Tim's Travels

Not quite back 'home'

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:09:00 +0000

So that was that. Probably the fastest 3 weeks I've ever had in my life, and in some ways the most draining. No, that makes it sound too negative, which isn't right at all.

When I was planning to come back I knew it was going to be hectic, and it was certainly that. But what an amazing time. Arriving at Heathrow was pretty surreal, but thank you very much to Rory and Pia who picked me up with a 4-pack of cold Kronenberg waiting on the front seat. That kind of set the tone for the next few weeks - much cold beer was drunk and much kindness was extended by Rory and Pia whose flat we used as a base when in London.

Hopefully I managed to catch up with everyone who reads this so there's no need for a full run down. Some thoughts though:

I know we're incredibly lucky to be doing what we're doing out here, but those of you in England shouldn't forget how lucky you are to have family and friends around, or that England really is beautiful (in the sunshine).

Emma's family and friends are lovely, and made me feel so welcome. It was a little strange for both of us to suddenly drop in on everyones' lives as a couple but we needn't have worried about anything (not that we really were... well maybe a little bit)

My family and friends are the best in the world. Within an hour of seeing everyone it was like I'd never been away, which is what I've always said is a sure sign of a strong relationship

Not much changes in a year and a half. Births, deaths and marriages. That's all you really need to keep up with. Fags are ridiculously expensive, so is petrol.

Big Brother is brilliant. In fact, this is how sad I am. In between writing bits of this I'm watching clips from the Big Brother website. Lea's gotta go soon.

Lager is so much nicer in temperatures that actually keep it cold for more than 2 minutes. (sorry Emma, think I might have nicked that one from you)

More people than I thought read this blog so I promise to try and keep it a bit more up to date

Okay that's enough I think. Did have this big plan to write loads about what it felt like being home, and being back here but didn't seem to flow so will have to leave that. Anyway, gotta go and catch my train back to Kuala Lumpur (have been in Singapore for the day sorting my visa out). Getting very excited about getting back to Trawangan and doing some diving. Hopefully see some of you there soon.

PS have spent my day waiting for my visa in the cinema. Cars is good, not as good as Finding Nemo but sweet and funny. Superman Returns is rubbish. Okay, not rubbish but tedious in places (and those were the ones I managed to stay awake for).

Homeward bound..for a little bit

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Wed, 17 May 2006 10:53:00 +0000

Never really sure whether anyone bothers to read this anymore, and am conscious it's hardly the most up to date source of information on my whereabouts but rather than email random people I thought this would be as good a place as any to announce my homecoming. It's only for 3 weeks but I will be in the UK from 4th June until 27th June.

Obviously I'd love to see as many people as possible so it's going to take some organisation, but will be mostly in Devon and London (ooh, look, the world cup happens to be on...that's a stroke of luck). Knowing how long it takes most of my friends to organise a piss up in a brewery, maybe someone could do a bit of planning? (Andy, I feel a spreadsheet coming on). For the family, a Surrey dinner is probably on the cards (Simon?) and the rest I'll catch up with in Devon.

I think it's going to be a hectic few weeks but am so looking forward to it. Emma's coming home too, so we finally get to meet each others family and friends. It's our year anniversary today - what a year, and it definitely feels time to be in England together.

So, hopefully see as many of you as possible in a few weeks. I can almost smell the roast beef and Kronenburg....

Finally, a huge congratulations to Dee who's just about to complete her singlehanded sail round the world the wrong way voyage. She's due to arrive in Southampton tomorrow, after 6 months, and if anyone wants to check out what an amazing woman she is (if you don't know already) take a look at www.avivachallenge.com . Be warned though - it makes you feel extremely lazy!

Thailand Tales

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 05:34:00 +0000

We knew of 2 diving destinations that are really popular with backpackers, and therefore provided the most likely chance of finding work: Koh Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand, and Koh Phi Phi on the Andaman side. From everything we knew and had heard, Koh Tao was a definite last resort. The diving's shit, most of the schools are like diving factories and it's very competitive between schools, so despite it coming towards the end of the season in the west we headed for Phi Phi.

