Singapore and then off to New Zealand

Singapore

Originally we had planned on going to Singapore for just two days but we ended up staying for 5. It was a break for us between diving in Sipadan and camping in New Zealand.  I had to recover from my allergic reaction to sea lice and the cold I had no doubt developed from the rain soaked boat ride back to Semporna.

Singapore isn’t cheap so finding a hotel under a 100 is a challenge. There are many hostels and although many seem clean, they are nothing more than boxes with beds in them and I needed some comfort after Seafest and diving. Ibis was about 137 dollars and although the room was tiny, it had everything we needed and was in a great location. Food cost us little as we either ate at food courts or got take away (as the Asians call it). We also caught a couple of movies (of course) for a very decent price.

Our big expense was Universal Studios. I know it seems strange to go there but what the hell, it was our holiday and I wanted to see if it was as good as the one in California. We caught the free shuttle bus across the street from our hotel and off we went.

We went on the Madagascar ride, the Mummy (which was as good as the one in California), watched the 4D Shrek movie, and best of all, did the Transformers ride. It was fantastic. The ride was a combination roller coaster with movie – it was as if you were actually involved in the action; a sort of 3D effect. Very cool.

We caught a few song and dance acts and I was serenaded by one of the singers – good fun.

Overall it was a fun few hours. Singapore is quite the city, fairly clean and easy to get around. We took the metro out to the marina and walked around. Here’s the Sands Resort.

Here’s the view from the observation deck –

It was a pretty low key visit - we could have done a lot more but we were not in the mood to be tourists.

Soon we were on our way to New Zealand and both of us were very excited. We were arriving in Christchurch to stay one night after a flight of 10 hours. It was an overnight trip so I slept most of it but with the time change, we arrived in the morning. The view from the plane was terrific -

In the airport I gathered up a huge pile of free brochures and maps for our journey around the south island before the taxi took us to the Courtesy Motel outside the downtown core. I accidently left my tourist information in the office of the motel and when Ian went to retrieve it half an hour later we discovered the owner gave it to another couple who were checking out. Nice.

The downtown centre of Christchurch remains fenced off and out of bounds due to the earthquake of February 2011.  It is still under construction and considered unsafe and we could see many buildings behind the tall fences.

First thing we noticed was how cold it was!!!! May is their autumn and winter was approaching. Ian and I didn’t have any warm clothes so we bundled up as best we could and walked down the road for some Indian food for dinner. Breakfast the next day was at a small café and it was scrumptious. Things were slightly cheaper than Canadian prices but not by much. The trip wasn’t going to be cheap.

Around 10am, our campervan arrived. We were given the grand tour and I was impressed by how compact it was. There was a microwave, TV/DVD (can you believe it!?) stove, sink, toilet, a table that could be dismantled into a large bed, etc. We would manage quite nicely. Ian was shown how to empty the grey water, turn on the gas that would run our heater and stove, and how to clean the toilet. It was all rather simple.

Our first order of business was buying warm clothes. We headed out to one of the cheaper clothing stores recommended by our campervan folks. Time passed quickly while we hummed and hawed about what to get. Before we knew it, it was late afternoon so we decided on a warm hoodie and long shirts for me, thermals to wear under our pants for us both, and a waterproof jacket for Ian. Grocery shopping also took us forever but eventually we headed south with our first stop in not far from Christchurch.  

The woman who ran the place was awesome. She asked us how long we were going to take to see the South Island and then pulled out a map and gave us a full itinerary to follow. She suggested (wisely) that we use the showers at the camp sites rather than squeeze into our small bathroom to shower. 

The van was far more comfortable than tent camping and a lot warmer. The nights were cold but with the heater and our warm blankets, we were quite toasty. The cold days took some getting used to,  especially showering in rooms without heat - it was damn cold stepping out of that hot shower onto ice cold concrete floors.  To be honest, the cold didn’t bother us at all. It was a welcome break from the heat for Southeast Asia, and if rainy and cold, I couldn’t complain. Besides, the scenery was stunning.

In Canterbury, we passed flat fields dotted with sheep bordered by 2 storey high hedges trimmed to create a fence. I suppose this provided protection from the winds.

Lunch was left over spaghetti at a fairly nondescript site – here’s our campervan at our lunchtime site –

Our journey took us west, into the centre of the island through Fairlie towards Mount Cook. The scenery began to take on a different look turning into rolling hills and mist and more sheep.

Soon we came along the south of Lake Tekapo, the second largest lake in the south island.

