The diving trip in Salang, Pulau Tioman. (Long Post)

I haven't been blogging much this week, because I was busy with school work and other stuff; I've been researching alot about buying cameras for the past few days and I finally bought one, but that's another post altogether.

Let's get back to Pulau Tioman, and what happened during the 3 days.

THE FIRST DAY

Basically on the first day, we spent the time travelling to Malaysia. And I like the first day, except for the travelling.

Thankfully, Han Wen brought his laptop along, and I brought my S.H.E concert DVD to watch!

Wei Chong is supporting the laptop while we watch it! Ella's cute!

The others who wasn't watching were sleeping, except for Dean.

We finally reached Mersing!

We reached there around 7.30pm, so we started to explore Mersing, and I do quite like the place! The others were buying some necessities while I just bought some food.

And the food there is GOOD and CHEAP! We all settled at a restaurant, and ordered alot of food, and each of us just coughed up only RM10+! I miss the cuttlefish with salted eggs dish..

I must say that although things there are relatively cheap compared with Singapore currency, the handphones aren't! It's way more expensive than Singapore I guess..I saw this particular Nike Shoe selling at RM99, which I quite like it. But I thought it might be fake, so I gave it a miss.

SECOND DAY

I had an awesome day today, except for a bad start.

First, I had Wei Chong pouncing on me while I was asleep.

Ahhh!!!

Then, I had to sit on the laps of the 2 guys, because of insufficient space, and it was a bumpy ride.

But before the bumpy ride was having breakfast at Timotel!

The food is quite nice!

Yum yum..

Leaving for Tioman!

This time, the trip is pretty special, because we did all our 3 dives before arriving to Pulau Tioman.

I will only post some underwater photos here, as I haven't get all the photos from my divemaster yet.

Ok back to the dives, I must say that we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the beautiful underwater world. It was BREATHTAKING.

Marine life was rich in the spots we went to today(in order):

1. Bahara Rock

2.Renggis

3.Soyak

Note: Photos shown are of average quality because of the film camera.

A beautiful coral.

Clownfishes staying close to sea anemones.

A common species of clownfishes.

Various types of fishes.

However, one of the most unforgettable sights were the sighting of cuttlefishes, and they were beautiful!

If you can't see the cuttlefish from the photo below, look at the direction which is pointing from the hand. Or click on the picture to zoom in.

After finishing the 3 dives, we headed back to Pulau Tioman, and we were hungry from the activity! So the Fishermen Dive Team went to Salang Restaurant to dine!

We nearly finished all the food.

The food is really great except for the vegetables. Again, the price was cheap and well-spent!

And after that, most of us did something we never done before.

PLAYING FIRECRACKERS.

I've never played with firecrackers during my 18 years of existence (and still counting), and when I heard that Alex bought firecrackers, I felt really excited!

Other people were playing with firecrackers as well, because it was the day of Hari Raya Puasa.

Gathering to lit up the firecrackers!

Nice!

THIRD DAY

The third and final day at Pulau Tioman before going back to Singapore.

In the morning..

I think they can finish the whole of Milo if they wanted. We had roti prata and Milo for breakfast.

And I must say that at Salang, there are humongous lizards.

Big and disgusting ones lurking around.

Anyway, we headed out to sea to dive again, and the 2 dive sites are:

1. Fan Canyon

2. Malang Rock

And these are some underwater pictures from the camera we rented, and taken by Han Wen:

Wrasse..

Beautiful shot of the clownfish and anemone!

Cute pufferfish!

Blue-spotted stingray!

Not only do we see these creatures, we also saw sea cucumbers, crown-of-thorns, sea turtles, nudibranchs, remoray fish, batfish AND ALOT ALOT MORE.

After diving, we packed up and went back to Singapore...

I will be continuing with the Pulau Tioman Trip with more posts, with my personal comments and more underwater photos coming soon!

Awesome Fishermen Dive Team from Pulau Tioman Dive Trip.

This diving trip to Pulau Tioman was the best among the 3 trips, and it is undeniably the most memorable one.

I will blog all about this diving trip in several posts this week, and there are more than 500 photos taken from this trip.