The island was one of the hardest hit by the tsunami, but you'd hardly know it now. There's still a lot of building work going on but apart from that it's backpacker life as normal. I've never seen so many almost identical Swedes in one place, all sporting some sort of ridiculous head gear. I know we were looking for somewhere a bit more backpackery but our first reaction was 'oh my god, where have we come to?'. Identical people, identical conversations, identical restaurants, identical bars...amazing.

The diving however was excellent. We spoke to a few diveshops, and work seemed pretty thin on the ground but still a possibility, so we thought we'd do a few fundives and check the place out. After the Philippines, where fish life is pretty non-existent, we were blown away by the marine life. Nothing particularly unusual to see, but so much of what there was. Enjoying the diving was one of the prerequisites for staying in a place, so despite the work situation we decided to stay for at least a month and see what happened.

Freelancing is the life. Get up, eat, lie on the beach with phone close at hand, eat, beach, shower, eat, bed. Eventually the phone did go and I got my first course. At the same time Emma decided to do the instructor's course here so suddenly we were busy again! It felt good to be working, there really is a limit to how long you can enjoy doing nothing. Unfortuately Emma's course wasn't on Phi Phi, so I was on my own for 2 weeks. This may not seem like a big deal, but remember we'd spent pretty much every minute of every day together for the last 7 months so it did feel very strange. I mean, I had to carry my own money again and remember to pick the cigarettes up from the table!

The days passed slowly when I wasn't working so to fill a few I decided to take a quick trip down to Kuala Lumpur to watch the Grand Prix. Quick isn't really the right word - I left on Saturday morning, arrived KL Sunday, straight to the stadium, watched the race, then caught the overnight bus back. All in all a 56 hour round trip to watch a 1.5 hour race. Oh, but so worth it.

The day after I got back to Phi Phi, Barbara and Petra, 2 dutch girls we'd met on trawangan, arrived so I had company again! It's so lovely seeing people that you've met before and much tequila was drunk to celebrate. I ended up teaching Barbara her Rescue Diver course, the first one I'd taught so she was a bit of a guinea-pig, but luckily we both survived...just.

Then, at last, Emma came back, fully qualified and completely shell shocked by the real world. The instructors course is really intense and you don't realise until it's finished how out of touch with everything else you've become. It doesn't last though, and soon she was back to normal. We had some great diving together, with B and P too but then it was time to make decisions again.

Thai visas only last a month so we were going to have to leave the country whatever happened. What we had to decide was whether to come back and keep trying for work on Phi Phi or head back to Trawangan where the high season was about to start and hope we could get work there. Having Barbara and Petra there, and talking about Trawangan a lot, may have swung it, but that was only one of many reason we decided in favour of Indonesia. Gili Trawangan is such a special place for us, and feels the closest to having a 'home' out of anywhere in Asia. It's a lot cheaper to live there (Thailand was frighteningly expensive compared to Indonesia), and it's not so full of 18 year olds!

So, here I am, in Bali doing some shopping before heading to Trawangan tomorrow. It feels strange to be going back when we haven't got definite work there, and at the back of my mind is how different Malapascua was when we went back. So it's a bit of a risk, but one we're pretty sure is worth taking. Recently the need for staying somewhere for a few months has become more pressing, so work or no work we're going to stay put for a bit.

We learnt a lot form our 3 month stint in the Philippines and Thailand. We've got a much better idea of what sort of place we want to work in, and what is important in a place to us. The month in Thailand was particularly useful - Emma had an excellent instructor's course (which you don't get everywhere), we've made some good contacts with diveshops there, I got some good teaching experience, and I got to top up my tan. We learnt more about what we don't want in the Philippines but that's still useful.

So another chapter begins...

Contrary to popular belief, I am alive and well. O...

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 03:48:00 +0000

Contrary to popular belief, I am alive and well. Ok, I know my blogging rate has slowed somewhat but once every three months isn't too bad. It's a hectic life I lead out here, you know.

So what's been going on then? If I tried to write about everything I think I'd drive myself crazy so I'll try and give a brief rundown.

