OPEN WATER DIVERS~

It's been a few days since my last entry. That's because we were on this tiny island Mabul about hour and a half from Semporna. We stayed on that island for 5 nights and it was really nice. The island is so tiny you can walk around it in about half an hour. For that size of an island it is very much populated.... with kids aged 2~12.^^ The island's got about 3,000 people.
We met some rather interesting characters at our longhouse accommodation. The manager, John, was a tubby, cheerful Filipino who never complained when guests drank Tanduay, a sweet, cheap, Filipino rum, till 4 or 5 in the morning or woke him up at 2am to buy 20 beers. Seeing how many children inhabited the small island, we wondered how many of the children around the longhouse belonged to John, and were surprised when he told Vlad that he only had two. "My wife, she had some problem (having the children) Now I give her medicine (contraceptive)" and then he smiled conspiratorially, "But there is no problem" hehe~
Then there was Toby, a red-faced Brit nick-named "Mr Lonely" by John. Toby had been traveling for 21 months, and according to Adam, another Brit who sounded like Jamie Oliver (Essex accent) Toby didn't even know what country he was really in or where he was going and when. Toby had been at the longhouse the longest time, and after a few days, I figured out why. He was lonely.. and he wasn't shy about it. And, it wasn't as bad as it sounds.
So far we've registered 13 dives in our log-books. Diving is a thing, which is the more you do it, the more you like it. Our first dives were around the Mabul island. Mabul island is very good for what they call macro-diving, that is there is a lot of smaller marine life. So, we probably would've missed a large chunk of it if it wasn't for our dive-masters, who are basically experienced divers and they are like our diving group leaders. Our dive-masters would point us all the pretty little rare fish and nudibranchs. On our last dive around Mabul we rented a camera and I tried to take pictures. Some of them turned out well, but the majority was just crappy, blurry and over-exposed. I've uploaded a few pictures and will try to upload more, but it just takes ages to upload stuff here. So, we'll see..
But the best dive we've had so far was today on Sipadan island, which is deservedly known as one of the top diving spots in the world. Today we had 3 dives on locations called Mid-reef, Barracuda point and Hanging Gardens. Very romantic names, aren't they? Every dive around this island had something amazing new that we saw. On the first dive we saw huge Green Turttles and a school of Giant Travallys and Blue Fin Travallys about 50cm long each. The scale of diving in Sipadan is so much bigger than Mabul that it really is breath-taking. Aside from this bigger fish there were lots and lots of Yellow Dash Fusiliers. From afar they look like freshwater neon fish sparkling with their yellow lines along the body. On the second dive at Barracuda point, as you may guess we saw several huge schools of Chevron Barracudas, hundreds of them, and we also saw huge Grey Reef Shark and smaller White Tip Sharks, several blue spotted squids and of course more Turttles. Finally, during the third and the last dive on Sipadan, along with sharks, turttles, travallys and barracudas, we saw a very big Dog-Tooth Tuna. It was massive about a hundred kilos. It swam by us three times back and forth, and one time close enough that I could see its teeth. There's a reason why they call it Dog-tooth Tuna.
Although diving was quite expensive and we spent here more than we planned, we both agree that it was absolutely worth all of its money. One day we certainly will be back here for more diving. :)
Tomorrow we leave Semporna and going to Sepilok, the orangutang sanctuary, allegedely the biggest in the world. After watching the orangutangs we will go on the jungle and river trekking not far from there. Should be very exciting. Wait for good shots. :)


Me before going under water.
The Leafy File-fish.









Fat Sea-cucumber. Katy signalling that everything's OK.







Me under water







Us on the boat.







When the boat docks at the jetty, all local kids swarm around like bees on honey. They patiently wait for us to finish our lunch and then whatever is left going in the plastic bags that magically appear in their hands.







Just a look in the water from the jetty.

Diving at Sibuan

Today, finally, after a day of theory at the bar adjacent to the diving shop we got the wet suits, fins, masks on and went into thewater. We got Daniele from the UK to be our teacher, and she was very good. Vey patient and very detailed, explaining to us what to do, how,when, and why. I felt quite comfortable with all of the skills we hadto learn and practice today. Mostly because I've already dove once before in Thailand and although I didn't learn most of what I've learnt today I felt very comfortable under water. Katy did well too,her mask wasn't adjusted properly in the beginning, so she had problems with clearing it sometimes, but later she was good too.So, we took off at 8 am on the boat to the island called Sibuan about half an hour from Semporna. (If you're curious where it is google itup. It will come up. or look at the map on this blog). When we gotthere we were briefed on what skills we would learn today, got ourwetsuits on and got into the water. No need to tell you how clean thewater was and how turquoise it was in the shallow and deep blue almotblack at deeper waters. It was an amazing feeling. First we had to doa swimming test, so we had to swim 200m and float in water for 10minutes to prove that we actually can swim. This part was very easy.The waters were calm and as you know swimming in salty water is easierthan in fresh water. After that we went into the shallow water about chest deep and kneeled under water with all our gear on. That's when we started learning all the skills necessary to know to get the Open Water Course PADI certificate. Even while learning all the skills, which I won't bother you explaining about, I still could see lots of fish swimming around. By about lunch time we were almost done with learning the skills, and I was really impatient to get finally to the diving part. And so we did... :) We went around to the oposite side of the island and dove in. I think we were under water for about 35 minutes at the depth of 12 meters. No need to say how amazing it was. We saw a turtle eating something and then swimming away as about 7-8 divers started circling above it and some of them taking pictures.. One day for our dive when we're certified we will rent the underwater camera and take some pictures.. So expect those...

