/)May 30 8:48 PM

Mel's Reef - 21st May 2006

Oh.. MY GOSH.... this reef is just sooooooooooo good... so so so GOOD....

Can't believe that we saw shark on both dives! Excellent dives led by Hermoine the Dive Master. First dive we saw white tip shark, swam away after we tried to get closer. Really cool to see the shark "disappear" so fast. We saw cowrie (i think this is it's spell ) , lots of anemone fish, lion fish, snappers and groupers and goby...

Second dive, we dived at the same spot but this time, moving south. We saw scorpion fish cleverly camouflaged itself on top of the coral. We spotted lion fish, slugs, giant snapper and giant grouper, batfish and last but not least, NURSE SHARK...! We came really close to the shark and managed to take a good look of the head and tail of the shark. It was resting ... so we manage to have a good 5 mins look at it before we were called to do our safety stop and end our dives.

I wonder... what other kind of shark will we spot next dive? Hammerhead? Or perhaps... whale shark?

Comments I received:
from zyan
Next time if you saw the shark, wake her up by cutting whoever you like most. You had seen twice the shark hiding in the rock. Should try out seeing her swimming around. :)(http://spaces.msn.com/zyaneric/) May 23 5:47 PM

from Elvin Hii
Ya, I equally was very satisfied with today's dives, it's just amazing. Next time we can arrange again with our manta group to visit these Mel's Reef again. Baby Manta, good observation skill, me as your instructor, I felt proud. Well done!! heheehe.
Cute Manta(http://spaces.msn.com/elvinhii/) May 21 9:38 PM

My reply to comments received:
Zyan... har? wut is the shark got aggressive and attack me leh?? cannot risk that oo.. :P
(http://spaces.msn.com/keileem/) May 30 8:35 PM

Scott wreck & Scott Patch - 15th May 2006

Due to some unexpected circumstances, our KL Manta aka Hamsap Manta cant make it to Brunei to proceed with our diving marathon. Some other mantas were not able to dive as well. However, I've decided to proceed to dive on Sunday, completing my underwater navigation specialty. Yay! Including my wreck specialty, I've got two specialty now and three more to go before getting my MSD.
Yesterday we went to Scott Wreck and Patch. Scott Wreck is a barge that sunk, dunno when.. hehe... the wreck and patch wasn't fantastic but it was good as home to lots of small fishes. Saw some snappers, crabs (different species) and also glass shrimps.

I wonder what will the next dive be.... Night dive anyone?

Ampa Patches - 30th April 2006

The Blue Manta has made another dive adventure trip to Tutong. This time... at Ampa Patches. Note: the name is Ampa... not "wutever-pa" as pronounced by Sau Wei. Heheh...

We reached the initial dive site, but the water was really dark; symbolised that visibility is clear. When boatman, Hj Ramzi attempted to drop the anchor, it cant reached the bottom. Hence, the water is far too deep for us to dive. Norman, the dive instructor decided to move us further... this time nearer to a desserted oil rig labelled Ampa Patches.

The water is clear and visibility was great. We saw lots of fishes, but i dont know what species they are. Hehe.. We spotted lots of Moorish Idols, Angel fishes, lion fish and more. I spotted lobster which hid in one of the big corals there. I signalled to my buddy "Cute Manta" to check it out. Surprisingly, he spotted a white tip reef shark instead! Unfortunately I didn't see it.

We did two dives at Ampa Patches. It's good to take a break from seeing wrecks with two longgggggggg dives seeing corals and fishes.

I wonder what's coming next....???

Comments received:
from Eu
wa... so nice... when u wan to bring me diving ? Baby Manta ? ^_^(http://spaces.msn.com/chongeu/)
May 10 10:37 AM

My reply to Eu
Hey Eu, Whenever YOU WANT...!!! hehe.. go get your open water license first la... hehe..(http://spaces.msn.com/keileem/)May 15 8:22 AM

from Elvin Hii
Yes, spotting the white tip was exciting, unfortunately, baby manta was not able to share the excitement moment with me. Anyway, I realised baby manta kept chasing the Moorish Idol in the 2 dives, she must be pretty bore. (http://spaces.msn.com/elvinhii/)
May 01 8:43 AM

My reply to Elvin Hii
Ci tan Kao... where got bored? It's fun to get up close with the Moorish Idols.. and also playing with the Anemonefish... :P(http://spaces.msn.com/keileem/)May 01 8:48 AM

Yeoli Wreck & Victoria Patch - 28th April 2006

Today has been a very memorable day for the Blue Manta...

