To Tenggol with Spanish Dancer

End season was approaching soon, I was desperate for a dive trip. It did not matter where. So when I chanced upon a Facebook invitation (what will the virtual world be without FB these days?), I just jumped into it. I knew no one, who was going? All I wanted to do was dive.

From FB, we got connected and I ended up on a trip with 10 other divers, some veteran, some like me, a newbie. The trip was over a holiday weekend, Deepavali, but being end-season dive, it was off season. I got hooked up with 2 young veteran divers and we car-pooled all the way to Kuala. Dungun.

K. Dungun is about 4 to 5 hours by car via the new East Coast Higway, approximately 300km from my home. We set off at the wee hours at 2:00am, taking a careful,slow and leisure drive. It was wet and dark and it took us a good 6 hours (having make a few pee stops) to finally reach K. Dungun at 8:00am. Off the jetty we went as we reached the quaint little town

View from the jetty, the bridge across Sg Dungun

After the long drive, our hunger growls were heard. Just across the jetty was a stall, manned by 2 ladies selling local Trengganu breakfast. Of course the staple nasi lemak was there tempting our buds. Then there was nasi briyani too. Fried meehoon and fried chicken were amongst others. I could not resist and had both nasi lemak and nasi briyani, served with simple onion sambal,pickle/jeruk, hard boiled egg, anchovies and peanuts. I could not resist adding on one local delicacy made of glutinous rice with fish flakes filling, wrapped in a nipah leave and grilled for that oomph. I forgot what it was call but it was something new for me.

My breakfast + 1 glass of Kopi = RM5.00

We boarded the boat at 9:00am. It was a small ferry boat. The boat ride was not choppy and I slept all the way there. When I woke up, we were approaching the island, greeted by the staff upon reaching the shores of the island.

The resort where we bunk up

The island was as "fairytale" as it could be, palm trees, soft sea breese, fine sand, rippling waves, clear blue-green water, a fishing boat, sunshine and all. The sun was shining hard on us. The weather was good. The sea was inviting.

Clear water, can see right down the sea bed, even 5m deep

No time was wasted. Since our rooms were allocated while in the boat, we quickly got our room keys and checked in. Immediately my room-mates and I changed into our "wet gear" and we are all ready to go.

Our first (check-out) dive was before lunch. I joined a group of newbies where we did the shore dive as our check-out dive, while others went on a boat dive. I had the luxury being guided the dive instructor/organiser himself.

BCDs in the divecentre.

The dive centre was well equipped with various dive gears; BCDs, regulators, air tanks, wet suits, etc. Most of the veteran divers brought their own gear, while some of us rented.

Veteran diver suiting up, ready to go.

Our dive schedules.

Our package was 5 boat dives and 1 shore dive over 3D2N stay. For the price we paid, it was a reasonable package. There is no lack of dive sites in Tenggol. Some of the sites we went were Teluk Nakhota, Tanjung Gemok, Tokong Timur and Tanjung Api.

Dive sites around Tenggol

Among the many creatures we saw, I was fascinated by nudibranch. Tenggol is a nudis haven, not the mention whale sharks too. Unfortunately at the time we were there, the family had move on southwards. (a school was sighted in Tioman). It was a different world under the sea, a world of its own.

Nudibranch (photo credit R. Biddle)

Nudibranch egg (photo credit R. Biddle)

Spanish dance, a flatworm(not a nudi) (photo credit R. Biddle)

When not diving, the idyllic island just lull one into the surroundings.

On a sunny afternoon by the quite beach

A fishing boat anchored not far from some shore reefs.

Seahorse pendant made out of discarded shell.

After lunch, we took a break from diving. The next dive was usually late afternoon, around 4pm. In our free and easy time, for most of us, it was siesta time. Being Asians, our siesta was under the shade of the coconut tree rather than under the sun

Siesta, a popular spot due to hammock

My afternoons were with with Theodore, the resident squirrel. He never stayed still. It was a challenge to photograph him and I had no food in hand, which was the only time he stayed still. He was totally at ease with humans, being brave enough to jump onto me to check out if my camera was edible.

Theodore nibbling away

When night comes, the sky was filled with colours of the rainbow, watching it changed from a hue of bright red to dark purple hue. It was a fun time taking various shots and exposure levels with my camera. If only I have a superwide angle lens...