Malapascua didn't work out at all. Emma and I both had instinctive reservations about going back and in hind sight we should have listened to these. We knew it would be different going back to work properly but it was more than that. The atmosphere in the diveshop was pretty highly charged and it was very hard to feel relaxed there. With a whole world out there we decided we didn't need to stay in a place where we didn't feel comfortable, job or no job, so we left after 5 weeks. Not before, however, Carol, Emma's mum, came out to visit...and learn to dive! Having never met her before, the thought of teaching her to dive was a little nervewracking but I shouldn't have worried at all. She was brilliant (in the water and out of it) and it was an excellent way for us to get to know each other. Poor Carol though, did have to spend a large part of her holiday listening to us moaning and trying to decide what to do, leave or stay. She was a superb sounding board though, and her advice very much appreciated.

With Carol's visit, plus a visit from Simon who we worked with on Trawangan, we managed to retain our sanity and not punch anyone, and finally left towards the end of Feb. It felt sad to leave a place we both had loved so much, knowing we probably would never go back, but neither of us regret it for a moment.

We stayed in the Philippines for another week, in Boracay which is the tourist mecca of the country. Vaguely thinking about finding work there, we actually ended up having a lovely relaxed week before taking the plunge and heading for Thailand.

Thailand was always a bit of a last resort. After the last time we went there, in December to visit Emma's brother, we were a little reluctant to go back. Indonesia and the Philippines are so different to the 'backpacker' world of Thailand but our priorities had changed. We now needed to find some work and Thailand is where more people get certified than any where else in South East Asia so that's where we went. And as it turned out, a very good decision it was too.....

So lazy

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 08:23:00 +0000

Before I start I have a confession. Some of you know this, some of you may have worked it out but some will be unaware. I have committed a sin almost as bad as sending a group email. I haven't been able to sleep since and I was thinking about going into hiding. But then I reminded myself I've always been lazy and shouldn't feel guilty. So here's my confession. I cut and pasted a large block of news into loads of individual emails, just adding a paragraph at the beginning and one at the end to make it look like I was being really good and sending lovely long replies to everyone. Sorry. It did save me a lot of time though.

Anyway, for the record, here's the block. It's going to save me even more time now:

So life's all good out here. Emma and I left Indonesia a few days ago, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. We were so settled there, and had a really good life - lots of friends, good diving, enough work to pay for beer and food, a room we really did call home (the TV, DVD player, hot shower and aircon certainly helped that). But, as quiet season approached we had to move on, and at least we're heading back to somewhere we both know and love. Malapascua will seem very quiet in comparison but that might not be a bad thing after the beer and tequila we consumed over Christmas.

We're back in the Philippines now which is so lovely. Everything is so easy here and it all feels very familiar. We've got a few days before we start work so are just doing some fun diving which is so nice after teaching and guiding for so long. At the moment we're in the place we first got together which is slightly surreal, and provoking lots of conversations about how did we not realise before that we fancied each other, or more accurately why did neither of us let ourselves think about the other in that way. 7 months it's been now, and most of that spending every minute of every day together. We reckon the amount of time we've spent together is more than a lot of married couples last, and we're still couldn't be happier!

So, the next chapter is about to begin. Working properly is going to be a little strange, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I get to play with my thresher sharks every day and that's enough to see me through anything. We've no idea how long we'll stay in Malapascua, it all depends on how much work we get there. Maybe a couple of months and then we'll decide. Emma is coming home in June and I'm a bit tempted to come too (and stay for the world cup obviously as the game times out here are all wrong) but I'll decide closer to the time. Funds are running a little bit low so it will depend on work.....

so there it is, but it did seem a bit of a waste of time writing the same thing over and over again, so I'm going to stop feeling guilty.

Off to Malapascua tomorrow, but have just had the devastating news that the crazy golf course is shut. We may have to rethink everything. Malapascua without crazy golf is like...oh I can't be bothered to think of something funny. Make something up yourself.

So, will have limited internet use until we're back in a city so panic not if you don't hear anything from me for a bit.

Happy New Year to everyone and have a good one.

Finally some news...

