Elephant memories

In the heat of Cambodia and being busy every day as we are I have become the slowest blog writer ever, because as I keep working on my post I just fall asleep every time. So although I am completely worn out at four oclock in the afternoon I want to dedicate this blogpost to one single day of our trip.

We are in Sen Monorom near the Vietnamese border in the mountains. Here the air is cooler than around the  flat areas we visited before.

We started our day with a 30 minute trek into the forest past cashew nut trees until we could here them. Huge creatures ripping on branches and leaves, flapping their big ears. We turned around the corner and there they were. Two big, grey, wrinkly giants with gentle eyes and a great appetite. The mahouts and our guide didn't hesitate much so while being completely mesmerized feeding my bull Ramken with bananas they already asked him to lay down. The elephant I would be riding was blind on one eye and so sometimes aimlessly searched for the small bananas in my hand or holding out his trunk for me to place them in his grip. The. Mr Torn our guide provided his knee for my to climb up onto the strong animal's neck. Papa was busy getting accquainted with his female elephant Jitet. She turned out to be a little calmer than Ramken, who kept leaving the path and forgetting that all the branches where hitting me in the head. While Papa was riding alone Ramken's mahout sat on his back, giving loud directions and killing vicious flies on our grey friend's head. He sometimes poked a stick with a rounded end against the thick skin on Ramken's back but I was very happy to see that the elephants were guided by voice rather than hitting. We also rode without saddled which is easier on the elephant's back, just not on the rider's legs I have to say. Though I prefered this way after a certain time keeping my legs up above the elephant's ears became very difficult and painful and I am sure I will be very sore tomorrow.

Elephants are very hungry elephants and they ate basically the whole day. While walking Ramken often left the path to yank down long bamboo branches (sometimes hitting my head) and pulling off the leaves and slowly shoving them in his mouth. If it didn't hurt so much riding an elephant would feel like rhythmic flying, so high above the world and moving forward so far with just one of their steps. Most of the time Ramken was leading the way and so often I didn't even see Papa. My mahout told me about the bunong people living in those mountains, who are not Khmer people like in the rest of Cambodia. He taught me some of his language and gave me small round fruit with a large core to eat. They were very tasty.

We reached the river where we took a break to have some lunch ( fruit, fried rice and maniok) and a nap. I would never expected in which way riding an elephant could tire you out. Papa already had a dip into the water between the many small waterfalls, whose steady murmur accompanied our lunch break, before we went to wash the elephants.

This really was the best part of the experience. Our new buddies lay down in a spot where the water reached our chest and we splashed water on them and rubbed the dirt off their thick skin. Jitets mahout hieved me on her back in such a quick movement that my lovely Khmer pants rippes open completely in my crotch. I had to laugh about it and I dont think any of the guys really noticed. I was wearing my bikini underneath but usually I dont show it due to respect to their conservative culture so after leaving the water I quickly changed into my black and white - now brown - leggings. At first I thought this would make riding back easier too, but about halfway to the village my legs didn't like their position again. It was always lovely when Ramken pushed his ears back. They are so strong and made me feel like I am sitting in a saddle regardless. Naturally he kept flapping them around though, I mean humans never keep their ears still either.

Beside de-leafing the bamboo Ramken also kept blowing air and dust against his belly and sides (saying "wash me again, wash me again") and while climbing uphill delightet us with what my mahout called a "part concert" though I think he meant to say fart. 

It really is an amazing experience to be so close to these animals and I think Ramken and Jitet are rather small ones still. Their skin is soft around their neck and even much more wrinkly than I expected. Their eyes seem to vanish in the big faces and their trunk could so much more than they know. It is very strong, but if they want to it can be extremely gentle and precise. They use the roughest trees to itch themselves where we would rub our skin off! Its hard to believe that a small fly cansting through the grey skin and make these beauties bleed. Their whole body is covered with thick dark hairs. Especially on the head they appear more like wire than hair and poked through my pants uncomfortably into my legs. 

