Chancing upon the Hairy Frogfish (Antennarius striatus) on one of my dives in Lembeh, I was privileged to have witnessed and documented it ‘casting its lure’ akin to an angler casting his fishing rod! The lure located at the top of a frogfish, known as an esca, is a highly specialised and unique adaptation that helps the frogfish attract prey. The fleshy appendage that resembles a small fish or worm is typically brightly coloured or patterned. It is connected to the frogfish’s illicium, a modified dorsal spine that extends above the fish’s head.

The primary function of this esca is to act as a bait to attract unsuspecting prey. Frogfish are ambush predators that rely on camouflage and patience to catch their food while I just happened to be there at the time it was fishing when my lights attracted all kinds of plankton. By waving the esca back and forth or moving it in a manner that resembles the movement of a small fish or worm, the frogfish creates the illusion of an easy meal for other fish or invertebrates.

The esca’s appearance and movement, combined with the frogfish’s ability to change its skin colour and texture to blend in with its surroundings, make it extremely effective at luring prey within striking range. Once a potential prey item gets close enough, the frogfish can rapidly open its large mouth, creating a vacuum that sucks in the unsuspecting victim.

It’s worth noting that the esca is not present in all species of frogfish, and its size, shape, and colouration can vary among different species. Some frogfish even have the ability to regenerate their esca if it becomes damaged or lost. What a remarkable adaptation that showcases the incredible diversity of strategies employed by organisms in the animal kingdom to capture their food!

If you live near the sea or have easy access, you can document marine life too! Just use your smartphone and house it in a universal Divevolk housing! Works for both Android and iPhone!

Get a discount when you purchase it directly from the manufacturer here:- https://bit.ly/Seatouch4Max

More info on the world’s first true touchscreen underwater housing:- https://bit.ly/mydivevolk

Couple it with a powerful LED dive light with red light to spot critters:- https://amzn.to/3TP5Nc6

Subscribe to my Youtube channel to learn more about marine life behaviour!

Don’t fall for the sheer size or large number of mAH because in today’s world, that won’t do the job for the higher tech batteries that require higher power delivery (PD). Today’s standard is using USB-C PD 3.0, which allows for 100W transfers from a single, rated cable.

My recent acquisition of the GaN charger as I’ve detailed all about it here, got me to inspect my old powerbanks that have lasted me for years. I’ve to say, they will now serve me when I go camping, to power up fairy lights and lanterns for the atmosphere at night! None of them are able to efficiently recharge my Note 10+ 4,300mAh battery that’s rated to 45W PD 3.0!

These specs are what’s needed today. I’ve done the research so you don’t have to sweat to find which one to go for. As long as your powerbank operate in these conditions, your phone will be recharged faster. Look also for the Quick Charge 3.0 (QC). Your devices could be either or these standards to quickly recharge a depleted battery.

The Romoss SW20PF 20000mAh has the requirements to support bigger capacity batteries in the later generation smartphones. Imagine charging your tablet and phone with 5A of delivery while on the move!

Output :
5V 3A or 9V 2A or 12V 1.5A (For Type-C)

What the above means is, the recharge rate for batteries that charge on 5V is 3Amp, 9V at 2Amp, 12V at 1.5A, if all 3 used together, would be 5V 3A.
If a single device is being charged, 4.5V 5A or 5V 4.5A or 9V 2A or 12V 1.5A (USB-A/22.5W MAX)

Input or recharging of powerbank:
5V 3A or 9V 2A (for Type-C)
5V 2A or 9V 2A (for Lightning)
5V 2A or 9V 2A (for Micro USB)

This is where the GaN charger comes in. When you need to recharge your powerbank for the next day where you will be away from charging outlets, this 140W charger will do the job in record time.

Remember to always buy from official stores on these platforms!

The Dessini Cooking Robot at RM549 is great starter if you want one but don’t want to spend thousands on it. Only setback is there is no built-in recipes but if you are a cook, you would have tons of recipe books to refer to already! It has pretty much everything I want from a cooking robot without breaking my bank/wallet/arm/leg…..

What’s more, today only, you can use the 10% discount voucher to get this unit at less than RM500! Only from Lazada!

Dessini Cooking Robot

For the discerning and gadget-conscious cook, the Tokit Omni Cook looks good, has accessible recipes on the interface and a 2-year warranty if you get it from the official store on Lazada only. (Resellers on Shopee only offer 1 year warranty and doesn’t give the free steamer dish). There is an add-on voucher to get a RM700 discount now so at RM3,709 it’s a great deal and half the price of a Thermomix!

Tokit Omni Cook from Lazada

Tokit Omni Cook recipes access

As someone who loves to cook, I understand the effort and time that goes into preparing a delicious meal from scratch. However, I also know that sometimes life can get busy, and we don’t always have the luxury of spending hours in the kitchen. That’s where a cooking robot comes in.

With a cooking robot, I can save time by automating many of the tasks that usually require manual effort, such as chopping, dicing, mincing, blending, stewing, and kneading. This means I can spend less time in the kitchen and more time to do other things. I can grind any kind of nuts into powder too!

Not only that, but cooking robots offer a high level of consistency and accuracy, meaning I can replicate recipes more easily and predict the results with greater confidence. I can even multitask with a cooking robot by having it cook and blend simultaneously or knead dough or continuously stir while preparing a stew! Purists will often argue that having a machine like that is cheating, but you still have to have a certain degree of comprehension of cooking to use a machine that can help you save time and effort so what price do you place on quick precision cooking and processing??? Do you still want to sweat over a pestle and mortar???

Cooking robots are also incredibly versatile and offer a wide range of cooking functions, from steaming vegetables to baking bread. I don’t need multiple appliances for different tasks, so I can save space and money. I can prepare healthier meals more easily. By automating tasks such as chopping vegetables and steaming fish, there is nothing much that a cooking robot can’t do. I can even create nutritious meals or stews in advance before I storing in a thermal pot for camping.

If you find it cheaper elsewhere, do check on the warranty period it offers as well as other caveats. Let me know what you will cook with it!

If you find that your phone drains faster than you can charge it, you need this charger. If you’re constantly on the go and need power to charge all your devices in super fast time, you need this charger. (You will also need a fast-rated charging cable, not any ordinary cable to maximise the power delivery from these kinds of chargers, a review which I will do in another time )

Think of the times you have forgotten your battery charger on a crucial trip and the panic attack you got as a result! It has happened to me and I’m glad I’ve converted most gadgets including my mouse and keyboard to USB-C rechargeable ones not to mention torchlights, dive lights, external battery chargers which are USB rechargeable. Having a high powered 140W charger means it’s able to recharge your power station on days you need to go offgrid to!

Awei PD21 140W GaN Charger

This is the link to get it from the official store of Awei in Lazada which offers 6mths international warranty and many local return points to submit a claim and return it physically should you need to do so. This is one advantage against Shopee which doesn’t have any should you wish to return any product within their warranty period. In addition, you can select the slimmer profile of US 2-pin rather than the clunky UK 3-pin that we use here. It is far better to pack in pouches keeping everything streamlined. The charger has an input voltage of 100 – 240v, that you need not worry about conversion in any country you travel to.

