Flying into Singapore was sort of like flying into Los Angeles International Airport and looking down at the sea of traffic lined up on the 405 freeway. The only difference is that you are actually looking down into the actual sea, and instead of cars, there are boats for as far as the eye can see. Freighter after freighter lined up waiting to enter port.
Once inside the airport…
…we noticed how spotlessly clean it was. Not a spec of dust anywhere. I guess that was to be expected in this gum-free land.
I guess in that regards Singapore reminds me of Japan. A very clean country.
And just like in Japan, they also have similar anti-suicide measures in place at the train platforms. But unlike the ones in Japan, you’re sort of on the honor system.
Other than that though, there really wasn’t all that much in Singapore that was exciting and blog worthy, so we spent a good deal of time just getting some work done.
On one of the days however I did venture out to a nearby modern art museum. There was this giant balloon sculpture on the front lawn. I just couldn’t resist seeing what else was inside.
And ya, it was modern art. A lot of cool/weird/funky/bizarre/senseless/wacky stuff.
A lot of it was pretty cool, but then I stumbled upon this piece.
Curious if this was just a place holder for something that was coming soon, or the other end of a surveyors theodolite, I looked closer at the nearby plaque…
…and that’s when I realized: I HATE ARTISTS! Come on Oliver! Seriously!? That’s some maniacal marketing! You sure pulled the wool over someone’s eyes when you convinced them that your single geometric shape on another geometric shape qualified as “art.” Pshaw!
At least I had a chance to see some original Andy Warhol paintings.
You’re lucky Oliver! For if it wasn’t for the chrome devil in a boat…
…I’d have asked for my money back. Just because of YOU!
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on December 16, 2008.
Filed under: Asia,Singapore,Travel | No Comments »
With two successful dives under our weight belts, our confidence was riding high. I was starting to really get a hang of this underwater breathing thing. Like yesterday we had an 8am dock call. Today we a piled into a little dingy and took it out to the main boat anchored off shore.
And that’s when we hit a snag…
…literally. After further inspection…
…it was determined that we accidentally ran over a buoy line! And that’s not a good thing. If the rope gets caught in the propellers it can cause engine damage. So Walter and Daniel suited up to save the day.
Good thing we had scuba gear and divers on board! They dove in under the boat with knives in hand to untangle us. After several tense minutes, they emerged from the depths below…
…with quite a catch!
With that all out of the way… it was full speed ahead!
To Palong Bay & then Bida Nok for dives 3 & 4 respectively.
On our 4th dive we saw some more turtles, sea cucumbers, lion fish, puffer fish and… drum roll please…
…wait for it…
A 2 meter long zebra shark (aka leopard shark)!! It was awesome swimming with a shark! Experience of a lifetime. Quite the way to end our final dive!
After that it was back to the dive shop for our final exam where we all passed with flying colors!
You are now looking at the latest PADI open water certified scuba divers! Look out below!!
To celebrate our accomplishment we hiked to the top of the island…
…for a view of the sunset.
..and then it was off to Reggae Bar for some drinks…
…and boxing.
A highly successful 4 days on Phi Phi island! We’re gonna miss this place. Memories forever.
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on December 12, 2008.
Filed under: Asia,Thailand,Travel | 1 Comment »
We’ve seen all we needed to see at Patong beach on the island of Phuket. There’s really not much to see actually. 1-2 days max is plenty. And so having maxed out or stay, we hopped in a cab to the other side of the island to grab a ferry ride…
…to another island. The beautiful island of Phi Phi.
We came to this island with a mission. That mission, was to obtain our open water scuba diving certification. We’ll be in Australia at the Great Barrier Reef within a couple weeks and due to certain flight restrictions we won’t have a ton of time there. So we want to get the training and tests out of the way now, so we can focus on fish once we are there.