Before I continue, I would like to give myself a pat on my back, because this diving trip organised all by myself was successful. I feel great

This trip made me understood some things, and that I'm glad that I met these people.

THE 5 BUDDIES

The 5 buddies consists of Wei Chong, Han Wen, Wei Qi, Daphne and me.

Clockwise: Han Wen, James, Wei Chong, Daphne and Wei Qi

Because of the small numbers in the group, we were so united. We did things together, ate together, stick together, and so much so that we bought the same shirt to show unity.

We were in the same secondary school, but our friendship wasn't strong.

But through this trip, our friendship deepened through our common passion, and I'm sure everyone feel the same way, just like I did. I'm so glad to have you guys around.

DEAN

Dean is a divemaster and also an instructor I believe. The first time I talked to him on phone, it was hard to decipher what he was talking because of his strong accent.

Dean is a 25 year-old South African, with more than 2000 dives under his belt.

Dean not only likes to pose, but he's also a joker.

That idiot called me pork, and said my fats were spare air. If my fats were spare air, I wouldn't even need an air tank!

Still, he is someone that I respect.

I respect his love for the underwater world. He feels strongly for them. If we step on corals accidentally, he would immediately pull us to prevent further damage to the corals.

We divers will never harm corals in any single way.

He got this particular line: Let's go DIVING!

We divers kept repeating his favourite line, with a tone and special emphasis on the word diving.I think he's a fun guy.

Acting cool underwater.

I'll miss you Dean, and I shall see you next year.

COLIN

Colin is over 30, and also a divemaster, and he has been diving for the past 5 years. He drove us to Mersing, and I tell you, his driving skills are horrifying! He drives so fast, cutting other lanes etc that the ride was a bumpy one.

He's a very nice person. Through this trip, I learned alot of things regarding diving. I do really hope to learn more from him!

During diving, he likes to take pictures with his digital camera, and some are really good shots!

A nice guy indeed, and I left my slippers with him! Hahaha!

JENNIFER

Before I say anything about her, I must declare that I love her! I love her personality and how she expresses herself! Okay, I'm one of her best dive buddies!

Jennifer!

I met this lovely lady, who's over 30 on the first day and we chatted really well. She's such a nice lady! Another thing I realise is that she do smoke alot, perhaps due to the cigarettes being cheap in Malaysia?

During one of our dive locations, I was on the surface of the open sea because I was out of air. She also came up to the surface, because some of her weights have fallen off her weight belt as it snapped.I offered her my weight belt, because she could still dive as she still got quite alot of oxygen in her air tank. BUT GUESS WHAT?

She accompanied me! How sweet!

Trust me, if she were around my age, I would definitely woo her!

Jennifer deflating her BCD.

I'll miss you Jennifer!

I'll find you near your workplace soon!

YVVONE

Yvvone is a diver who is going to take her rescue course. She's a beautician by the way, and has her own shop at Toa Payoh. I think I gonna do my face treatment there!

She's a really sweet lady, and I do like her! Oh, do I have to mention that Dean and her are a couple?

She's super nice, and also one of my best dive buddies!

She looks super cute and sweet in this picture!

She's such a nice person, and she knew I had problems with breathing, so she guided me. We both held hands, and dived together, exploring the underwater world and touching some of the corals. The unforgettable one was touching sea anemones..

Yvvone and I..

I'm really glad to know Yvvone, she's such a nice person!

Yvvone, I'll see you soon k!

Alright guys, that's all for now, I shall add a final picture before I end this post..

A premonition that happened.

I'm back from Malaysia, and I came back with mixed emotions.

Before the dive trip, I had told some of my friends that I had this bad feeling for the dive trip. I got so paranoid that I even called Yeancy before I left for Malaysia.

Well, something did happened. Something serious.

Our boat was travelling through the sea after our first dive, and we saw black smoke in the sky.

We went past it, and realise that a ferry boat's engine caught fire.

Until we reach Pulau Tioman, we didn't realise the severity of it, although we saw few boats surrounding the ferry boat.

The boat eventually sank into the open sea, and 4 old people died, and 3 went missing.

The others were rushed to the hospital, and their holidays were cut short and they were sent back.