After a long hot day, a dip in the water was a relief

The dining area was airy, nice romantic light, just short of the ambience. When not diving, this was one of my fave hang out, since this place is where the food was.

Dining area, lights on approaching dusk

Our meals were simple local dishes, nothing to shout about but it fills our hungry stomach. All meals were served based on room number and number of occupants in a room. Our room is supposed to have four but one room occupant joined another table and we had more than ample food. (3 people eating for 4). All our meals (except for breakfast) are rice based, serve with chicken or fish, vegetable, soup and fruits. Dinner was better than lunch, having more dishes. I ate to my fill, being me, I chomped down anything edible.

Fish balls, stir-fry cabbage, sambal ikan kembong, sambal sotong, watermelon serve with rice.

On the day we depart, the sun was strong. There was no dive on departure day. Whilst waiting for the boat, we hung around, had a long breakfast.

Fine sand, we were all ready to leave

View of dive centre

As usual, I slept all the way back to mainland and only woke up as we were approaching the jetty. It was a beautiful sight, but alas, it means our trip was over.. for now.

Fishing boat anchored at the Sg Dungun

Along the banks of Sg Dungun, approaching Kuala Dungun.

Alas, the dream trip was over for now. I am looking forward to going again next year, this time I will take some underwater photos

Mid-autumn Gluttony

It is the time of the year again. I always look forward to this. Mid-autumn festival, the night of lanterns and mooncakes. It always fall on the 15th night of the 8th lunar month. I won't go into details of origins and what-nots.

Way before the actual date arrives, mooncakes in various shapes and flavours start to enter the consumer market. There are now out-of-this-world flavours like blackcurrent and cheese, green tea melon, dragon fruit, lychee, amongst the many that the flood the market. No matter how crazy the flavours and colours come and go, the originals remain. Lotus paste (with and without yolk), green beans, red beans and mix nuts (a.k.a 5 nuts) (with or without bacon).

I did not take a liking to mixed nuts as I need to really chew on it and it can be quite sweet and sticky. It has been known as "elderly mooncake" as there are a dearth of younger generation savouring this nutty concoction. I was one of the younger generation, but now, my liking has changed. Oh no, not that I am elderly but it is a certain mooncake that steered my liking to this.

Recently I was given such a mixed nuts with bacon. It is not any of the famous mooncakes or from any well-known bakery. It was from Batu Arang, a small coal making town in Malaysia. The packaging was simple, though a lot fancier than the olden days of card box. It is still a card box anyway.

Eagerly, I cut open the mooncake. The nuts mixture with crytalised winter melon and melon seeds smiled at me. The traditional nuts ingredients amongst others are walnuts, almond (h'ang-yan), olive kernels (lum-yan), melon seeds, sasame seeds and crystalised winter melon.

The hindsight of eating this is that it sticks to my teeth, especially on the molars. Never fail have I got to vigorously brush my teeth after a bite of this. However, over the last two years which I have learned to enjoy this, never have I regret biting into this little "pastry".

Many a time I told myself I would love to bake my own mooncake, but looking at the recipe (courtesy of Amy Beh) it is just too much trouble.

I think it is time to have my break now, a visit to the FayFoong mooncake shop should be able to satisfy my craving. Yes, this is the only mixed nuts mooncake I take, not that I am publicising for FayFoong.

Enjoy..

Monks and Recession..!

I got this story via email recently and it reminds me of the 3Rs, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Note that the last option is recylce. Most people think of recycling first, which seems to be the current fad, but our first thought should be "reduce". By reducing our usage to only neccessity and when neccessary, it would do a lot for Mother Earth by not digging more into her body for landfills.

When comes to the point of one has to use something new, which we could not "reduce" to being not using, then next step is "reuse". Why need to buy a new bag or new container when there are means to repair or use/modify another container.

Last resort, only when we can't reduce and/or reuse it, then the object should be sent for recycling. Many people do use the term recycle and reuse in the same context. Well the two words are very different. Recycle involves breaking down of the original component and to come up with a new product altogether. Reuse is when the component does not change. A piece of printed paper soaked, mashed up, bleach and comes out as recycled paper, paper all the same but not the same paper it was. A piece to paper reuse to as wrapper, origami, shreded into kitty litter..now that is reusing, just like the monk who wante the new robe. The cloth in the cycle was reuse over a cycle of different purpose to the very end.