Our first day of lessons involved watching the first 2 chapters of the PADI DVD and then taking a couple of quizzes. Pretty simple stuff. The next day we watched a couple more chapters and then had some hands on practice with all of the equipment. Learning how to breathe out of the regulator, attaching our B.C.D. (buoyancy control device) to the tank, testing the tank levels, etc, etc… With a couple of practice runs on dry land, we suited up and hiked down to the beach in all of our gear for some first hand experience breathing under water — in shallow water.
Breathing under water certainly takes some getting used to! A very cool feeling once you embrace it and learn to trust your regulator, but it’s definitely a foreign feeling so it does take some time to embrace it. Once you come to the realization that that regulator is the only thing keeping you alive under water, breathing through it really becomes second nature. Funny how that works.
The next day we woke up bright and early for an 8am dive. Our gear was packed, and we headed down to the dock to board our vessel.
After a short ride out towards Bida Nai the captain of the boat killed the engines where we would make our first dive to 12 meters below sea level!
Our chief instructor Walter gave us a mission briefing on deck, and then we prepped our gear.
Same as the day before… attach the BCD to the tank, attach the regulator to the tank…
…open the air valve, test the air quality and pressure, test the regulators, test the BCD, put on the wet suit, strap on the weight belt, climb into the BCD/tank/regulator setup and then check your buddies gear after he checks yours. Finally you strap on your mask, snorkel, and fins…
…and you’re ready to go!
As a newbie, I didn’t wanna preoccupy myself with taking underwater photography (breathing was slighly more important) so you’ll just have to take my word for it when I tell you we saw trumpet fish, lion fish, a moray eel, black diamond sea urchins, brain coral, long arm feather stars and plenty of other stuff I can’t name. After 42 minutes under water we surfaced and inflated our BCD as the boat came around to pick us up.
We survived our first dive with only minor injuries…
…from fins that were too tight.
After a lunch and some R&R back on the boat we made our way to the second dive spot of Phi Phi Lay. Again 12 meters down, for about 45 minutes. This time the visibility was much better and we spotted a plethora of mini jellyfish, clown fish, butterfly fish, and even a hawksbill turtle!
And again, we survived! Aside from the toe injury and Jay’s nausea it was a highly successful first dive! Tomorrow we get to do it all over again too! Awesome!
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on December 11, 2008.
Filed under: Asia,Thailand,Travel | Comments Off on Scuba Doobie Doo!
Despite Thailand being a bit unstable at the moment due to the political unrest, we’ve managed to migrate from the northern part of the country, to the island of Phuket on the south western coast. Phuket was one of many regions that was swallowed up by the ocean during the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.
Since then, most of the businesses have sprung back up…
…and the city is a bustling tourist destination again.
Almost too much so. The Patong beach area for example is sort of like a cross between Las Vegas, Tijuana, and Bangkok. A party town that can get you in a lot of trouble if you’re not careful.
They should almost have another set of guidelines posted…
…educating tourists on how best to avoid the prostitutes, lady boys, and knock off brand name merchandise.
At least they support Obama here! So it can’t all be bad.
Luckily we’ll be out of here in just a couple days to somewhere more remote and laid back.
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on December 7, 2008.
Filed under: Asia,Thailand,Travel | No Comments »
Well this really blows.
We had planned to be in Vietnam and Cambodia by now. But with all the red shirts and yellow shirts feuding, and both of Bangkok’s airports shut down due to civil unrest, we were sort of stranded in Chang Mai. Not a bad place to be stranded mind you, but we had plans to see Angkor Wat! We had our malaria pills ready and everything! We could have taken busses and boats to Laos, and escape from there, but that really didn’t seem that appealing to be honest.
So instead we waited it out and grabbed the first available flight to Phuket. The crazy thing is, all flights route through Bangkok. Check out the ghost town of an airport.
This is one of the busiest airports in all of Asia, yet there were hardly any planes on the ground and even fewer people in the airport.
It’s crazy to think that just a few days ago this place was over run by several thousand protesters! What a site that would have been to capture on film!
The trip must go on however. We have to make it to Sydney by New Years, and that’s less than a month away! So we’ll just have to make the best of it.
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on December 6, 2008.
Filed under: Asia,Thailand,Travel | No Comments »
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