Perhentian Island Dive

A lot of people think that diving is an expensive and dangerous sport. OK...i've to admit that it is really expensive sport for me as a medium income group. As for dangerous.....No no...i don't think so. As long as you follow the rules and instruction, it is safer than driving your car on the road. Last weekend, i've went to Perhentian Island to take my advance open water diver license while Andry went there for fun dive.

Before i went:

Somebody: Hey, it is month of 7(ghost month) in chinese Lunar calendar, you still want to go?
Me: Haha...i don't care. I want to dive. There is nothing to worry about.

To complete my Advance Open Water license, i need to pass 5 test.

1. Peak Performance Buoyancy

2. Night Diving

3. Wreck Diving

4. Navigation Dive

5. Deep Diving

My 1st day 1st lesson was about peak performance buoyancy. It was a hard time for me as this was my 1st dive after 1 year not diving and still need to play with Buoyancy Game underwater. My instructor was very strict and request me to redo and redo until he satisfied. However, it was really a good lesson as a good diver must have a good buoyancy control. So, being tortured for 45 minutes also nevermind la.....Haha..

As for my night diving, they brought me to Romantic Bay. I was requested to go down from the boat 1st by the instructor.

Instructor: Bell, you go down 1st.

Bell: Ha? Me?

Instructor: Why?

Bell: I scared....

Haih...really embarassing. Have to thanks to my colleague for keep on frightening me before i went. Scared was not a good excuse for them, so...without giving me any choice, i have to jump 1st. I can't say "You jump i jump" as night diving is part of my course. I just did not want them to find any chance to fail me(...thinking too much). After everyone reach the bottom, i tried to use my torch light to point around me....Too bad...no fish or coral was spotted. I only saw a lot of worm!!! Damn....So geli....I told myself that i was not going to do any mask cleaning down here although it became very foggy. But, when the intructor brought us swim around the coral, i already forgot about all those disgusting worm. What i seen, was a scenery that i've never seen before during day dive. It was a regret that we did not bring our camera together as those fish that was very active during day time was resting and hiding under the rock and coral. We saw 2 big size turtle hiding under the rock and we slowly approaching them and given them a gently touch. There was a lot of plankton this night. We could see the Sparkling Blue color shining like thousand and thousand of star when we moved our finger around. It was so beautiful.......

Second day, after complete my course review, i was out for my wreck diving. Our destination was Sugar Wreck and we was told that this wreck was sunk on year 2000. Now it had become a home for thousand of marine life. When we did our decent, we could feel that the visibility was getting bad and bad when you went deeper. There was a thermocline when we exceed 15m of depth and the visibilty was only 2-3 meter. But, with the guide of experience dive master, we still able to see a lot of things. We saw razor fish, scorpion fish, star puffer, map puffer, box fish, School of baraccuda, file fish, sea snack, nudibranch, scorpion fish, big eye snapper, cuttlefish and etc.

In the noon, i was brought to romantic bay sand area to perform my navigation lesson. I had did some stupid stuff due to too nervous and was question by my instructor underwater. I was really a bit down at that time. While we were on our way back, my instructor show us a lot of Nudibrach at this sandy area and we also spotted 1 seahorse cliging it's tail at the soft coral. It look like very shy and not moving when we look at it. It was my 1st time being so close to a seahorse.

I only left 1 last lesson on my 3rd day which was deep diving. We was brought to 30m depth and perform some simple task. Example, write my email in reverse direction underwater and it was time and compare it with the time we complete it on the ground.

Since i already complete my Advance Open Water Course, so in the afternoon i could join the fun diving team. We was again heading to the Sugar Wreck Dive Site as i really love this place very very much. It was really a amazing dive site.

My last day o the island, we'd did another 2 more dive at T3(Terumbu Tiga) and Temple of sea before we took our boat to go bk. At T3, we saw different type of shrimp and diffrent type of pipefish. Emperor Angel Fish can be spotted here as well. As for Temple of Sea(Tokong Laut), we saw a lot of brown bamboo shark, puffer fish, procupine fish and a school of trvalis and squid. This was the 1st time i saw squids underwater and i was very excited and tried to approaching them to take some picture. But the squid are just too smart that i don't even have change to get close to them.

We took our boat back at 4pm and went to Jerteh Town to take our dinner.

I wish to share all the photos here, but the line is just too slow...Too bad..

Malacca Historical Town- The world Heritage

After 2 years waiting, finally we are able to meet each others at Malacca-The World Heritage. Malacca is a small state in South Malaysia and this small town was always rank the best town in Malaysia among my gang. We loved this place very much. The people here was nice, the traffic was not so terrible, the buildings(historical place) were so impressive, the foods were delicious and the most important thing was we'd left a lot of sweet memories at in historical place.

Something that we could not deny was Malacca government had done a very good job in preserving the world heritage and at the same time tried to beautify the environment.