Go to this link and it will take you to your Lazada app. Save it to your wishlist or add it to cart as you please. It’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made! Discounted price now is at RM214. You may find it cheaper elsewhere but without warranty nor the option to select the US 2-pin charger.

https://bit.ly/aweiPD21

So what on earth is Gallium Nitride (GaN)?? In the simplest sense, it is the future of chargers. It is a semiconductor material that has gained popularity in the world of electronic devices, especially in USB-C chargers.

High power output: GaN chargers can provide higher power output compared to conventional chargers, making them suitable for charging high-powered devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones. They are smaller and more compact compared to conventional chargers, which makes them more portable and easier to carry around.

GaN chargers have a higher efficiency than conventional chargers, which means they waste less energy and generate less heat. This means that GaN chargers can transfer more power from the power source to the device with minimal energy loss, resulting in reduced energy consumption and lower electricity costs.

GaN chargers can have multiple ports, which means you can charge several devices simultaneously. You get faster charging than conventional chargers, which is a significant advantage for people who are always on the go and need their devices charged quickly or like me who travel to remote places with window of opportunity to charge while they power up for a set duration of time! I remember the days when dive resorts were only powered up by generator sets from 6pm till 6am daily. I had to scramble to charge my batteries for the many devices that needed to be powered by them, and rotate with those whom I was sharing the power outlet with. Agonising when you’re a photographer.

GaN chargers are designed to provide safe charging, and they are equipped with safety features such as over-current/over-voltage/overheat protection. They are more eco-friendly than conventional chargers because they waste less energy, which is good for the environment and can also save you money on your electricity bill. This alone will convince me to purchase another one solely for home use while my existing one goes travelling with me.

GaN chargers are future-proof because they are compatible with the latest USB-C technology and can charge a wide range of devices, including smartphones, laptops, tablets, camera batteries, lights and gaming consoles.

You can get a similar one on Amazon here:-

Here’s one camouflaged juvenile Purple Heron just for you…..

It’s important for me that reporting the truth is vital to the conservation of ecosystem, people are educated on the reasons to conserve and preserve because any environment built with effort and time can be destroyed by those who promote bad practices and set bad examples. Not everyone who carries a banner of ecotourism are eco-friendly or have the welfare of wildlife as priority. It is apparent in how they conduct their business and how you as a patron of their services rendered, call out on them.

今天FB提醒我，我做攝影記者的目的。從小，為了與野生動物互動，我把我收養的四隻狗和十七隻貓的經歷注意到他們的行為，到牠們離開世界。一張照片需要映出真實事情並不靠描述。我還喜歡跟動物相處。

有時候事情很難看得出，所以應該告訴真相的事情，這將保留事實，即你首先捕獲獨特性。

報導真相對於保護生態系統至關重要，因為人們受到保護和保存的理由的教育，因為任何建立在努力和時間之上的環境都可能被那些鼓吹不良做法並設置壞榜樣的人破壞。不是每個攜帶生態旅游標語的人都是生態友好型的，或者以野生動物為福。他們如何開展業務以及如何作為他們提供的服務的讚助人顯而易見，呼籲他們。

Finally! An underwater housing for smartphones! Beginning with the ever popular iPhone version, Divevolk has innovated a version of underwater housing to have true touchscreen ability on the entire real estate of your phone screen! Not buttons that work on Bluetooth connection or restrictive presses on the volume buttons. The gel-filled layer is the piece of spongy-feeling layer between your phone’s screen and you. Any screen protector would have to be removed before inserting into the housing on its specially moulded tray designed for specific models of iPhones from iPhone 6 to 6plus, 7 to 7plus, 8 to 8plus, 10 to 10Max. This is to facilitate the sensor to sense your finger contact more effectively on the phone as the ambient pressure is already exerting a force on the entire gel layer, the phone needs to sense your ‘finger’ to register it as a contact.

Android-users will rejoice soon when their much-anticipated Android version of the housing is released in August! Yes! Yes! My dependable, photographically superior Samsung Note FE (and all the Samsung Note series & S series as well as the Huawei P & Mate series) will get to capture marine life eventually and with the inbuilt Pro features of White Balance adjustment, shutter speeds & aperture control, ISO selection from 50 – 800, metering modes and auto focus areas (helpful in shooting macro) with special photo effects! Only a month away!

If you have not started underwater photography yet, how many times have you wished you could take your trusty smartphone underwater with you? A gadget that you are familiar with, can operate the camera app with ease and don’t have to figure out technical jargon??? Have you been intimidated by complex camera gear and equally complicated setup? It kills the joy of gearing up even before you get into the water. Having Divevolk’s SeaTouch 2 Pro eliminates the complexity of a time-consuming setup, freeing you from the stress and annoyance of misplacing essential accessories that comes with a huge camera setup. It has only one door that has a double O’ring and it’s secured with nuts and bolts. Forget all the chunky gear that photographers need to lug along with strobes, lights and accessories. The entire setup plus macro and wide angle lenses, ball arms and tray with 2 lights and a float fit into one cabin-worthy case with room to spare. It was just about everything I carried to my trip to Bidung Island in Terengganu. I didn’t even used the lights as there was ample sunlight for my dives.

If you have been taking pictures underwater with your humongous gear, let me give you a reason to have this on your next outing, especially if you are going on a business trip with a detour to a neighbouring dive site and can’t carry that behemoth with you. This gadget doesn’t require tray and arms because the centre attachment grip has grooves for screwing on two bendable mini lights plus snoot for your macro-mucking about. Having a housing ready means you never have to miss that opportunity no matter where your boss sends you!

Divevolk has an assisted camera app that you need to download and install to enable you to utilise the different WB preset modes. I was using a borrowed iPhone 6 (I’m an Android girl!! Android!!!) and the native app leaves a lot to be desired. The only time I used the native camera app was when I needed to shoot panorama with it. With the wide angle lens and red filter attached, the result is better than shooting ordinarily without. The app has 4 shooting functions, Time-lapse, slo-mo, photo & video mode. When you want your video to have adjusted WB, you have to use the Photo mode first to pre-select the preset and select Video afterwards to continue with the preset white balance. It has to be said that my favourite mode is the panorama and video mode.

I had one problem, the housing (with phone inside) was lighter than my 2 lights and shooting videos was like driving a car, my hands kept swivelling the setup causing rotational shake! That can be fixed on the computer but it’s another step that I’d rather miss. I would want to shoot it right from the start. The other problem I encountered was the vignetting on the left corners and apparently the attachments that enable the wet lenses didn’t cater to iPhone 6 camera placement. This is not a problem with the other iPhone models.

The quality of the video is dependent upon the quality of the phone model, in my case, I used the iPhone 6 that only has 1080p and not 4K resolution and I shot in 4:3 instead of 16:9 without realising it. Even without the wide angle lens attached, videos came out pretty decent.

All the videos are edited for clarity, white balance tweaked further for visual appeal. Raw footage is useable if you are not visually-fussy like how I am.

I conduct smartphone photo editing workshops periodically and will update the schedule when available. You can purchase one directly at https://bit.ly/mydivevolk and get a token discount.

Thank you, dear friends, for calling me and crying with me, letting me know how you identified with my pain as you too, felt the grief that I am still feeling. I’m truly sorry but am so grateful that your calls and messages made me feel better. Some of you have journeyed with Rufus & I from the days of FFF rescue, babysat him in my absence and missions, and experienced all the hilarious drama he had gotten himself into (and you in the process) and I know that Rufus had an extended family in all of you.

