So the coffers are all but drained so I’m forced to return home to save up some more cash for the next trip. I’ve missed the Australian summer, which is the best part of living in the land down under, so the goal is to find work quick in order to get away before winter…
Language seems a lot like Chinese whispers, you know that game where you all sit around a table and pass a message from one side to the other only to find that the message has been totally changed by the time it gets back to you? I see the same situation with how a language…
Gili Trawangan isn’t the sort of place to keep to a schedule, and Indonesians aren’t the sort of people that are ever in a rush. Two doors down from Blue Marlin, where I am finishing up my Divemaster Traineeship, there is a nice Indian themed restaurant/resort/cafe of sorts called Pesona with a half decent…
Indonesia may well be the new frontier for travellers, just isolated enough to have a genuine cultural experience but safe enough to avoid kidnapping by angry rebels. On the subject, Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Philippines, is regarded as off limits for travellers as it is plagued by the dangerous and unpredictable Moro Islamic…
When I’m working I have two portraits, usually on my computer screen or the wall facing me, of two inspiring people to use for grounding when things need to put things back into perspective. This usually occurs after interactions with people I have, in my ultimate wisdom, decided are incompetent or not committed to the…
It’s very hard to know exactly what to expect from a destination before you get there, no matter what creation you have made in your head it’s never the same as what you encounter on arrival, most times substantially different. This was no different with Gili Trawangan. The facts I had about it were that…
Everything is so FRAGILE. there’s so much conflict, so much pain. you keep waiting for the dust to settle then you realize this is IT: the dust is YOUR LIFE, life going on. if happy comes along, that weird, unbearable delight that’s actual happy — i think you have to GRAB IT while you CAN.…
And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. -T. S. Eliot Spent my last night in Malaysia enjoying some local fare and having an early night. The next morning I took the Skybus from KL Sentral to the Low Cost Carrier…
A great king in ancient Babylon, nearing his birthday and feeling his years upon him, asked his wise man to create a item to commemorate his reign to be given to him at his birthday feast. The wise man thought long and hard over what would he could create that would signify the event and…
In Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia, there is a phenomenon of people who take pictures of themselves and others posing in front of displays in shopping centres. I’ve not encountered this anywhere else, it seems unique to the region and is a baffling cultural habit which definitely bears more research. In an effort to explain…
Men make plans and God laughs Unknown So here I am again in Kuala Lumpur, my home away from home, where I am reminded of the truth of the above mentioned quote and how we are but at the whims of fate regardless of how we seek to control of our destiny. On Spaceship Earth,…
Pulau Weh is a great diving destination mainly because you have to make quite an effort to get there. Many travelers choose to go overland, often flying in to the port city of Medan or catching a boat over from Penang in Malaysia. From here it’s possible to take a day trip to Lake Toba…
As Andrew began to feel lightheaded and blinkingly looked around he noticed movement in the rocky outcrop from the corner of his eyes. He struggled to keep his eyes open as he heard his heartbeat pounding in his ears and his sight began to dim. As he took his last look around him from his…
Having finished the Recue diver course I was now free to relax for a few days and enjoy lots of diving without the need to study or perform exercises or drills. I took advantage of the opportunity to get out every opportunity I could and had some fantastic dives. Some were quite challenging, it’s a…
The Lumba Lumba Diving Centre, run by Dutch couple Ton and Marjan Egbers, is the most established diving centre in Gapang, if not Pulau Weh. The centre provides courses from open water to Divemaster traineeships but also has accommodation which includes 7 bungalows and a small block of apartments, the top floor of the budget…
Earthmans' Walkabout 