Travel 2013: Diving Experience on Tioman Island, Malaysia

This is the REASON WHY WE CHOSE SALANG!

DIVING!

I am a licensed diver yo!

I took my entire course on Tioman Island.

I know a lot of people are going to tell you that taking courses on the islands are not that reliable or good.

But think about it, being in the pool, the buoyancy control is different and also the current.

Learning directly on an island would let me experience that first hand...

Of course, you would need a responsible instructor and a well-known diving centre for that.

My awesome instructor!

I had one to one course with this really good teacher.

Getting ready for my ocean dives.

Wee, lotsa fishes! I love to swim around schools and schools and schools of fishes!

They love to play around us, right in front of our eyes!

Nemos are shy!

Beautiful Nudibranch!

Turtle!

Spot the turtle amongst beautiful corals? oh yeah!

Our really heavy gears!

Happy faces with ma dive buddy after numerous dives each day!

Here's me trying to pose under the water!

Beautiful place eh?
Want to learn to dive eh?The thing about diving is...
It's not for everyone, even for a person who's used to water like me.
I still got scared and I felt claustrophobic before getting used to it.What I learned from diving is that
Water is not our territory, it's a different world, it's definitely not ours.It's not a place where you can just decide to leave it when you don't like it.
It's a beautifully dangerous world where ONE wrong move could end your life.
SNAP, just like that!
(Yes, whether you are experienced or not makes no difference.)And not only that, diving irresponsibly can serious damages to corals
that have probably taken thousand years to grow.So if you are planning to dive, think about it.
You love the ocean or not?
You want to protect it or not?
Don't just do it just because everyone's doing it.
You are not only risking the lives of the ocean lives, but also yourself.All photos courtesy of my Dive Buddy - K.L Teo with her uber cool camera! 

Travel 2013: 5Days4 Nights on Tioman Island

On the 10th May, we took a bus late at night...

And then spent the next 5 hours rocking in the busy, trying to catch a shut eye...

All the way to Mersing Jetty!

Tioman Island! Here we come!

As early as 7AM in the morning, we hopped on the first ferry and headed to our destination.

Tioman Island is huge, with many different settlements and they are only reachable through boats.

According to my travel buddy, Tekek is the most popular one, with most of the really exclusive and expensive resorts located around that area.

So if you are looking for some expensive, good, luxurious accommodations

(and of course plenty of rich tourists)

Tekek is probably your best choice.

For us, we came to Tioman with a special mission, so we chose Salang,

strategically located on the top of the island and near all the amazing dive sites!

Walking into Salang to begin our stay!

Salang is not the white sandy beach island you expect it to be.

In fact, the whole Tioman is not!

You don't see long, beautiful sandy beaches here on this island.

Even if you do, be prepared to be disappointed.

It's still a beautiful place though.

The beaches are either very small or short, with some small amount of sand.

Not really enough for you to play around the beach and bury someone in.

What's really beautiful about Tioman though,

is actually hidden underneath, deep inside the water.

We can already see lotsa corals walking along the jetty towards the shore!

Lotsa corals near the shores.

Schools of small fishes.

We stayed in Salang Pusaka Resort for our entire trip.

It's a decent place, owned by a friendly Malay Family.

Room is well-equipped, neat and bathroom is clean.

Nothing to complain about.

Look at our messy room!

The Salang area is not that clean, it's just how a small fishing village could be.

However, nearing the end of my stay, I started to slowly fall in love with the place.

It could be annoying having many flies around while you were dining

or the scorching hot sun that seemed to be following you everywhere with no place to hide...

Despite all the small displeasure, Salang has its own charms.

Like the friendly people who make you feel like you belong...

Or those random settlers who would tell you how they left their jobs in the cities just to be here...

Or that group of enormous monitor lizards lazing around with no sense of urgency nor threats...

Some days we just sit around with beers.

Being in the cities for too long, you tend to forget how beautiful nature is.

Salang's Night Life

Ma Dive Buddy drinks a beer! I drink Lemon Tea.

All these lives rise and fall into their places on this island so naturally as the sun sets in the horizon, magnifying the sky with a dazzling hue.Ma Dive Buddy and I with the awesome clouds and sunset!

This place is bewitching.

It sleeps and wakes with its own magic.

I think I left a piece of my heart at Salang, Tioman Island.