On this tiny island, I'd say no bigger than the football (soccer) field we found quite a few kids running around. I was told they were islanders gypsies. The kids were very cute and as all kids around Semporna as well, they all will say Hello... and something else, which we think is "Give us money~". The boy on the picture actually started posing when I asked him if I could take his picture. I guess he gets this question a lot. ha~ Then during lunch all the kids would gather around us and ask for food. Perhaps they get sick of eating fish every day and want something else, or I wouldn't be surprised that they were just hungry, because I honestly don't see how can they live on such a tiny islet. Anyways, apparently what the divers do is they give them what is left of food in exchange of all the plastic rubbish that gets washed off on the beach. Locals are not really concerned about keeping their seas clean. Semporna's waters are just awful I wouldn't swim in there. But you go 100 meters away and the waters are pristine clean.

Tomorrow is our last day of the course. We will dive on a different island, and then we will stay there until we leave because there's really nothing to do in Semporna.

Below is Katy's impressions of first diving~ (again I'll put it in italics to avoid confusion ^^):

Diving.... well, I was quite nervous about it, but after the first day I am looking forward to doing more. We practiced skills for diving in the morning, in the shallow water at the edge of an the island of Sibuan. Normally when you take an Open Water Course like ours you would practice in a pool, so we made a great choice to come here, where we can practice in the real environment and see lots of fish. We had to practice basic skills for diving all morning and Vlad seemed to progress through these with no problems whatsoever. He had done diving before in Thailand, so maybe this helped, but I think he is also relatively fearless when it comes to sports that might kill you because he has a $50,000 life insurance policy. I on the otherhand was not certain about whether I would be able to dive or whether I would enjoy it but also knew that thinking this way could actually bring about that result~ Such a Catch 22 situation...At first we just practiced breathing under the water. Sounds simple doesn't it? But when it reminds you of childhood days of seeing how long you could stick your head under in the bath, it feels natural to hold your breath, which of course defeats the purpose of SCUBA! So I had to lift my head a few times when my heart began to beat harder, otherwise known as panicking. So I panicked a coupla times... whatever~ I eventually mastered the two skills that gave me trouble; one which involved filling your mask with water and then purging the water by breathing out your nose while pressing on the mask and looking up. The second involved taking the mask off entirely. NOT RECOMMENDED! And if I can possibly help it, I will NEVER EVER do that in a real dive. Very unpleasant having water streaming up your nose while being told you have to breath calmly and swim in a circle. Our tutor, 25 year old Danielle from London, helpfully suggested I put the mask over my arm while I swim and squeeze my nose with that hand. This worked, although I proceeded slowly, breathing a few more breaths than normally necessary before I dared to remove my fingers and put the mask back on. At lunch we sat on the white shores of Sibuan to eat the shabby lunch of cheap white rice and tasteless chicken stirfry prepared for us. About 15 children, burned black by the sun, stood around begging for food, and giving me indigestion. Apparently every day they give the children leftovers if they pick up rubbish along the beach. So they wait with a bag full of rubbish... The island is so tiny that there are only a few huts there. God only knows what the children do when they are not begging from divers and feigning malnutrition. Certainly not going to school. Then we suited up for the first real dive and learned how to roll off the back of a boat, another skill I was not looking forward to learning, but which was not as hard as almost drowning myself with my eyes closed. The next difficulty was maintaining the same level while diving. Breathe in, you rise, breathe out, you fall. Simple, except there is a delayed reaction, so you breathe in, and you still seem to be about to scrape your shins along the coral, so you push some air into your BCD (stands for fancy words meaning a life jacket that inflates) and rise and rise and rise until you realize that you have risen far to far and need to deflate the BCD a little, or breathe out more... and so it went with both Vlad and I bouncing around for a while until we got the hang of it. Fortunately, besides Danielle, we also had another young Brit called Jack, who was training to be a Dive Master, assisting us ie. pulling me down again or steering me when necessary.In short, we dived to about 12 metres, I didn't panick and we saw a turtle and a fish that tries to conceal itself by looking like the white coral and rocks. I can't name all the others because I haven't studied hard enough yet~~ Will be more diligent in coming days! Tomorrow we move from this cowboy town run by rabid dogs to the island of Mabul, where we can enjoy a beach environment. Let's see how diving goes tomorrow~~ The final day of our OWC course.

