One day in Singapore

After leaving GF in Phuket for the final time on this trip, I arrived in Singapore where I had booked myself a boutique hotel to end the trip nicely. Singapore was as I'd expected and read about - squeaky clean, very modern, as hygienic as say, Japan, but with a more interesting mix of ethnicities and history. Being located in Chinatown, I got to enjoy some really good hawker stall food, and walked around town and took the MRT around to go shopping. I met up with RL, an old dive buddy from Layang-Layang in 2004, and we caught up the last 3 years on some sushi off Orchard Road. It is always one of life's pleasures to catch up with a friend and realize that not much had changed since we'd left off. The dive-the-world club is ever expanding as RL and I must now go to the Philippines and Indonesia in the future to find some mola-mola and thresher sharks.

The following morning was spent at the Asian Civilisations Museum, which was very interesting. Then I walked about for a bit, and took the plane home - well not quite home yet, as I will be in Toronto to visit a 2 month old baby for a few days before I head home back to reality.

Kampong Glam, the Muslim quarter

kampong glam, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Shark fin shop, which is deplorable. The size of the fin makes me guess it must have been a tiger, a great white or even a whale shark.

giant shark fin, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Downtown modern Singapore with some leftover stalls on the Singapore River

singapore downtown, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Les Québécois francophones comprendront pourquoi j'ai trouvé ceci divertissant:

estique, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Back to the Similans! And more tsunami stories...

So on a bit of a whim, back to the Similans with a different bunch of divers!

Interesting post found in Patong

patong, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

This time it was with GF from Vancouver and IG from Malaga, met in Kapalai. A mere 3 days on the South Siam 3 boat, elbowing the day-trippers, and the same playful mantas as in January in Koh Bon. Actually, there was even a whale shark which we must have missed by about 2 minutes. The managing team of the boat seemed to enjoy producing decibels and ordering about. Thankfully we got N, a Thai divemaster who was like Buddha in the water - he would come back from the dives at 100 bars while GF and I were at 50 bars!

The boat manager J recounted us his experience with the tsunami in 2004. It was rather interesting. They were diving off Breakfast Bend, one of the famous dive sites, and because of strange currents the dive had been cut short. They were doing their 5 m surface interval when the tsunami arrived. Breakfast Bend was literally falling apart: reefs were torn away, and fish and sea snakes were dying in front of them. The water became dark and all of a sudden the computers indicated 40 m depth when they had been at 5 m seconds previous. J grabbed the least experienced diver, who had saucer-size eyes by that time, and took control of his buoyancy. He indicated to everybody that they were to fin as strong as possible to surface, which they all did. They had to fight some serious currents as it happened, and from the surface, they could see the boats fighting strange vortexes and doing roundabouts. Finally after 20 min the boat picked them up and still, nobody knew what was going on. Only when the boat got closer to shore did they hear from the Thai navy, and even then, they thought that there would be another wave, not that they had already gone through it. The liveaboard continued its trip onto other undamaged reefs in the Similans. Paradoxically there was minimal damage to the dive sites (except for Breakfast Bend which had been thoroughly destroyed) but the season was ruined as everybody cancelled their trip afterwards.

On South Siam 3, there was also T from Germany who was a divemaster on South Siam when the tsunami hit. The boat was on Koh Bon when it happened and they were on surface interval. T was turning his back to the Koh Bon opening when one of his guests said 'Look! The hole has disappeared!'. He didn't believe it. But indeed the hole was sunk under 8 m of water, upon successive waves. Not much else happened - no vortex here, just higher water than usual. It also took them a while to realize what had happened. This is T's first time coming back since the tsunami. Thankfully he was greeted in Koh Bon by a whale shark, his first sighting!

