Manila & Cebu, Philippines

My first trip to Philippine was truly a mixture of emotions, shocked, impressed, surprised, happy and disgusted. Shocked that this part of country is not what I have been imagining. I mean, initially I thought Manila is a city resembles Bangkok or Saigon, but it is not. I do not want to elaborate more on this. Impressed to see the historical remnants eg. Intramuros. Happy to get to see Philippines, and precisely, the cities of Manila and Cebu. Disgusted to see 'lechon baboi' here and there. But all in all, Philippines has its own beautiful sides especially it glorious and amazing underwater.

OK, so we took AirAsia to get to Clarke Field early in the morning. After 4 hour or so, we arrived Clark Diosdado Macapagal International airport and took a taxi to Manila city which is almost 2 hours away. It is really far and because of that, we did not have much time to see Manila in close. On our way to Manila city, we passed through Mt. Pinatubo, an infamous volcano in Philippine which has caused major disaster in the past eruptions. Other than witnessing this amazing volcano, we slept all the way to Manila. The journey was smooth and I'm impressed because they have such a smooth and wide highway road without potholes here and there

When arriving in Manila, we first searched for a hotel and checked-in, could not remember the hotel name though. And later, we hired an MPV and a driver to take us around Manila. We visited Philippine Cultural Centre, Jose Rizal Monument and The Intramuros. I love the environment in Intramuros as it looked a little like Europe in the Medieaval time. By the way, 'intra' means within and 'muros' means wall, so basically it was a visit to check out what they have within the walls. There are a cathedral, a fort, community buildings and several others.

It was really difficult to find halal food in Manila, so we just had our dinner at clean restaurants(clean as in they do not have 'lechon baboi' on display) and requested for dishes without any sort of meat except seafood.

And by the way, pictures taken in Manila were posted here before but for several reason, I have removed it.

The next day, we woke up early to catch flight to Cebu. Our 'el capitan' woke up the earliest and he went to the McDonads and got us Fillet-O-Fish and tea for our breakfast. We departed Cebu from Nino Aquino International airport (it looks more modern and organized than the Clark Field airport). The flight took only 1 hr ++. At Cebu, we were greeted by our dive guides, Windy and Jun Jun and took us to our chalet. We rested and got ourselves ready for diving.

To be frank, I love Cebu underwater a lot, especially at Mactan Island. The beaches are clean and the underwater visibility was superb. Need to reopen my dive log to write some short report here. I managed to take couples of pictures here.

Stonefish

Nemo and its home

Pipefish..I think

Chromodoris magnifica

My first encounter with seahare

Obese pufferfish

Pulau Sipadan, Sabah: 17-20 July 2008

It has been 3 months since I last updated my Friendster blog. Now here I am again, to jot a couple more trips to be shared with my fellow friends. For month of July, I managed to arrange time to dive at Sipadan. This time, more people and more ‘extraordinary’ people were joining this trip. Before I start to write, I would like to express gratitude to my new friends…Cik Din, Tan, Lim (Tan’s wife), Cha’am, Sabri, T-rex, Aidie and Al-Azahary..for making this trip memorable. Of course, I shouldn’t drop Maniza  from the divers list. U guys are just awesome fellows.

Me

The team

Well, as early as 3 am on 17th July, we (Maniza,, Aidie and I ) took a bus to LCCT from KL Sentral. Actually, our real plan was to catch a midnight bus ride but it all happened that the last bus service was at 10.30 pm. That meant, we have to wait for couple more hours at KL Sentral until 3 am. Sigghhh…but not a big deal though because KL Sentral is actually a kind of cool place to sit and chit chat. Our flight was at 7.20 so that means we have to wait for 4 hours at LCCT. There were so many people…and most of these people slept soundly on the benches, and I had to remain awake with extreme sleepiness. Around 6.30 pm, all other divers from Terengganu arrived LCCT and we checked in together.

