Sipadan Luxury Diving Trip 18-23.01.2007

Spent about 3K and stayed in the luxury SWV resort, Mabul. Bit NG SEH TAK... but no choice la since I am joining the Shell Group. Customer service is up to the pay though.

Basically, Mabul-Kapalai-Sipadan are nearby yo each other. Sipadan is well-known for the hammer shark, whale shark, manta/devil ray etc... all the big if not gigantic sea creature. Too bad, we didnt spot any of them and the visibility somehow was really bad. Purely no luck.

While Mabul-Kapalai are rich with its macro. Countless species of nudibranch and all kind of fish, crabs and shrimps if comparing to the east coast of Malaysia.

Invested an underwater casing with no regrets. Some videos to share:

1. Flamboyant Cutter Fish The ever 'changing-color' creature is abt 5cm in length. Active only at dawn time. So happy to spot it after we failed to find it in the previous day.
2. Hungry Lionfish It seems that Lionfish hunt during night time. No mercy to the smaller fish. A costly night dive for me though. My underwater torch leaked and that caused me to be stung by sea urchin for the 1st time. 9 pokes!
3. Close shot with White Tipped The shark was actually an arm length close to me during the final seconds of this clip. I was stunned when it swam towards me that close. For that seconds too, I felt fear.
4. Banded Sea Snake Extremely venomeous banded sea snake. A resident at SWV Mabul, Paradise 2. Once bitten, you got an hour to save yourself.
5. Swam with turtle They all appear in a table size. Huge. At sipadan, they are just everywhere! Eating, sleeping, wandering... One of them almost ram me over! Swam like the Malaysian drivers.

For photos, please visit Eric (professional shot) and Sanya. It's not from me but more or less, that was what we saw. Die die must take a picture with turtle with mask off!

Le Tour TO Langkawi 30.12.2006 - 02.01.2007

The Geng on board to Penang... CM, MC, RW, HW, Juli & CC. That's the way it is, camera man hardly in the picture ;-( Give and take la. That's the spirit.
The girls lepak aside the road. All butt pain.

Never know how does the rice look like? 谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦。 Appreciate what you have on each meal. Don't waste food!
Perhaps, 30-35 degree? So embarassing... I had to push my bike at half way. Lost the momentum while changing gear.
Yup. I had been carrying this bag, 55+10L along the journey. Y? The mistery revealed when I 'smuggled' out 2 Cordon Bleu & 1 Chivas Regal 18yr out from Langkawi ;-)

30Dec2006 - The start
Long awaited trip. My 1st cycling trip since PCC2005. Met up RW at JB. Started our 9hrs driving, 900KM journey from south to north. Stopped by at melaka to load CC's tour bike and it was 110km/h to PJ. MC's RM2.7K new hubby were also put on the bike rack. Met up HW & CM and off we go to the north.

Stayed overnight at Juli's cosy hse. Sure do as I really 'make myself at home'. Glad to see Liverpool won over Spurs!

31Dec2006 - The Route
Penang – Butterworth (12km) – Kepala Batas (11km) – Sungai Petani (20km) – Bedong (13km) – Merbok (13km) – Yan (14km) – Sg. Limau (12km) – Junction of Simpang Empat (13km) – Kuala Kedah (12km) = Total of 120km

Famous words of the day:
[Big Foot] - Juli's bf's giant heavy with thick tyre Scott bike
[Coconut] - the men's fruits that had suffered under the mechanical friction between the thighs and saddle. Nearly became sabut.
[Butt Pain] - when we parked our butt on the saddle for loooooong period. 6hr 12min in our case. Speechless pain.

We were surrounded by paddy fields, beach and Gunung Jerai (the highest mountain in Kedah) along the way. And, some rude cars and motors too. Perhaps they just wanted to greet us but it is NOT a polite way from my point of view.

Just nice to have reach the jetty at Kuala Kedah before 5pm. Else, the next boat will be at 7pm. 2hr to arrive Langkawi. Met up CC's ex-colleague, Sandra, and settled into the Hotel Baron at Kuah, a cosy dormitory cost RM20/pax. Highly recommended for budget touring!

A seafood cum vegetarian new year eve dinner. Then, the girls enjoyed their cards games, and I bought 10 cans of calsberg at RM17. I had 4, HW had 3.5, CM 0.5, CC 1, MC 1.

Happy New Year 2007!

01Jan2007 - The Excursion in Langkawi
Sandra, from what I observed, a bike maniac led us around the island. I was reluctant to cycle more than 10KM actually. My butt just can't take it anymore. Somehow, we ended up with a 40km round the island. At once, RW, HW & I were like releasing all the fast spins by racing out each other until we overshot a junction, which we were suppose to head to Makam Mahsuri. The race made me feel good. It could be a fascinating view if the paddy were green along the way.

Left Langkawi at 5pm. Reached Swettenham Port at 8.30 pm. Cycled to New Lane for nice foods. Reached Juli's hse at 1030pm with a cold sweat. The cars on the penang road never give way. Felt so vulnerable when cycling on the penang road. HW is right! Very few road bike cyclist in penang if compare to off road. Coz it is either they all already got killed on the road or just got scared off!

Glad to see Liverpool won over Bolton!

02Jan2007 - The end of trip
Tiring loooooong hour drive back to spore. Bravo RW!

Brand new experience for such cycling tour. Surely asking for more in future. Two-minded wether to upgrade my bike or to buy a new one... Hmmm... Brought along my new Ixus 60. Shooting pictures and movies on the bike is fun, especially when playback the recording.

CM, already a proven good organizer!
MC & Juli, thanks for the penangites' hospitality and had us experienced the 'deadly ride' on the penang road.
CC, our invisible camera man. Surely love to see the clips.
HW, thanks for helping me finished the beers. haha.
RW, still the same old tough woman. Appreaciate your tireless driving back home.
Sandra, foresee you will be showing up for each and every cycling trip ;-)

It is a success touring with everyone back in 1 piece. I'm loving it.