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 06:52:00 +0000

Time for the monthly update, and at least this time quite a lot has been happening...

crazy as it sounds, I'm now a fully qualified PADI Dive Instructor. It was a bit of a mad couple weeks to get there but managed it in the end. The first 10 days were an Instructor Development Course, which is basically to teach you how to teach. It was so strange being back in a classroom for hours on end, having to concentrate, and at times drove me nuts. It all went ok though, and the 5 of us on the course were all set to take the 2 days of exams straight after we'd finished. Until, 2 days before we finished we were told that because of an increased travel warning to Indonesia the examiner, who was coming from Australia, was unable to make it and the exams were cancelled. This wasn't really what we wanted to hear, but there was no budging them (large American organisation needing to cover their arse at all costs), but we were told we could travel to Malaysian Borneo where they were holding the same exams a few days later. Ridiculous as it sounded (Borneo is hardly close to Trawangan) that's what we all ended up doing. It was a bit like being on a school trip, although with no one to really organise us, but we managed it, somehow.

The exams themselves were horrible. I haven't had that butterfly feeling in my stomach for so many years now, and really didn't enjoy it. A mixture of written exams, water presentations and classroom presentations, they really got the old adrenaline pumping, but all went ok and everyone in our group passed. (It's actually pretty difficult to fail but that didn't make it any easier at the time).

As a treat to ourselves, and because we'd come all this way, we all decided we'd spend a few days diving in Borneo, at Sipandan Island, which is ranked up there in the Top 10 best places to dive in the world. Oh, it was so cool. We met Emma near there (funnily enough she hadn't fancied hanging around in some strange city while we stressed about exams) and were transferred by speed boat to our accomodation, not on the island but on a nearby converted oilrig. Slightly surreal, yes, but absolutely brilliant. For the next few days we did nothing but eat and dive, and the diving was just awesome. That combined with the relief of having finished the course made for a fantastic few days.

Next Emma and I took a slight (OK, big) detour on the way home to visit her brother in Thailand. We had an excellent 3 days with Richard, tried a bit of climbing, realised I much prefer being under the water and then headed off back to Indonesia. Meeting someone from Emma's life at home was a little weird - we've been together a good few months now but everything we know about each other comes from us. It was great, though, to put a face to Richard, and reassuring, in a way, to link our lives back to 'the real world'.

So the last few weeks have been pretty hectic but have also been amazing. They've also made me realise a few things:

diving is the best sport in the world
you can never see too many sharks and turtles
I'm terrified of teaching my first course
Indonesia is much nicer than Thailand
I prefer being in one place to travelling around
Emma hasn't been making stories up all these months, she really is from Devon, has 2 brothers, was a school teacher and is lovely

Tonight in Bali, saying goodbye to a friend of ours, Simon, then finally back 'home' to Trawangan tomorrow. It's been funny being away from there for 2 weeks, and has really reinforced what a great place it is. Only a month to go though before it's back to the Philippines, but then I think Malapascua is the only place that could be a rival to Trawangan for favourite places in the world.

In case I don't get round to it later, Happy Christmas to everyone. It's going to be so strange not being in England, but will be thinking of you all.

Still here.....

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 01:24:00 +0000

So, as per usual plans change and I find myself still on Trawangan, just about to start my Instructor's Course. Everything seemed to fall into place - and if all goes well life for the next 6 months or so looks pretty rosy. As long as I pass, I should be able to get some experience here in December, stay here for Christmas and the New Year and then it's back to Malapascua for their busy season. Andrea and Trevor need another instuctor as their business is really starting to fly and rather foolishly have offered me the job on condition I rein in the tequila drinking and crazy golf playing. It's perfect for me as a first instructors job - I know the place, the people and the divesites. By then, Emma will be a qualified divemaster too, and they've offered her work too, so it's all looking good. It does feel a little strange to be offered a job for which I'm not even qualified to do yet, but I'm studying hard (-ish)and fingers crossed it will all work out.

The last month has been fantastic. It was Ramadan for the last 4 weeks, so the local dive guides haven't been working which means I've been getting loads of work, and loads of experience. Doing the divemaster course was great, but doesn't really prepare you for leading large groups of mad Aussies, or first time divers who really shouldn't have passed their course. When not diving there's a great bunch of people to hang out with. One of the owners, Antony, is a fiendish backgammon player so most afternoons consist of marathon sessions, usually resulting in me losing far too many beers, although the tide has started to turn....

Apart from that, not much else happens. Days turn into weeks, and now they're turning into months. It's going to be hard work for the next 2 weeks (the course is daily 8am-11pm for 10 days, then 3 days of exams)but once through that there's Christmas to look forward to and then hitting the road again.