An Elder Monk, one day, was on deep thought about the worldly activities and the ways of instilling goodness in human. The following is the text of conversation between him and his disciple.

One of the disciples approached him and said humbly

"Oh my teacher! While you are so much concerned about the world and others,

why don't you look into the welfare and needs of your own disciples also".

Elder Monk: OK.Tell me how I can help you?

Disciple: Master, "My attire is worn out and is beyond the decency to wear the same.

Can I get a new one please?"

Elder Monk found the robe indeed was in a bad condition which needed replacement.

He asked the store keeper to give the disciple a new robe to wear on.

The disciple thanked Elder Monk and retired to his room. Though he

met his disciple's requirement, Elder Monk was not all that contended on his

decision. He realized he missed out some point. A while after, he realized,

what he should have asked the disciple? He went to his disciple's place and

asked him "Is your new attire comfortable? Do you need anything more?"

Disciple: Thank you my Master. The attire is indeed very comfortable. I need

nothing more.

Elder Monk: Having got the new one, what did you do with your old attire?

Disciple: I am using it as my bedspread.

Elder Monk: Then.hope you have disposed off your bed spread.

Disciple: No.no.Master. I am using my old bedspread as my window curtain.

Elder Monk: What about your old curtain?

Disciple: Being used to handle hot utensils in the kitchen

Elder Monk: Oh.I see.Can you tell me what they did with the old cloth they

used in Kitchen?

Disciple: They are being used to wash the floor.

Elder Monk: Then, the old rug being used to wash the floor.????

Disciple: Master, since they were torn off so much, we could not find any

better use, but to use as a twig in the oil lamp, which is right now lit in

your study room..

Elder Monk smiled in contentment and left for his room.

Moral:

If not to this degree of utilization, can we at least attempt to find the

best use of all our resources at home and at office..??

It becomes imperative in the critical time of Recession...

Living Frugal

I was just shared by a frugal friend to this website and just thought to share it with others.

http://www.wisebread.com/not-driving-your-less-frugal-friends-crazy


I am in a similiar position like not eating lunch out, bring my own lunches, refuse to get rid of my m'bike, shop in rejects section, do not keep up to the latest fashion, etc ...but if it helps to save, why not?

I live by these sayings,
if it can be use, why throw it away?
if I shop in rejects corners, it does not bring harm to anyone or harm to myself, why not?
why pay full price for something if I can get it much cheaper and the quality is still reasonable and it brings no harm to anyone? But not to weasal one's way into getting free stuff
I don't need a DKNY when I can get a SS2.
I don't have to eat top grade food as long as it is edible and bring no harm
I am not stingy but frugal.
Pls don't equate frugal with stingy or selfish. (yes, i have come across many who do)

I am thankful to have friends and my mother who understand the meaning of frugal and actually practise living as such.

Want not, waste not.

Can I not be strict?

It was an uneventful day. I was indirectly told that my review was too much and it was the reason for the staff not able to clear their work fast enough. Heck, I was just doing my job. It is my job to review to ensure work done is up to the standard quality required by the profession. And now I am to be "blamed" for that.

What has the current Y generation come to? They complain to a superior that my review is too time consuming to clear. Well, if work was done satisfactory, I would not have raise those queries. Now I have to take the rap.

Somehow this mentality is spreading, from the rumours in the universities and colleges and now to the workplace. The standard of quality have to be lowered to meet those who cannot acheive that level set in the first place. It is like telling, well, you cannot pass at 50 marks, we let you pass at 40 marks.

And who is to take the rap when some hoo-haa crops up and then the finger is pointed that the work done did not meet the quality standard set. I am just doing my job, i have already close one eye, now I am told to close 90% of my other eye. Can I do that? Shoud I do that?

Well, I said "No". I just told the person who gave me the instruction, "No, I will not do it. Just tell your staff to get it right the first time"....If they do get it right the first time for even 50% of the time, I will be out of job...and maybe I will be happy about that.

Join the wagon of enzyme

I had put off making garbage enzyme for quite a while. I was wondering what all the hype was about. Was it such a wonder liquid? It was reported to be a fantastic cleaning agent, a fertilizer additive, etc, stop short of saying it is miracle water. My skepticism got the better of me and I told myself, I will not jump in the wagon of garbage enzyme.

