Archive for June, 2008

Open Water Diving Certification

June 27, 2008 at 1:09 pm · Filed under Life

I’ve never been fond of swimming, younger I did some competitions but nothing exciting for me… Something like 10 days ago, when I was in the Perenthian Islands, Malaysia, I discovered snorkeling (practice of swimming at the surface of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins), this experience was really amazing for me, I thought you had to be in the team of Jacques Cousteau to see all those things I saw on television but… not really, snorkeling brings you some of it already!

On my way from Malaysia to Thailand, I met a nice guy from Nice (!), France, we shared some hours of travelling together, enough time for him to sense my new interest for what’s underwater. Enough time also to tell me how great is diving in southeast Asia… As similar as it was, the planning of our trip was not the same so we took different ways after a couple of hours. Then, a sign from god came to me (ahaha), this same guy recognized me one the big big island of Phuket, he got one more occasion to tell me about how great diving is and how great is Ko Tao to practice it… Well… this time, I  was not able to resist the temptation of trying it, my next stop became Ko Tao! Since he gave me the address of his blog, I read the article about the open water diver certification, well explained, it’s right here. Arrived there, wowww Touristy place, don’t like that so much… but I kept in mind my main goal, diving. So I checked around what would be a good school for me, I chose this French school, then I decided to go for the Open Water Diver Certification with a Dutch teacher, for a course in English… Somehow that’s kind of a lot of money but I felt like it was worth it enough to be short on money for the end of my trip! My friend from Nice described pretty well the course itself so I’m not going to describe it too much, the basics though… It’s a three days course (sometimes more), two mornings of “intensive” learning and three exercises and dives. As you might guess, the dives are the most rewarding part, you can enjoy the practice of what you’ve learned hours ago…

Now that I have my certificate, I’m really glad I can relax, those three days were exhausting, really… But… how wonderfull was the experience, I had no idea! Next step will be the “Advanced Open Water Diver”, maybe in Indonesia, maybe somewhere else, we’ll see but from now on, I can safely and legaly dive with a friend in any part of a world… The sooner, the better!

Comments

Photos: Malaysia

June 21, 2008 at 1:16 pm · Filed under Photos

You would’nt expect so much from a little country like Malaysia…

In the south you’ll find the small and pretty Melaka where a walk by night around the river and the markets is a great romantic spot. North of Melaka is the fast paced Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, there you’ll find not only the gigantic and famous Petronas towers that you’ve certainly seen in the movie “Entrapment” but there’s also a “bargain-a-gogo” Chinatown, a colorful Little India and oversized malls for all ranges of prices.

Let’s jump inland, two famous places, one is Cameron Highlands, first thing you’ll notice if you travel like me in the crazy hot month of june, it’s a nice relief from the heat, this place is almost at 2000m above the sea level as you might guess from the name of this place. There are two highlights there, I started with some really nice walks in the jungle where the nature is well preserved and the path is clear enough not to get lost. Then you have the traditional tea plantations where you’ll not only get to see the charming landscape but if you’re lucky enough you might even see the workers which brings life to this place. Also traditional is the tea factory, quite  interresting place freely open to the tourists. Still inland, second place to see would be Taman Negara, “The Jungle”, there you have it all, the landscapes, wildlife, tribes, treehouses and even a dark cave full of bats where’s you’ll make sure not to wake up the housekeeper, a 3 meters long python…  Sound scary but try the nightwalk where’s you’ll meet some scorpions or huge spiders, then you’ll redefine “scary”!

North-east are the exotic Perenthian Islands, if you want to relax, choose a beach corresponding to your style, from empty to hype, all of them are beautiful, all of them will cook your skin as fast as a microwave! If you want more, join a little group of snorkeling, first time I tried it, loved it immediately, as they say, there’s a world under the water… one more thing you can do if you have some money to spend (I did’nt!), try the diving, considered as a great and cheap spot.

Again, in such a little country, it is surprizing to see so many different landscapes, add to that the really nice people of Malaysia and you’ve got a new place to spend you’re next two weeks of holidays!

Click here to see the photos.

Comments

Che Guevara

June 5, 2008 at 10:35 am · Filed under Life, Photos

You know how it’s like when your style is different, you make people think, maybe too much! Since the very beginning of this trip, my style was not one of my main matter, so I’ve changed quite a bit months after months of backpacking… People started to compare me with some famous people, but I’ve heard one more than others… Che Guevara! Quite an honor…
Let’s see why right here !

Credit photo: Yu Heng

Comments

China unleashed

June 3, 2008 at 3:19 am · Filed under Photos

After a week of hard labour (!), that’s it, my favorites photos of my trip in China are now online, and it’s right here! For those who shared a bit of this trip with me, maybe some photos you expect to see are not here, that’s because I had to make a tough selection, if so, let me know, I’d be glad to send you those.

Enjoy :)

Comments