At the mouth of Turtle Cave

Flight to Tawau took around 2.30 hours. We arrived Tawau airport and greeted by the SCUBAJUNKIE staff. We dumped our stuff in a car and a van. From Tawau, we have to travel to Semporna..and that took another 1 to 1.30 hours. Along the journey to Semporna, T-Rex was the one to make us remain awake with all his jokes. It’s good to know new people.
We arrived Semporna and checked in at the Scubajunkie backpacker. Later, we had our lunch and get ourselves out from our rooms. Semporna is actually a small town, so we managed to completely explore the town in a short while. It’s such a waste as we couldn’t do any dives that day. So basically, we had nothing much to do on our arrival to Semporna.

School of Barracudda

18th July 2008
Diving Sipadan is just every diver's dream. Being there for the 2nd time didn’t mean I had nothing to enjoy there. I was excited…really excited. By the way, this 2nd trip, I didn’t have to rent the equipments since I have already bought mine. It should be much better diving with own equipment. From my past experience where the BCD hose didn’t function that well, I think diving should be fun to the max without having to think about this kind of flaws.

School of Batfish

So, to start the dive, we descend at Hanging Garden, Sipadan. It was not a pleasant feeling to see the water appeared green. According to Kay (our female divemaster), that happened due to spawning of the corals. I felt a bit uncomfortable but for the sake of enjoying the dives, I just jumped in without any fuss. There was nothing much to see as I remembered. I believed there were so many things down there but when u keep on wobbling down there, and ur BCD didn’t fit u that well…definitely u would give attention to yourself rather than the surroundings. Bottom time was around 35 minutes if not mistaken.

Second dive was at Barracuda Point. As expected, school of batfish, school of jacks and school of Barracuda were seen. Current wasn’t that strong..or perhaps, very minimal, so the barracudas didn’t form a swirl as what most divers wanted to see. Rather, they swim slowly towards south and it was like a very intense moment. Now I remember, I didn’t get the chance to see that school of barracuda on my 1st trip to Sipadan.

The naughty one

And 3rd dives was at Turtle Point. We went to the cave that most divers talk about. Definitely we didn’t explore the cave as we didn’t have the experts to do so. We were visiting the mouth of the cave and experience the feeling to approach the cave. It was quite a panic moment for me as I hate darks or gloomy conditions. For a couple of minutes, we went out and proceed. There was a big nudibranch, yellow and black in color but my digicam didn’t function. Really frustrating.

19th July

This day was quite a frustrating moment. I was separated from the main group. They headed to Sipadan again but I had to join other English divers to Mabul. frankly speaking, I didn’t enjoy the dives as I was expecting to dive with other group members. And the worst was, I would not be able to dive at Kapalai, by right initially I have arranged with them before to dive Kapalai. Maybe this is an indication that I have to return to Sipadan again and dive Kapalai. Next year maybe.

1st dive began at Artificial Reef of Mabul which is near the Mabul Resort (not sure the exact name). Well, as Mabul famous for it’s muck divings, I was quite amazed with this site. Visibility wasn’t that good but as long as I can see the unique creatures, that’s good enough. There was scorpion leaffish, 2 lionfish resting side by side, giant cuttlefish and others. No nudibranch spotted. And guess what, the shelf-life of my digicam finally came to it’s end. Well, actually, I was the one cut short it’s shelf-life. Ahakss…I was so mad that I couldn’t snap the pictures, and with anger, I unclip the safety clip annnnddd…there it goes. I FLOODED MY DIGICAM. It was a disaster and I lost my mood to enjoy the dive. Sigghhh…..Bottom time was 45 minutes

2nd dive spot was at Seaventures. As compared to the previous trip, this time I saw many other creatures especially the giant froggies, giant morray eel, stonefish and the sweetlips. I was looking for the seafan where the Pygmy Seahorse was said to reside at it, but the seafan was no longer there. Tried to spot some nudibranch but all I saw was the common nudibranch. And even if I saw one, it was useless because my digicam was dead. So it’s better not to see any.