I leave you with this peaceful picture of him curled up and sleeping on my bed and be comforted in the knowledge of what’s written inEcclesiastes 3:18-21: “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath (literally “spirit“); humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” And in Luke 12:6 “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.” Although there’s no biblical support to say whether dogs will end up in heaven, I still find the comfort in knowing that animals will continue to exist in the Kingdom of Heaven in Isaiah 11:6-9.

We buried him at the side of the pond near my house, underneath a shady tree. From dust he came, to dust he returned. Out of the 12yrs I had him, 9 of them were the most exciting, joyful, funny and adventurous of all. I only wished I had more than these 2 months of his remaining time to spend with him. He has brought me so many unforgettable moments as my bodyguard, outdoor companion furkid. May God resurrect him one day when Jesus returns for he was chosen in the Lord for me. (Romans 16:13) Rest in peace, Darling. You will roam free with the rest who had gone before you now.

Pictures taken on our last day outdoors together. We went to Genting Highlands where he could experience the cold in his winter attire and be in the natural again.

My cousin, Pearl Kwok, sent me tickets to the soft opening of Jewel Changi Airport when she knew I was in Singapore for some business, to see the lush Shiseido Forest Valley and witness the HSBC Rain Vortex, the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. Majestic, it was! Thanks, Pearl! I had a pleasant time indeed!

[nextflipbook id=”1″]

Then some despicable lowlife had caused all my files to be 201kb across the board and equally abundance of ZERO BYTES within those. I had started my 5th term of Chinese language learning in Taiwan and having to keep up with school work as well as rows and rows of mindless writing to commit to memory, I had to deal with this annoyance.

My last backup was in 2015, which made me realise I had taken a very long hiatus from blogging. Rightly so, my life changed with the prayer I had asked over New Year’s Day of 2016.

I had to search my archives for the backups and FTPing them took another zillion hours. I now know why I never carved out a career in web mastering. Best of all, my ex-boss conferenced call with me to troubleshoot all the irregularities, a reminiscent of the days where we used to work on web portals and he, write lines of codes. He said, “Here is your blank page, I will handle the boxes in Excel and remove the lines for you because I know you can’t be boxed up.” He was right. I am a blank canvas free to define what I feel.

My website is still not quite there yet. The gallery is inactive and I’ve tweaked whatever I could in the background. I just need time which I don’t have especially when I have a teacher who thinks I should know what was taught last term when I was not even in the same course. I did one year at NTNU and have now moved to Chinese Culture University.

I have tried to post some Chinese characters and they are not showing. Pardon the absence of pictures in some posts. I’m still trying to restore my files from this ZERO bytes problem.

The Chinese people, and by this, I encompass the Chinese race, are very good at maths, accounts, counting & calculating. Without a doubt, they do very well in any trade. As a race, they keep records and also records of wrongdoings as they make an example of what not to follow in the 成語 (idioms in 4 characters) that best describes them. I for one, don’t like Maths, hate accounts even more and can’t for the life of me, keep record of what others have borrowed or what I’ve spent on. (More on idioms in my next article. I had spent countless hours trying to rebuild my website that got hacked several weeks back in the midst of my studies and assignments so please bear with me.)

bei

甲骨文-Ancient Writing

Then I discovered the word and radical 貝(bèi) which means shellfish or cowrie and currency. In ancient times, money cowrie (Cypraea moneta) was used as a trading currency (money) in the shipping trade routes from Tarshish all along the way to China. So no surprise there that any word that has to do with buying/selling or monies and any association with it, had a 貝 in it! Look at the word 買 – buy, 賣 – sell, 費 – fees, 資 – resources, 價 – price, 購 – shopping, 財 – luck, fortune, 貨 – goods, supplies, 負 – to bear/shoulder, 債 – debt, 責 – responsibility, 寳 – precious, 貴 – expensive, 質 – substance, 貿 – trade, 賞 – reward/award, 貸 – loan, borrow/lend, 賺 – profit/gain, earn, 貪 – greed and many more. Of the words listed, the character for debt, contains a person and responsibility, denoting the debt comes with the obvious burden of the inflicted self! Even substance and greed stems from this ‘money!’

While I love the idea of 購物 (shopping) being described, what resonates with me is the word 賞 (reward, award) that comes with 負擔 (bearing the burden). I see how God had kept the generations recorded through the characters that were formed long before there were these sophisticated words. And He is teaching me about the origins of finances and the burden of life through this money cowrie (mollusc/shell) that I can identify with being someone who has carved out a profession working in the ocean. Each of these discoveries make me want to learn more and I hope it inspires you to take up Chinese so that we can do this discovery together! The next time I see a money cowrie when I go diving, I am going to call it 我的主的寶貝教育– my Lord’s precious education! #Taiwan #Mandarin501 #Chinese #characters #nolongerbanana #nowmango #謝謝林老師

When dynasties once ruled the empire of Goryeo (what Korea was named once), kings were born & thrones were fought for. King Taejo Yi Seonggye declared a new dynasty in 1392 under the name of Joseon, thus reviving an older dynasty also known as Joseon that was founded four thousand years previously and renamed it to “Kingdom of Great Joseon”. He established himself a palace, known as Gyeongbokgung which served as the main palace for successor Kings of the Joseon dynasty and their households until it was systematically destroyed & burnt to ruins during the Japanese invasion. Restoration & reconstruction work began after it was left derelict for centuries & it stands as the most beautiful & the grandest of all five palaces in Korea today.

Walking alongside the fortress.

The old & new stone blocks as part of the restoration process.

‘Taejo’ is a temple name, a posthumous title used for Chinese, Korean & Vietnamese royalty. Chosen to reflect the circumstances of the emperor’s reign, it means ‘ancestors.’ In Korea, temple names are used to refer to Kings in the Goryeo & Joseon dynasties.

One of Gyeongbokgung’s grand entrances.

The palace was not the only grand structure he built. The foresight of King Taejo who was once a General of the army of the dynasty he overthrew, knew the grandeurs of a kingdom should be demarcated by a structure around the city he ruled. He wanted to build a fortress. He decreed & enlisted the service of one hundred ninety seven thousand four hundred (197,400) young men around the country over two years to participate in the erection of an 18 kilometre fortress with four main gates and four auxiliary gates that fell in line with the Chinese cardinal directions of East, South, West, North. They are Heunginjimun (East Gate), Sungnyemun (South Gate), Donuimun (West Gate) and Sukjeongmun (North Gate) with the East & the South gates being designated as National Treasures today. The fortress took 30 years to complete.

Gyeonghoeru was constructed in 1412, the 12th year of the reign of King Taejong, Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, is a hall used to hold important and special state banquets during the Joseon Dynasty.

The Throne Room.

King Taejo designated an auspicious day for the groundbreaking ceremony on 1 January 1396. The fortress was completed in 98 days after the war along the mountains of Bugaksan, Naksan, Namsan, and Inwangsan. The wall contained eight gates, all of which were originally constructed between 1396 and 1398. He ordered for the stones to be inscribed with the names of the county and prefecture responsible for constructing a given wall section, as well as the name of that section, while in the mid-Joseon, they were marked with the names of the supervisors and lead technicians, and the construction date. The inscribed stone blocks in the photo below, can be seen outside the wall, at the end section of the Naksan Trail.

Mayor Park arriving at the start of the tour.

