Hello September

Has it really already been a month? Wow, time really flies. I can't belief that I'm actually working in Penang and I've got to say life has been great in Penang, loving the new working environment. The only thing is, I can't speak Hokkien! Anyways, colleagues have been great to me and also meeting up some of my ex-course mates, not to forget a blogger friend of mine. Of course, missing each and every one of you in KL especially my family. I can still remember the day when I first move to Penang, that heavy-hearted feeling before leaving KL, gosh it's just so heartbreaking, especially for me who is so so homesick kinda person. But I know, it's part of the growing process. Sometimes I'll get patients asking me "Why aren't you working in KL when you are actually from KL? cause rarely people from KL will want to work in Penang but instead people from Penang will want to work in KL." Well (just in case you are curious too), I actually wanted to come out of my comfort zone and explore some other places. 

So, I've been on a company trip recently to KK, Sabah and it was amazing! Although it's a bit rushing but still, kudos to one of my colleague, Khor who is a Sabahan aka our tour guide plus driver throughout the whole trip. Going through all those up and down hill and bumpy roads, all I can say is his driving skill is just superb (just so you know, it's a manual gear van) ! 

Meet the i-Sports Group, waiting for transit to KK from KLIA  (photo taken by Cindy)

We headed straight to the airport after work and arrived at KK International Airport around 10.30pm and off we go for some Coconut Pudding, damn it was so good!

So, that's the end of first day. On the second day itself, we went for a tour at Gaya street before going for island hoping and some water sports.

Look at this weird rambutan look-alike durian, and you know what....

...it's flesh is actually red in colour, I didn't like it though, taste tad bit like alcohol in it, yucksss...

I forgot what this is, but it taste more like langsat, niceeee...

Cindy and me (Photo by Cindy)

I can tell you the street is freaking long! And most of the stalls are selling almost the same thing.

At the jetty waiting for our speed boat to arrive.

Let's take a selfie (Photo by Cindy)!

Meet Shanese!

Meet the 2 pretty ladies, Cindy and Shanese.

Here we are! Sapi Island.

From left, Cindy, Judy, Khor, Ian, Miss Tan, Stella, Vincy, Shanese and Me (Photo by Cindy).

*Photo credits* by Cindy

*Photo credits* by Cindy

                                                              *Photo credits* by Cindy

*Photo credits* by Cindy

Due to time constraint, we only get to go for para sailing, but not the flying-fish, booo :/

 After whole day of suntanning and water sport, off we go for some seafood along with sunset. Ahhh seafood!!!!

Sorry for not uploading the photos of the seafood, probably will write another post for that. After a full loads of seafood, off we go to Kundasang. This is where the adventure begin, with the up and down hill, bumpy road trip. It took around 2 hours to get there, or more than that, cause we sort a lost our way to the resort and most of our phones have no coverage, so we couldn't get to use the GPS. But no worries, we found the way and manage to get to the resort in the end safe and sound, around 10pm and damn it was so chilly. After checking in, had a little chit chat and we actually plan not to sleep for the night but in the end, everybody crashed! So that's probably how it ends for the second day. 

And so the next morning, I woke up to this magnificent piece of art, I would call it, haha! Yes! You are actually looking at the Mount Kinabalu.

Surprisingly the breakfast buffet style is quite satisfying. After we had our breakfast, we are set to Desa Farm.

On the way to Desa Farm.

So here we are, Desa Farm with Mount Kinabalu as the background.

Hello there!

We spent like the whole morning at the farm feeding milk, admiring the spectacular scenery and of course trying out their fresh chocolate milk and ice-cream, yum! Then, we were headed back to KK town and on our way there, we stopped halfway and we had this famous "Babi Bakar" (definitely no sensitive issue here).

Tadaa, it was tad a little too dry though, but it was good.

Chop chop!

Not to forget, we paid a little visit to Tamparuli "Rumah Terbalik" (Upside down house), where everything is upside down, of course. However photography is not allowed inside the house. So you have only the exterior view.

To end our trip before heading to the airport back to Penang, sunset at Tanjung Aru beach is a must! The moment you lay your eyes on it, it's.....ahhhhhh *melts* it's just stunning! No words can describe how beautiful it is.

Sunsets are proof that endings can often be beautiful too!

It's a great way to end the month of August and welcome the month of September. Hello September! Will definitely plan another trip to Sabah again soon.