And finally, the 3rd dive was at Froggie Lair. Visibility sucks. Nothing much to see and such a waste of time. To conclude, I was disappointed because things turn out bad and under expectation. Lesson to learn, never put too put much expectation, and control my emotion when going underwater.Hehehe…

20th July
Time to say goodbye with a broken heart…kehkehkeh

Pulau Perhentian, Terengganu: 22-24 August 2008

My trip to Perhentian was not just an ordinary dive trip. It was actually an annually organized Seashutterbug Underwater Photography competition by CORAL Malaysia. Well, of course my intention was to dive and test my new toys, Canon G9 with Ikelite housing with Sea & Sea Strobe light. I really hoped to meet the underwater photographer and experts, and learn as much as possible from them. And my 2nd objective was to dive at different dive spots of Perhentian after my 1st dive trip in 2007.

To start things, I would say that this trip was a long trip for me. I couldn’t get bus ticket to Kuala Besut…and not even to Kuala Terengganu. So, I took the alternative by getting on a bus to Kuantan, and with my sister’s help, I travel on another bus from Kuantan to Kuala Terengganu. Arriving K. terengganu early in the morning (as early as 2 am), wasn’t a good thing to deal with. It was tiring and of course I need to enough sleep before the check out dive. I tried to go to the mosque but it was locked. And the scary part is, I hv to walk alone, along the dark and quiet alley. Whenever I heard the roaring of bike engine, I started to get worried, afraid of getting robbed or snatched.
Enough about that. Another thing to babble about, that the fact I have to wait from 2 am till 8 am at the bus terminal. I’m blaming Cik Din for picking me up that late. hehe…sorry cik din, didn’t mean to offend u. Nothing much I could do as I was asking people courteous to pick me up. And cik Din is cool enough to pick me up on his cool ride. Cik Din is such a killer driver. He drove that fast and I couldn’t stop getting my adrenaline pumped to the max. But Alia (cik Din’s daughter) and his wife seem to get used to his driving style. Journey to Kuala Besut is quite long, 1.30 to 2 hours. So around 10, we arrived K. Besut jetty and had breakfast. There, I met kak Jam, the backbone of CORAL Malaysia. Around 10.30, we got on the boat and headed to Arwana Resort, Perhentian Besar. Nice resort though. We were given room keys, got our lunch and relaxed. For the divers, we were divided into 2 groups. The photographer group, and the non-photographer group. I was grouped with the non-photographers as they were not informed that I’ll be turning up with underwater camera. But what the hell rite? No difference where they grouped me.

I remembered my dive buddy, Juandi. Huhu…such a funny guy. I thought I might lost my mood or get bored during this trip. But it all appeared that I met wonderful divers and made new friends with various people of different backgrounds. Plus, being the only female Malay diver and photographer on the boat would definitely became a subject for them to ‘kacau’ me. Of course they have to protect me and take care of so called ‘lil princess on board’.
I can’t remember exactly all the dive sites, but here is the list of the dive sites dove at Perhentian
1) Lighthouse
 2) Shark Point (but no sharks)
3) D’ Lagoon
4) Tokong Laut
5) Tanjung Basi
6) Seabell

Tokong Laut is always my favorite dive spot. Thanks to my dive master Onn for being such a good spotter for me. At Tokong Laut, we saw nurse shark, nudibranchs, lots of pufferfish and many more.
I tried so hard to get nice underwater pictures. I have good stuffs, that was what some of the photographers told me. Since my Canon G9 is still new, and I haven’t got the chance to learn and understand the settings, one of my aims for this trip was not achieved. One of the experts, Mohan, adjusted the strobe position for me but still i couldn’t focus the strobe light to the objects as I have desired. Finally, I decided to keep the strobe but use the diffuser instead. The results were not bad. At least I got something instead of nothing. Lesson to learn, make sure u know what ur doing!! Hehe…having good gadgets does not guarantee the quality of the pictures if u don’t understand the parameters need to be learnt such as aperture speed, shutter speed, ISO and blablabla…
Among all dive centers I have gone so far, East Marine has the best dive masters I have ever met. The cool and caring Jenny, the cool and innocent Onn, the crazy Amm and the control macho Jus….huwaaaa…I miss u guys. I hope I can return to Perhentian next year and dive with u guys again.