I just felt really bad, because we couldn't do anything to help them, and I could understand how they feel if I were in their situation. What's more, it was Hari Raya, which is a holiday celebrated by the majorities in Malaysia.

I do hope the people who died rest in peace..

Alot of people born in October!

I realise there are alot of people born in the month of October!

And I've celebrated 2 of my friends' birthdays!

JUSTIN CHUA'S 18th BIRTHDAY!

We went to Kovan's Hong Kong Cafe and dined there. The food was pretty good, except that if you have a low budget for the food, you might think the food isn't value for money.

Anyway, they went to play pool nearby, and I tagged along. It's great to see them, and I felt good.

Sorry for the sudden mood swing yesterday.

Ah boon and Kok Wei who is not in the picture.

Anyway Justin, a very big happy birthday to you, and I wish you all the best for your 'O' levels!

Rain and I..

And the next birthday is...

SIN WEE'S 19th BIRTHDAY!!!

I just went to Chomp Chomp with the rest of them, and I'm really glad to see everyone, before the school reopens. It's the first time for me at Chomp Chomp, and the food there is pretty good.

We ordered barbequed seafood, and other stuff..

Chicken Wings which tasted delicious!

Sin Wee, the birthday girl savouring the food!

It's a sad thing we didn't get to take a group photo.. but never mind..Sorry Sin Wee, I had to leave early..hope you understand.

I hope you have a fun day today!

On a total irrelevant note, my friend WeiSheng is featured in a commercial for ST701.com!

It's a search engine for jobs, and other stuff so you can check it out. He was filmed in a video too at http://www.st701.com/ too!

Gotta go now, as I head to Malaysia tomorrow. Hope we come back safe and sound..

Refresher course at SAF Yacht Club (Changi).

Wei Qi and Daphne, our fellow divers haven't been diving for more than a year, and it is vital for them to take this important course so that they get used to breathing underwater.














It's great to see all the equipment, and that I can still fit into the wetsuit!








I always realise that every time I went diving, the divemasters always change.








The first dive was with my instructors, Roy, Amin, Eugene etc.





The second dive was with Mario and Michael, which we always tease them calling Maria and Michelle.







Mario and Michael.

And now, we have a new divemaster coming for this trip with the 5 of us..



DEAN..




Dean looking at his watch.



Anyway, SAF Yacht Club (Changi) is really cool.. It's a great place to chill and hang out.









Awesome.








I still got my stamp design homework left undone, but I'll think I'll do it after coming back from Malaysia.


I might blog tomorrow, but no updates on the weekend.

Jeremy's 18th birthday celebration.

Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday celebration, and boy was it great to see everyone there at his chalet! He booked the chalet from Aranda's Country Club, and it costs $200 a night. Wow!

Basically, nothing much happened during the first night, except that he was "beaten" up by several others.

On the 2nd day, we just slacked at the chalet during the day, but at night, it was when the celebration begins.

Of course, what's a chalet without barbeque right?

The black charcoals..

Then, the fire burns....

BRIGHTLY!

And it's time for barbequeing food!

Hot chicken wings!

What's with the gathering? And what are they doing?

Let's zoom in!

Oh, they're playing mini mahjong!

And finally, it's time to cut the cake with the happy birthday song!

The big cake meant for Jeremy from Angie the Choice.

Make a wish Jeremy!

Cut the cake!

Opening the birthday presents that he received!

Birthday boy and me.

Anyway Jeremy, I hope you like the present we gave you, and that you had a unforgettable 18th birthday. Thanks for the invitation, and so glad to be there.

I'm looking forward to attend your 21st birthday k?With that, I shall end this with a CLASSIC PHOTO:

Happy birthday Jeremy Wong A.K.A Q MOR!

I finally exploded today.

I've been thinking about my family problem for the past few days, and the more I thought of it, the more unhappy I felt.





Today, I was in a daze when I was crossing the road, and I was so close from being hit by a vehicle. Not once but twice.



I didn't look at the direction which the cars are going, and with my Mp3 player blasting Evanesence's My Immortal to the maximum volume, I couldn't hear the honk from the car. I only realise it when the driver stopped and gave me an angry look.