So if planning your holidays for next year, come out to the Philippines and I'll teach you to dive, or try to. Or if you don't fancy diving I'll hammer you at backgammon or crazy golf.

Beautiful Gili Trawangan

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 03:36:00 +0000

Settled again. Beautiful island. Gorgeous weather. Proper food. Lovely room. A job.......shit what's that all about? Okay, so it's not like a real job and I'm not even being paid for it at the moment, but I still have to go to 'work' every day. It's so weird! I'm working as a Divemaster in Manta Dive which is a great place. Run by 2 english guys, it's got a real cool, chilled atmosphere and all I really have to do is dive twice a day. Life's so tough. It's great experience for me and is perfect to get some work now before hopefully taking my instructors exams some time in the next few months.

Gili Trawangan is a perfect place to stay for a bit. It's pretty quiet at the moment, but there are still enough people around to make it a great place for going out for a few beers after a hard day at the office. It's way more developed than Malapascua, but unfortunately lacking a crazy golf course. Surely there's a business opportunity there. It's also, fingers crossed, pretty safe here. Although fairly touristy it's nothing compared to place on Bali. We actually arrived in Bali about half an hour after the bombs went off last week, which was all a little strange. Life seemed to be continuing pretty much as normal, although the streets were noticeably quiet. My heart goes out to those trying to make a living out of tourism in Indonesia - it's just one thing after another, and this beautiful country is so desperate for even a fraction of the tourist bucks that go to Thailand.

Anyway, not much news to add. We'll be here probably till the end of November then will start the search for a suitable spot for Christmas. God, I can't believe how fast time is flying. It's over 8 months since I left cold miserable February England. You've had summer, won the ashes, and nearly failed to qualify for the world cup and I've got a suntan. Brilliant.

Deja Vu....

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 06:02:00 +0000

Hmmm, seem to have been here before. Killing time in Malaysia waiting for an Indonesian visa. It's as if the Indonesians really don't want anyone to visit their country. It's fine if you just want to stay 30 days, you can buy one of them on the border. But we want to spend longer than that so have had to come to Panang especially to get one, because this is the only place that will still issue a 60 day visa. We hope. At the moment our passports are in the possession of the winner of this years Indonesian Jobsworths award and he doesn't like me. Not a good situation. Immigration officals are a law unto themselves and I've got a sneaking suspicion that this one is going to take perverse pleasure in denying my application, probably for something like having the wrong background colour on my photo or folding my form the wrong way. At 4 o'clock today I'll find out. Can't wait.

In the meantime Emma and I are struggling to stay positive about 4 days in a city we really didn't want to spend 5 minutes in. It's actually not that bad a place, much nicer than Kuala Lumpur, and if we were good tourists there's loads of museums/temples to visit. Not that we're not good tourists, but we are both a bit over temples and museums have never really been my thing. In fact we worked out that the last time either of us went deliberately 'sightseeing' was in the Philippines in May. Instead we've written a long list of all the different types of food we want to eat while we're here and are steadily working our way through it. My stomach is rumbling in anticipation of the sushi that's lined up for lunch.

So what else has been going on? Well, Sumatra was amazing. We went to the little island of Pulah Weh which is off the coast of Bandah Aceh. It's only just been opened up to tourism again following the civil war and the tsunami, and we were minor celebraties for being among the first non-NGO westerners to visit. Bandah Aceh was pretty horrific to travel through - it never stood a chance. It's the flattest city I've ever seen and the tsunami has wiped out everything within about 2 kms of the coast. The whole area is now a desert of concrete rubble, with a few wooden shacks built on top. So sad and very eerie. Pulah Weh itself wasn't hit quite as bad, but most businesses on the beach we stayed were lost. The diveshop building survived but the dutch couple who have run it for 10 years lost pretty much everything inside. This is on top of living under marshall law for years which prevented tourists from coming. If it was me, I'd have given up years ago, but they were amazingly positive and had that incredibly dry dutch sense of humour about it all. Hopefully more and more tourists will make it up there now - we've made it our mission to sell Pulah Weh to everyone we meet.