Situated on its shores is the Church of the Good Shepherd built in 1935, the first in the Mackenzie Basin. It was a small stone building facing the lake. Close to this is a bronze statue of a New Zealand Collie Sheepdog.

Next stop was Lake Pukaki with its brilliant blue colour created from glacial flour, extremely fine ground rock particles from the glaciers.

We turned north and drove along the west side of the lake towards Mount Cook. Apparently on a clear day, the mountain is visible from the southern shores of the lake but with today’s overcast skies, we didn’t see it until we drove to the end of the road, 30 minutes from our turn off.  It was very exciting to see the snow capped mountains peaking through the mist.

There was an incredible lack of traffic. At one point, Ian and I got of the vehicle to take photos and it was as if we were the only two people around.

We couldn’t drive all the way to the mountain so we turned around in the tiny town of Mount Cook and headed back towards the east coast and our next overnight stop in Kurow. Along the route, we were rewarded again with some great scenery and great colour in the sky.

The park was listed as being on the south end of the river so I thought it would be nicer than it was. Once we closed the curtains, the lack of a nice view didn’t matter.

When we headed out the next morning, there was a long low layer of mist sitting just above the ground and below the hills in the distance. The weather we were experiencing provided us with some neat pictures what with the mist and clouds.

We stopped briefly in the town of Oamaru on the coast with its old colonial style buildings and lovely churches.

On the point there’s a penguin colony but you have to pay to see it. On route, we kept our eyes open for any penguins crossing the road.

Next up was Moeraki beach and the boulders. There were photos in our tourist information and our ‘guide’ that first night recommended a stop there. We bundled up with in thermals, hats, gloves, etc. and headed out to the beach with its biting cold wind.

They looked like dinosaur eggs, very smooth and round.

We wandered around for a bit until it grew too cold for us and made our way back out onto the road. We tried to find a gorge down a side road but it grew rough and narrower and in a campervan, we didn’t want to take a chance. Besides, we wanted to see the seals off Shag Point that again, our camper park guide had recommended.

New Zealand has spent a lot of money on tourism. The road to the point was in decent shape and we found a nice parking lot with a couple vans already there. We parked and followed a path to a lookout and were rewarded with quite a few seals off in the distance.

It took us a few minutes but suddenly we realized there were two seals sleeping on the grass right beside us that I had dismissed as rocks.

On closer scrutiny, we noticed more and more sleeping seals around us, on the rocks and in the grass. We took our time taking them in as it was the first time we’d ever seen wild seals.

Our first few days in New Zealand proved it was worth the price of airfare to get there.

Sipadan and Mabul, Borneo

Sipadan is in Sabah, Malaysia (Borneo) and was one of Jacques Cousteau`s favourite dive sites.. It is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising 600 metres from the seabed. It was formed by corals growing on a volcanic cone over thousands of years and whenever you look up the top 10 dive sites in the world, Sipadan makes the list.

Sipadan is now a protected marine park and has a small military base located on the island but nothing else. All accommodation that was once there has been moved off the island. This means that you need a permit to dive there and they are limited with only about 7 permits per day being issued to dive companies. Scuba Junkie was one of the companies that had accommodation on Mabul – an island close to Sipadan (with its own great dive sites) that was decent AND affordable.

Scuba Junkies’ policy was you had to do 2 days diving at other sites in order to get 1 day diving on Sipadan. You had to book far in advance to make sure you got those permits and the price for Sipadan was double. Ian and I decided to do 4 days of diving off Mabul, 2 days diving off Sipadan, and 2 days of diving off Semporna. 

Semporna is a gross dirty town with nothing to do but dive. There is garbage, puddles of dirty water, and filth everywhere. Not a place you want to spend any time if you don’t have to (and not a place you’d want to walk around barefoot). Worse was finding a hotel to spend a night or two when we were not staying at the Mabul Dive Resort.  The highest rated hotel on Tripadvisor was only average and was booked. Seafest, the largest hotel in town, was ugly but cheap so it would have to do. The rooms were pretty dated with stained carpet but the beds were comfy, sheets clean and the a/c worked even if the hot water was only lukewarm. When the hydro went out for over 24 hours in Semporna, Seafest had its own generator so we didn’t have to go without a/c like the rest of the town. Then I was glad we were at the Seafest.

Scuba Junkies was a great company to dive with. There was a lot of waiting around every morning because we had to wait for boats to arrive from Semporna and that was a pain, but other than that, they were professional, safe, and friendly; and boy did they know their fish! I picked their brains continually about the fish I was seeing and they not only knew the name but could tell me other details about them. I loved our guides and that company.