Mayor Park elaborates on the history of the Fortress.

There are six walking courses or trails you can do, the Baegaksan/Bugaksan Trail, the Naksan Trail, the Namsan Trail, the Inwangsan Trail, Heunginjimun Trail & Sungnyemun Trail. We were taken on a journey along the Naksan Trail by the Mayor himself, Mr. Park Won Soon, who’s fondly loved by the people of Seoul for his candour & spontaneity. We walked along the path parallel to the section of the wall that cordoned off Ihwa Mural Village from the ‘’outer city’, marvelling at the artists who painted the stairways & walls of this village with vibrant murals, thus enlivening the place. We passed these colourful expressions either adorned with paint or mosaic-plastered on the riser of the staircase making the vertical hike not so challenging. This village was once left out in the urbanisation process, used to be seen as a backward neighbourhood but a collaboration between the public, cultural artists, the metropolitan government and the residents turned Ihwa-dong into a vibrant art village.

Despite the fact that he overthrew the dynasty of Goryeo, and purged officials who remained loyal to the old regime, King Taejo Yi Seonggye was very much regarded as a revolutionary and a decisive ruler who deposed the inept, obsolete and crippled governing system to save the nation from many foreign forces and conflicts. His sons of different wives, fought & killed each other in a preemptive move after the death of his beloved second Queen (wife). While he was still mourning, he crowned his second son to be king but 2 years later, this King voluntarily abdicated it to his brother, Yi BangWon, who became King Taejong, the one who rightfully deserved the throne as he had demonstrated the best potential of a good ruler even during his father’s reign.

An artisan in the village who specialises in tie-dye artwork.

The artisan explains the colouring process.

The Joseon period has left an indelible mark on modern Korean etiquette, cultural norms, societal attitudes towards current issues. A substantial legacy was left to the Koreans of today, with much of the modern Korean language and its dialects derived from the culture and traditions of Joseon.

This fortress, even with some parts of it torn down in the city’s development process, significant parts had been preserved as a historical reminder of the dynasty that influenced the culture of Koreans today. It has in the running to be listed as UNESCO’s World Heritage Site by 2017.

What else can you do in Seoul? Gwangjang Market food experience, silver ring smithing & kimchi making workshop in the next post as I bring you other hidden treasures!

For more information, go to Seoul Tourism’s official page of the Fortress here and download your guide book! http://bit.ly/1gc6iJl
To download the English version, you need to view the site in Korean to get to the download section because the English section of the guide book doesn’t work. I’ve simplified the process for you by including the direct download link here:- http://bit.ly/1IuQ88R

Full resolution pictures can be see in my Flickr album

Added Number 8!

Dear divers, I’m putting this together for the benefit of the many who had asked me ‘how would I know if someone is a good instructor or not?’  As most newbies have no idea where to start, or may have been referred to one by his/her friend who has done the course, take this as a guide for you and your non-diver friends to select the right instructor for your dive pursuits.

1) Always ask to see the instructor’s qualification card/credentials. You are placing your life in his/her hands, you better know for sure if the instructor in question is REALLY CERTIFIED & QUALIFIED, RENEWED & CURRENT with their respective training agencies and is AUTHORISED to conduct courses. If police can stop you on the road to demand to see your driver’s license when you are not a threat, why shouldn’t you exercise the same courtesy on someone you hardly know who will give you instructions to dive?

2) Find out how long your instructor has been diving, when he/she became certified as instructor & how many dives they have logged. Some instructors still keep physical logbooks that run into hundreds of pages but some have chosen to keep digital memory in their computers. It’s great to have new instructors teach you because they would be placing a great amount of care to your wellbeing & mastery of skills. It’s also great to have seasoned instructors teach you because every skill taught is almost effortless and without anxiety because of what’s ingrained into the instructor’s memory.

3) Be aware of team-teachers, your dive theory sessions, confined water (pool or beach) & open water (sea) sessions may be taught by different instructors and it’s imperative that you know each of them are QUALIFIED TO DO SO, not have divemasters-in-training put in your care (a common practice that’s against the standards for new divers). State your questions & preference when signing up for the course in a dive centre/resort. (For foreign instructors, check if they have work permit to operate in Malaysia because if anything happens & you want to proceed with a legal battle, you may not find him/her again. Having said this, there are a good number of dive instructors of foreign nationalities who have made Malaysia home and have  Malaysian spouses. They offer a wealth of knowledge that locals can’t so there are pros to it. Do your checks first). – This is not meant to be discriminatory but due to the liability issues, I need to state this out so please don’t get offended, my dear foreign peers!

4) Be aware of instructors who are already suspended/expelled from any dive training agencies. They may continue to teach but have other instructors SIGN OFF your certification card. Reasons for expulsion could be due to serious violation of standards and procedures, negligence & error, some leading to death of students. This is a malpractice that you should not accept. Be sure that your instructor FOLLOWS THE STANDARDS. Ask to see the standards for each level of dive course that you are embarking on, then you would know what are the skills required for you to master at each one.

5) Instructor’s reputation. If you have been referred to your instructor, chances are, he/she had been teaching well. You would still need to do your due diligence check of point 1 – 4 above. For example, a fierce ex-military instructor may be uttering mouthfull of profanities during your training so be prepared for it. A octo-instructor may have hands everywhere, just like an octopus so if you don’t like to be groped, state beforehand that you don’t like to be touched although, you must be aware that during water training sessions, there is a lot of contact between instructor and student. A worldly instructor is someone who has probably travelled the world to dive leisurely but lack the experience to teach in different kinds of environment. Be sure to ask ‘where has he/she taught before (which seas, as each geographical location has different sea conditions). (Though I have been diving in cold waters, I still get a shock each time I enter the water & I certainly would not want to teach in those kinds of temperatures.)

6) Find out your instructor’s knowledge of marine life & marine conservation. If anyone makes a living off the seas, that person ought to know a great deal about the ocean & its inhabitants. The passion towards preservation of marine life must be paramount in an instructor’s life and walk. What you are getting from an instructor is years of experience with encounters of marine life that would influence how you would interact in the water. If you get an instructor who pokes & prods animals or catches a Nemo to put inside his/her mask then releases it only to be preyed upon by a lizard fish, or teaches your to ride a turtle or break open a sea urchin, or worse, pulling a poor octopus out of its lair till it has to squirt ink in defence to run away, you are getting a rogue, unprofessional cowboy instructor who has no regard for all life forms. Avoid him/her. Be sure to ask around, ask your diver friends for recommendations and don’t be afraid to change instructors or appoint someone new to teach you. You are not bound to one with a lifetime contract.

7) Watch out for instructors who get high on drugs/weed/alcohol. The last thing you need is a mentally impaired instructor in the water. Watch out for dilated pupils in their eyes or drunken breath. Don’t be afraid to say no to his/her instructions to enter the water. If he/she passes out, you are not trained to lift him/save him/her & can be a liability to you.