Going for a Space War in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

YOU NEED TO WATCH STAR TREK FOR GOD’s SAKE.

Never a fan of Star Trek Series, however during a short 3D preview before my Iron Man movie in IMAX 3D Theatre, this latest series managed to capture our attentions with its realistic 3-Dimensions effects. Since then, my movie buddy and I decided that this movie should worth the money and time for an IMAX experience.

Star Trek is nothing deep or serious, just another summertime Sci-Fi Film with great entertainment values coupled with a simple, straight forward storyline. Another great factor that adds tremendous value to this movie is the exceptionally good cast list. Of course, Zachary Quinto returns as the iconic Spock and Chris Pine is still the smartass yet reckless Captain Kirk. Both of them are great actors and have given much needed energy into this action-packed Sci Fi film.

This time around, it’s the newly added character that outshines the rest of the cast so brilliantly that you couldn’t help deviating your attention towards this particular alluring man even if he is the badest ass out there. If you have watched the movie, you have probably guessed because I could confidently say that everyone is equally attracted to him…. Yes, I am talking about Star Trek’s villain – John Harrison or Khan, dazzlingly portrayed by the English Actor – Benedict Cumberbatch.

 

As a genetically engineered soldier, John Harrison is almost like a superhuman with higher intelligence, faster generative body, powerful strength and probably a fiercer loyalty than ever – only to his own kinds. Benedict Cumberbatch fits into this role naturally, almost as if the character is meant to be his all this while. He gives life to this character, entertaining audiences with its self-justified treachery deep voice and that enticing smile hidden behind his every words. And that eyes, oh that eyes that reflect so much intellect within them, are those purely acting or real? It doesn’t really matter because either ways, I am totally hooked by Benedict’s portrayal of Khan. His acting is definitely admirable.

Even if the plot is straight forward, there is still a question for us to think about: Whether the actions of Khan is ethically and morally right or wrong.

The movie talks about the loyalty between comrades. In the beginning, Captain Kirk violated Starfleet’s rules & regulations to save his friend. And then, Spork “stabbed” Kirk by filing a report. Khan almost started an entire war just to save his own kinds… If you notice it, Captain Kirk and Khan are just two sides of the same coins. So what makes Khan's actions so wrong?

At the end of the day, the question is:

How much would you go for your own comrades or friends?

What is ethically, morally, or lawfully right and wrong?

Under the same circumstances, in the pressure of both friendships & work, what you would do?

Those are yours to think about!

In Summary, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) is an entertaining movie, thank you so much for its great effects and wonderful actings. And cheers to Cumberbatch!

5 Things You Learn while You are Growing Up

1. You can’t stay awake as long as you used to be anymore

Face it my friends, you can no longer play your games, surf your net and watch your dramas for the whole day without feeling entirely cranky, crazy or extremely fatigue the next day anymore. YOU NEED SLEEP, not only you need that, your body is getting tired more quickly than ever these days.

2. Family Comes First

It used to be friends, or your puppy love boyfriends and girlfriends but once you reach a certain mature period, you will realize that your priorities start changing. Maybe that is also how you know you have finally reached that mature point! Woohoo! Congrats!

3. Pain is real

Part of growing up is to experience pain and I’m not even referring to physical pain. I am talking about pain, caused by losses, heartbreaks, disappointments and etc… Nobody stabs you, no one shoots you, yet you feel it, like deep inside your soul somewhere is hurting – that kinda pain. It’s real, don’t ignore it; it makes you wanna cry; don’t hold the tears and you know what? It’s alright, it’s all okay. It’s part of growing up.

4. Friends are on different pages

Remember that friend you used to talk to for hours? Or those gangs that you could hang out anywhere with and felt cool about it? Where are they now? Some of them stay in your life; while some move on… it’s not your fault. Everybody changes under different circumstances, suddenly the mutual feelings you thought you always had with each other evaporated or that you suddenly realize that your friend is no longer as mature as you, it happens. Let’s just move on…

 5. Life Goes On

Yes, the time never stops ticking. So wherever you are, sad, happy, disappointed or excited, pick yourself up and move on. The Earth never stops rotating when you fall nor do people cease living when your heart gets broken. So if you need to cry, just cry out loud or when you need to laugh, laugh whole-heartedly, then pick yourself up and move on. Life never stops, it goes on, so must you.