Just as I thought my legs would give in we reached the village where I was greater by a Bunong with "Hello, is it me you are looking for?". I eas much more interested in the piglets and baby chickens being guarded by their mums. It was after I got off Ramken and said goodbye to the beautiful animal that I realized Papa, Jitet and our guide had vanished behind me. Patiently i waited for there unnaturally slow arrival as I thought they had just walked slowly. The man "I had been searching for" talked my ear off until Papa and Mr Torn arrived by car as they had taken a different route leading directly to the car. And that was the end of our elephant experience. I will keep the encounter with my favorite animals dear in my now very tired heart.

The blogpost about the past days will follow when I was alive enough to finish it :) overall we are well of course and enjoying our time here.

Lie hai,

Skipper and tiger

Change of author

Erster voller Tag in Kambodscha

Wir hatten überlegt, dass wir den Tag mit einer Kayaktour in den in der Nähe liegenden Mangroven beginnen. Also leihten wir uns nach einem leckeren Frühstück ein Kayak aus und unser Abenteuer auf dem kambodschanischen Fluss nahm seinen Lauf. Unser Boot wartete sehnsüchtig auf dem kleinen Strand am Ufer des Flusses, das Heck im Wasser. Ich entschied mich hinten zu sitzen, also musste Shirin das Kayak ins Wasser schieben. Das klang nach einem Plan. Also schon sie mich rein, das heißt ins Wasser, nicht aufs Wasser, sodass ich direkt den Po im Wasser hatte. Ich dachte, es würde besser, wenn Shirin vorne im Boot sitzt. Weit gefehlt, während der Bootsrand bei mir knapp 2 cm über dem Wasser lag, schwebte Shirin fast in der Luft. Naja, zumindest hatte sie einen Abstand von gefühlten 10 cm zum Wasser. So paddelten wir den Fluss aufwärts zu den Mangroven vorbei an badenden Büffeln. In den Mangroven erwarteten uns weit weniger Tiere, als wir erwarteten hatten. Keine Wasserschlangen, keine auffälligen Fische oder schwimmenden Tiger. Das musste geänderte werden. Also sprang Shirin kurz entschlossen aus dem Kayak ins kühle Nass und hieß mich es ihr gleich zu tun. Doch mein Erfahrungsschatz gebot mir erst nachzudenken, denn mir war klar, ins Wasser zu kommen würde nicht das Problem sein, sondern die Rückkehr aus dem Wasser ins Boot. Doch vor seiner Tochter mag man nun nicht als Spasbremse erscheinen. Also ließ ich mich elegant in den Fluss gleiten. So schwammen wir einige Zeit munter hin und her und genossen es sichtlich. Doch über aller unverdorbenen Freude schwebte eine dunkle Wolke der Vorahnung. Es musste der Augenblick kommen, in der ich meinen Platz im Boot wieder finden musste. Ich bat Shirin, sich an eine Seite des Kajaks zu hängen, während ich mich vorsichtig auf der anderen Seite hochzog. Das klappte zunächst  recht gut, bis ich bäuchlings auf dem Kayak lag und mich nicht drehen konnte, weil zum einen die Gefahr des Kenterns bestand und zum anderen ich mich hätte mit dem rechten Knie auf dem harten Plastik hinknien müssen, wovor ich mich arg scheute. So zappelte ich einer Walross-großen, auf dem Rücken liegenden Schildkröte gleich auf dem Boot rum, nur, dass ich auf meinem Bauchlag. Der geneigte Leser wird nun natürlich denken, dass mein Fräulein Tochter mir zur Hilfe eilen und mir aus der misslichen Lage heraus helfen würde. Doch weit gefehlt. Sie lachte! Nein, nicht ein verschämtes Lächeln beiseite, oder ein unterdrücktes Lachen, weil sie weiß, was sich gehört, nein, sie lachte lauthals in die Mangroven hinein, sodass, wenn sie nicht die Pflanzen gewesen wären, sondern schneebedeckte Berge, die Welt die größte Lawine erlebt hätte, die es je gegeben hat. Quasi die Mutter aller Lawinen.  Nach einiger Zeit und Überwindung gelang es mir alleine die bewährte Sitzposition im Boot zu erlangen. Allerdings nicht ohne dabei den Kayak, den wir noch vor meinem Einstiegsversuch umgedreht und vom Wasser befreit hatten, wieder mit Wasser zu befüllen, sodass wir auf unserer weiteren Fahrt ein Popobad genießen konnten.
Im weiteren Verlauf entschieden wir uns, in die unwägbaren Gebiete der Mangroven einzudringen. Das Wasser stand still. Unser Boot, "Tiger Lilly", kämpfte sich über Treibholz  nach vorne und bahnte sich langsam aber doch stetig seinen Weg durch den Dschungel der Mangroven, genau so wie ein russischer Eisbrecher im Polarmeer. Eine unheimliche Stille umhüllte uns. Nichts war zu hören als der Einstich der Paddel in das dunkle Wasser und unser leises Keuchen ob der Anstrengung in der schwülen Hitze Kambodschas. Plötzlich änderte sich das Bild. Zu unserem Linken waren alle Pflanzen verbrannt als hätte ein gigantischer Drache ausgeatmet. Unser Mut verließ uns allmählich und als wir dann auch noch mitten in der schwarzen Einöde einen seltsam anmietenden Berg erblickten, der  von Laub bedeckt war, entschieden wir uns, umzukehren und möglichst schnell das Weite zu suchen. Mit einiger Mühe wanden wir uns aus dem Labyrinth der Mangroven heraus und fanden zurück auf den Fluss, nicht ohne von einer ohrenbetäubend tschilpenden Grille verabschiedet zu werden. 

