Odysseys of George

At last the monsoon is over. I can already smell the cool salt breeze of sea water. I can imagine the beaches the coconut trees and the calmness of the island.

It is the first dive for the year, and it for me is more like a refresher to check out my dive equipment which had just been recently serviced. Also, I was anxious to see how my strobes and underwater camera behaved after being dry for almost 6 months.

The location : Salang, Tioman Island.
The Dive center: Fishermen Divers

We set off about close to midnight with another 2 friends who were going to do their Advance Open Water Course. Our journey would take us along the North South Highway to Air Hitam exit. From there, we head towards Kluang town and proceed through winding roads of Felda Nitar reaching Mersing at about 3.30 in the morning. The ferry was at 5am thus allowing us to take some power nap.

The interior of the ferry was so very cold. Shivering and cursing the cold, we reached Salang at 7am. My body met my soul and heart which seem to have reached the island a few days earlier.

6 dives in 3 days 2 nights. The visibility was acceptable approximately 15 to 20m and weather conditions were good. The dive guide wasn’t so great but the best dive was the last dive at Salang Jetty. It has never failed to excite me.

Armed with my trusted G7 and Ikelite casing and 2 YS110 Sea n Sea strobes, I present some pictures I took from some of the dive site namely Tiger reef, Batu Malang ( Unfortunate Rock), Chebeh Island, Labas, Roger Wreck and finally Salang Jetty.

Come 24th November, I together with another 11 divers will be going to this remote paradise, a divers haven. It is regarded as the mother of all dive sites and is situated at the furthest point of the Indonesian archipelago. So why paradise — because it is the richest marine biodiversity in the world!

To give an idea of where and how remote this place is this is a map showing the location:

Raja Ampat* means “the four ‘kings’”, a name dating back to the 15th century, when the Sultanate of Tidore – one of the muslim sultanates in the original Maluku west of Halmahera – appointed four local “rajas” in Misool, Salawati, Batanta and Waigeo.

Even earlier, Seramese traders from small islands off the eastern tip of Seram had established trade settlements, sosolot, throughout the region, exchanging cloth, beads, and other products from western Indonesia for trepang, plumes, forest products and slaves from Papua. There where also a strong ties to the island of Biak east of the Bird’s Head Peninsula.

Rock paintings found in caves in Misool and in on the west coast of the Birds Head, as well as bronze artifacts, show that trade with other parts of Asia was already established 2 – 3 000 years ago.

Going further back, it should be noted that just 10 000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, most of what is currently sea in this area was still land, roughly corresponding to the lighter blue parts in the Raja Ampat Map. This means that most of the early coastal settlements in this area are now submerged, and will require underwater archeology to be found and explored.( Ref: http://travels.patrik.com/ra/)

Biodiversity Features in Raja Ampat
and the greater Bird’s Head Seascape

1,356 species of reef fish in the Bird’s Head Seascape
1,223 species of reef fish in Raja Ampat
25 species of endemic reef fish found only in the Birds Head Seascape
600 species of hard coral recorded in the Bird’s Head Seascape
75% of all known coral species in the world
10 times the number of hard coral species found in the entire Caribbean
57 species of Mantis Shrimp in the Birds Head Seascape
13 species of Marine Mammals in the Bird’s Head Seascape
5 species of endangered sea turtles in the Bird’s Head Seascape

The dive sites:

Go here to know more about the dive sites

*An archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands that is formed tectonically.

Ha ha! Lately, I have been having a number of quickie escapades and this time it was Langkawi. I flew business class and stayed at Sheraton, Langkawi and was treated to a fulfilling barbeque dinner at one of their outlets called Spice Trader Restaurant with superb view of the sea.

As I checked into my room,

I wished I did not come alone!

Then a walk, a lot of walking actually, gave me a layout of these place….

After all that walk, the small pool did not look inviting and I decided to mimic this chap thereafter!

As I walked out onto the beach, to enjoy some beautiful rock formations….

I realize there is more to life that just work and money!

Well, this is the last of my blogging about this beautiful country called Vietnam and it infamous city Saigon, or presently called Ho Chih Minh city.

I did not manage to complete the tour of Vietnam and as such, have decided to hopefully do another trip there. The next time, it would be to see the War Tunnels which is situated 3 hours from Saigon and among others to fit in a diving stint at Na Thrang.

These are the other fascinating sights in Saigon:

1. Reunification Palace

- also known as the Independence Palace built on the site of the former Norodom Palace. This is the site of the official handover of power during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. It was then known as Independence Palace as at 10:45 am 30 April 1975, a tank of the North Vietnamese Army hit the main gate, ending the Vietnam War.