SABAH PROVINCE, BORNEO ISLAND

We had to get up at 4am to catch a bus to the airport for 7:20 AirAsia flight to Tawau on Borneo island. For the amount of money that you pay for AirAsia airplane tickets, the airplanes themselves and service is quite good. You do have to buy everything on-board, including water, but that's a small inconvenience compared with the price you pay. If you buy a ticket well in advance, you can fly for as little as $30. But be careful, the tickets are non-refundable and you can't change the destinations. You can only change dates, but that will cost you about $50 fine, which will be sometimes more than the price of a ticket.
We stayed in KL near Chinatown and 3 minutes walk to the Puduraya bus terminal, and when we checked the bus schedule, we were told that the bus leaves every hour sharp from platform 23. We were lucky that we decided to be at the platform 23 half past four, otherwise we could've missed the bus, because it actually left quarter to 5 and not from the platform 23, but from outside the bus station on the main road. So, if you're ever in KL keep this in mind.
The 2and a half hour flight went well. and at around 10 am we touched down at the Tawau airport, very tiny one, just like Rotorua's, maybe a little bit bigger. There we were met by a van from the Scuba Junkie, a place where we will get the PADI diver's certificate in 2 days now... ha~
Scuba Junkie is actually located in Semporna, a tiny town about 1 hour drive from Tawau, and the main gateway to Sipadan island and many others around. It's so small that you can walk everywhere within 15 minutes. I was very relieved when I saw our room: with WINDOWS and air conditioner. The view outside is not that pretty if you look down, but pretty enough if you look straightforward and up.. then you can see beautiful skies and trees.
Today in the morning I was brushing my teeth and suddenly heard a noise outside, I peeked out and saw a giant lizard walking in our backyard. It was at least 1.5 meters long from head to tail. At first I thought it was a pet lizard, but then we could see that it can get out of the backyard easily. Later on, when we were passing the garbage dumpster we saw 2 big lizards eating whatever food was in there...
The bad thing about Semporna is even though it's got sea right there, there're no beaches and water here is quite dirty and oily, and has all sorts of plastic garbage in it. So, there's really nothing to do here, unless you're diving all day. So, we will be moving to the island Mabul tomorrow. Now Mabul has beautiful beaches..
Today we did our first day of PADI Open Water course. It was all theory and we had to take 5 tests or quizes. Although It's not that difficult, we still cheated a little bit during tests peeking in the book for answers. But we passed it all, and tomorrow the fun stage will begin. Just an hour ago we got our wet suits, masks and fins.
Semporna at dusk. Those huts are not our accomodation. I wish they were, but they are too expensive for us.. ha~ You can see them in day light and at dusk...

Katy and I are learning theory in the bar. Perfect classroom, heh?. Also, a shot of the Scuba Junkie diving shop.

Our room. If you're wondering, NO, Katy and I didn't have a fight and that's why we have the twins room. The only available rooms here are twin..

When we were having a breakfast this little girl was passing by and stopped to look at us. She was pointing at my tatoo, and then I signaled her if I could take a picture, and she nodded. Cute... She's looking through the aquarium which was going along the glass wall.

The lizard in the backyard, I told you about, which I saw when I was brushing my teeth...

And that's the mama-doggy, which was barking at the lizard in the dumpster.

Below italics about the dogs is Katy's input (it's not that I suddenly became a native speaker ^^):

The dogs of Semporna are like a gang of homeless old men. They scratch their balls, squabble with each other over scraps of food and hang around in doorways with their tongues lolling until a local boy kicks them out of the way. They are flea-ridden, with sores all over their body, rubbed raw where they have sat on their haunches. But apart from that they look mighty healthy, and saunter about as if they own the place. No ribs showing either, and they're strong enough to fend off attacks from large vehicles, and even giant lizards! Speaking of which, the lizards aren't much scared of the dogs either. The dog in the second photo coveted the seafood scraps the lizard was eating and barked furiously in its face to scare it away. But the lizard merely kept eating and ignored the bared teeth inches from it's nose. It seemed more scared of me with the camera...

Walking through KL.

For two days out of three that we spent in KL we've been walking throughout it like crazy, in 34 degrees of heat and humidity, which from time to time turned into the pouring rain in a matter of minutes, only to change back again to the overcast or sunny day. Surprisingly my flat feet weren't as much as I thought they would be.

