Sunday, February 21, 2010

Maldives February 2010

I'm waiting in the Hulhule hotel whilst my dive buddies are getting
drunk at the bar. Flight back to Singapore is in 5 hours time - so I'd
thot I'd kill some time and write a quick note. The internet
connection here is patchy so I gotta make it fast.

I just spent 6 dives of diving on a live on board scuba diving boat in
the Maldives, 18 dives (3 a day). Its a bit of a deja vu as I did
Maldives 2 years ago at the start of the monsoon season - and the
diving was rough.

I was expecting calm seas, great visibility and plenty of marine life.

But you can't have marine life without current. We did a lot of channel dives - some exceeding 30m - a few of us hit 40m. You would expect to see more doing the deeper dives - but this time most of the good stuff - the sharks and the manta rays (giant graceful bat like ocean creatures) were found at 15 - 20m.

We were very fortunate to encounter the larger marine life at the start of the trip. On the 2nd day, we got into a "shark alley" where there were over a dozen or more sharks prowling around.

I forgot my camera for that dive. Pity, the visibility was excellent - 20 - 30m.

On the 3rd and 4th days we ran into a group of mantas. They are extremely graceful and beautiful creatures. To see them soaring and flying in the ocean current is a spiritual experience. They are also not shy and seem to enjoy the company of humans. They soared and played over our heads - there were moments when I stopped filming them and just gazed at the creatures - there is this special moment of affinity as they glide pass you, your eyes lock for a brief moment - and then they soar away.

To my Christian friends, if you see one you cannot help but be awestruck at God's handiwork. Deep in the ocean depth, or trillions of light years in the heavens, "He hath made all things beautiful in its time".

This time I remembered to bring my dive camera (and my dive com) so I got a number of good video shots.

Not all the dives were easy, the deep dives were particularly hard -the current was super strong. I like to be on the edge of the group soI can get good photo shots but on one of the dives I was separated and swept into a coral reef - the current was so strong that at times I
was pinned against the coral, unable to move. Fortunately, I had my orange safety marker, (which looks like a giant long sausage balloon) deployed it, did my safety stop, and ascended.

The Ocean is a very big place - if it wasn't for that cheap $18 safety marker I don't think the boat would have seen me. I think I'll buy another one. :)

I will post up videos of the diving scenes on youtube when I get back. The internet connection here is not good.

This time round I dived with a group of people I totally didn't know. But hey, I didn't want to spend my Chinese New Year eve visiting relatives and getting the old crappy snide jokes about being single. Scrw that man.

The group was half Singaporean - half Cosmopolitan - French, Spanish, US/Chinese, Kiwi, and an Indian cancer surgeon working in Shanghai as a consultant. Fascinating bunch of people. What amazing lives they lived. My life is dead boring in comparison. I couldn't think of any of my usual witty comments. I think I said a few dumb things too. ah well. I get a bit tense when I'm with new people. So I don't usually say much if anything at all.

The boat that we were on - the Princess Lara seems to be a copy of the MV Eagle Ray - same sort of arrangement but just a bit more bigger and spacious. Nice boat, some of the crew were younger and maybe less experienced than the Eagle Ray tho.



Saturday, February 20, 2010

Maldives February 2010

I'm waiting in the Hulhule hotel whilst my dive buddies are getting
drunk at the bar. Flight back to Singapore is in 5 hours time - so I'd
thot I'd kill some time and write a quick note. The internet
connection here is patchy so I gotta make it fast.

I just spent 6 dives of diving on a live on board scuba diving boat in
the Maldives, 18 dives (3 a day). Its a bit of a deja vu as I did
Maldives 2 years ago at the start of the monsoon season - and the
diving was rough.

I was expecting calm seas, great visibility and plenty of marine life.

But you can't have marine life without current. We did a lot of channel dives - some exceeding 30m - a few of us hit 40m. You would expect to see more doing the deeper dives - but this time most of the good stuff - the sharks and the manta rays (giant graceful bat like ocean creatures) were found at 15 - 20m.

We were very fortunate to encounter the larger marine life at the start of the trip. On the 2nd day, we got into a "shark alley" where there were over a dozen or more sharks prowling around.

I forgot my camera for that dive. Pity, the visibility was excellent - 20 - 30m.

On the 3rd and 4th days we ran into a group of mantas. They are extremely graceful and beautiful creatures. To see them soaring and flying in the ocean current is a spiritual experience. They are also not shy and seem to enjoy the company of humans. They soared and played over our heads - there were moments when I stopped filming them and just gazed at the creatures - there is this special moment of affinity as they glide pass you, your eyes lock for a brief moment - and then they soar away.

To my Christian friends, if you see one you cannot help but be awestruck at God's handiwork. Deep in the ocean depth, or trillions of light years in the heavens, "He hath made all things beautiful in its time".

This time I remembered to bring my dive camera (and my dive com) so I got a number of good video shots.