We finally stepped our "fins" down Tutong Beach for our very first dive at Tutong. Visibility were excellent initally but when we were finally down at the bottow, the water was a bit cloudy. Nonetheless, this does not stop the Blue Manta from having a great dive time. We spotted sea-snakesssss, puffer fish, lion fish and giant groupers. Not to mention, we also spotted schools of fishes (but donno the names ).

Next stop, we went to Victoria Patch and were a bit disappointed at first because it is a very shallow dive and claimed to have lots of dead corals. Rachel was the first to jump into the water and spotted angel fishes right away. I was amazed to spot Leopard Moray Eel a minute after we descent. Then comes lots of other colourful fishes such as Pipefish, Boxfish, Puffer Fish, Triggerfish, Moorish Idol, Snappers, Groupers, Lobster (dead one), Emperor Angelfish and more. Close to the end of our dive, Eric spotted a less colourful fish. On our way to return back to the boat, he signalled "Shark + BIG". Suspecting that he is lying, I played along and swam towards the spot he signed. I peeped through the hole between the corals and my regulator almost fell off from my mouth. IT IS A SHARK and IT IS BIGGGGGGGGGGGGG..... We were excited to spot a reef shark about 4 feet long. It just made our dive journey more memorable.

So, what's next? TUTONG again of course...!

Australian & Cement Wreck - 23rd April 2006

Dive marathon begins!

23/4/2006 marks the first day of the Dive Marathon, organised in conjunction with the arrivable of honorable Sau Wei! Haha...!!

The Blue Manta (except for the Mares Sea-Pig who got caught at work) and some other divers went to Australian Wreck and then to Cement Wreck.

Visibility was pretty bad at Australian Wreck, probably around 5m. Didnt manage to see much except for lion fishes, some groupers and school of barracuda. Another dive group managed to see Marble Ray at American Wreck which is just not far off from our dive site.. D'oh!!!

As for Cement Wreck, visibility was around 15m. We saw lion fishes, pipefish, scorpion fishes, batfish, octopus and more. Everyone loves Cement Wreck because it was their first time there, except for me, Linda and Sebastian.

After two beautiful dives, we headed to Rusukan for snorkelling and then picnic.

What a great trip! And more to come...

Comment received:

from zyan

got SLK wreck??? wonder how it look like... :)(http://spaces.msn.com/zyaneric/)
April 24 2:37 PM

My reply to comment received:

There's always an answer to a question. Just sink an SLK! Need help, just lemme know! I am sure we can find one VERY easily. Hahaha!(http://spaces.msn.com/keileem/)April 28 6:56 PM

Ohana

I was thinking... Okie, i do think at times... okie okie.. i think too much most of the times (as most of my buddies will agree)... So what should i write as my first blog in this blogspot? I thought I should write about the most important things in my life. And they happened to be my ohana...

Keeping it short and simple, my family and I love travelling and we make it a deal that we travel to at least two different places every year. One usually on Chinese New Year (when most of us siblings can actually take longer leaves) and another depending on the destination and weather (usually just my parents, my sister and me... as my brothers have got greater commitments... building their own families).

We love the wonders of the world. Hopefully we will be able to step foot on as much wonders of the world, before we are too old to travel. Below are some snapshots of my previous family vacations. :)

From an extract of my favourite online dictionary - Wikipedia, "Ohana means family in an extended sense of the term including both blood-related or extended. It emphasizes that family and friends are bound together and members must cooperate and remember one another."

With this blogspot, I hope that I will be able to talk about my ohana now... and also to extend my ohana...