The diving there was probably the best I've ever done. Really strong currents from the Indian ocean hitting its first landmass mean a huge amount of marine life and the coral was just beautiful. 10 dives just wasn't enough and I can definitely see myself heading back there in the future. Instead, for now, we're off (visa allowing) to the Gili Islands, just east of Bali. It's where I went on holiday last year (after which I finally decided to pack it all in and make this trip), and it's also where Emma and I first met, so holds a special place in my heart. Emma's going to do her divemaster and the dive shop have said they should be able to give me some work so we'll probably be there for 2 months or so. I'm really looking forward to settling somewhere again - the last 6 weeks have been great but being somewhere for more than a week is so much nicer than always moving and having to readjust to a new place every few days.

For those of you who've been fretting about the state of my liver (ok, so it's really only my family, everyone else knows it can take it), you'll be pleased to hear that beer is far too expensive for poor travellers like me in Sumatra and Malaysia so it's had a good chance to recover. We did have one evening in what was actually, for Asia, a pretty perfect copy of an English pub, treating ourselves to steak and pints after a week of rice and noodles on Pulah Weh. Boldly ordering my 4th pint, I realised how out of practice I was when I stood up to use the loo. I had to sit down and give myself a bit of a talking to before making the jouney across the bar.

Right, off to the consulate. Fingers crossed.

Quick update...

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 06:43:00 +0000

I'm never really sure where this blog's heading but am increasingly aware that I haven't written anything about what I've been up to since leaving the Philippines. So here we go on a breakneck tour through the last month.

Arriving back in Bangkok wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be - yes it was strange to see so many other tourists, but it felt familiar enough to be quite comforting in a way. Anyway, I knew I was heading straight out so could cope with anything. An overnight bus and early ferry got me to Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand where I'd arranged to meet an Israeli friend, Yogi, who Emma and I had bumped into loads of times in the Philippines. Israelis generally have quite a bad reputation on the 'travelling circuit', for being loud, unfriendly, rude, arrogant etc. While this maybe true of some Israelis, it's certainly also true of Brits, Germans, Irish, Australians and pretty much any other nation, particularly when they get together in large groups. And as with any other nation there are Israelis who don't want to hang out with other Israelis, and sometimes go out of their way to avoid them. Yogi's one of these, and that's one of the reasons I like him so much. We bonded in our desire to not hangout with our fellow countrymen all the time.

Koh Phanang was a bit of a shock. I'd last been there in 1993 and had a vague memory of what it was like, but wasn't prepared for the full scale development that had happened. This place was "Reps Uncovered" territory, without the reps. Hoards of shirtless blokes with varying degrees of tan/burn drinking themselves into oblivion and then thinking they were looking attractive enough to go on the pull. Yogi actually described it best when he noticed the similarity between the zombies in Sean of the Dead (or Dawn of the Dead if you're a purist) lunging, arms outstretched towards their victim and the sight on the beach as the sun came up after the Full Moon Party. I know I'm sounding like a bit of an old git, and to be honest I did feel a bit of one. I actually had a great time on Phangan though, mostly because it was good to be with Yogi again and also we were lucky enough to meet a lovely bunch of Danish, and trust me, the Danish know how to party more than we do.

Next Yogi and I headed up to Koh Tao for a last couple of dives before he had to go back to Israel. The diving was terrible and made me realise how spoilt I'd been in the Philippines but Koh Tao was good fun. Not as wild as Phangan, but enough to make me need a few days chilling (liver recovery) on my own once Yogi had left, so I headed to Aow Leuk on the quiet side of the island and had a fantastic time ignoring the rest of the world, reading, sunbathing, swimming and hammocking. I've realised over the last 7 months that occasionally I need to do this - withdraw completely, not communicate with anyone, and I love it.

Then it was back to Bangkok to meet Emma again. For those of you who haven't been paying attention, Emma and I first met in Indonesia last year then we met in the Philippines for 2 weeks in May. We had such a good time that she decided to come back in June for a month before heading to India. The plan had been to probably meet in Australia some time later in the year, but plans never stay the same so we decided we'd travel a bit more of South East Asia together. Not a light undertaking as we are both pretty independent and love travelling on our own but you've got to take some risks sometimes.