Then came the turning point. I was introduced to meet the enzyme itself, It did not look as bad or smell as bad as I had imagine it to be. So, armed with the recipe, I trotted home and started my first enzyme. That was slightly 6 weeks ago. Now I am just waiting for the first of my 3 bottles to complete the fermentation cycle.

Upon furthering reading up on the enzyme, it is nothing more than vinegar. Making vinegar is the similar process of making enzyme. It then dawned upon me that many of the uses of vinegar have been replicated in the uses of garbage enzyme. Haiya, why all the trouble to collect my garbage then? Well, the plus side of this is I have less organic waste to pass to by garbage man and less organic waste for my dogs to dig up when I composed them.

The “fragrance” emitted from the ferment is dependant on what organic waste is used in the fermentation process. I stuck mainly to citrus fruits peels, pandan leaves and mango skins (because it was mango season and I had abundance of the peels).

Next on my agenda was fruit enzyme. I have heard too much about dragon fruit enzyme and it cost a bomb to buy it. This is one of the few moments I enjoyed surfing the internet. I found various “recipes” for making fruit enzyme. Most of the recipe guides used sugar and fruits only, no water. I decided to join this wagon too. Since the fruit I had on hand was pineapple and a green apple, I decided to make 2 fruit enzymes. I only had to go out to buy my lemon.


Well, it is now 2 weeks into my fruit enzyme and it is turning out well. I can’ wait for the 3rd week to come when I can drink my enzyme. I intend to continue fermenting half of the fruit enzyme and hopefully turn out some alcoholic drink out of it.

I AM HALF AS WISE AS BEFORE, BUT I AM STILL WISE, AS I EVER WAS

The dreaded day came. I lie on the chair, shaking in my bones. It was more than 2 decades ago I lie in such a chair. It felt like my first time, but it was not. I closed my eyes, reminiscing back to that day I last lie on this chair. I told myself then, I would not lie here again. But then, here I was, shaking all over.

Suddenly a cheery voice boomed, “How are you today? Have you had your breakfast?” The voice of a cheery young man. I smiled, “Fine, yes, I have eaten this morning”.

“OK, let’s open up. I am going to give you quite a bit of this, so you will feel relax”, he said. I closed my eyes; clench my fists as I was injected with the serum all over. I hated this part the most. I dreaded this part, since the day I was told I needed to do this“. “There… all done, relax”. He left the room, and there I was all alone. Visions flared in my mind. Hey, it was not as bad as I thought. Back then, I was too young to know what was going on, now that I understood, it did not felt that bad.

Soon, the numbness set it. I could not feel a thing. My head was wrapped and I could not see a thing. The only sense that was working was my hearing. I could not even taste since my tongue of push back.

For the next 20 minutes, I could hear the drilling sound, the soothing voice and the sucking sound. Off and on, I felt the pressure, hard and almost painful. I held on. Soon it would be over, I thought.

“There, we are done”, he said. I opened my eyes and the bright light almost blinded me. I sat up, bite into the cotton, half dazed. There lie in the tray, my two wisdom teeth, one of them sawed into half.

Rocky, the joyful companion

Rocky was my nieghbour for 5 years. He came along my the uncle next door adopted him. He was so attached to uncle, truly a companion to uncle. The barks I heard each time would alert me to passers wla

Now Rocky is gone. When the uncle had to move out as he can't be on his own any more as age was catching up. Uncle was in his 70s already. When Uncle left, Rocky was having the whole house to himself. He became wary of people as time went by. But when I stroked him, I felt the sadness in Rocky.

My heart chokes till this day when Rocky comes in to my mind. Why? Because of his age, Rocky could not find someone to adopt him. I wish I could... I wish I had. Rocky ended up in the pound. I prayed each day, that Rocky has been adopted. If he has, I wish him all the happiness he has. I dare not think what happens if Rocky had not been adopted.

Rocky... I miss you.

When wings are clipped

I am grounded. When I had wings, not that I don’t have any now, my wings took me to flight, I could not care less for anything in the world. The feel of wind through my feathers… the lightness in me… Now that I lost my flight abilities, I wished I was not so irrational to have my wings clipped in return for life free of worries.

Let me weigh my pros and cons – I have no worries where and when my next meal will come but I cannot fly. I have no worries where to find shelter when the storm comes but I cannot fly. I have no worries being preyed upon but I still cannot fly.