- In November 1975, after the negotiation convention between the communist North Vietnam and communist South Vietnam was successful, in memory of that event, the Provisional Government of the Republic of South Vietnam renamed the hall Reunification Hall.

2. Church of Notre Dame

- Established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters (190 feet).
-All building materials were imported from France. The outside wall of the cathedral was built with bricks from Marseille. Although the contractor did not use coated concrete, these bricks have retained their bright red color until now.
- In 1895, two bell towers were added to the cathedral, each 57.6 high with 6 bronze bells with the total weight of 28.85 metric tonnes. The crosses were installed on the top of each tower of 3.5 m high, 2 m wide, 600 kg in weight. The total height of the cathedral to the top of the Cross is 60.5 m.

- In the flower garden in front of the cathedral, there was a bronze statue of Pigneau de Behaine (also called Bishop Adran) leading prince Canh, the son of Gia Long by his right hand. The statue was made in France. In 1945, the statue was removed but the foundation remains.In 1959, Bishop Joseph Pham Van Thien, ordered a Peaceful Notre Dame statue made with granite in Rome. When the statue arrived in Saigon, on 16 February 1959 Bishop Pham Van Thien held a ceremony to install the statue on the empty base and presented the title of “Regina Pacis”. It was Bishop Pham Van Thien who wrote the prayers “Notre-Dame bless the peace to Vietnam”. On the next day, Cardinal Aganianian came from Rome to chair the closing ceremony of the Holy Mother Congress and solemnly chaired the ceremony for the statue, thus the cathedral was then-on called Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The crowd overflowed to the road outside the church.

3. The Post Office

Me buying souvenirs from the post office

4. City Hall

- this the modern and hip place of Ho Chih Minh city.

5. Dinner

- a very beautiful restaurant aongside the Saigon River. Enjoy the meal.

and lastly the Five Variety Salad

One of the highlights of the trip was the Vietnamese Water Puppet Show. A little bit of research reveals that Múa rối nÆ°á»›c is Vietnamese water puppetry, which literally means “puppets that dance on water.” The tradition dates back as far as the tenth century when it originated in the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam. When the rice fields would flood the villages, villagers would entertain each other using this puppet form.

Water puppetry is performed in a chest-deep pool of water, with the water’s surface as a stage. The puppeteers stand behind a curtained backdrop. Up to 8 puppeteers stand behind a split-bamboo screen, decorated to resemble a temple facade, and control the puppets using long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water surface.

A traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides background music accompaniment. The instrumentation includes vocals, drums, wooden bells, cymbals, horns, erhu (Chinese two-stringed fiddle), and bamboo flutes. The bamboo flute’s clear, simple notes may accompany royalty while the drums and cymbals may loudly announce a fire-breathing dragon’s entrance.

Singers of Cheo (a form of opera originating in north Vietnam) sing songs which tell the story being acted out by the puppets. The musicians and the puppets interact during performance; the musicians may yell a word of warning to a puppet in danger or a word of encouragement to a puppet in need.

The theme of the skits is rural and has a strong reference to Vietnamese folklore. It tells of day-to-day living in rural Vietnam and Vietnamese folk tales that are told by grandparents to their grandchildren. Stories of the harvest, of fishing and of festivals are highlighted.

Legends and national history are also told through short skits. Many of the skits, especially those involving the tales of day-to-day living, often have a humorous twist. ( Wikipedia )

Don’t leave Vietnam without seeing this. It is uniquely Vietnam.

So I went for a tour! Ha ha! This is what happens when one tries to cramp all their schedule in 52 hours! It was suppose to be longer but something cropped up and thus the rush. Big mistake – Vietnam has plenty to offer and I think I would have to return here to complete this so far beautiful country.

Visit 1: War Remnant Musuem

Opened to public on September 4th. 1975, it exhibits the war crimes and aftermath of the foreign forces upon the people of Vietnam. It has many pictures and translated scripts as one takes time to read and understand the war that happened. It brings about a mixed feeling and a sense of sadness as one sees the fear, the oppression and the suffering that the people of Vietnam had to endure. Never could I understand how evil man can treat another……., and in a breath I realize that this was all an experimental ground for the so called World peace keeper, th USA. In their cry for peace and freedom, they made it worse and caused more suffering not only to the Vietnamese but also to the lost men in battle and their families. There is a book in the museum for visitors to sign and in it, one can read the remarks hurled against the USA for their unnecessary meddling and killings. One can only see the similar repetitions happening in other parts like Iraq as they fail to learn from past due to their self righteous and egoist behavior.

Entrance to the Museum

The Weapons of Destruction

The Suffering

Why? Will we ever learn? They claim that close to 5 billion bombs were deployed during the war and the use of Agent Orange was purely a test ground for chemical warfare! Why?…….