The journey to Mabul off Borneo and leaving from Semporna took about 30 – 40 minutes by boat. On route I met a Canadian Dive Master and learned there was another one working on the island. We kitted up and waited forever to get diving.

That first day we didn’t start diving till 10am even though we had been at the dive shop since 7am. It was worth the wait. Our first dive was at Stingray City where we saw crocodile fish, juvenile batfish, and a couple of turtles, etc. Later that day, we saw a giant and a painted frogfish, a school of jack fish, sweetlips, lobster, eels, etc. And every dive just kept getting better.

One evening Ceris the manager let us know that the turtle eggs were hatching. Turns out the resort has a small turtle conservation area where they pay locals to let them where turtle eggs are. They then gather them and place them in a protected area behind a fence. The eggs are buried under layers of sand and don’t hatch for a couple of months. Once they do – look out! About a 100 tiny turtles come scrambling to the surface with an intuition to hit the seas. We watched as the staff gathered them, placed them gently into baskets where they were then released into the sea. We couldn’t use flash photography so my photos are not great - sorry! 

 I felt so honoured being a part of this, even if it was just watching from a distance.

We made some great friends when diving – you can’t help it because you share a boat and food with people you see constantly. The food was average but if you’re hungry and not fussy, it was good enough. The bungalow was also average. There was a large gap under the door and our first night a rat got in. It woke me up rustling in my bag by the head of my bed. I turned on the lights and watched it scurry across the floor to the gap. Yuck. The next day I quietly let Ceris know and she was mortified. That day they put wood over the gaps and gave us two free long sleeve rash tops (to wear diving). Very sweet of them.

Some of the little islands we dove from were stunning.

The water was often crystal clear and from the beach, you could see the change in colour indicating where the coral was.

Beautiful beaches of white sand on remote islands or sometimes occupied by a few local people living in simple huts.

Our dive guide was often Kevin, a very fit man in his 50s who really knew his stuff. He was the one to take us to Sipadan. On our first day there, I rented a camera and here’s Ian in the water ready for our first dive. We were very excited.

The site was gorgeous. Plenty of fish including an Emperor Angelfish – so colourful –

Lionfish -

And stunning table coral with Sweetlips hiding beneath -

It also wasn’t long into the dive when we saw our first shark – a white tip –

And another one -

We saw many white tips and grey reef sharks throughout our Sipadan dives. One dive alone I counted at least 30, sometimes there were 5 or 6 swimming below. Very cool.

When we dove Turtle Patch, we could see why it was called that. There were so many tutles!

Who doesn’t love turtles?

In between dives, we went onto the island itself for our hour break. There were washroom facilities and an area with tables where we could eat our snack and/or lunch.
We swam Barracuda Point but never did see the infamous swirling school of barracuda although we did catch them flying by us in the 1000s. On one of our dives, Kevin, Ian and I descended right next to a school of Bumphead Parrotfish. I didn’t have the camera that day which is too bad because they are spectacular beasts; very prehistoric looking. Over 60 of them floated around, unperturbed by any divers’ presence. They were probably 2.5 metres in length and maybe a metre tall. As you might have surmised from the name, they have a huge bump on their foreheads. It was fantastic seeing them and according to Kevin, quite unexpected.

We also saw schools of unicorn fish (yes they have a single horn-like protrusion from their foreheads) and we saw schools of Jacks.

It was great seeing those Jacks, when you looked through them, you could see a turtle and a shark swimming around as well. Jacks are top predators so we could swim easily into their midst and it didn’t bother them at all.

Here's an octopus - might be hard to spot at first but it's in the centre of the photo. I was lucky to get the shot because it moved so quickly; it was not interested in letting us see it for long.

I would have loved to have done 4 days of diving at Sipadan alone. All the diving was amazing, even on the artificial reefs we saw frogfish and the largest cuttlefish and grouper we’d ever seen. 

After diving off Mabul, we sadly headed back to Semporna and the Seafest for a couple nights, including a night dive that Lindsay, one of the friends we made, convinced us to do with her. It was quite gross as the water around Semporna is dirty and there was a lot of garbage in it but the dive turned out to be spectacular. We saw some fascinating crabs (spider, hermit, sponge and decorator), 2 seahorse, a Papuan cuttlefish, 3 frogfish (shaggy, green and lime), harlequin sweetlips, etc. It was a brilliant dive.
My 100^th dive was off a pretty island called Mataking and here I saw a huge octopus sitting on some coral. We sat and watched it for a good 10 minutes. I got a little too close and it turned white from fear so I backed off and it returned to its original red colour. We also saw a 2 metre long giant barracuda that wasn’t bothered by us at all so I got a really good look at it.