8) Don’t go for the cheapest dive course. You pay peanuts, expect monkey service. Dive instructors assigned to you when you sign up at the dive expo would be those in training or worse, those who have yet to qualify to teach. Not all dive centres would do that but most who want to cut cost, would. A dive operation has costs to upkeep, equipment to maintain and staff to pay. If you pay peanuts, the effects will be passed down the line, you’d get untrained/lackadaisical crew, lousy service and have no avenues to complain because of the price you paid that came with no perks. When I learnt how to dive, I chose to learn from the best and paid a premium to get as much as I could out of someone who was encouraged to teach me. When you learn from the best, you would spot all those mistakes from people who didn’t acquire the skills when they ought to have learnt them in their course. You won’t know what the instructor didn’t teach you if you don’t even know what they are suppose to teach. Refer to point #4 on laying out the set of standards that you must learn before you earn your certification.

9) If an instructor tells you that you don’t need to know how to swim to be able to dive, please mark his/her name and report to the dive agencies. You MUST BE ABLE TO SWIM 200m WITHOUT SCUBA gear nonstop and tread water for 10mins. This is in the ISO Standards that reputable dive agencies are accredited with. You will spend 95% of the time in water so what makes you think you can save yourself should you get into trouble or get separated from your group? Can you fly? No? Then learn to swim first. The ocean can wait for you and so can your instructor. Don’t be so eager to be run before you learn to walk. Safety is of utmost importance. In 1999/2000, Oriental Queen liveaboard hit a rock and sunk, but the instructor on board was quick to alert everyone who was sleeping to jump overboard and swim to shore. They did and was saved. What happens if you are in that same situation?

I hope the above serves as a guide for you to select your appropriate instructor. Do not be afraid to ask questions, even if you think they are stupid/silly questions because a good instructor will always make you understand what you are getting yourself into.

Gone are the days where extract-happy dentists freely rule your jaw as they are no more with the emergence of bright, cheery and friendly women dentists who would make you feel at ease with their assuring conversations with you as you go through normal procedures. I have known Dr. Fauziah, or Fay as we fondly call her, for good number of years since we went diving but only began my dental appointments with her since 2010. She had made known to me about this procedure called composite veneer makeover but I’d put it at the back of my mind until recently when I decided to do it as I was going to represent Malaysia for Samsung to visit Korea sponsored by Korean Tourism Organisation!

Composite bonding or just bonding — which refers to direct composite veneers — is an inexpensive and effective way to restore and correct small chips,  cracks, crookedness and discolouration in the teeth. I’ve had too many teeth grow out at once when I was growing up and removing them caused the other teeth in their position to misalign. Now with this procedure of placing this translucent clay (veneer) on the tooth enamel that has been roughen by polish and bonding agent applied, Fay shaped this clay-like veneer over each tooth that’s crooked and aligned it to make the row flush with the rest of the teeth in proper positon. Then UV light is zapped onto the tooth after applying the final polish to set the veneer to harden. She did this with each tooth till the jaggedness is as even as possible.

She spent about 15 minutes on each tooth and after about 2 hours, I could beam with a smirk from ear to ear because I finally have sorted out my imperfection with this perfect method! This minimally invasive method does not remove any teeth (which is permanent) and is built around my jawline, and it’s almost instant,  which was one of the deciding factors for me. The best thing about it is, Fay and her team of dentists have been restoring people’s smiles for years and their expertise is rivalled by no other. When other dentists charge an arm or a leg to have you do a crowning at RM1,800 per tooth, composite veneer only costs RM400 per tooth, a figure afforded by many more.

This brilliant procedure is for you if you have any of the following:-

Spaces between the teeth.
Poorly shaped or crooked teeth.
Broken or chipped teeth.
Permanently externally stained and/or internally stained teeth.
Unsightly or stained fillings.

You can improve your appearance by having this composite veneer makeover but it cannot change your jawline or give you orthodontic help. It’s suitable for anyone who doesn’t want to spend a few years of their adulthood in braces but want to have an almost perfect, aligned set of teeth!

You can find Fay & her special team of dentists at www.drfauziah.com and do tell her that you read it here at pummkin.net! Her clinics are at Publika & Jalan Raja Laut but if you want to see her, she would be at Publika. Here’s to a new life with painlessly straightened teeth!!!

Crinoids are what divers know as Feather Stars, sporting feathery arms that sway back and forth towards the centre of the body. One of the easiest subjects to photograph, crinoids are prehistoric animals in the class of echinoderms with male and female species found clinging onto coral reef cliffs often asleep in the day or actively feeding at night. The challenge is to photograph the tenants that the Crinoid itself hosts. It’s important to note that no photograph is worth abusing the animal for so please handle your subjects with care as you would a live animal on land. Crinoids are somewhat sticky and brittle. You wouldn’t want to break any of their arms off in your quest to shoot the shrimp within so keep your buoyancy neutral and coax the star to do a grand opening for you. I will teach you how.

After witnessing so many dive guides using their swizzle sticks to roughly ‘part the arms’ of the Crinoid to show divers what it holds within, I felt compelled to write this article to educate the many of you who might follow the bad habit of disturbing nature for your pictures. I practice a minimal disturbance to no disturbances in all my shots. They are never manipulated, nor had my subjects tossed in mid water to get them flaring, fearful or angry and I implore all of you to nurture good habits. The ability to boast of your shots is in the way you photograph them, not how the shot was obtained with manipulation. When you understand marine animal behaviour, you will get your incredible shots. Having spent the last 17 years teaching and 12 years of photographing underwater, I am moving towards educating the diver of the habits that you should possess to encounter your subjects.

What you need in your gear:-
1) Dive equipment of course.
2) Carabiners/loops/holsters to streamline your dangling hoses (SPG/Octopus/reels/SMBs)
3) LED torch
4) Dive computer to record depth and time you see the animal to relocate it next time.
5) No gloves unless you are diving in 15? waters
6) Hood to keep your hair tucked away from curious octopuses
7) Any camera housed in respective cases
8) Marine life guide books

Pre-dive preparation:-
1) Clean your hands after you use sunblock
2) Secure all gadgets with lanyard in your pockets.
3) Identify the subject you want to shoot.
4) Decide with buddy how much time you want to spend on each subject and if you find your target, be considerate to allow your buddy to take shots as well.

It’s not what camera you have but your knowledge of marine life that would get you nearer to the animal. By knowing what your subject lives on and feeds on, you have already increased your chances of finding it. By knowing your reef, you would have access to the inhabitants if you know what feeds on what and when.

The Shrimp also took on the colours and pattern of this Crinoid, Oxycomanthus Bennetti.

Close-up crop of the shrimp.

The basis of not touching anything in your dive education has been the point of contention in dive circles as we see dive guides competing with one another to find elusive critters with their sticks/pointers and completely lifting the animal out of the sand even though it’s meant to be camouflaged. I found it deeply offensive and I usually stop following the guide to find my own interaction with critters when I am not the one guiding the trip. When marine scientists collect specimens for research, they can’t avoid touching. We are not scientists neither are we collecting any specimens but we want to document them and there would be some degree of touching (hence rule number 1 in pre-dive preparation is to have clean hands) but not to the point of harassing the animal.

Not all crinoids have critters within. There are several species that host them. One of my favourites is the Oxycomanthus bennetti. 9 out 10 animals that I find have ‘tenants’ within them! On this particular one, I found 3 different types of critters! They all form a symbiotic relationship with the host and even adapt to its colours and patterns. Two Clingfish, a shrimp and a crab (not displayed) were darting about as I got closer.

There are 2 Clingfish in the picture and a shrimp. Can you spot them?