Cik Din, cik Din’s wife and Alia, I’m gonna miss them a lot and hope to meet them in other trip. Alaaa…cik Din…till death do us apart laa…And I would like to thank Dr. Malek and his son, Adi for being my dive buddies during the extra day at Perhentian. And really owe them a lot because they let me sleep and wake up in a room, instead of at the beach. Lalalala….sharing is caring…For the 1st time after a very long time, we had karaoke with Kak Jam and Kak Aini. I knew I can’t sing that well but who cares. I wish I could recall other divers name but time was too short to get to know them more. Of course it is such a mean of me to accidentally drop the VirtualMalaysia videographers and photographers namely, Lan, Zainal, Ezainee and…err…forgot the other guy name. Nice knowing you guys.

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah: 13-15 June 2008

Departed to KK at 9.25 pm (12th June) and arrived there midnight. So straight away took a taxi to Beach Lodge (a backpacker hostel that is totally low cost and convenient too). All activities were booked via the internet (Mountain Trails & Travel Agent).

13th June
Dive TAR Marine Park
Couldn’t wait to the divings. Around 9.15, Evan (the Dive Instructor) picked me up from Beach Lodge to Sutera Harbor Marina. I thought I would be sent to TAR Marine Park via Jesselton Point. The Marina was sooo beautiful and lots of private luxurious catamarans were there. Around 10, I and a couple of husband and wife from Germany, together with PADI OW students headed to Sapi island. By the way, our Divemaster was Rudy (dunno exactly the right spelling).We did our 1st dive at Agil reef. I couldn’t wait to see lots of nudibranchs but it was somehow a bit disappointing. There were only common nudibranchs (Phylidiella sp) appearing on my sight. There were tumpet fish, Mooray eel hiding in a vessel, lionfish and never-seen-before soft corals. Around 45 minutes, we ascended up with still a lot more air in the tank.
We relaxed at Sapi island. I had only cut fruits because I didn't have appetite at all to have proper meal for lunch due to headache. Hate it!!There were many people at Sapi island and I was uncomfortable with it.
Next dive, at 1.30. We dove at Sulug reef. Well, the visibility was like hell, I think less than 2 meters. But we managed to see Mantis Shrimp and Lionfish on the sandy bottom. And my 1st experience to see cute cuttlefish relaxing above the corals. There was also a pufferfish with it’s caudal fin got cut, maybe got bitten by something. I started to feel like vomiting. Hmmm….I knew I would throw up and that’s it, I did it when surfaced.
Around 3.30, went back to Beach Lodge and zzzzzzzzzzzz…
14th June
It was a very exciting moment. Couldn’t wait to go to Mt. Kinabalu. Around 7.15, a van picked me up and other tourists (Malaysian Chinese). We were brought right away to Kundasang. We arrived Kinabalu park and registered ourselves at the Kinabalu park headquarters. Well, when we arrived there, the 4 years old kid, who appeared in the newspapers for successfully reaching Kinabalu peak, was there. The paparazzi were busy taking his photos. Just couldn’t believe that kid managed to get there.
After registration, we were sent to Timpohon gate, which were couple of kilometers from the park. It was very cooling and refreshing. I brought my 7kg hiking. Well, it is proven that I was not strong enough to carry heavy load uphill. After 3/4 of the journey, I gave up and let our guide to bring my bag. By the way, our guide was Rapilin Wido, from the Dusun tribe and he was a Muslim. He was such a small guy but he carried 32kg loads uphill…and downhill. Oooo my God!! He was so patient with all the fuss I made but he understood it as that was my first time climbing Mt.Kinabalu.