Not all the dives were easy, the deep dives were particularly hard -the current was super strong. I like to be on the edge of the group soI can get good photo shots but on one of the dives I was separated and swept into a coral reef - the current was so strong that at times I
was pinned against the coral, unable to move. Fortunately, I had my orange safety marker, (which looks like a giant long sausage balloon) deployed it, did my safety stop, and ascended.

The Ocean is a very big place - if it wasn't for that cheap $18 safety marker I don't think the boat would have seen me. I think I'll buy another one. :)

I will post up videos of the diving scenes on youtube when I get back. The internet connection here is not good.

This time round I dived with a group of people I totally didn't know. But hey, I didn't want to spend my Chinese New Year eve visiting relatives and getting the old crappy snide jokes about being single. Scrw that man.

The group was half Singaporean - half Cosmopolitan - French, Spanish, US/Chinese, Kiwi, and an Indian cancer surgeon working in Shanghai as a consultant. Fascinating bunch of people. What amazing lives they lived. My life is dead boring in comparison. I couldn't think of any of my usual witty comments. I think I said a few dumb things too. ah well. I get a bit tense when I'm with new people. So I don't usually say much if anything at all.

The boat that we were on - the Princess Lara seems to be a copy of the MV Eagle Ray - same sort of arrangement but just a bit more bigger and spacious. Nice boat, some of the crew were younger and maybe less experienced than the Eagle Ray tho.


Thursday, February 11, 2010

This time tomorrow by the Kinks

This time tomorrow where will we be?
On a spaceship somewhere sailing across an empty sea
This time tomorrow what will we know
Well we still be here watching an in-flight movie show

I'll leave the sun behind me and watch the clouds as they sadly pass me by
Seven miles below me I can see the world and it ain't so big at all

This time tomorrow what will we see?
Fields full of houses, endless rows of crowded streets
I don't where I'm going, I don't want to see
I feel the world below me looking up at me!

Leave the sun behind me, and watch the clouds as they sadly pass me by
And I'm in perpetual motion and the world below doesn't matter much to me

This time tomorrow where will we be
On a spaceship somewhere sailing across any empty sea
This time tomorrow, this time tomorrow...

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh - Singapore food

I had dinner at the food court at Raffles Hospital - near Golden Landmark. The food there is pretty good, cheap, and hygienic (important if you're just recovering from a flu).

With about a pound of Nasi Briyani and Roti Prata in me, I confess to being a little hesistant when my friend asked me out for Bak Kut Teh (Pork Rib Soup).

But ah well, what the heck, I'm only in Singapore for a month so I said yes.

Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh, 321 Beach Road, is located near the junction of Sultan Gate road.


The service was great and the food was really good. The pork ribs were well cooked, ok lah quality. Best part - the soup. It wasn't filled with pepper. And it had a nice Chinese herbal taste about it. I think I would have liked it more if I wasn't so full.

I give it a B+ grade.

The place is also near Kampong Glam which had a few popular Malay restaurants that looked quite happening. Pretty nice crowd there.

My friend mentioned we should make a visit there. I agreed.


Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh - Singapore food

I had dinner at the food court at Raffles Hospital - near Golden Landmark. The food there is pretty good, cheap, and hygienic (important if you're just recovering from a flu).

With about a pound of Nasi Briyani and Roti Prata in me, I confess to being a little hesistant when my friend asked me out for Bak Kut Teh (Pork Rib Soup).

But ah well, what the heck, I'm only in Singapore for a month so I said yes.

Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh, 321 Beach Road, is located near the junction of Sultan Gate road.


The service was great and the food was really good. The pork ribs were well cooked, ok lah quality. Best part - the soup. It wasn't filled with pepper. And it had a nice Chinese herbal taste about it. I think I would have liked it more if I wasn't so full.

I give it a B+ grade.

The place is also near Kampong Glam which had a few popular Malay restaurants that looked quite happening. Pretty nice crowd there.

My friend mentioned we should make a visit there. I agreed.

How to Bake an Orange Cake

Ingredients

125g Butter
1/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup Orange Juice
2 eggs
3/4 cup Caster Sugar
1.5 cups Self Raising Flour
1+ Tablespoon Orange Rind
Pinch of Salt
Droplet of Vanilla Essence

Preliminary
Put the Waxing/Baking Paper into the tin. Lightly butter the insides of paper/tin by using the wrapping paper of the butter.

Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature - otherwise they don't gel so well. This applies esp to the butter. If the butter is stone cold - it will take forever for it to be mixed in with sugar.

Step 1.
Make sure Butter is at room temp - soft to the touch; if not microwave it for 5 seconds or something. Cream the Butter and the Sugar ONLY. Stir them around til the Sugar is fully mixed in with the butter and you get that lovely yellow texture look. Don't stir for too long (like 30 minutes) to avoid the butter changing back to oil. Throw in a pinch of salt too.

