Painted Cuties

Aren't they just adorable! Livvy, Kayla and Hollie all painted up.

A different view of Manila

A couple of weekends ago I got to go and hang out for a few days with some good friends in Manila. I know Jo and Nigel from high school and youth group days, and hanging out with them and their girls is just like being with family.

The weekend was very low key, mainly due to the fact that Tessa was just 3 weeks old, and the entire family were still recovering from the newest arrival and the trip back to Manila from NZ. Low key was also great for me, as I had just been on camp for three days with 4th graders. So mainly the weekend was catching up, sleeping and eating.

What was nice was to see a slightly different face to Manila than the one I think most of us imagine. That dark, dirty and extremely poor face is definitely a big part of Manila, as people begging at car windows when you stop at traffic lights makes clear. However, parts of Manila - like the waterfront area, are definitely seeing change. It's nice to know that there is hope!

Looking across to downtown from the water front.

Emily and Zoe checking out what is going on in the water.

It's all too much for little Tessa.

Sunset on the water.

A conscience is a terrible thing.

As many of you know one of my joys here in Asia has always been the shopping. In fact it hasn't only been my joy, but also that of the many recipients of the importing of handbags to NZ when I fly home. This week a terrible thing has happened - my conscience has got in the way. Now I have always known that I was ripping off big movie producers (fake dvds) and fashion houses (fake handbags - sorry original copy handbags) but that thought never moved me to tears. However I have just read an article in Harper's Bazaar that talks about the use of child labour in the production of fake handbags, and the links between fakes and drug cartels. So it is bye, bye to cheap handbags, dvds and sunglasses - a sacrifice I am willing to make, but still sometimes your conscience really messes with shopping fun! Luckily there are lots of amazing bargains that aren't fakes - the credit card isn't safe yet.

Reunited!

After a long and painful separation I am finally reunited with internet access at home. First it was the internet account moving away, or more accurately the next door neighbour's account that I used moving away, then my less than 9 months old laptop had a battery melt down. It has taken 4 weeks, but tonight I am sitting at home on my computer again - bliss!

A glimpse under the sea

A few of my underwater snapshots from the diving. The colour isn't great, but it gives you a bit of an idea of what was below the sea at Pulau Perhentian.

Jenkin's Whip Ray (a couple of meters long, and no I didn't try to ride it!)

Giant Moray

Blue spotted ribbon tail ray

A family of brown bamboo sharks

A school of yellow fish (OK, so I don't remember their proper name!)

Shaggy scorpion fish (yes, it is a fish and that is its name)

A young box fish hiding behind coral

Nudibranch

Another blue spotted ribbon tail, on the move this time.

A big eye and coral

Phyllidia nudibranch

Coral garden

Hermit crab

Beautiful and poisonous lion fish

Perhentian Paradise

Top 10 reasons why I love Pulau Perhentian


1. No roads, and no cars
2. Naps in the afternoon
3. Togs and sarong are the dress code all day long
4. Roti canai and strong Malaysian coffee for breakfast
5. Boat rides to dive sites with the sun on your back and wind in your hair
6. Being surrounded by a multitude of languages all speaking diving
7. The sugar ship wreck
8. Fresh seafood for dinner each night; rock lobster, calamari, prawns...
9. Eating 3 meals a day with the sand between your toes
10. Hanging out with the fish at least twice a day, and the odd shark, ray or eel!

And yes, if it sounds like all I do there is eat, sleep and dive, it is because that is all I do. Gotta love island life!

Malaysian Tiki Tour I

After living in Malaysia for almost 3 years I decided that it was long past time to take a Malaysian road trip, or at least one that involves more than driving to the ferry departure point for a weekend diving. So with the 10 days of Spring Break ahead of us Andrea and I took off to the East Coast in my lovely little piece of Malaysian engineering (fully serviced before departure for an amazing RM39, or NZ $15 including a new headlight). The drive to Cherating, home of Club Med in Malaysia, was a simple one although we quickly discovered in a torrential down pour that the service had not included getting rid of the ear piercing squeak of the windscreen wipers. We decided to go a little upmarket for the first few days (not Club Med upmarket!) and stayed at a Legends, a resort we quickly discovered is mainly used by local Malays that looked at our bikini clad bodies beside the pool with horror whilst they were completely covered from head to toe. Luckily our pool hours were quite separate, they were leaving the pool by the time we had emerged from our rooms and we finished worshipping the sun around 5pm they decided it was safe to come out and not darken their complexions.
So Legends provided us with a nice few days of getting in to holiday mode; lots of amazing fresh seafood, sightings of hornbills, poisonous snakes and iguanas, and about five million mosquito bites currently causing me to want to chop my legs off at the knees.
Today we have driven north to Kuala Terengganu where we have done the town shopping area in ten minutes and are now heading back for a snooze before some banana leaf curry for dinner. Yum! Tomorrow we head further north up the East Coast (when I get a chance I'll post a map for those of you who like the visual props) and head over to paradise. 5 days diving in the Perhentians. Got to love life in Malaysia!