The journey to Laban Rata took around 6 hours at a 6 km track. It was raining and worse, I didn’t have any raincoat. Luckily my winter coat manage to keep me warm and dry from raindrops. 6 km was damn far and it was even worse because it route was uneven. When it comes to climbing the stairs..well, I have no idea how many stairs I stepped on..that was really exhausting. With the still bearable pain, it was not a torture at all when I really could enjoy the cooling environment and beautiful scenery.
Laban Rata was already sighted. Environment was getting more and more interesting. Around 5 pm, we arrived Laban Rata resthouse and had our meal immediately. I ate a lot due to starvation.Hehe…After dinner, I was thinking of having hot shower but beyond my expectation, the chalet that I stayed in did not provide any hot shower, instead we had to do it manually…boil some water and mixed with cold water. That was so troublesome. Actually, I didn’t even bath because it was damn cold up there. I put on layers of pants and shirts but they weren’t enough to protect me from extreme cold. As early as 7.30, I went to bed with 2 layers of blanket. The worst part, I couldn’t sleep even for a minute because my feet was too cold. That was so uncomfortable but whatever it was, I knew I had to bare with it.
15th June 2008
Around 1.45 am, we woke up, boil some water and pour into our Maggi Cup. Definitely we have to eat something for energy. We started our way to the peak. It was dark and I didn’t have my head-torch. Luckily Rapilin had extra and I borrowed his. There were couples of climbers who were so excited to reach the peak. I guess I was damn slow and sleepy. Well, of course not enough sleep is very bad. There is a point where we need to use a rope lined along the path to the summit. Since it was till dark, I have no idea how extreme was the climbing. At Sayat Sayat checkpoint, we reported ourselves to the ranger and proceed to the peak. Journey was too long. Mount Kinabalu is definitely very huge. I felt that I have walked for 500 meters but looking around, I didn’t feel any change in the landscape. Just imagine how wide is the peak area. Around 5.45, sun started to rise. And it was really a pleasant moment. I really need sunshine to warm my freezing body. Exactly at the peak, climbers were so excited and some of them spent a long time there. The peak (Low’s Peak) is such a small space and climbers need to take turn to snap some pictures at the peak.
When the sun started to brightly, we made our way down back to Laban Rata. As expected, my weak knees limited my speed. Luckily there was a stick that really helped my movement. After 3 hours, we arrived Laban Rata and started to pack our stuff. And at 10, we went downhill. It was very tiring and sometimes I felt it was like a regret. But looking at the positive side, I know I have the ability to handle physical stress, and not only that, I know I manage to handle my emotion..though I tend to curse at times.Hehe…I was the last person to arrive Timpohon Gate, around 4 pm. Our lunchtime at Balsam Cafe (Kinablu Park) had elapsed and I guess the other 3 was quite angry with me (since I was the last to arrive). Due to that, we made our way back to KK. Around 7.30, I was sent to Beach Lodge. I was thinking of settling the laundry but I felt asleep due to exhaustion.
Well, lesson learned from this trip is, I need to keep fit and take care of my knees especially. Mountains are beautiful places and I shouldn’t let my knee problem to prevent me from hiking. Hope to be there again in the future.
16th June 2008
Bye bye

