Monday 20 May 2013

My first day

The very first thing my boss says to me: 'Oh, we weren't expecting you this week'. Hum.

Currently reading Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle

Sunday 5 May 2013

Malaysian Islands

The end is in sight. The contract has been signed, the background checks are taking place and my visa is being processed. All that remains is for me to enjoy the last few moments of unemployment. It's been a love, hate relationship over the last six months. Relief, guilt and anxiety the most recent of emotions that overwhelm me; it has been a love/hate relationship. I look back at the list of achievements over the last six months. Dabbling in cooking, ukulele, Cantonese and yoga, but nothing concrete and nothing that I can take away. It's always the case, you expect this much, you demand that much and you might achieve more, or less. With my remaining time, I decided to check off something on my bucket list. Open Water Diving Qualification. So that's what I did, I went diving.


With a bias and the longing to be in Malaysia it was decided that the islands of the Perhentian and Redang would be an appropriate location to submerge into the underwater adventure. Our dive instructor was Jon from the Perhentian Quiver Diving team (Thoroughly recommend these guys for any Open Water Training or even for a cold drink). We stayed at Senja Bay, which wasn't exactly what we expected (Think, piss weak air conditioning, mosquitoes and frogs inside the room). After meeting other Kecil Island patrons, this appeared to be the standard in terms of mid-range accommodation. 



Back to the diving! It was a good mix of theory, closed water and open water sessions. Each morning started with a breakfast buffet, morning theory, the occasional roti, mid-morning confined water skills, lunch by the beach, afternoon theory and an open water dive. Evenings were a relaxing combination of BBQ seafood, the 8:00 pm movie, light banter before lights out by 12. After 3.5 days we were qualified to dive down to 18 metres, Beginner's PADI Open Water.



Given that the last 6 weeks in Hong Kong had been gray, wet and humid the weather gods had treated us well in the Perhentian. In fact, it had been nothing short of spectacular, blue skies with wisps of cloud drapped over a moderately temperate island. As expected, out time here flew by and after starting the advanced module we were soon on a 50 minute speed boat racing towards our next destination, the Redang Islands. Here we dived, ate relaxed, and explored. That, in a nutshell is what about all we did! 





We arrived back in Kuala Lumpur one week later feeling like a blob of golden goo. Tanned from the gentle sun and relaxed from the lack of worries. Our final night was spent gorging ourselves on Malaysian delicacies and street cuisine all while the Malaysian public awaited the election. I'm too old to be working ...