How do you get a Feather Star to open up its multiple arms for you? You only need to tap the spine of the arms gently & softly. As you begin tapping, be mindful that your neoprene suit doesn’t touch any of the brittle feathers or you might end up ripping the poor little thing apart. By tapping with your finger pads softly, it will begin to spread out. Your camera settings would have to be ready for the shot as you might only get one or two shots of the critters within. Set your focusing to Spot and metering to Centre-weighted. Crinoid will stay ‘open’ for you if it feels tickled in all its arms as long as you avoid touching the cilia (feathers). I use a drink stirrer with a ball tip to coax the critter (shrimp/crab/clingfish) into view from the opposite side carefully without touching the Crinoid. Once I get about 4 or 5 shots or a video if the subject is actively moving, mission is accomplished & I move on to other subjects on the reef. Minimal touching and absolutely no disturbance to the Crinoid. It will soon curl up to get back to sleep when it senses no threat.

For more on marine life and nature documentation, follow Pummkinography on Facebook or follow Pummkin on her trips!

In the last few months of hiatus, I’d spent my time with friends, relatives and catching up on outdoor pursuits all over Germany & Italy and getting a bit of underwater time in Egypt. I took a break from myself because I wanted to get more input to be able to give output. I was writing for work so much that I’ve lost some mojo in the things that once brought me such joy. One event led to the next, and though people may envy my travels, they don’t really know how disconnected I become when I come back from each trip, catching up on friends’ FB feed and desiring fellowship with great buddies. One friend got married, had a baby with a man I didn’t know she married because I thought she was still dating her long time boyfriend whom I happen to also know. I asked her privately, of course, much to my confusion and thankfully, it wasn’t as embarrassing as I thought it would be. Honesty and forthrightness go a long way to preserving relationships. I don’t believe in talking behind anyone’s back unless I’m giving them praises.

I got to a stage in life where I started to place importance in keeping friends who want to stay in touch, I began to keep away from those who are malignant. I became less attached to social media starting with my weaning off Twitter & Google+, using it only to communicate with several people pertaining to current issues. I stay in touch with good friends who are also busy, making no demands on their time as they made no demands on mine and when we meet, it would be as if no time had passed between us at all. I made a resolution last year to only write what would be of good cheer, useful and informative articles for the benefit of my audience who take the time to journey with me.

I was also getting over a traumatic event.

Just before the turn of the New Year, a Christmas party I attended at a dog shelter ended up in a disaster. I couldn’t write about it then because I was distraught and injured. What seemed to be a fine afternoon of celebration in the sun with cheery dogs running about, a sudden storm turned the river outside into a raging torrent that submerged the shelter and all other houses in the vicinity in over 2 metres of muddy water. 13 volunteers and workers including Puspa, the founder of the shelter, Aziz & myself, were scrambling to raise the cages & free the dogs but the flood waters rose so fast, there wasn’t enough time to get all to safety and dry ground resulting in deaths. Everyone did their best to get as many dogs out, those of us who could swim, were grabbing dogs paddling about to hoist them to higher platforms, those who couldn’t, were clinging on to several dogs on trees, pillars & roofs for their dear lives. The scene was right out of a catastrophic mudslide except that this happened in Kajang, on our soil, to our people. Having my supposedly waterproof Sony Xperia Z1 phone in my pocket while I swam to & fro the main gate of the shelter’s compound to call for help, had actually flooded it. If only I can get hold of the footage I filmed when the flood happened, it would give you an idea what we endured before risking our lives to save our dogs. The incident left many broken hearted.

The rain didn’t stop. When the waters rose passed knee deep. I began to pray. This was way beyond what I was trained for in disaster management and life saving but I couldn’t leave them stranded and knowing the majority of our nation could not swim, it was a call of duty. I knew Aziz could swim, having been educated in the U.K., I expected him to be able to. He was rescuing bags of food and the box of frozen chicken. I asked God what to do. By then, the water had reached my waist. A rat swam frantically by. There was also a snake in the water. I didn’t flinch. I was just stunned. It was barely minutes. I had a backpack filled with documents, electronic gadgets, tablets & devices that weren’t protected. I pleaded for help. Lord, if you want me to do this right, please protect my belongings! God made me turn around & there, I saw a bungee cord hanging on the door! Then He showed me a pipe near the roof for me to climb up the window sill to tie my bag there. In my breath, I heaved a sigh of relief and gave thanks to God who always fished me out of trouble. Then the rescue really begun. I tried to stay calm and talked to those who couldn’t swim. We released all dogs within our perimeters to fend for themselves. My priority was human beings, dogs go to heaven any way. Dogs have an inbuilt ability to swim. Humans don’t. The larger dogs in the outside compound cages were freed in time and being social animals, they clamoured onto us & clung on for dear lives onto our shoulders and backs. If I wasn’t a strong swimmer, I would’ve drowned in all that weight. I tossed whoever was in my grasp to either Baskaran, the staff who got onto the higher platform with 20 other panicky dogs or Aziz who would bring the dogs to stand above the hoisted cages. Somehow, they know trouble was brewing. I couldn’t let my voice falter or they would hear my tone of distress that would trouble them even more. The last thing I needed was for the 20+ dogs to jump out of the holding platform at once to head for the torrential river outside the gate. I had scratches and bruises and like the rest, I wasn’t going to let go of them. Joey lost her car in the floods. It was almost like a repeat of Pulau Selat Kering back in 2009.

When the firemen finally got to us, they asked us how many we were and if there are children present. They asked us if we needed to be rescued in the waters well over my head. I said to them, where’s the boat, we only want to be rescued if we know we can leave here with our dogs. Bomba left us. Hmmm……I guess they don’t rescue dogs.

Thiaga from DAP, the party who came to our aid, offered Puspa a factory premise nearby to temporarily host the dogs till she can find something more permanent. Having had floods before, the current shelter is no longer a safe haven and she has got to move before another flood hits and by then, it wouldn’t be coinciding with any more parties with volunteers who know how to swim being present. Coming out to attend Pesta Balakong, the DAP councillor gave us new T-Shirts to change from our totally soaked & stinky attire. My foot was bleeding from having kicked some sharp object underwater but the pain was nothing compared to the pain of losing these beloved dogs in the flood. I don’t know the figures because I didn’t stay behind to witness the depressing sight which the workers had the terrible task of doing. More volunteers arrived after our calls for help reached social media. Anthony was my beacon. I never cried so hard before for the loss of these innocent lives caught in a catastrophe. It was something beyond our control. I cannot speak for the accusations levelled at Puspa on the running of the association but I was there at the scene with her to see her risk her life for her dogs. And so did her workers and volunteers present. I went home in a daze and washed my hair 3 times. I caught a chill but my thoughts were with MIAR. We can leave the incident but the incident can never leave us.

Upon hearing our ordeal, Steven Yong on behalf of HTC Malaysia came forward and gave the 13 of us at MIAR a replacement phone each. What a wonderful thing to do! A major commercial brand reached out to those who stayed behind for their four-legged friends. Thank you, HTC! The HTC Desire 610 is serving me very well. I’m reminded of the dogs that didn’t make it and the dogs that did. I asked God for a place in heaven for each one of them who crossed the Rainbow Bridge that day. And may those who lent a hand during the rescue and the post-rescue clean-up be blessed abundantly for answering the call for help. The empathy shown just blew me away.

