Indonesia to Singapore to Malaysia

I believe that another update is due. This one will not be as long as the other one, LOL. I hope.

Mykie and I were in the north of Sulawesi at an island called Bunaken (Indonesia), pronounced Boo na can. I was made fun of a lot since i never pronounced it right. This island had a scuba diving resort on it and Mykie and I decided to become certified scuba divers. Well this turned out to be an adventure in itself. The resort is run by two british expatriates who love diving so much that they decided to open a diving school (PADI). The resort was amazing. beautiful bamboo huts on stilts and the clear, hot water right at your door. It was really how I pictured paradise to look like in asia. The thing that threw me off the most was that the water temperature was about 27 degrees. I have never experienced this before. It was really warm!!!!!! It was so nice.

Bunaken is world known for its diving, because they have some amazing drop off cliffs and all the marine life you can think of, including sharks , dolphins and giant turtles.

Becoming a certified scuba divers is no joke it is serious. To fast forward a little, Mykie got certified and completed the entire training but as for me.....it was a premature decision to dive simply because of my lack of deep water exposure. Mykie did so well! I am very proud of him. He is now a certified open water scuba diver.

Well, my story isn't so sad though. I did not complete the water part of the diving but completed all the test and theoretical work. Half way done. I got to the resort with only being in deep water once in 2005 in the mediterranean and never snorkelled in my life. My instructor was so confused when i told him about my lack of exposure to water, but i wanted to try. The first day at the resort, Mykie and I snorkelled for the first time ever. We walked from the shore in the water. At first i was really nervous because the water was so murky and so much sea grass was everywhere. It was creeping me out a lot. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the water looking so undesirable.......BUT....... I just sucked in the fear and started to float. The moment i started to relax the water became crystal clear and we became surrounded by marine life you see in aquariums. There were so many cool fish and star fish everywhere. I felt like we were floating in a real aquarium.

My first ever experience was wonderful. 1.5 hours of snorkelling was great. BTW we had our instructor leading us. We don't know the area it was necessary. I was so excited about diving. the water was not as scary as i thought. The drills underwater with all the heavy bulky equipment is what freaked me out. my breathing devise was too small for my mouth and i felt like i was struggling to keep it in. even mykie thought it was uncomfortable. so from that day i decided that I was not ready for scuba diving. The equipment was not comfortable at all!

I went on the boat a total of 3 times after that and snorkelled as everyone was scuba diving. I started to fear the deep water less and less. i really enjoyed being on top of the water and seeing life below me. It is a nice feeling knowing you can just float and breath and everything will be ok. I saw so many cool things including a sting ray which no one else saw but me. sometimes it is easier to see things from up top you get a better view than when you are down there. In total we saw I huge turtle come up for air and dolphins (black). Never got to see the sharks because they were to close to the ground.

Before we go back to australia, i will finish my certification. I can just continue from where I finished off at.

I am addicted to what is underneath. There is so much that i can not even explain what happens below, but i believe that everyone should try it at least once in their life!

After the scuba diving and snorkelling, we were off to our favourite city thus far...singapore!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, singpaore. It was such a refreshing place to be after seeing and being in a country with so many slums everywhere, being hassled every second, and especially for me... be treated like a walking dollar!

Singapore is a brand new country. it is really small and you can drive around the whole place in one day, taking breaks. It is not a cheap place to visit though. There is world class shopping and dinning there and entertainment galour. we could even drink the tap water. You cannot dothat in indonesia, you will die from it. but it is so expensive! It is like new york without the lights. The people are really helpful. .literally every time we took out our map, someone was there to help us in a mtter of seconds. We felt and acted like we were in Toronto. It felt like home!

I am going to end this update by saying more about singapore in my next update.....

we are in melaka malaysia right now, and it is different than indonesia in many many ways... and for that we are glad....