Gez.: Tiger

... fly high

Perth:

Four flights in mere six days is quite a high ratio. The first two transported me out of Queensland into Perth on the exact opposite side of Oz. I was book with Virgin for the approximately five hour flight across the country and it proved to be the worst of all 23 I have done. I was surrounded by screaming infants and by the end of the trip over tired I wanted to yell at the flight attendants wether they know that was the most uncomfortable plane anyone ever furnished! Horrible seats - and I am very good at curling up or situating myself sleepably in any plane seat!

However, a pleasant surprise awaited me at Perth airport. Brett and two of my favorite kids picked me up from the airport. Al and Katie were way past their bed time and babbled on happily in the back seat. James would have been with them but apparently he was in such a deep slumber that light, shaking and yelling wouldn't work. I trust Al tried his best.

The few days to follow were full of flash backs, familiarity, fun - lots of f's! I ventured into Perth city, where I felt at home and peaceful, paid visits to the school just like old times, walked the dog just like old times and almost felt as though I had never left. My kids were - to my delight - thrilled with the Trivial Pursuit family edition which i got although Alhadn't   reached the recommended age yet. As I knew all three of them were knowledgeable enough to quickly exceed me in collecting colorful wedges. I guess it says enough that I knew the kids' questions better than mine... They also fell in love with David and my phone which put together result in funny and especially silly conversations. Time went way too quickly and before I knew it I left with another addition on my ankle. A handcrafted love declaration of Katie that hasn't left my foot since.

Singapore:

The arrival in Singapore brought another anticipated reunion! After a lot of sky training, confusion and despair I finally reached the gate from which my dad emerged limping but with a huge smile. Although I had to keep myself from madly crying when my plane touched down two hours earlier at that point I could not shed a tear! I was too overwhelmed and excited by his arrival and the adventures to come. After settling in at our airbnb host's place we headed out for a very late dinner just around the corner and I was back in China where I absolutely love the food! We indulged in delicious street side dim sum and chatted away until our bed's were crying out for us.

While Papa slept in just a little longer than myself I planned our trip without receiving any contradicting snores.

Mainly following this we rode a train out to Chinatown and while I was rather unimpressed due to Chinese and Ozzie experiences he was amazed by smart rider cards and station designs. With all the stores and stalls around I truly felt comfortable as they reminded me so much of my experiences in Shanghai. Chinatown itself laughed at us with many tempting offers, not all of them we could resist. While we skipped the crab knowing it was a specialty in Kep (Cambodia), we had to give in at the Tintin store and the henna booth respectively. My foot and dad's belly both look a little more beautiful now.

