Berakas Oil Rig Wreck & TAC Reef

Azli: Mau diving sunday?
Me: Mau...! Of cos... ke mana?
Azli: Mana saja kamu mau la...
Me: Ada new dive sites?
Azli: Ada rig wreck baru... mau kah?
Me: SET!

Dive date: 27th April 2008
Dive buddies: Andrew, Allen, Elisa, Hung
Dive captain: Azli

Having dive in brunei for almost 4 years, there are still no sign of boredom. Why? Azli never run out with new dive sites. He is forever exploring Brunei waters and discovering new wrecks and new reef. That's why I called him, dive si-fu (master / instructor).

It rained heavily on friday. My buddy and me were worried about the visibility. A call from Eric who canceled the dive last sunday, complaining about the bad visibility his Friday's dives. We weren't putting our hope too high on good viz, but more on experiencing the new wreck site.

When we reached the dive site, my jaw-dropped and I removed my sunglasses, rubbed my eyes and look down from the boat again. Am I seeing the wreck? The oil-rig wreck from the boat?! My gawd.. visibility was excellent! I quickly grabbed any mask nearest to me, jumped down from the boat and snorkelled. I can see the WHOLE rig wreck! The viz was SUPERB! woohoooo... all excited, everyone of us quickly geared up and had a wonderful one hour dive at Berakas Oil Rig Wreck. A must return for those with wide angle lens!

For 2nd dive, we went to TAC reef. Discovered by Azli when Andrew, Tat and myself were doing exploration dives with him. Azli named this reef after us - Tat Andrew Caryn Reef; hence TAC Reef. :)

This dive site is famous with black ray shrimp goby and cute little cuttlefish.

Enjoy the pictures below! Photos courtesy of Andrew Chieng


Flabelina Nudibranch (left), Flat worms dancing (right)


Gobys on soft corals


Tube worms (left), Christmas tree worms (right)


Cuttle fish (left), Cornshell attacking / feeding on another cornshell (right)


Black Ray Shrimp Goby

My favourite for this dive collection - Black Ray Shrimp Goby front view.

Ma' cute cute housemate...

That's right... another post dedicated to my housemate, Ping Ping. Why? Cos he is cute..? Hmm.. no comments... but okie la... can la... cute also la... :P *dont wanna get stabbed in the middle of the nite by my housemate!* Heee...

Anyways, imagine getting off work at 7pm.. tired and exhausted to even to drive to a restaurant for dinner. All I wanted to do is just go home. And, that was exactly what I did and guess what?

Dinner is served...!

by Chef Ping Ping
*who is again, shy as ever to have his picture taken while cooking*
Psstt... Z.M. I am sure you can imagine how he looks like behind that big hand! Hee hee...

My Dream - Updated

Remember "My Dream"? I wrote about how me and my sister wanted to visit the wonders of the world.

Scrolling through my old posts, I realised that we have covered two more wonders of the world in our last Chinese New Year trip in February this year. Yippeee.... So here are the updated chart of my wonders of the world journey... ;)

Ticked to the Roman Colosseum, Italy! (4 more to go...)

Ticked to the Eiffel Tower, France! (9 more to go...)

New blogging buddy...!

A-har...! Photography? You like photography? Then for sure you will like phoTEOgraphy lor...!

Huh? What is phoTEOgraohy? Click on the picture below and check check lor...

WAT? You don't like photography? Never mind never mind... you will still like phoTEOgraphy one...

WHY? Aiyah... just check it out la... Yo Yo buddies, peng ew, kakilang, si mi lang, em si lang,... check out phoTEOgraphy..!

More of underwater Brunei...

Dive Date: 6th April 2008
Dive Sites: Cement Wreck & Pelong Rock
Boat Captain: Azli, Hj Kula, Edward
Dive Buddies: TOO MANY!

There were over 20 dive buddies and all I can remember about these dives was... BACK-BREAKING...! I carried so much tanks, gearing up-down-left-right, finning up-down-left-right assisting open water students including Ping Ping my housemate, Reuben and the cutest of all.. Boon who panic like a lost baboon! Hee hee... but still the cutest oo.. so boonie keep it up..!

Here are some pictures taken by my buddies.



My favourite picture:

For more pictures, see Andrew's flickr.


Dive Date: 13th April 2008
Dive Sites: Aruns Wreck & Hornets Reef
Boat Captain: Azli, Man
Dive Buddies: Andrew, Steven, Joseph, Uwais, Rozi, Natasha, Anny, Helmy, Edi, Fanni

It's been a while since we last dive off Jerudong. This time round I was very excited to dive in Aruns Wreck again. The last time I dived there, I saw pipefish and Yellow + Black goby sharing the same "home"! I want to take more pictures...!