It was fantastic to see each other again (although I was pretty disappointed Emma wasn't taken by India at all, it being one of my all time favourite places) and amazing to sit down and be able to say "ok, where shall we go?". Diving was obviously our main priority so after a few days in Bangkok with Kiwi Geoff (of the ridiculous betting fame) we got the train down to Malaysia and headed over to the Perhentian Islands. They are truly stunning; gorgeous beaches backed by thick jungle, beautiful clear water and some not bad diving (I'm still spoilt by Phil.s). Not a bad place to have my birthday either, although we were a little bit sneaky and pretended my birthday was on the 11th and celebrated it then as we had to leave and travel all day on the 12th. No one seemed to mind when I drunkenly told them the truth, but I did feel a little bit guilty when Emma had to travel with me the next day me not only with a screaming hangover (avoid Malaysian whiskey at all costs) but also put up with me reminding her it was my really my birthday today and she should be extra nice to me.

So finally up to date. Currently in Kuala Lumpur, waiting for an Indonesian visa (which it annoyingly turns out we could have got cheaper and quicker at the border) before heading to Sumatra for some more diving. The plan after that is still pretty vague. Emma wants to do her divemaster and I need to get a job and some experience somewhere before doing my instructors course, so we're on the look out for a suitable spot. In the meantime as long as there's water in the ocean, heat in the sun and beer in the fridge I'm sure well manage.

Crazy Golf

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 03:59:00 +0000

Of all the things I thought I'd find myself doing on my travels, becoming addicted to crazy golf was definitely not one of them. In fact, I'd never played in my life. When I first got to Malapascua and someone told me there was a crazy golf course I laughed. This is a tiny island. Then they told me there was a bar there and I took them a bit more seriously. So one evening off we went into the maze of huts and paths in the woods behind the beach in search of the mythical course. After getting totally lost and being gently guided by bemused villagers suddenly lo, like a shining star was a sign declaring we had arrived. We were enthusiastically greeted by the lovely Annan who guided us round, issuing tips on where to hit the ball, how hard to hit it etc, and that was it I was hooked. When I learnt that my first round of 46 was good enough to get me onto that months leader board there was no turning back. Around the bar are painted boards recording for posterity the top 10 scores for each month. Being just slightly competitive I knew I had to be top for at least one month before I left.

So, the die was cast. Crazy Golf became the closest thing to a local I've ever had. If I hadn't arrived by 6 o'clock Annan and her crazy German husband, Torsten, would be worried that something had happened to me. Anyone who dived with us was dragged up there, and at one point Andrea, my instructor, suggested I might have to choose between my divemaster and crazy golf. It was a tough decision.

I think without Crazy Golf I'd have gone slightly mad on Malapascua. It was my escape, my release and the site of some of my best memories:

In no particular order -

Trevor playing the 18th (a bastard of a hole) in torrential rain wearing only his underpants. (It also involved a dutch girl in her bra but you had to be there to know the full story)
The Inaugral Malapascua Tequila Masters: A fantastic kiwi couple, Geoff and Caroline, Emma and I thinking it was a good idea to play a round where the loser on each hole drinks a shot of tequila. Geoff and I had a side bet that the winner between the 2 of us gets to shave the others head in any style they like. A whole bottle of tequila later Geoff lost and I vaguely remember getting half way through an attempt at a union jack before Annan wisely wrestled the clippers from me before I did some serious damage. (incidentally, Geoff got me back on the next ridiculous bet and I ended up singing Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On in the karaoke bar wearing a bikini)
Celebrating Christmas one day in July because Torsten accidentally put on a Christmas CD. Of course we had to celebrate New Year a week later. Holding hands round Hole 8 singing Auld Lang Syne drinking some lethal German spirit in the middle of July was pretty surreal
raising a glass to the memory of a fighting cock (victorious but with us no more) bought and donated to a local family by a lovesick Danishman to preserve the honour of their daughter
31st July - waiting until midnight to ensure no-one had beaten my month's top score of 35
Torsten shaving his very Germanic bushy moustache off because he lost a bet over Michael Schumacher's place in the German Grand Prix
a very drunk Andrea sitting in the karaoke bar/shed, demanding Annan fetches the tequila from the Crazy Golf Bar (which she'd closed at least 4 hours earlier). Torsten being not very amused the next day

Ok, I know it's a little bit sad when your whole existense revolves round diving and crazy golf...but I loved it.