The hole in Koh Bon

hole koh bon, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Elephant Head Rock, Similan no. 7 - Hin Pusa

Elephant Head Rock, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Where's that boat picking us up?

where's that boat picking us up?, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

IG checking out the manta

igmanta, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

watersun, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

In Fiji in 2002, I learned that this little critter is quite skittish. Finally I managed to capture one on digital film:
Long-nose Hawkfish

longnose hawkfish, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

mantasun, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Kuala Lumpur and Malacca

After a very nice week in Sipadan-Kapalai, I went to Kuala Lumpur for the umpteenth time to visit my friend MH who has been living there. It was interesting to reflect between the first time that she went to Asia in 2003, to now in 2007, where she is really, a local living in Kuala Lumpur. Since her return home is planned this year (and will happen, I am sure!), I predict that she will miss the variety of Asian foods that she has grown accustomed to in Kuala Lumpur.

We went to Malacca on the West Coast, part of the Straights Colonies. It is a beautiful city full of history, where the Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, British, Malay and Indian cultures have all mingled. We visited the Baba-Nyonya house; the Peranakan (men= Baba, women=Nyonya) are the ethnic Chinese who mixed with the Malays back in teh 1500's and created their own culture. DK from work had referred me to her brother there but I didn't think of bothering him; it's too bad as it turned out he is the president of the Baba-Nyonya in Malacca!

Typical Baba-Nyonya architecture on Heeren Street:

melaka, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Then the following day we took a day trip to FRIM (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia), located in the rainforest adjoining Kuala Lumpur. We did a canopy walk amongst the greenery. I'd done a jungle walk in Borneo before and didn't meet the dreaded leeches. This time too, I was looking for them, and they were not around!

Canopy Walk

canopy walk, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

jungle girls, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

jungle, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

jungle bridge, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

rock jungle, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Return to Sipadan-Kapalai

Fourth time to Kapalai since my first visit in 2003. Obviously I can't get tired of the place. Located in Malaysian Borneo, Kapalai is the most beautiful diving resort that I've been to, on the most amazing dive site of the world that I've been so far. The island of Sipadan is this drop-off in the open sea, to about 900m deep. It is a marine turtle sanctuary, attracts large pelagics like hammerhead sharks and schools of barracudas, and has a resident school of huge bumphead parrotfish. More info here. Things have changed a bit, we cannot stay on Sipadan since 2005 hence the best shore diving and night dives in the world, right off the drop-off, are no longer available. But since it is because the Malaysian government wants to keep the island clean and the marine turtles nesting undisturbed, it's all in good faith.

This time, my dive buddies were ZL, an old high-school friendship rekindled in the strangest of conditions, and GF from Vancouver, met on a boat in the Big Island last year. As in January in the Similans, I was worried about strangers not getting along - but let's say that my fears evaporated quite quickly ;)

Sunset Blvd, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

We met really nice divers from the UK, Spain, Hong Kong and Belgium. P from the UK reported that the hammerheads were missing from Layang-Layang, probably because it was still too early in the season. Maybe I jumped the gun - the reports by one of the Layang-Layang divemasters can be found here. But P also happened to know South Siam and said that they had had the best season there. So it was an easy choice to extend my trip and return to... the Similans. With GF next week, April 6-9. We convinced IG from Spain to join us as well (like that was so hard!!!).

For some strange reason, even though there are no more resorts on the island, the marine life wasn't around much this year. Less than 5 turtles per dive, no bumphead parrotfish the size of me, absent school of jacks, no vortex, and no school of hammerheads. The seahorses have disappeared from Mabul. Is this cyclical or global warming or due to too many divers, I ask? But the large school of barracudas by the drop-off has returned after having gone missing for 2 years or so. So there is hope. I suppose I can only find out the answer to this by coming back next year with the ever-expanding dive club!!!

Home for a week

kapalai2, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Moonlight over Kapalai

moonlight over kapalai, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

The sunset mandarin fish dive at Kapalai - they're still there!

mandarinfish mating 2, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

diversun, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Ain't he so ugly he is cute???

scorpionfish, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Hmmm.... where's that boat again?

where's the boat?, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Divemaster training pledges safety first (can you see me?!?!?!?!)

malvsausage, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

Usual Sipadan inhabitant

Sipadan turtle, originally uploaded by Galadryel.

More pictures here.