Was this comfort worth it for the loss of freedom?

 

Chu-mong-yau-chuen-kuen

Finally! The cholestrol laden delicacy was re-visited, after a hiatus of ...well not too long but it was 14 months ago since we had this.

It started with a photography trip to the south, and no trip is complete without a stopover at the Seremban Market (Pasar Besar). It is was not the exactly the best tourist spot but it is must stop and visit for any road traveller. As like most markets, this one is no exception, with the colourful array of vegeatables, fruits, poultry and what-nots for sale. All sold in harmony together with various ah sohs, makciks, sinnama and aunties. What pulls me to this place is not the sell-wares but the food-ware.

Never fail will I have my breakfast in the market whenever my "legs" are with me. Besides the usual array of beef noodles, meehoon sotong, one other delicacy that I have fond memories of is the chu-mong-yau-chuen-kuen (in cantonese). Litterally translated - pork lard netting "sausage". This is one childhood dish which evokes fond memories of mum's cooking.

If you have the time and the culinary adventure, stop by and have a hearty break first before you continue your journey.

Located at the first floor of the market, look for stall number 767.

The table is full of Hakka dishes, from the traditional chu-keok-choh (vineger pork trotters), pig's blood, braised pork are just a few to name.

The price for each piece in Dec 2008 when I had it was RM7.00 per piece.

An advice to heed when visiting the market - throw out the word cholestrol from your vocabulary when you are here. Enjoy your food but in moderation.

Cry Out of Happiness

Why not laugh? Why cry? For the whole night, I was lying in bed, trying to think of happy moments so I could shed some tears. But my eyes were dry. Was it because I did not have a happy moment? Flashes of memories came to me, each one happy, and yet, each happy moment followed by sadness. It then dawned upon me, the happiest time I had all ended. Slowly my tears came. No long after, I ended with a stuff nose and dry throat and there I was, still lying in bed, cursing. Why did I have to cry? Oh, I remembered, I wanted to have tears, tears of happiness.

Happy moments were with my dog when he was “talking” to me. Happy moments were when I was in the water, splashing away in the pool to the arms of my dad. Sadly, both dog and dad are gone now. I never cried for them when both were still alive. But now, my tears are shed and wished that they are still here.

I have shed tears of anger and frustration once too often. Angry at myself, frustrated as circumstances around me are out of my control. How I wish I could control such emotions. Anger leads to hatred. How I hated the object that cause my unhappiness. In the end, I hated myself, since it was I who decided to be angry.

But how do I be happy? Each time I am happy, I end up sad. Someone once said, happiness is only a moment, it does not last. I liken it to the snowflake, beautiful as it is, when it meets the heat, it melts.

I am still searching today, when can I ever find true happiness?

Food and Festivals

Funny to note most festivals have to go hand in hand with food. Besides the two word start with the letter “f”, too much of either one will make one fat too (another “f” word). The most recent festival here was the Lunar New Year. (I refrain from calling it Chinese New Year since these days it is not just the Chinese who celebrate it). As long I can remember, LNY has been going hand in hand with food, starting with the eve of the New Year. One looks forward to auspicious dishes and not forgetting, auspicious goes hand in hand with expensive too. Such dishes are abalone with sea cucumber, fish maw, lotus root soup, oyster and dark moss, wax meat, pomfret fish, prawns and lettuce..just to name a few.

There has been always ample food to go around the table. Tradition would have dictates that one should not finish all the food on the table but leave some for the next year. So bits of fish, prawn, rice, etc are leftover to be carried over the following year. This signifies that food will still be available when the new year comes.

What is it with this tradition that we have to eat leftover food from previous night’s dinner on the first day of new year? We wear new clothes, have new bed sheets, and new furnishing but we eat leftover food? Funny that when visiting relatives, besides the staple of biscuits and snacks being serve, we were serve leftover food too when invited for lunch.

Life has blessed us with ample food and somehow festivals were created to enjoy food and some kind of celebration was called for so we can eat more.

It comes to a point when leftover food is too stale to eat anymore, and down the garbage it goes. What a waste. If such were to go into the garbage bin, why then prepare so much of food? It pains the heart to see and to know this could have been saved.

Well…times are not getting better. Maybe it takes a “slap” to wake up and see that one day, we should eat moderately.