I joined my friends today, and I felt good with them. But I somehow feel uncomfortable inside because something was bugging me.





When I went home alone while the others stayed overnight in Jeremy's chalet, I blasted my Mp3 player while in the bus.





When I reached home, I just felt emotional. I just wanted to head straight to the bathroom.





But before that, my mom striked a conversation with me explode.





The more I talk, the more emotional I felt. I tried to contain my feelings but I can't.





I CRIED INFRONT OF HER.





Perhaps crying isn't the word to use.





The more I talk, the more tears which trickled down my cheeks, and I got flu.



I was feeling so terrible.







I talked so many things, and being the headstrong woman, she consoled me.

There were way too many things which were going in my mind.

Just then, my dad came back home and asked what happened.Luckily, I managed to prevent a war of words with him.





But still after crying, I felt better. The problem still exists, but at least I felt better.





My eyes are still sore and red from crying as I am writing. I should get over this thing as soon as possible. I still have alot of activities going on.

Tomorrow's an important night with a big gathering, and Sunday's the refresher course for we divers. Tuesday's the submission for stamp design, and I'm going to Malaysia next weekend.


And you readers, promise me something. Don't tell anyone what happened from what you read here.



Sigh....

Memories stay, problems please go away.

I sometimes ask myself this question: Why am I facing problems which normal 18 year olds shouldn't be facing?

This stupid problem is coming back to haunt me again, and it wouldn't let me go.

I keep telling myself that this is a problem that I need to stick with for quite some time, and that it will help me learn as I grow up. The fact is that the problem is not going to subside anytime soon.

I already worked myself nonstop for more than a month just for the stupid problem, but I guess it is still not enough.

What problem am I referring to?

That's right. Money. My mom is currently the matriarch of the family, with so many responsibilities weighing on her.

I will help her when I get my pay, but I do have my needs and wants.

My father? I seriously don't feel like talking about him. Let's just say he's not worthy to be a role-model for me to emulate.

I shan't continue further talking about this problem, I don't want to spoil my mood.

I tried to relax my mind by going out with some of my friends, and I do feel abit better with them. Screw the stamp design, I really might not want to come for next week's impromptu session.

Jia Yi, Yingying and me went out the day before, and we went to Kbox, right after the stamp design session.

They insisted on taking neoprints, so I tagged along.. I didn't know that their machines have infra-red to transfer images to your phones!

Nice picture, but I thought I look like an idiot.

Smiles..

Posing..

Acting cool.

Acting cute..

Haven't been taking neoprints for more than a year I guess.. Thought it was refreshing..

We went to Lucky Plaza later, and guess what?

I RECEIVED MY FIRST BIRTHDAY PRESENT!

There's still a month before my actual birthday, but they decided to give me now.

They shared the costs and bought me a....

Mont Blanc Individuel Perfume.

Thanks buddies, really appreciates it!

And I went out with Zi Cai (Justin) to town yesterday, and I was checking out cameras.

We headed straight to Vivocity after that, to watch a local movie, 881.

Movie Rating: 3.5/5

It amazes me how their song rhymes so well with dialects, and that almost every single one of their music arrangement sounds so nice!

We chat for quite sometime before heading straight home..I really had fun with all of you buddies!

On a total irrelevant note, I miss my teachers, Mr David Chin and Mrs Yap.. I always treat them as my friends, and I hope we'll catch up soon.

Life...

It's time to PLAY!

I officially finished work yesterday, and it's a record broken for me, because I didn't have any rest from 23 August till 30 September. Ah, what an achievement.

I've always believe that there will be a time when I work hard, and a time when I'll play hard.

So now I'm left with 2 weeks of holiday, so what should I be doing?

That's right, PLAY!

Even S.H.E is rejoicing for me! I love you Selina!

Anyway, my paternal grandmother has been back from Hokkaido, Japan. She bought so many unique sweets, that I love them so much!

She bought me this miniature keychain:

Some sort of Japanese fish!

After a few months without a proper haircut, I finally had one!

If my mind serves me right, I haven't been uploading my photos for the past one month.

Here's a photo of the recent me:

Shall blog about more important things soon!