This photo was taken near the Malacca river and from here we could see the Maritime Museum and the newly build Malacca Tower. The museum was built in a replica of a Portuguese ship, the 'Flo De La Mar' that sank off the coast of Malacca while on the way to Portugal. Here, visitors can view dioramas and intricately crafted models of ships on board. There are detailed descriptions of Malacca history and a map that features actual charts used by Portuguese sailors centuries ago. The Malacca Tower is also know as Menara Taming Sari. The unique feature is the revolving cabin ( inset) from which visitors can have a bird’s eye view of the city. The air-conditioned viewing cabin, which can accommodate up to 80 people at a time, revolves as it rises from ground level to the top of the tower. It also revolves on its downward journey. The operating hours of the tower will be from 10am to 10pm everyday. Admission fee for MyKad holders will be RM10 for adults and RM5 for children below 12 years old and senior citizens above 55 years old. Foreigners will be charged RM20.

Another tourist attraction is Jonker Walk. At this place, you could easily found different kind of antique, handmake souvenir and old chinese cultural. Don't miss this place out if you do have chance to come Malacca. I am sure you will like this place. Do take a chance to tried the famous Malacca Cendol and Laksa. Highly recommended by me~ haha...

If you are Hong Kong Movie Lover, have you seen this scene before? One of the scene in "夏日的日么么茶" was taken at this Geographer Cafe. Come here and check for your favorite artist Signature. This cafe is situated at jonker walk as well.

Somewhere near Mahkota Parade or Dataran Pahlawan, you could find a food court name Newton. Most of the best food in Malacca could be found at this corner.

This was the food that i like it most. It was actually a Hakka Food call "擂茶". A very healthy and delicious food.

"Layer Cake", I am not sure whether you can find this type of cake in other places but i am sure u could find it in Malacca. The best cake that i've ever tried so far. Must tried it, the shop is situated near Newton, and in front of Wok and Pan.

There are more and more nice place and nice foods in Malacca to be introduced in the future. Stay Tune...

Prom Night at E&O Hotel Penang

The day had come!! It was the time for us to display all our hardwork for the passed 2 weeks. It was not an easy task to become the comittee for the SSD team building this time. Moreover, it was a dinner type team building. After numbers of meeting, at last we success. Still remembered the day when we had our 1st and 2nd meeting, we're arguing, yelling and shouting to each others, and some was even playing. It was really a hard time for me and the team to ensure we did not missed out anything and everything was under control. Thank you to the comittee team for your hardwork and contribution. It was a busy but a filling 2 weeks.

And to the dancer, thank you for willing to spend your time for the practices and for willing to perform on stage. It was really a great time having practices with you all. Instead of saying that the Prom night was a team building night, i would rather said that the process of preparing this special night was a great team building for us(from the MSs up to the management team).

On this special night, we managed to take a group photo for our SSD family. What a nice photo... Committee Group photo. ..

And the Lucky gal ...Haha..

There was a lot of gorgeous gal on this special night. "You look wonderful tonight" special dedicate too all of them!! Cheers~

Balik Pulau Hua Hee Lai Herbal Sauna

I said i will come back!! After a small gathering with Mouse, Soon, Li Soo and Andry, we went to Hua Hee Lai Herbal Sauna. It was a rainy day and i just couldn't wait to jump into the Sauna Room. It was so warm inside there. The herbal smell make me feel very relaxing. After a Sauna, we took a bowl of Bubur Chacha to fill our stomach.

Nice picture taken on that day. After cut down the three, the boss further separate the trunk into few pieces and the big one was use as a table(This table had been used for some time). This newly put forty leaves was found on one of this table. Wow, really strong vitality!! 生命力超强!!

Balik Pulau Durian & Herbal Sauna

Oh yes!! It's Durian season again. In a gang of 5, today our mission were looking for cheap and nice durian. Somebody suggested us to try at the durian stall near the Penang Airport. When we reached there, we saw there were only 2 opened stall. After parked our car near the roadside, immediately we headed towards 1 of the stall and asked asked for "ANG HEH"(red prawn) but he didn't have. So, we just asked him opened any nice durian will do. Basically, we just ate 2 durian as the quality of the durian of this stall was not so nice. Choo Pui and me were very dissapointed.

Luckly, Andry decided to continue our mission at Balik Pulau. At 1st, we did not know where to go as nobody in the car knew any Durian farmer at Balik Pulau. Suddenly, we saw one partially hidden durian stall opened at the main gate of the durian farm. So, again Andry decided to have a try here. When we reached the stall, we told the Aunty that we wanted to eat durian. Aunty had recommended few durian type to us which were Kung Poh, 600, Ang Heh, Durian Kampung. Most of the people loved 600 very much but i still prefered Ang Heh. They said eating Ang Heh make their nose feel like eating WASABI so they didn't like it.

After our Durian Lunch, we asked for Aunty permission to visit her durian farm. Without thinking much, the aunty said OK.