The first to descent, I went to secure the anchor line and was soon joined by dive buddies Joseph and Steven. Waiting for Andrew, who I usually tailed like a remora fish, I can't wait for him to spot more goodies to show us. Engrossed by the school of catfishes, I was trying hard to get a good shot but I still need to learn how to work my strobes! ARGHHH...! When I spotted Andrew, I am only left with 10minutes bottom time. Boo-hoo...! True enough, he spotted lots of goodies - Sawblade shrimp and pikachu nudibranch! *CRY* 10 minutes is not enough for me when I still struggle to position the strobe and playing with the settings. :((

During surface interval, I asked all that I can to learn how to position my strobe. Andrew gave me a few tips and tricks. *Splashhh* After descent, I went straight to the sawblade shrimp. Guess what? MY STROBE decided to die on me! *CRY OUT LOUDER* sighhhhh.... the focus light works but the flash just won't go... Why Why WHY AR...??

Anyways, I am still glad that I managed to see all these goodies. Besides, my pictures can't beat Andrew's pictures. :( DSLR kali ahhh.... Asian Diver also take his pictures for their latest issue kali ahhh... hee hee....

Here are some of his photos:


My favourites for this collections are the black & white background effect:

Charity & FUN - Part 2

Remember my first post about Charity & FUN? I seriously believe that both are the best combination ever... charity + fun... and the result = Satisfaction!

I had a wonderful night out at the Empire cinema last Saturday. My babeh and I were looking forward to the Pyjamas Movie Night, organised by Mr. Reeds. I was thinking if I should wear my Garfield pyjamas... till the day itself. I found out that most of them, the colour has faded (well, I have them since secondary school!) and some has got missing buttons... Hmmm...

I was searching through my closet and found my Japanese Pyjamas (Yukata) that I bought in Tokyo some 7 years ago. Still wrapped in its original plastic bag! hee hee.... So tadaa... Yukata...!

None of us brought our camera, but I managed to curi one from Stupidlogic.com hee hee... Thank you for the picture!

Photographed by stupidlogic.com

We enjoyed the movie, "PS I love you" very much... sobbing almost throughout the whole movie. The guys on the other hand felt that the movie wasn't as great. Sighh.. so not sentimental one...!

Thank you Mr. Reeds for organising the fantastic night. Thank you BAG for sponsoring fellow BAG citizens and friends. Thank you Rano for the pictures on your site!

For more pictures and posts about the night... visit Mr Reeds' and Rano's sites.

Brahmin of India

Remember Satya from my posts a few months back? Most of the posts in Jan and and Dec 2007. Satya was my apartment manager in Bangalore when I was posted there for a project since Nov 2007 and also my lovely neighbour!

Anyways, the beauty of ICT allows us to keep in touch easily regardless where we are. Eventhough we are in different part of the world, skype allows us to update each other on our present situations.

Just about 30 minutes ago, Satya sent me a message through skype and updated me with some pictures of Balu, his son. It was taken in the recent thread ceremony in Puri, their hometown.

I did a quick check on my favourite "all-you-want-to-know" website, wikipedia and found...

"Upanayana, sometimes known outside India by the name, "sacred thread ceremony", is commonly known for being a Hindu rite-of-passage ritual. Traditionally, the ceremony was performed to mark the point at which boys began their formal education.

In Hinduism, the ceremony is performed on boys of at least 5 years of age from the Brahminvarna, of at least 13 years from the Kshatriya varna, and of at least 17 years from the Vaishyavarna. The youngster is taught during the ceremony the secret of life through Brahmopadesam (revealing the nature of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality) or the Gayatrimantra. The child then becomes qualified for life as a student or Brahmacharya, as prescribed in the Manusmriti."

When I received the first picture, the first thing I told Satya is...
"Oh my god! Balu is bald...! What happened to his hair??"

Balu with his new look!

According to Satya, Balu is now a typical Brahmin of India. I remember Gayathri told me that they will need to get lots of sarees to give away as part of the ritual. And, she has already started planning and preparing for this ritual since I was in Bangalore back in Nov 2007.

Here are some photos of Balu's thread ceremony.


The ritual was taken at the famous Jagannath temple of Puri


Balu with his aunty and uncle (left), Gayathri with her sister-in-law (right)


The lovely Balu...!

It's really nice to get an update from someone who once been like a "2nd family" to you when you are abroad. Thank you for keeping me posted. I miss you all - Gayathri's cooking, Satya's ever-friendly chit chat (plus some drinks, hee hee....) session and Balu's jokes and stories..!

Take care and hope that our path will cross again. Till we meet... !

BigBumBum's Birthday

Me: Woman, tonight I cook soup. You come and drink yah?
BBB: Eh woman, I confirm with you later. I am not sure.
Me: Huh? Why? I make soup wor..! Very rare okie? Drink already tmr you strike lottery ar!
BBB: Hahahahhahaha... I confirm with you again.

