so time flies and people wonder why. it's a fast paced world out there. it's just been too fast for me. too short for an enjoyment, yet too high for this period.
i'm proud to say i'm finally back in my favorite office! yea! well, it's probably going to be my last week here, so till the end i'll try my best to stay awake and to stay active. i'm uber tired now. seriously.
why, you ask?
that's because the past week+ has been really jampacked with fun activities! i feel as though my spirit has been rejuvinated by the fountain of youth. ah, youth, how wonderful.
last friday to sunday was the dayang diving trip. it was with a couple of peeps from army, peeps from jc and peeps from everywhere else. basically, for those who have no diving experience whatsoever, but you love the sea and water, why aren't you getting up and moving? go diving, for goodness sake! it's loads of fun!
contrary to public belief (speaking in a matter-of-fact tone), diving is a very safe sport. really. coming from a non-risktaker like me, believe it. hahaha. well, of course, there are dangers of lung overexpansion, nitrogen narcosis, getting stung by weird marine plants and being run over by boats. that is if you're (1) unaware of the prevailing risks or (2) suay. most of it belongs to (1), so anyway, if you perform the correct procedures, you will be able to have a safe and fun diving session. and they are not procedures that only a rocket scientist can understand, they are easy to remember practices which can save your life.
what attracted me to diving at first was the ability to see things underwater. the corals, the fishes, the wrecks...the feeling of water all over you feels as though you're weightless, free to move in all directions. it's damn fun lar! and then you see the fishes looking at you with those curious eyes and how they interact with one another. nemo with the sea anenome, stingrays and huge clams. schools of fish one after another, and just swimming thru them, is just an experience you can't miss! besides that, you'll stay by the beach with uber nice gradations, and it's basically an eat-sleep-dive, dive-eat-sleep experience. 1 word, awesome! (there is no charge for awesomeness!)
the journey there was terrible though. after loading up all the stuff, we had to travel to the woodlands checkpoint which was jampacked as it was a friday night. and then our van driver pull a few stunts and we got over to johor bahru. thereafter, we had a gruelling 3hr+ ride to mersing ferry terminal. imagine a pitch black road with a few light reflectors in the middle, and then suddenly WHAM! you're blinded by the incoming cars which raise their xeon or incadecent lights to high beam. purposely lor...and we were trying so hard to sleep, but ya it was literally a rollercoaster ride with fast buses and cars speeding over us. i think we couldn't sleep at the same time because we were a tad worried about our own safety. that aside, we reached mersing at about 1215am sat morning.
upon reaching, we had to pay another tax and then move into the terminal. there were so many people over there over many different nationalities, some with their dive tanks and equipment and looking happy. of course there were some who became emo and were asked if they wanted to be happy by anyone besides their own people. yep. i know. anyway after a wait, we board a small chui boat and then headed out for a 4hr boat ride. the boat ride was somewhat close to horrendous. loud engine, extremely cold and ya it wasn't really that shaky but at some times you can really feel sea turbulence. at least they didn't blast any shows or music around so that it was at least conducive to sleep.
when i woke up, it was dim, but i could see the clear gradation of waters. it look somewhat like a photoshopped scenery. tall coconut trees, golden fine sand, crystal clear waters and wooden huts. what an experience. there was even 2 mini goalposts and beach volleyball court for playing. totally cool lar! when you're there you will woah~~ and then your mouth will stay open till you've finished yawning. really tiring hahaha. after a short rest in the aircon hut, we then headed out for our first dive.
basically, our first few dives were to familiarise us with the proper procedures for basic diving, like mask clearing, picking up a lost regulator, hand signals, sharing air source and buoyancy. i was quite excited for the first dive, and continue remaining excited for the rest. because it was so damn fun. seriously. when you enter the water, you will suddenly feel that the world is suddenly smaller all of a sudden. and that there was so much that you have yet to discover. underwater fishes, coral reefs, sea cucumbers, starfish. it was just that cool. haha passing the sea cucumber was damn funny lar, one of them was scared of hairy/spiky things and then choked when master gian put it in front of his mask. then "say-say-say" did a move that was so wrong. nonetheless it was damn funny underwater. especially zohan-ing and other funny things. and the weightlessness, being able to move so freely in water. you feel refreshed when water is all over you. i would say our final dive was the best because we got to enjoy a lot of leisure diving and see a lotta different things. turtles (i didn't see!), starfish, sea cucumber (again), corals (with those that have blue little grass thingies that suddenly contract when you're near them), stingrays, sea urchins, anemones, different types of fish and so much more.
so basically on that island, here was the general schedule. sleep-eat-dive-eat-dive-eat-dive-volleyball-eat-test-sleep-dive-eat-dive-eat-leave. total 16 slots, 6 eat, 5 dive, 2 sleep, 1 test, 1 volleyball, 1 leave. so it was more of an eating trip rather than a diving one haha. food was freeflow and nice~ with quite a variety. but the longer i stayed there, the more i felt i was a seaside boy. hahaha i like the sand, sea and also peacefulness of that place. the tranquility is one thing i will never forget, minus the intermittent blasts of laughter due to 1 x shengyang. he's a level 96 joker lar...hahaha you start any event without him!
leaving the island with wind in your hair, and a seaside smell, we headed for mainland malaysia. mersing for dinner, followed by a lotta laughs and then back to homeland singapore, smelly with overdue kiam her smell from the undried BCD. The trip back was half as torturous as the trip there, mainly because you desperately wanted to get home and at the same time, you’re uber tired. Despite all the tiredness, you feel really happy that you’ve accomplished something, a certificate in hand and a whole load of fun. It’s something that you feel like doing again, because of the fun experiences, and that there are still so many things out there for us to explore. It’s a whole world out there! Woohoo!