Off in the distance I could see a rain storm and sure enough, our boat hit it on the way back.

It poured down on us hard. All of us in the boat huddle down as best we could. Ian sat on the floor and I laid down on the bench but we were both freezing. Note to self: take a windbreaker when diving.

Our flight out was late our last day so we couldn’t dive. Instead of sitting in Semporna, we decided to snorkel with Scuba Junkies and they took us to a lovely little island. The snorkelling was okay, nothing great. I would rather have been diving. My last snorkel I wasn’t in the water a minute when sea lice got in my bathing suit and started bitting into me like I was the yummiest snack ever. I jumped out of the boat and the captain poured vinegar down my suit which alleviate the sting somewhat but I was not a happy camper. I stayed in the boat while Ian finished up.

By the time I got on the plane that night red welts covered my torso. The next day, I could barely tolerate clothing next to my skin. It was a nightmare. Not only had I been bitten but had an allergic reaction to the bites so I was covered in hives.

We slept in the airport in Kuala Lumpur and headed out to Singapore super early. Since Singapore is overly sensitive about drugs, I couldn’t get anything over the counter so off I went to the doctor’s for anti-histamines and steroid cream. It took about 7 days to clear up.  I will never go diving or snorkelling again without a rash top.

Despite the rash, the trip was awesome and I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Pattaya and Ian's Bike Trip

There were two reasons Cindy and I were going to Pattaya: we wanted to squeeze in a few days of diving before Cindy left for Canada AND Cindy scored us a few nights at another Marriot hotel using her points. Otherwise, we never would have gone to Pattaya.  Pattaya was close to Bangkok so it was easy to get to for a few days of diving – taking the bus was easy and cheap. The diving wouldn’t be great but it would give us an opportunity to do some diving together.

Pattaya was notorious for its sex tourism – I knew this but I had no idea how bad it was until we got there. Discos, open beer bars and go-go clubs were not confined to one area. They lined both the main and side streets; worse yet were the amount of older heavy set white men with young well-made up Thai women, some looking 16 years old. It was appalling. One night Cindy and I went to a British pub for dinner and every single table, except our own, was occupied with white men accompanied by Thai women. It was disturbing. I was glad to be diving all day so I only had to witness this when we grabbed a bite to eat.

I decided to use Mermaids Dive Centre for diving – they received decent reviews and the female manager was phenomenal with answering emails. Unfortunately, the dive guides were not very good.

The company picked us up and we arrived at the shop in no time. Cindy and I went inside and I met the manager who was quite friendly. We were then taken around the back for our gear. After that, we were sort of forgotten. No one told us anything so we just stood around waiting until finally we were ushered into a van – we had no idea where we were going, how long it would take, etc. I found it all rather strange. After about 30- 40 minutes, we pulled off the main highway towards a harbour and pulled up alongside the boat.

A foul odor hit us as soon as we stepped outside – the harbour we were in held several boats that fished for cuttlefish so that explained the smell. It was disgusting and a sarong over my nose barely helped. The boat was large and I watched as one of the guides got into it.

Now, Ian and I have been in and out of many boats on this trip and some of them have been tricky indeed, but I have never seen anything so dangerous as this one! Any description I could give wouldn’t do it justice but I can say it involved stepping onto a jagged rickety log sticking out of the water then climbing over the boat rail all while the boat is moving up and down – I hope that gives you some idea of the entry into that boat. For someone tiny or someone older with bad knees (which describes one of the divers), it was a challenge. One of the dive guides actually said to me: if I saw how you get on and off this boat, I'd never want to dive with this company again.

Anyways, Cindy and I managed, found our seats, sat with our sarongs over our noses and listened to our little orientation session for the boat. We were travelling another 30 – 40 minutes to the Hardeep wreck where one group would dive first while the rest of us sat on the boat waiting our turn. Again, this was odd to me. I had no idea we’d be waiting while one group dove before we’d move on to another site where the rest of us would then dive.  I would have liked to do 3 dives but they said that was impossible. A very strange arrangement set up to save money I suppose.

On route, one of the dive masters came up and asked if I’d like to do the wreck. I really wanted to but then I couldn’t dive with Cindy as only advanced divers could do the wreck. Cindy told me to go ahead so down I went to 25.9 metres to the ship. The current was incredibly strong and we had to hold onto the barnacle covered rope to get down to the site otherwise we’d be swept away. Luckily my dive guide had extra gloves to lend me or my hands would have been a mess.