This simply means, anyone with an RFID reader/tracker who comes close (or not, depending on tracking device) to your wallet containing credit cards & ATM cards, they may steal vital information and access to your identity (and bank account) within seconds. Pacsafe has a range of RFID-blocking bags & packs, built with anti-theft features such as slashguard wire mesh woven into the bag and slashproof straps and temper-proof zips.

Tatonka Euro Wallet with RFID Blocker

Getting around in Frankfurt & scouring around to look at equipment in their outdoor shops, I found Globetrotter, a 5 -storey trekkers’ haven, that stocks the most comprehensive solutions to camping, trekking, hiking, kayaking & climbing located at the East end of Frankfurt. Here, I found a range of Pacsafe bags amongst other big names in outdoor equipment & bought the Stashsafe100 GII in Midnight Blue, a hip pack with built in anti-theft features & RFID-blocker. I also bought a Tatonka RFID Block wallet for days I don’t need to use the hip pack.

Pacsafe Stashsafe 100 GII hip pack

Inside of main compartment.

Comes with a lock/keys and slash proof strap!

5 storey of excitement!

Bags! Globetrotter has all kinds of backpacks!

To think that Malaysia is the first country to adopt the smart passport system, using RFID technology in 1998, our passports are vulnerable to identity fishing. Whenever I fly, I always have this insecurity about falling asleep & waking up to a ransacked bag. With a hip pack that is lockable on your body, zips that can be secured from opening & straps that are slashproof, I doubt anyone would want to attempt to remove/grab it from me but the added peace of mind of knowing that they can’t is already worth the money paid for. If you travel as much as I do, get the Pacsafe Stashsafe100 GII anti-theft hip pack. You would be glad to walk around the streets of South East Asian cities with the knowledge that nothing would fall out of your bag if it gets slashed neither could anyone pry the bag off you.

Sumbawa & Komodo islands seem to harbour some monstrous sized reef life and their pelagics are ginormous. Giant Trevallies are gigantic, Titan Triggerfish titanic, gargantuan Gorgonians that can wrap you twice over. The Napoleon Wrasse waltzes into schools declaring itself the emperor of the reef and Giant Groupers (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus) prance the neighbourhood without a trace, giving away its camouflage only when it moved. I was many a time, frightened by one in close proximity when I hovered to take pictures over the colourful terrain. The more vibrant cousin, the Coronation Trout (Variola louti), was more visible as it changes colours upon entering & leaving the reef, the prime reason for my decision to take more videos.

By this time, everyone except Team Russia (language barrier), was warming up to one another around meal times as food had always been the centrepiece of conversations in Asian communities. Free access to the soda fridge meant I get to be sugar-powered by Coke after a nitrogen-loaded gawking session underwater. Again the swollen moon made everything explode, not sure if they got excited but I sure did when I caught the courtship ritual of the Trumpetfish at Padang Bai. Could it be that we would get to witness the spontaneous spawning of the reef at this time of the year? It’s hard to contain my joy…..

Anticipating the view of the recently erupted Sangeang volcano that sent a 19km plume of ashcloud into the sky, eager beavers like us (Team China & Team Malaysia) continued to check our location with the map & GPS to see how far off we were & if there was a possibility to get near. The Captain expressed that he was not going to take the risk as molten lava can be seen miles away in the following nights. We were told to get a glimpse of it when we moved closer to Komodo.

Team Austria had to be the walking pharmacy and most medically-equipped couple ever. On the first few days, they kindly whipped out a magic bottle of eardrops that dry out people’s ears as one member of Team Everything-Is-Wrong had gotten an ear infection. Very soon, Team Austria took out some Voltaren pills for one member of Team USA who had gotten a sprained ankle from an injury before she went onboard. She was also my lovely roommate! Her enthusiasm for muck dives was unquenchable as she voraciously searched the guidebooks after each dive for the things she had found.

By that time, I was getting to know everyone except one aloof member of Team China who doesn’t speak English & required his diving buddy to interpret dive briefs to him. A man of few words, he was exceptionally expressive underwater, gesticulating to his awesome interpreter buddy who happened to be an incredible photographer. I think I like him already! We can sign language! And so it was that I would speak Cantonese to him & he would speak Mandarin to me……..bliss!

It takes an amazing mix of divers with a love of the ocean to traverse across continents to get to Bali and embark on a glorious 10 days of diving. The idea of crossing treacherous seas to dive pristine sites usually out of reach to common folks, MV Ombak Biru or known as Komodo Dancer, was built to be like a Dutch Schooner. Sailing off Tanjung Benoa Port in Bali with her crew of 16, the same number of divers from Switzerland, Austria, Russia, Canada, USA, China & Malaysia went aboard to experience 5 star diving.

Our Cruise Director, Lea Jorg, the head of dive operations on board, prepared us with a comprehensive dive briefing detailing the zones where we were to assemble, gear up & stow away our personal dive gear after each dive. With the aid of a very experienced team of Divemasters & boat crew, dive sites were plotted with near accuracy, giving divers concise plans to move along even if the snail-paced photographers like me lose sight of the group. The sites map were drawn daily by Gedeh, a local DM with 6 years of experience onboard Komodo Dancer. His knowledge of the dive sites astounded me when the creatures & critters mentioned during dive briefing were actually seen on each of the dives at almost any turn of the corner!

Expecting something spectacular in the midst of a waning gibbous (transition of a full moon to half moon), our maiden dive was done at Padang Bai, East Bali, under the jetty lined with annoyed anglers sending out invisible daggers at us as we descended with our GoPros, Nauticams, wondercams & whatnots. Being told that it was a muck dive, a few divers who were kitted with macro lenses were surprised to see prolific growth on the structural pillars of the jetty, teeming with sponges, soft corals, tunicates & Gorgonian seafans. The colours that greeted us was such a sight to behold, left me in awe as I scanned every centimetre of the encrusted walls for nudibranchs & invertebrates. Gedeh hijacked us to show us a huge Lacy Rhinopias that he had found, a lifer to many who hadn’t seen the clumsy-looking brightly coloured weedy specie of scorpionfish before. Swirling schools of Fusiliers, suspended Sweetlips & basking devilfish on the sand made the jetty somewhat of an exciting fish underpass for divers! The hazard is, of course, getting hooked by any of the anglers above, which one of the Canadians discovered when she felt the hook tug on her ponytail!

We redescended after a hot breakfast served ala carte when we couldn’t get enough of this peculiar marine refuge equipped with glass domes on our ports to get our fill. The Captain sailed as soon as everyone returned to a spread of tropical fruits & Indonesian buffet lunch!

Our first stop was at ErHai Fishing Village, a lake that the Chinese term as the sea for the never-ending sight of the horizon. Not getting much sleep from the night before when we arrived at The Ancient City of Dali (Dali Gusheng), I woke up to a temperatures too low for my liking. A cotton-loving girl donned in Uniqlo HeatTech, fleece & technical jacket is hardly anything to marvel at. I saved my waterproof ski pants for the coldest sector of my journey…….Yading, in Sichuan near the Himalayas.

At dawn, these boats are parked by the lakeside.

Boats parked.

Fisherfolks row out to haul in the catch.

Wheat clusters left by the road.

Mode of transport for the village folks.

Taking out the vermicelli noodles at the factory.

Noodles hanging out to dry.

Garbed in balaclava, beanie & hooded jacket.