Gunung Bunga Buah, Genting Highland, Pahang

For a few weeks, I didn't manage to plan any activities until a 'Black Rose' suggested to me to climb Gunung Bunga Buah at near Genting Highland. And yes, this is my 1st time...of course after a long time, to involve in mountain climbing activity. It's really really a climbing for me. If I normally have my sweetheart as my buddy during the divings, but this time, I have Ross as my buddy. (I don't even know if there is buddy system in mountain climbing)
It's very near to KL and took only a few minutes to get there. 25 people participated and no idea who they are. Didn't do the introduction/orientation and don't bother to do so. The 1st part was to walk through a path and that wasn't a problem. Stopped at exactly the point of entry/exit of GBB. After a few minutes break, we started to climb where the steps are slippery clay and I started to worry about my shoes and clothing...hehe. As long as I'm not sliding down and bang myself to the ground, it's ok enough. This is the toughest part where I have to go uphill and downhill several times. I started to feel shooting pain on my toes and I knew this would happen. Going uphill was better though it was very exhausting. At least it wouldn't torture my knee as compared to going downhill. That time I knew that my shoes were not compatible for this type of activity and that indicates I have to look out for another shoes.
Carrying heavy load using improper rucsac is extremely an attempt to suicide....hehe...why I said that? Because I need a good and technologically manufactured rucsac or else my body won't last long. It needs a good support and even if I carry a heavy load, I won't feel the burden. And the most important is, I may not want to get knee dislocation due to the extreme body and load forces exerted on my knees while going down.
Unlike Ross, she's damn heartless because she looked very energetic all the time. Now I realize that I'm not fit enough, so what I'm going to do now is, to get fit and take a damn good care of my diet. I haven't moved around while carrying heavy load on my back before, so I think by exercising such climbing activity might help me to improve my strength.
Though the pains and tortures, it was a very beautiful day when the cool breeze blew my tired body. It's like in paradise when I look at the green foliages and heard the birds, the crickets making sounds. I have not heard such rhythm for a long time. It's very cooling and relaxing. The sense of giving up during the climbing faded away when I enjoy the nature. Now I understand why some people who practices yoga and some other 'weird' practices must have connections to the nature. Let me see...what will happen if someone 'bertapa' in the middle street of KL....hehehe...will there be any connection to the nature? Or will he/she commit suicide?...:p.
At GBB, the vegetations vary but not the fauna. I like to look at the orange moss where it is not commonly (or may not) found in the lower altitude.However, I found this one cute 'ulat bulu'. Damn big and i think if somebody accidentally touched it, he will get terrible itchiness. One funny thing about this 'ulat bulu' is that, it looks like as if it's wearing black lipstick and black mascara....wakakakaka. And remain static on the tree bark so that I can snap a picture of it.
We made a few minutes stop at Rock Garden where we could see Genting Highland clearly from that point. The whitish rocks here are covered with orange moss and they look perfectly good for photography. We also did not want to miss to take the shots of Genting Highland from that point. If I am not mistaken, Rock Garden is half-way to the peak of GBB

We reached the peak around 6.15 pm (Am I corect Ross?). Then we just lepak2, chatting with other climbers. As the sun fully set, rains came suddenly and heavily. The shelter was not fully set yet and we all got wet. While they set up the shelter, we stayed in the tent for awhile and when the shelter was ready, we moved into it. It was time for dinner, and those who are experts, cooked the dinner, and for amature/don't-even-know-how-to cook, just look at the struggling cooks. hahahaha ... I like this part. After dinner, we chit chatted a bit and went ZzZzZzZzZz...as usual, there's no way I can sleep. There was one fella snoring that night. I think all creatures in the whole GBB may have heard he snored. Sorry dude...didn't mean to insult but u should do something to cure/reduce it.
The next day, we had breakfast and started to pack our stuff. around 9.30, we descend. It was a great torture when descending. My knees could no longer manage to handle the weight of my rucsac. I felt my knees are loosening and shivering. Fortunately, the Proton team members were behind us and one of them (Ringo) carried my rucsac. While Lan, gave me some 'asam' and advice me to bring 'asam' whenever climbing the mountains. He also lend me a knee guard. I think I will have collapsed up there if I keep on carrying that unorganized rucsac. Whatever it was, I felt relief when I manage to end the journey safely though my toe nails are going off from the nail bed and my knees are weakening.
Next mountain...not yet in mind but definitely a simple one. I have to gain weight, keep fit and have own proper equipments first or else, I will face the same thing again.