The ship had sunk June 1^st 1945 and it was full of holes. I followed my guide into the ship’s belly where there wasn’t any current but also, not much to see. We spent our time swimming against the current to the front of the boat then letting it carry us back to the end – I wasn’t impressed and in fact, found it all rather tedious. Fighting the current also meant we’d go through the air faster than usual so our dive ended up being a mere 33 minutes; my guide who was a lot younger than I ran out of air as fast I did.

After that dive, I stuck with Cindy and didn’t do any more wreck dives. The sites we dove in were once used for navy exercises and there seemed to be a lot of unexploded ordinance among the coral that, needless to say, we avoided touching or going near. I did 6 dives while Cindy did 5 because she was flying and couldn’t do the last one.

We saw turtles, huge 6 banded angelfish, porcupine fish, blue spotted stingrays and the usual suspects: groupers, fusilier, sea cucumber, beaked butterfly, etc. On my last dive, I watched in astonishment as both my dive guide and a certified DM kicked coral most of the dive! I couldn’t believe how seemingly oblivious they were.  Not only to the coral but to me - I stopped to point at a ray trying to get their attention before finally giving up and swimming to catch up to them. Imagine if I were in trouble!  

I was glad to have that opportunity to dive with Cindy but I’d never go back to Pattaya nor would I ever recommend that dive company.  Except the manager is amazing; later she hooked me up with Scott at Mermaids in Bangkok and he helped me get a prescription mask made which was a huge undertaking on his part so I’m forever grateful for that….It’s a shame about the guides in Pattaya.

One night as I sat in the room in Pattaya, I received a text from Ian informing me that there had been a serious earthquake in Sumatra just like the one that had caused the tsunami in 2004. I immediately got on the internet and sure enough, Thailand was issuing a tsunami warning for the Andaman Coast. The Phuket airport was closed and people along the coast were being evacuated to higher ground.  Even though I knew I was safe in Pattaya (it was protected by Southern Thailand and in the Gulf) I was still a bit freaked. The ironic thing was, Cindy and I had wanted to go to Koh Lak (on the Andaman Coast) to dive but it wouldn’t work with our schedule.

Everything turned out fine, the warning was cancelled; no tsunami - thank goodness!

We took the bus back to Bangkok for one night before Cindy left on an early morning flight for Canada. I was there to see her off - a lovely 22 hour flight ahead of her but hopefully a great 3 weeks behind her.

I returned to the hotel and caught some shut eye before going back to the airport to meet Ian arriving from Chiang Mai. It was so good seeing him after way too long. Ian caught me up on his solo bike trip complete with photos.

Ian’s Bike Trip:

He rented a Kawasaki Versys 650, the biggest bike they had.

It was a great way exploring the countryside of northern Thailand. The sights were amazing and the people lovely.

Ian did get caught in a few thunderstorms and had to sit them out under a bit of shelter but other than that, the weather was the usual – hot and sticky. Some of the roads were interesting. This one had fallen completely away –

He said mostly the driving was great going around lovely curves and up and down the hills. However sometimes it was a bit hairy with cars coming towards him passing people blind on curves leaving him little room to get over. That’s how they drive here.

He visited several temples –

And at one temple, some little monks were having an afternoon nap.

He saw so many waterfalls he stopped taking photos of them –

The Songkran Water Festival was on for the last 4 days of Ian’s journey. This festival represents the Thai New years and a new beginning with water a cleansing agent to wash away the previous sins. It started as water being poured on another’s feet but has since turned into an all out water fight with many tourists getting involved. Sometimes Thais drive around with huge barrels of water on the back of pickup trucks and they douse people with water as they drive by. In towns, people line up along the street with water guns and buckets and hit passing scooters, pedestrians, and pickup trucks.

Ian spent 4 days totally soaked and more than once, got a bucket of water in the face while driving his bike on the roads. Not fun. His phone died from getting wet so much. Overall though, he had a blast.

Back in Bangkok

In Bangkok we decided to stay at the Admiral hotel and got a suite for about 70 bucks. It had a small kitchen so we could make some meals should we choose to. It wasn’t a bad location, very close to Terminal 21 so we saw a few movies over the next few days.

Mostly, we did research. As our time was coming to an end, we had to do some careful planning.  It was hard to believe that our New Zealand trip was soon approaching as it seemed so long ago that we had booked it.  Ian took on the task of renting us a campervan for NZ while I searched for a liveaboard stay in Komodo National Park.

Our next adventure was one we had been looking forward to for a long time – Sipadan.