YES! I'm a certified diver now

I have always had a fascination with underwater world. As much as I love the beach and the sea so much, Scuba Diving has always been a great interest to me ever since graduated from high school. All these while, I just couldn't find the right time and a buddy to learn with and finally now I've made the bold decision to get my Open Water Diving certification from Dolphinlee Aquatics (A ONE-STOP center for aquatic needs and a well-established swimming school in the Klang Valley), whom the founder was once my swimming coach. 

It all started when I had this random conversation with Sheryl while we were at the JumpStreet Indoor Trampoline Park, KL with the rest of the bunch. So we decided like finally, to sign up for the course. Learning scuba diving is one of the thing that I wanted to do the most among my bucket lists, and no matter what I must take it before I start work. So let the adventure begin! I was on a Open Water Dive trip to Redang last Thursday in order to get myself certified as a PADI Open Water Diver! You will be evaluated throughout the trip. Before being able to dive in open water, I've already attended a confined water training and passed the written exam as though you are taking a driving licence. I'm sure some of you will be like, oh it must be even stress, nervous and stuff to go for a dive with all the evaluation and tests, but you know what, it doesn't feel like that at all. It's just so enjoyable and relaxing throughout the 3 days dive. Bear in mind, forget about all the tests or evaluation, the most important thing is just go out there and enjoy yourself, explore the underwater world and you will do just fine!

White sandy beach and crystal clear sea

Just perfect for vacay-cay.

So, meet my dive buddies.

From left: Keid (Rescue Diver), Brandon, Me and Sheryl.

My diving instructor, Mr. Dolphin Lee, a funny yet serious and responsible instructor. *thumbs up*
Pss: trying my best to open my eyes, but failed! It's too sunny...

JJ, Keid (Both undergoing Rescue Diver course) and Dolphin Lee

Now that you have met all of them, let's see some action underwater shall we?

My instructor, teaching some instruction before we go anywhere deeper

We were instructed to demonstrate some basic skills

I'm required to open my eyes and search for my mask and put it back on.

Learning to remove my whole BCD and put it back on underwater.

Practising how to share air with your buddy if you're out of air.

'V' peace

Swimming through...

Pivoting!

hehe *evil smile*

Brandon, Sheryl and me!

Hello Nemo, don't be shy, we bring no harm :)

Underwater mushroom

Those tiny lil dots are all fishes.

GIANT Stingray

Meet JJ.

Beautiful corals

Fishessssssss, they are all surrounding the shipwreck. It's like their home now.

Look at that!

And this is Keid.

Group pic

With the Instructor.

Selfie is a must! HAHA

They called it 'Spider Flower' 

Turtle! Swimming alone looking for food?

It's actually quite surprising that I can still see so many fishes at Redang, and those beautiful corals too. I've seen Trigger fish, bumphead fish and etc (the rest I don't know their names actually, haha)

Me, being silly while waiting for a safety stop :P

             

Selfie again.

It was really a wonderful and unforgettable experience for me. It's totally a different world down there, where you can see all sorts of living things which you've never seen before at the surface, you never know what will be under there waiting for you. All I can say is, it's full of surprises and excitement.

Scuba diving wasn't that hard after all. Before this, I always have this one question where how could one scuba dive with so many hose dangling around and isn't it heavy to carry a tank behind your back? It's actually all about pivoting, controlling your buoyancy, equalising, breathing through your mouth but not your nose and most importantly, complete relaxation while diving and breath continuously, holding your breath underwater is totally forbidden. Just be graceful!

Sunbathing after a long dive.

It was my first attempt doing a headstand, of course with a lil help, hehe.

Tadaaa...

 Having a break until the next dive, but first, let me take a selfie :P

Dive bud!

Group pic after the so called "certification ceremony" 

YES! I'm finally certified as a PADI Open Water Diver and I'm proud enough to tick this off my bucket lists *PADI Open Water Diver* H-A-P-P-Y. Looking forward for more diving trips to log more dives, and of course for more experience before I could reach for the advanced level. And I'm definitely willing to try out many many different dive site, there's a lot more to learn. Perhaps I could go for some adventure dive like deep dive or shipwreck dive, or maybe some underwater photography? Well, it's still a long way to go but that's my aim. Not to forget, thanks to my Instructor, Mr. Dolphin Lee! He's really a funny yet serious instructor. Thanks to him, I got an extra credit to attempt a deep dive to 22 metres.

Again, being underwater is just so peaceful and relaxing. It is a complete silent, relaxing underwater world except for the bubbling sound of exhalation and the whooshing of air during inhalation, haha. I guess I've found my secret world, peace zone!