As the day moved on so did we towards Marina Bay were we sat down and marbled at the architecture of Marina Bay Sands and neighboring likelihoods. Meanwhile we observed tourist and possibly local behavior. Before again it was time to advance to my most anticipated destination, the unique night safari. Even after the unbelievably long bus ride I was all fired up as soon as we had our tickets and a fire show started in front of the entrance. Over a cocktail and relaxed conversation with three Americans we rested our feet before taking on the trail. At first we wondered wether we would even be able to see but then we were intrigued by civets that smell like popcorn, fishing cats, something scaly similar to an armadillo, owls, sloths, hyenas and so on. And they were all active! Walking around, fighting, waiting to catch fish, in case of the otters doing rolls in the water and staring at us. It was a unique experience! In a flying fox enclosure one of the bats climbed closer and closer to me until it hung so closely to my face that I could have easily kissed it. In this way I even lived through my own personal vampire romance. Since we wanted to be back at the entrance for a Creatures of the night show, we boarded the tram safari half way. For parts of this trip no fences kept you feom the animals or the other way around. In this way we watched rhinoceros, water buffalos, tapirs, deer and more while we went past tigers, elephants and crocodiles. I was amazed by all the animals of whose existence I didn't even know and who were fluffily and merrily entertaining us. The creatures of the night show brought us closer to a few of them and supplied more information on a giant snake, trash separating, fluffy white badgers, a hyena and the fishing cat in a funny and personal way. I can only recommend it !

You can tell by the name that the Night Safari got us home quite late and as we had to leave for the airport in the morning our explorations inside the city were at an end. Not yet the Singapore experience, however, as we had about an hour to roam around the most awesome airport in the world! I found myself back at terminal 1, back at the social tree, back where I was eight months ago with a different travel companion.

With all the domestic flights through Australia I completely forgot how strict and stressful airport procedures for international flights are! In Perth I stood in three queues and already started to believe I wasn't going to make it onto the plane while my backpack was actively mistreating my back. At least international flights themselves are highly more enjoyable than the domestic ones. Going to Singapore it took five hours as well just that I had way more space, food and drinks and an entertainment system. Oh and a blanket and an incredibly comfy seat.

Technically Singapore - Phnom Penh is an international flight, however, only of two hours duration and while the flight and plane itself were on domestic standards, the procedure was very different. Our passports were checked upon entering the departure area but the expected security scans were nowhere insight. A little confused we had lunch before we thought it wise to get to our gate in time considering how long it took me in Perth. Different from most airports the gates were enclosed by glass fronts and each gate had their own security scan lane, where passport and boarding pass were checked right away. The gate opened ten minutes after we arrived and with the described technique we didn't have to queue once as we just sat down until it was time to board and didnt have to undergo any more checks. Very enjoyable!

Cambodia - first impressions:

Very first impression: sudden, humid heat. Easiest immigration procedure. We were out of the airport in no time and our taxi driver Thol awaited us. I wonder how easy it is to find a taxi for a three hour trip in Germany. While I had laughed at Papa for keeping to try and enter the driver's side in Singapore, I found myself frantically searching for the wheel as I hadn't realized Cambodia was a right hand drive country! Not that this could really be enforced as a rule. The next very present impression was the road which was covered with motos. I have never seen so many motor bikes at once. They all drive how they like and the cars don't wait a blink to overtake them even though this means they are driving completely in the other lane. Even cars are overtaken by cars while the opposite traffic is visibly approaching. In some moments my heart must have missed a beat but soon I got more used to the fact of Thol driving in the middle of the road past four people on motorbikes and thirty people squashed into a van, partly standing at the back of it, partly sitting on top. And I thought I was hard core laying on top while on the beach. If you ever despair over having to carry an inconvenient item per motorbike like a suitcase, animal or closet just call your best Cambodian friend, he will advise you. My favorite sighting was a woman with a running room fan sitting behind the motorbike driver to profit from the cold air. A running fan! It was on. Blasting air!

Beside other traffic we passed wooden houses, all the ingredients for a building spread on the ground (eg piles of bricks), regular food, cap and pagoda stalls and in the "cities" an array of smushed stores sporting huge hung up slaps of raw meat and still wriggling dead fish. I put cities in quotation marks as there are houses scattered all along the street (one main street leading down south east and all life is situated around it) and a city being a higher concentration of those shabby looking cabins with piles of garbage everywhere on the grass and skinny cows roaming freely in for gardens and on those grassy fields everywhere without a house. The whole atmosphere was very rural and simple. I don't even remember what it looked like driving through Phnom Penh, the capitol, in the beginning because I was so concentrated on death wishing traffic participants, but I surely saw no high buildings.