DOH! There goes our surprise plan for her. #@!@#!@# Fred is supposed to buy satay and Babeh and I order in Pizza and fried chicken wings. Now that she is suspicious... we have no choice but eat out ourselves!

BBB ended up went to send her car for washing and went for manicure! After my dinner, BBB (BigBumBum) dropped by my place and looking for soup! Hahaha... I called Babeh and Fred over and then... we have a little cake cutting celebration for BBB.

Happy birthday woman...! Wishing you forever young, forever mei-mei, forever cute-cute oo...! Wahahaha....

PingPing da Housemate

"PING PING...!!!"

That's what I usually call out loud every working morning after I open my room door.

"Cuok Mok" (What?) That's the usual reply from Ping, my housemate.

This morning I did the usual but his voice comes from the kitchen! Huh? He is awake earlier than me? What's he doing in the kitchen? I called out loud.. "Make breakfast for me har..." And the reply was... "Makingggggg...." *JAW-DROPPED*

I went downstairs and saw...

Wahh! Lovely sunny-side up with baked beans and toast bread!

The first thing I said to him was... "Wow! I think I gonna strike 4D soon!"
PingPing's reply... "Whadda?! That's what my mom usually say.... and my dad too..!"

Hahaha.. Thank you Ping Ping.... Remember my breakfast request tomorrow ar... Kolo mee pok! Hee hee....

My shy shy housemate doesn't wanna show his face... :P

Baboon's day...!

4th of April is the day I called it the baBOON's day. Why? Cos it is Boon aka Boonie aka baBOON's birthday. hee hee..

Happy baBOON's Day, BooNieeee...!


Wishing you all the very best in life...!

Madam Sophia Kuan

Last Wednesday, BAG Networks the company that I work for celebrate International Women's Day. We had Dr Irene Cheong from UBD who gave us a presentation on Brunei Women and Environment; how we can play our role to save the environment.

Within BAG Networks, we had an internal survey / mini contest for fellow BAG citizens to vote for the 'most outstanding woman' in our lives. Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Princess Diana are some of the names that popped out from the survey.

I voted for Madam Sophia Kuan. And, below was my reason behind my vote.

"She comes from an average family, living life getting what she wants like most kids these days. That was some 40 years ago. Until her father fell ill, she and her mother sold off almost everything that they have got; including the bicycle shop that have been bringing income to the family. Losing income and her father, she has to turn herself as helper in her relative house, giving in to porridge and soy sauce as an everyday meal. Considering the family's current situation, she married early through an almost arranged marriage to a businessman, hoping for a better life, for her and her mother. Unable to complete her secondary education, she was trained by her mother in law to clean, cook for a big family and for business. Looking at her hands, although both hands are dry, wrinkled with scars and protruding veins, they are the most beautiful hands in the world to me. They are the hands that has gone through so much to bring herself up after every fall, to support her family, to support her husband, to support her in-laws, to bring up her 4 children including filling forms, enrolling them to university (eventhough she can't read / write in english, she bought herself a chinese-english dictionary). Today, she hasn't rest her hands, she is still doing all the duty as a wife, as a mother and most important of all, as the most outstanding woman in the family and among her friends. These hands belong to my mother, the most important woman in my life."

With that, I got myself a gift from BAG.

2 movie tickets and $20 body shop vouchers

Diving with BSADC

Dive Date: 30March 2008
Dive Sites: USA Wreck & Cement Wreck
Visibility: 5m - 8m
Boat: BSADC's Downunder 3

I was running late. Unsure of how to get to Serasa Yacht Club, I called Simon to direct me. Arriving at the Yacht Club, Steven was there to help me unload my gears and I was told that tanks had been arranged and loaded. Sweetttttt.... One of the reasons that put divers off especially women divers are carrying the heavy tanks and gears onboard.

This is my first dive with BSADC - Brunei Sub Aqua Dive Club . It was a very comfy boat with plenty of space to move around with a bunch of enthusiastic divers and Nina a diver-to-be. Danielle the dive instructor and also the leader for our dives last sunday, briefed us on the dives sites, standard dive rules and procedures. It was very well organised, disciplined but yet fun. We even managed to stop over Kuraman to chill after two beautiful dives. How beautiful? Here are some pictures...


Beautiful cement wreck with abundance of marine life...





The highlights of the dives.

Pipefish spotted at USA Wreck. Click on the picture to enlarge. I love the red-dotted lips! :)


A couple of ornate ghostpipefish. Mommy is heavily pregnant! :)


Click on the picture to enlarge. If you look carefully, you can see the eyes on the eggs. Sigh.. if only I've got a DSLR or macro lens. Again... please donate to buy-caryn-a-dslr-fund! :D