Although we haven't been to many places where tourists normally go according to the brochure that we've got at the Malaysia Tourism office, I feel like we've seen enough of KL. By the way, Malaysia Tourism office is not very efficient compared to the one in Thailand. Basically all they do is give you yet more brochures, no practical help with where we should get buses, how much is fare, and all that kind of stuff. That acctually was partly a reason why we walked so much. And we also learned that acctually KL is not that big of a city. Even if I, with my flat feet managed to walk through a good half of it, any other fit person would do the whole one with no problem. On a second day of our walk we turned east and walked all the way from Chinatown, where our windowless room was, to the Bukit Bintang walk (a street with fancy stores, malls, and cafes) and to the Petronas towers. This time we wanted to see it in a day light, but were forced to sit at the bus stop waiting out rain so heavy that the entire road was turned into a little white river.

Unfortunately, we couldn't make it to the observation deck in Petronas towers, because we didn't have a ticket, and they only give out free tickets from 9 to 11am on first come first served basis. We were told that by an effeminate boy at the information desk, who still was chewing his lunch after a lunch break with very noticable beautiful eyes that looked like they'd been done up. Weird enough we've seen quite many people here who were obviously gay, but it seems like the Malaysian society is more tolerant to them even though it is muslim.

After sleeping for 2 nights in our windowless cell at the Wheelers guesthouse, the third night wasn't all that bad. The bunch of people who running it also sort of grow on you. Maybe that's why even though it is crappy they still manage to get positive reviews online and even almost always booked out. Yesterday there was a whole family of four from Britain I think and Mom was complaining to the guy at the reception that it was too hot in their room and if they could get another fan. I thought it was funny for a whole family with one kid aged 9-10 to stay in a hostel that targets 18~25 youngsters with huge backpacks for $10 a night.

Petronas on an overcast day and we're at the entrance to the lake garden.

In the reception area of Wheelers guesthouse. Actually this picture turned out nicer than it is in reallity. But, as I said for such a cheap price it's not that bad place. A couple of Germans that we met, told us that before finding Wheelers, they looked at another hostel and that one was even worse than the Wheelers.

Malaysian traffic.

Bukit bintang

Korean Kimchi panacea made its way to Malaysia. Get slim with Kimchi... hahaha~

And Katy on the stairs of Wheelers on the way to the Roof top.`

WELCOME TO MALAYSIA~

Malaysia is the country where the Uzbeks should go. Why?.. Because I was allowed into the country with 30 days visa with no problem this time. Kuala Lumpur is very chaotic compared to Singapore. The hostel where we stayed in Singapore was actually okay.. For 2 nights we slept in the dorm beds, sharing one big room with 15 other people, and only for the third last night we got private double room in the attic of the building. Even though I could walk standing straight only in the middle of it, where the ceiling is the highest, it was nice to have a whole attic only to us. :) I was finally able to walk naked around.. .haha~

Our accomodation in KL though is quite sad.. Well, that's partially because we went for one of the cheapest places $12 a night. It's one of those times when people say "you get what you pay for.." The whole clan that runs this hostel looks like washed-out hippies with their longish died or bleached hair. But having said that, they all are very friendly, in fact they are too much friendly, which is kinda awkward too.. And there's also one lady-boy... I think he's doing accounting or something... The room itself looks just like a cell... No windows, a fan in the window, which blows in the air from the corridor, which is not ventilated properly as well. It reminds me of the hostel in Canada, Vancouver, where I stayed on night for $10. And although back then I looked at it as an adventure, this time I told Katy that I think I'm too old for this hardcore backpacker's life... But, looking at it today, that was just a moment of weakness.. Backpacking is fun.. is a lot of sweat, walking, eating and sleeping cheap.. and that's what we do...











And of course here's my contribution to Petronas Towers...




After the Petronas Towers we went to the National Mosque. Unfortunately, they didn't allow tourists in that day, so we just had to enjoy it from the outside. Not far from the National Mosque is the Museum of Islamic Art. And I was very pleased to see many exibits (jewelry, armor, clothing, carpets, books etc.) from Uzbekistan, mostly Bukhara and Samarkand.










A couple of guys were fishing in the river, which was so dirty... Note the pile of garbige below right where they are fishing. Katy thought they were fishing for rats.. .Who knows...
We also went to the Hibiscus and Orchid garden. The admission fee was only 1 Malaysian ringit, which is about 30 cents US. But I think it was the right price for that. Unless you're an orchid lover there's nothing much to see except for lush greens all over..

Inside Petronas Towers is huge shopping mall. Not that much different from anywhere else.








We saw this older gentleman at the airport from Singapore. And he had these 2 very young girlfriends with him.. Do you think as well, that he could've been their Uncle Jonny?..

The river flowing through KL, and old train station in the backroung on the second picture.