After three hours the we turned onto a red dusty road which became slimmer as we went and lead through more fields to Champa Lodge, our home in Kampot. The wooden cabin/ bungalows are situated around a sort of farmlike courtyard to which the bar and terrace of it face. We are located close to many mango trees and the river and which the setting sun reflected off in a pink glimmer. Our room is rather modern considering furniture and mosquito nets are supplied (for Mama, although Malaria is barely ever caught outside of deep trekking jungle.

We have just been relaxing here for the evening where we are digesting our Khmer dinner as well as the sights and surprises of the day. The temperature has cooled down pleasantly and so we have been working on our itinerary for this region while sipping on our last drink and listening to the alien like loud speaker transfer of the speech held at the pagoda for the new year. (Literally, with the strange language and the distortion caused by the electronic transfer we could be listening to an inhabitant of Star Wars' space world.

This was written on the 13th of April. I hope I will be able to keep you posted on our adventures regularly. We are eager to see and learn more!

Skipper and tiger

Dive deep...

Isn't this just perfect? I had written the longest most detailed blog post of all times about my experiences in Airlie Beach and here we go, all gone. I will try again but there will certainly not be as much detail in it as originally.

Arriving in Airlie Beach which is close to the famous Whitsundays in Northern Queensland I experienced a sort of culture shock. Although the bus driver from the airport transfer proudly declared they finally had a McDonald's I was just reminded of the little town I had just left, which only had an IGA and 700 citizens. Besides the amount of people around the beach I also noticed their overall fitness and concern over their looks, which was so different from my home base in Tasmania. My main purpose, however, wasn't the partying - it was the diving. I therefore left my dorm mates to their loud and drunken business and tried my best at catching sleep before cruising out to the reef the next day for my intro dive.

Airlie Beach

There really isn't much to say about that first ride out into the ocean. The ship was huge with hundreds of people on it who were all shipped out to a big pontoon. Breathing under water really freaked me out and so I had to suck it up when the dive master pulled me out into the ocean. I must admit I couldn't concentrate on the coral or the fish as I focused mainly on calmly breathing and not panicking. There isn't much else to say about the trip.
As you can probably understand after that experience I wasn't too keen on commencing my dive course the next day. Anxious I waited for my first instructor Jack to arrive. Quickly I figured out that he must be a Kiwi by the way he pronounced his "i"s. Lucky for me we started off with the first half of my theory lessons before he watched me swim 200 meters and tread water for 10 minutes. To not get bored I asked him to tell me a story but instead he just kept asking me questions so I had to use my precious breath!
After lunch we started our diving practices and Jack patiently waited a few minutes until I had gotten adjusted being underneath the surface. Then we slowly started on skills like retrieving the regulator, emptying a flooded mask, taking the mask off and putting it back on. Over the two days around the pool we worked our way up to diving deeper down the pool where we took our gear off, turned the air off, practiced the Out of Air drill, diving around without mask and so on. At least by the end of this I felt comfortable being in pool water, though the thought of repeating these in the ocean didn't thrill me at all.

After my second day of the course it was time to go onboard the Anaconda III. I joined the group of 33 people slowly taking their shoes off and climbing up on the deck where we received our stinger suits and received a quick tour through the boat over a glass of wine. I was led by Bini (spelling copied from Luca so I don't know if it's right) together with my two Swedish roommates. Upon seeing our cabin I thought I was going to leave the boat with major claustrophobia. We had about a square meter to stand on and two tiny beds above each other. On our way back upstairs I was held up by one of a crew who reached out his hand saying "Are you the student?". Confused I shook his hand and said "Yes, I am Emma." which majorly confused him. Apparently Jack must have told Jono, who I knew was going to be my dive instructor, Shirin with the strawberry blonde hair would be his student. Just that I had started introducing myself as Emma to everyone on the boat, because of the initial debate over the pronunciation of my name. Honestly, after twenty years it gets tiring to be called Sherrin, Sharine, Celine, Shiwin, Chiline, Cherie and so on.
In general though I have never been around so many nicknames being given out. While most just took me as Emma Jono usually preferred Em or Ems and one of the Italian guys whose name was Alessio was sometimes called Ales, mostly though Mario or Mustachio (You can guess why). Oliver turned into Olivia and Wouter from Holland kept switching between Walter and Wooter. These were the most memorable beside self assigned titles like Bini's "Dey don't call me de horrse because I rrun fast." (My attempt at spelling out a strong Irish accent.)
After serving out the last glasses of wine we all sat back together for our first of many meetings. The most important thing here for you (I am sure repeating all the safety instructions is not very relevant) is the crew who was introduced by Bini. We had Baz the skipper, Ellie the hostess (mainly cookings), Bini and Harry as deckhands (mainly driving us out with the small boats beside others stuff), and our dive instructors Tom and Jono - "Dey dive togederr, dey live togederr, dey play togederr." It didn't take me long (got really good at distinguishing Kiwi accents) to figure out they shared a home with their fellow countryman Jack.
That's pretty much it for the start of the journey. We took off in the evening and anchored in front of one of the islands and everyone chatted before bed and got to know each other a little. The beer consumption radically sunk from the first evening to the next which you will understand in a moment.