Step 2.
Add Eggs and Stir that in well. Turn on and Preheat the Oven to 180C.

Step 3.
Add the Milk now. Stir well. You can also add in a small teardrop of vanilla essence. Or if you want you can do this when you pour the flour in.

Step 4
Sift the SR Flour and add it in. Once you have added the flour don't stir it around too much. I recommend you do this manually by hand not by machine. As you stir it - add in the *half cup of orange juice (OJ)* and the *orange rind* - you can add in 1 tablespoon or 2. I like to add in a sliced mandarin skin on top of that.

Try and not mix the milk and the orange juice together because the OJ makes the milk curdle.

Note on Orange Rind - do yourself a favor and get a nice hand held Orange Zester that can really scrub away at the orange skin. I bought mine from Kmart - a Swiss made one that cost $10. Fantastic! I'll write the name of it down later. The trick is to remove the orange part of the skin without taking too much of the white stuff which like the seed makes it bitter.

I also like to throw in one Mandarin skin as well but I make sure I remove as much of the white part of the skin as possible. Remove all seeds - they make it bitter.)

(Note on OJ - I don't like adding the milk together with the OJ on account of the juice causing the milk to curdle. So I like to add the OJ and rind last as I'm stiring the flour in.

If you don't have Orange Juice or Rind - I guess you can use Orange Marmalade - the type that has bits of peel inside. About 4??? tablespoons of OM should be ok (I'm really not sure). You should need to be careful adding that sort of stuff as the more liquid/sugar you put inside - the wetter the cake will be etc..)

Pour the mix into the tin lined with paper. Make sure its flattens out a bit by jiggling it. And put it into the centre of the oven - if most of the heat is coming from the bottom - you can put the cake at a higher spot to avoid the bottom getting burnt.

(I clean and wipe up now. Don't leave the flour sieve sitting in the kitchen sink)

Take the cake out when ready - this is about 30 - 40 minutes depending on your oven.

You can tell it is ready by poking a skewer into the cake and seeing if any of the mix sticks onto the stick. But do this only at the 30 minute mark. If it does stick like small chunks of uncooked mix, leave it in for another 5 minutes.

Take it out of the tin now. Carefully. But only after you are really sure the thing is cooked inside - otherwise it will break apart.

Usually I sandwich the tin with two plates and flip it over. Carefully. The tin is pretty hot so I wear gloves.

Let it sit for about 5 minutes and serve with Hot Earl Grey Tea and decorate it with fresh lavender! I love using my vintage Noritake Arlene set for this sort of occasion.

PS. I find it easier to double the amounts and bake two cakes because in my supermarket, the butter is sold in 250g blocks.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Similan Dive Trip in 1st week of March 2008

My friend Spencer is organizing a dive trip to Similan which he considers the next best thing to Eden.

If you're interested - read on.
Similan Islands!
Read more about Similans here and see pictures here. It is consistently rated as one of the top 10 dive spots in the world according to the Guardian newspaper. March is considered primetime for diving in the Similans and that's the time we are going.
Non divers FYI - Spencer is coordinating open water for a friend at Pulau Hantu to go on this trip, let him know if you are keen to join. But it will be a murky sort of dive yeah as its Monsoon season and all.
Date:
Depart SG: 3rd March 2010 @8.35pm
Return SG:7th March 2010 @12:00 midnite
Schedule
3rd March. Day 0: Stay overnight at Tony's lodge at Khao Lak upon arriving at Phuket Intl airport
4th March. Day 1: Transfer to Live on Board at 8am and start diving
5th March. Day 2: Diving
6th March. Day 3: Diving. EOD transfer to Little Buddha Inn at Phuket to chill (i.e alcohol)
7th March. Day 4: Chilling at Phuket and transfer to Phuket Intl airport
Estimated Cost
Liveonboard inclu diving and accomodation and food: SGD$722+. Click here for pricing
Tony Lodge stay 1 nite about SGD$30+. Click here for pricing
Little Buddha stay 1 nite about SGD$10+. Click here for pricing
Airfare: Currently airfares are at SGD$100 round trip exclu surcharges and taxes
Total Estimated Cost: SGD$862++
Notes on cost
-Pay your own way, No 3rd party operator fee involved
-Air ticket pricing may change the closer we get to March
-Inclu airfare, diving, food and accomodation on the live on board, 2 nites accomodation at Phuket and Khaolak
-Exclu land transfers, diving equipment rental, food and drinks outside of the live on board
-USD$1 = SGD$1.4
Please let Spencer know about your interest as soon as possible. And be prepared to make payment shortly after. Remember February is the shortest month in the year so make your decision quickly.
Call Spencer on Singapore.

Postscript:

We went for the trip and didn't like it. The dive boat was too packed with day trippers and the toilets kept on breaking down. The diving except for the 1st day wasn't all that wonderful because there were too many Thai fishing boats around fishing out the damn marine park when no one was looking.