Look what did i found!! A lot of big durian hanging on the tree. It was not the 1st time i visited durian farm but i still feel very excited. Durian= King of the fruit!!

After the farm visit, we went to one of the Balik Pulau Recreation Spot(Not so sure about the name) to view the scenery of Balik Pulau town from top of the hill. Due to monsoon season, Penang was a bit hazy at this time. When we're about to leave, we saw a sign board showing a direction toward Herbal Sauna House.

Young man always curious about something new. So, we decided to take a look. 1st we saw a restaurant. When we went deeper, we saw a lot of timbers. We believed it was used to cook the herbal.

This was the entrance to the sauna room. One thing really suprised us was this herbal sauna facility was free of charge. You just need to pay for your will. According to a lady there, it was opened from 11am till 9pm. I had went in to to sauna room to have a look and the whole room really full of herbal smell. Too bad, i did not bring any clothes to exchange so i could not have a try this time. But i was sure, I WILL BE BACK!! Haha....

There was a restaurant next to this sauna house and the boss was trying to set up a prawn jigging(fishing) pond.

The concept of this restaunrant really attracting us. It was something like "Back to natural". The whole restaurant was made of timber(wood) except the simen floor and the pond. The fence, the chair, the table and decoration items were mainly made of timber and Bamboo. Really a nice and relaxing place.

Overall, we had met today mission and WHAT A NICE AND NEW DISCOVERY!! Balik Pulau, a Mysterious place. There are more and more to be discovered here.

Some old photo

I was flipping through some of my department old photo today. Some of the team building was held before I joined this company. Suddenly, some of the old memory flashing in my mind…..

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26^th June 2006

Today was my 1^st day in work and my boss told me that tomorrow was our company team building day. So, what was team building? What did it stand for? My boss told me that tomorrow we did not need to come company, just need to gather at the Jerejak Jetty. We would have some games and lunch on the island. I was extremely blur at that time because I did not know why did we have team building, where was Pulau Jerejak and the worse thing was I did not know everyone here. I only knew who was my menthor. So, could I enjoy the games? What happen if I did not join this time? I was planning not to join but I was just too new and I did not dare to do so. Haha…

27^th June 2006

I woke up very early today and requested my housemate to send me to the Jetty. Once I reached the jetty, I tried to look for any familiar faces. Haih…It was not a comfortable moment for me as the place was crowded with people and I do not know everyone here. At last, I had found some familiar faces and decided to stick with them for this whole day. Do you know what was my first thought of my division people? Not so helpful and did not know how to take care of freshly. They seems not understand how freshly feel when we did not know everyone here. Just so lonely~~ However, I am playful person. I had no problem playing games with somebody I did not know when came to game session. “When I play, I play with my heart. I don’t care who you are or where am I ”. And, I was just so lucky cause my team get 1^st place in the competition. We were the CHAMPION team!!!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………This photo was taken 2 years ago but this was the 1st time i saw this photo. I really did not know most of the people inside this photo at that time. What i remembered was someone called me to take picture together. Only today i realized, we were all from the same department. Haha.....really "SAP HA SAP HA".

I did not know who snap this picture, but it was me. This was one of the tele match we played at that time. I just couldn't do rabbit jump and this made me moving very slow in this game. Maybe this was the reason the camera man could had a good snap on me. I hate this game!!

This was the second team building at Park Royal Hotel and my team became the CHAMPION again!!

Penang National Park

14th June 2008

We had a mission today. In a group of 10 natural lovers, we were planning to explore Teluk Kampi, Penang National Park. Penang National Park was not a new location for us as we had been hiking to Muka Head Light House and Pantai Kerachut before. This time, we have decided to challenge ourself for another small mount toward our destination Teluk Kampi. I have heard from my friend before that it was not an easy task and not recommended for a beginner.

8.30am: After register ourself, we begin our hiking journey.
10.00am: Reach Pantai Kerachut whithout facing any problems as everyone was full of energy.

10.30am: Heading towards our next challenges, "TELUK KAMPI".

11.15am: Too bad, we were lost. Andry and me were leading the group and both of us get trap by some stingy plants. Immediately, we gave signal to others not to come nearer as we did not hope more and more people get trap. Luckly, Andry had a mulipurpose knife with him and we successfully removed ourself from that dangerous place. After some discussion, we had decided to "Patah Balik" as Choo Pui said there was another road that can lead us to top of the hill(according to some online source, we need to reach top of the hill then only hike towards Teluk Kampi). So, the rest of the journey was lead by Choo Pui as they said we were bringing them to "Holland" just now. Haha...
12.00pm: We reached top of the hill and everyone was very happy as we believed we were on the right track.

12.35pm: Hooray!!! We reached Teluk Kampi.

There was a lot of stingy plant along the hiking track and we keep on remind everyone whenever we spot this dangerous plant.

Some nice pictures taken by Andry and me using our IXUS 860 while we were on our way to Pantai Kerachut.

Photos taken at Teluk Kampi.