Day 1: 
The boat took off before I was even conscious but from then on it all went fast. I woke up a hot sweat covered mess with a horrible tummy upset. Our air-conditioning hadn't been working properly and on top of we were rocking from side to side. I was weighing my options to stay in bed or to get up because I wasn't sure how long I could manage the nausea for. In the end I somehow managed to jump into my bikini and a singlet while falling from one side of the bathroom door against the other and violently keeping down whatever was roller coastering inside me. I also managed to stagger upstairs and right to the rail where sun and wind waited for me as did quite a few people who themselves seemed to sport a greenish tint. Once outside the extreme nausea fainted away, the unwellness didn't though and gradually my hands went from numb to completely cramped up. I sat on deck shaking with the water bottle Tom had handed me until Jono came over and stuck me in his jumper. Then he managed to catapult me into a complete state of embarrassment by constantly rubbing and holding my hands trying to decramp or even open them while keeping up a steady mantra. "It's alright, I am here. Not much longer and we are there. 20 minutes. Don't worry, it will all be over. Look, I am right here. 10 more minutes." If I hadn't been so worried about painful fingers I would have sunken through the bottom of the ship into the ocean where no one could stare at me anymore. In the end I suppose everyone sort of knew how I felt just instead of hanging over the rail feeding the fish or quietly spewing in the toilet for a completely random reason my fingers decided to turn into agonizing rocks. Only one guy actually used the upper deck as his spit bowl and Andre was quite upset when he heard everybody else had just stayed in their bathrooms. Before that he just kept mumbling he didn't understand why he got so sick. I myself felt reassured when he revealed it to me as at one point I said to Jono "Oh my god... I can smell it. Someone threw up." to which he replied: "No, no one did. No need to worry." Yeah, Jono.

Whitehaven Beach

As soon as the boat slowed down and especially turned into the shelter from the ocean waves everyone started feeling noticeably better. My hands loosened up and I felt more lively. Good as because it was already time to grab our stinger suits and be shipped off to Whitehaven beach. Its sand is said to be the purest with 98 percent silica. It can be rubbed on the skin for exfoliation purposes, used to clean gold and silver jewelry and has been used to make glass for a spacecraft. From that beach everyone was scheduled to do intro dives in different group. My group was the last one, number nine, and included me. I therefore had some time to walk a track through the forest where I met a few butterflies and almost made a head to head acquaintance with a huge spider and her home. Ugh!

By the time it was my turn the sky was pretty overcast and we could see a veil of rain crash down in front of one of the other islands. Luckily it spared us though. Again I needed to get comfortable in the new surrounding and luckily Jono as Jack was very patient. I went through all my skills alright although the saltwater stung in my eyes and nose and ensured to fill up my nose pocket with snot! Otherwise I was pretty okay with my work and Jono seemed so as well. By the afternoon he must have thought I was ready for my first real dive. (You see, nothing too exciting happened over lunch. I can't recall most conversations and they probably wouldn't be understandably funny. Not like Katie today wondering wether an aphrodisiac made you pooh.) I was nervous but felt safe as Jono came with me. I have to say the consistency of having one dive instructor really helped me get over my initial panic as there is always someone there who has followed your progress and knows how you have been feeling. And so we slowly sunk down consistently equalizing after doing a giant stride off the boat. Before he had been diving with the certifieds and when he climbed up on the boat he couldn't stop shouting out how "insane the visibility is!". Apparently this trip he had the overall best dives in all ten months he worked there. Needless to say I was nervous but curious and a tiny bit excited.