This was our first stop on our long & arduous journey to Yading Nature Reserve. On the bus, there were 12 other photographers & an MPV with 6 people plus the driver. Travelling 350km upon arrival in the evening was anything but nice. The fun only began on the 3rd day when I was accosted by Leong Taoping (Long Bean Army as I called him) and the demure but bean-bashing, Angela.

In the last two months of juggling courses & getting some underwater time with the blennies & slugs, I’ve been writing so much, communicating with magazine editors, LoyarBurok’s administrators & the European Underwater Federation secretary, that I forgot about my dad’s death anniversary on the 29 July. Not that he would mind, as he’s having a whale of a time playing golf in heaven as I was given a glimpse of the remarkable realm on one cloudy evening. It has been a hectic month attending meetings & getting the events sorted out for we won the bid to host the next meeting for ISO Standards next year! Woohoo! We’re bringing the movers & shakers of the dive industry to Malaysia!

On August 1st, the candlelight vigil that turned ugly, never made it to the mainstream media. Upon submitting the report to Loyarburok.com, it was picked up by Malaysia Today & gained a mention in Hufftington Post! The videos had thousands of views, gaining a few subscribers whom I wish, would follow my fish & slug postings instead! Call it accidental activist journalism, I certainly prefer chasing octopus & mating flatworms or be surrounded by real barracudas than men in arms & metal plates. The dive expo came & gone. It was an event where we dive professionals touched base with the players & reestablished ties with stakeholders. It was also my girl’s-nite-out with Suzette, the owner of Seaventures Dive, the converted oil-rig resort on Mabul island! We had a great time over wine & a delicious spread of buffet for dinner in Sheraton Imperial Hotel, cherishing every minute of our friendship across the seas. Thank God for girlfriends!

September is upon us & I endeavour to do away with caustic friends who bring detriment to me & my belongings when they run at the thought of accountability. Just when you think it’s safe to trust someone, they screw it up so badly that it takes away any respect I have left for them. It’s also a new beginning with STaRT, a society that focuses on training underprivileged kids in music, performing arts & life skills. I will get to teach kids from 10 different homes to swim in the pool! Thanks to supporters like you, who have seen me through the good times & the bad to enable me to pay it forward. Thank you for being my student, my associate, my client, my supplier, my advocator, my friend, my conscience & my hope!

Coral bleaching is the whitening of corals due to the expulsion of algae ”“ the food manufacturing processors that reside in corals by way of photosynthesis. This can be caused by a number of weather phenomenon triggers, most commonly a rise in water temperatures. Bleached corals are not yet dead.

The rise of surface temperatures in the water is caused why the El Nino weather patterns. El Nino is only one part of the Southern Oscillation. The counterpart to this coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon is La Nina, usually expected from November to January, often has reverse effects to El Nino. La Nina conditions would see a drop in ocean temperatures by several degrees, causing algae to return to corals.

I’ve witnessed a similar occurrence in 1997 and was diving in pleasantly warm waters until 1999 when La Nina brought the cold fronts of about 21 ”“ 23 degrees Celsius back to our waters and giving the algae the much desired environment to thrive in. We had 95% recovery and I believe, we will have a recovery as soon as the water temperatures in the region begin to drop.

El Nino has been around for centuries and has nothing to do with global warming ”“ it can enhance the effects of El Nino but it is not the cause. This is something that divers have known since encountering it during its last occurrence. Global warming is an atmospheric condition whereas El Nino occurs when the gush of warm waters spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific.

What has it got to do with divers diving near coral reefs? If we were grazing corals or mowing them, then perhaps the closure is apt but divers hover way above the corals to avoid collision and injury to animal and man. Whether there are divers present or not, the coral will remain bleached until the cold waters (fronts/currents) are brought in by La Nina, which might or might not revive the bleached reef in time. These factors are not related to the impact of divers.
bleached coral

healthy corals

So what will the dive sites closure achieve? You would think that the authorities would do some research on coral bleaching before making such a drastic move that causes livelihoods to suffer. The Maldives, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia are experiencing the same but they are not jeopardising the tourism trade because of a weather phenomenon.

The efforts of the authorities to close dive sites will bring about dire consequences to the trade depending on dive tourism. Travel agents will stop selling/pushing the sales of dive resorts and packages for fear of getting flak from irked divers. This being said, agents who are not divers, will think it’s probably a blanket closure, not knowing where in the map is Chebeh, Labas, Tulai, Washing Machine, Fish Bowl and whatnots are at (dive sites’ names). They will err on the safe side by NOT selling dive packages.

This effect caused by the announcement has also reverberated to overseas travel agents (who also have no idea where Chebeh, Labas, Tulai, Washing Machine, Fish Bowl are) and they will be less inclined to sell diving and worse of all ”“ they are removing a source of civilian detection of “crime” at seas.

Let me give you an example of what goes on in the islands. Illegal spearhunters will plunder our dive sites and take those resident fishes that have grown accustomed to divers’ presence in the water leaving dive instructors like us with no attractions to show our students when visiting our reefs. When something like this happens, divers from different dive operators who witness the incident, would take photos and warn them to get off the site.

One such incident occurred and divers collaborated to chase the spearhunters’ boat off their territory. Several years ago, it was well-known that Kevin Hiew, the former Head of Marine Parks, detained a spearhunter in Redang waters who was also the owner of one of the resorts in Redang itself. He was prosecuted and fined for spearhunting in marine parks.

If you hold a speargun without a gun license, you are liable to be prosecuted under the Firearms Act 1971. The police have stopped the issuance of these licenses in 1985, with the minimum age set at 21 years to qualify to apply for one then. What age would you have to be now, if you are to be even seen as a legal owner? Make no mistake about this as we are not against spearhunting but against “spearhunting using SCUBA” in the vicinity of marine parks. We shall not go into the specifics of this now as spearhunting is a subject that’s been debated for years.

The presence of dive boats will also deter the encroachment of illegal and legal fishing boats from fishing too close to the marine parks demarcated sites. Regardless of whether they hold the “A” or “C” class fishing license, these fishing boats will anchor in the vicinity, causing untold damage to corals beneath. The Marine Parks and the Fisheries Department do not have sufficient manpower, boats to survey and enforce laws thus, are very much dependent upon dive operators to report and confirm sightings of spearhunters/illegal fishing boat in the area.

clown fish bleached corals

Lighthouse at Tokong Timur, Tenggol

A 100 metre well was dug in Tenggol bay, followed by a lighthouse built on Tokong Timur. What kind of crowd are they expecting to accommodate from this source of fresh water? Word has it that a jetty is being planned ”“ which means a flurry of boats would be making their way inwards to the bay where there’s a thriving house reef and divers learn to dive. They have constructed a jetty on Pulau Bidung already, much to the ire of divers and conservationist of Pulau Bidung. The island is not opened to the public, so what is the jetty built for?

Jetties alter the current flow that brings vital nutrients and sunlight to the reefs. Seabeds are dug deep and corals are killed in the process.

Is the construction of any structure legal in marine parks? Or does it fall within the jurisdiction of district councils and land offices?

Wouldn’t you want to know if this is just a way of removing the crowd so that no one can protest after such structures are built?

bleached corals

bleached corals 2

This article is also published in LoyarBurok.com

More about the Time Tunnel later in the new travel blog. You can access the article here:- Time Tunnelling In The Cameron Highlands