This first dive was my absolute favorite. I didn't have to worry about holding any of the more experienced divers back and it was more interactive. Jono dropped a sea cucumber into my arms and conducted a photo shoot with me. Whenever he got a good shot I could tell by his extreme nodding or alternatively the disbelief head shake. I also really enjoyed this dive because of the huge Napoleon fish that paid us a visit. He was blue and green and his skin which I expected to be rough was very smooth and hard (Jono placed my hand on him so I think it was ok to touch him). After dropping tiny bits of bread the fish kept following us around and suddenly disappearing right in front of me. Sadly I didn't get to see the turtles though who said hi to the snorklers.

Best selfie ever.!

No wait, this one is. When uploading the thumbnail I wasn't even aware of half the second person in it :D

After all the water sports our tummies were rumbling and so by the time I reached the buffet we were already out of salad. Bummer but I guess I was just too slow. As it wasn't pouring with rain like the night before, we weren't driving again (wouldn't have been fair with the night divers underneath the surface) and instead celebrated a little bit. Mustachio turned up Latina music and so we held a limbo competition with the height of the obstacle never really decreasing. Everyone was in a pretty good mood even with the strongly reduced alcohol consumption. Sadly again it started raining so we retreated into the boat until slowly everyone thought it was bed time.


Day 2:
Luckily Bini fixed our air conditioning and so I woke up in the morning with a completely acceptable body temperature. The boat was rolling again but I felt no discomfort whatsoever just laying down and breathing. Naturally then I was very optimistic when the breakfast bell rang and I jumped into some clothes and headed upstairs. By the time got there my state of wellbeing had gotten worse and though I expected it to get better, it didn't. Instead my fingers cramped up again. At least it wasn't as bad as the day before though. Everyone was feeling noticeably better and when Andre brought me some dry bread and orange slices I managed to nibble them away. When I was feeling fine again I thought it was the food until I realized the boat had stopped. We had reached the outer reef and anchored close to the bait reef. After a quick explanation of where we would be snorkeling and diving everyone jumped into their suits again and was dropped out into the ocean by Harry and Bini.
This time I was out with Jono and five certified divers and together we wove our way through the coral towers. At some point Jono excitedly turned around to me and held his hand up in front of his forehead.  I searched around until I discovered the shark just above the seafloor. He rested there a few moments and then swam away from us. Sadly I ran out of air before time and had to resurface earlier than the certifieds. Harry came to pick me up and I felt a bit like a failure. (As I later learnt Jono was very upset with me for apologizing to run out because I was an inexperienced diver. But more to his evaluation later.)

Also during the second dive I was not very happy with my performance. We went to a different site around the reef and looked at more coral and fish. My air lasted just like the others and we leveled off at five meters for our safety stop. I was waiting there and got more and more confused as to why the others would keep diving deeper. Just until I realized I was actually floating up. I tried deflating my BC to get back down but at that point it was already too late and within seconds my head was surrounded by fresh air. Naturally this mistake didn't make me feel much better and so after our return I didnt sit back down with my usual group of Indian Brits and Dutch but sat down with the German group on board.

By the way in that part of the sea no one is allowed (supposed) to go swimming without a stinger suit which protect from apparently common jellyfish and sting rays (I never saw any). As our crew didnt set off the best example, doing backflips off the boat in their boardshorts or Jono diving down only half dressed in the middle of the night to retrieve a lost weightbelt, naturally at least all the guys didnt bother with the suits anymore and jumped off for refreshment whenever the longed for it. Beside regular dips into the water we entertained ourselves with sunbathing, chats, music, chess games and the challenge of finishing your plate while its content is being blown from it.

As it was quite windy we all shared blankets to find shelter under and learned more about each other's nature of travel, general occupation and origin. We also discussed about the advantages of Rosamunde Pilchner novels and watched the long lasting magnificent cotton candy sunset. The colors ranged from dark purple to pink to light blue, green, yellow, orange and red where the sky touched the sparkling sea. As it got darker we could trace the glow stick circle under water where the night divers were exploring. Bini sat us down for a more detailed explanation on where we had been and what was still to come. His favorite topic were definitely the turtles and so he broadly described their life to us and left out no detail about the seemingly very intriguing turtle sex. (Everyone was advised to find the corresponding video on youtube). The eveningly rain started soon and so I dismissed my idea of sleeping outside that night as the floor would be to wet.

Day 3: 

For our last morning I had developped the perfect plan against sea sickness. As soon as I could tell we were about to start I grabbed my pillow and blanket and lay down on the deck floor. With the fresh air in my lungs the boat could rock and roll as much as it liked I didnt care. Of course I didnt manage to sleep but at least I found some relaxation laying there. I only know about one passenger needing to bend over the rail that day otherwise every one was of quite a sprightly mood. We reached our last destination back at the islands where we had 2 hours to snorkel and dive before lunch and our return. 

This time I went out with Jono, Ahley and Wouter and giving me a brief scare I learned Jono wasn't going to be my buddy. Nervous I did the necessary safety checks on Wouter and he assured me it was going to be fine. Our dive spot was similar to a maze with lots of little passage ways and tunnels to swim through and by the end Jono didnt even need to indicate for me to swim a little higher or lower in order not to hit anything, which I dare to say thrilled me.

It didn't take me long to understand why we had switched pairs and I started believing Jonos worss about me not being a bad diver. He held Ashleys hand the whole way through and sometimes dragged her up or down so she wouldnt hit the coral. She is a lovely girl with a usually great feel for her body but I guess she wasnt meant for the water. When the two of them briefly had to pop up I felt comfortable enough to hold an underwater dance competition with Wouter and after resurfacing I was in such a good mood that I didnt return to the boat right away and instead went for a snorkel. To be quite honest it was way more beautiful than underwater! Everything was shining in bright colors which you couldnt see so deep down. All the fish were swimming around in the shallower waters and the only reason I went back prematurely was because I had to take my theory exam before lunch. Jono graded it right when I was done and proudly congratulated me on 98/100 points. "I guess we needed one wrong one in there, otherwise it would have looked like you cheated."

That was pretty much the end of the journey. We pulled our stuff together, set a time for the afterparty and then all together strolled from the marina back to our hostels. At Magnums I was just settling into the room as the door flew open and three half naked very familiar Italians entered: Luca, Alessio and Alex. My female dormmates were very delighted at their tan sight and so they enforced the rule of shirtlessness for men that enter our dorm. 

Around 7 we all met up for dinner and after that were planned to go to a club. By the time I managed to move the six guys (three Italians, three Germans from the boat) there most of the others were already done eating and had consumed a pretty amount of alcohol. Merry they greated me with a "Happy Padi to you!" (Although I did the AUSI certification) and bhavin invented the Padi Power move to be performed by the Padi Puff girls (although I did the AUSI certification). I chatted away with whoever sat next to me and learned about more about Singapore and as of later, myself.

Excuse me, would you please finish your drink before you leave the venue.

Andre, the guy with the hammock.

After we had gotten to the club and started dancing the night away I ended up next to Jono who was quite on the merry side by the bar. Out of the blue he held a speech into my ear which I will repeat the main aspects of, since it really flattered me (despite the boldness and occasional rudeness). It went something like this: "Emma! Emma, you look great, but you don't know that. You underestimate yourself, you don't believe in yourself. You are so confident when you dive. I never have to worry I just look at you and you are fine, popping your ears, swimming around, always doing great. But you are stupid because you don't believe in yourself. When you apologized about your air that just made me so mad! You are such a pussy on the surface, always scared but when you dive you are so amazing! You only started but you just go with the certifieds like it's nothing. It's so nice and easy for me to see that. You have to be stronger, you did great! And I know I am drunk but I really mean it. Your buoyancy is always perfect, no worries at all. I really mean it."

Yes, it is far out for him to judge and insult me, I do believe in myself very strongly otherwise I wouldnt be here. But I felt flattered to know what he was actually thinking and to know I wasn't doing badly at all. His speech went on forever. I cant remember all he said but those things really stuck to my memory.

Overall I am thankful for the experience, my two instructors' patience, the people I met and got to know and of course my own personal achievement. I had a wonderful trip and a lovely evening to round it off, although I had to head home a little earlier because of my early morning plane to Brisbane.

To be continued,

Skipper