Malapascua - thoughts

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 03:32:00 +0000

I don't know what it was that made me stay on Malapascua. I only went there for 3 days to kill time before a flight to Palawan and was then leaving the Philippines. When I finally left nearly 3 months later it felt like leaving home all over again. I suppose it was lots of things: Trevor and Andrea who ran the diveshop, thresher sharks, Crazy Golf, not too many but enough tourists, Captain Geoff, the varied diving, sunday roast at the Kuan-ba, or maybe just travel fatigue. I'd spent 2 weeks rushing around with Emma and then found somehwere that just felt right to stay for a bit. Trevor and Andrea's passion for diving was infectious and something told me I'd learn a lot by doing my Divemaster with them. More than I would have in any other place I'd been to. But this wasn't just about the diving. It was about finding somewhere I could stay for long enough to complete my DM that didn't drive me mad with it's busy-ness but kept me interested enough to stay.

Malapascua'a not a big place. It's maybe 4km North to South, 2km East to West. There are no cars, one small town, a few villages, no mains power, no landlines, no freshwater, a few restaurants, I late night bar (closed for low season), 2 karaoke bars and a crazy golf couse. It's attraction a as a tourist destination is two-fold. For divers, along with other fantastic dive sites, it's the only place in the world you're almost guaranteed to see thresher sharks. For non-divers, it's peaceful, has beautiful beaches and cold beer (most of the time).

It was a simple life living there. A typical day went like this: up at 5 to be in the dive shop for 5.30 to get everything ready for the 6 o'clock shark dive. Most people came primarily for this dive so it was important that everything went smoothly, not easy at that hour of the morning, in the dark. Back at 8ish for breakfast, usually eggs and rice from the lovely Josephine who lived in a beach shack next door to the diveshop and was happy to provide sustenance for 20p. The rest of the day involved 2 great hardships: diving and sitting around chatting, smoking fags, drinking coffee. Once the last dive was over, coffee generally turned to San Miguel before nipping up to Crazy Golf for a beer or 2 and a round before sunset. If I was feeling energetic, dinner at Sunsplash (the only lively restaurant/bar on the island), if not, quick dinner at the Kuan-ba where I stayed and then bed by 10.

OK, so anyone on Malapascua would probably disagree and say there was a bit more karaoke involved, certainly a lot more booze and occasionally a lot more mayhem. Maybe they're right.

I'm still not sure why I stayed so long. As the weeks went on things did begin to irritate me. A small island in the Philippines is no different to a small village in Devon. Island politics were ridiculous. I missed freshwater showers, I missed lie-ins, I missed eating in different places, I missed home sometimes. But these were small prices to pay for 3 months I'll never forget. In a few years Malapascua will be very different - tourism is growing exponentially. For all the benefits tourists bring to a destination they also destroy the soul of a place. I feel priviledged to have spent time, and been part of, an island that still holds onto that soul. Maybe that's why I didn't want to leave.

Back in the real world

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 08:56:00 +0000

28/08/05 I did try to post this on 17th August but have been having technical problems. Lucky my tech. support has now sorted them (thanks Jules), but guess what......am just off for a few days where i think there's no internet.

Very briefly though, all well here. Survived the Full Moon Party, have readjusted back into the real world (took a few days though) and am enjoying watching TV (the Ashes...what's that all about?), eating vegetables and swimming in the sea without a tank on my back. Am missing crazy golf, San Miguel beer, and swimming in the sea with a tank on my back.

I'll be back in Bangkok on the 2nd Sept where there's cheap fast internet so promise to catch up then

Well here I am back in Thailand. There's so much to tell that I really don't know where to start, and as I have a bus leaving in an hour I'm not going to attempt it.

I've stuck some photos in the gallery mostly to remind me of stories I want to tell here when I've got time but I guess there could be some amusement factor in trying to work out what went on in Malapascua before I tell you!

Promise to write soon

Not a city boy after all

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 04:13:00 +0000

Well, this feels a bit strange to be writing two postings within a few days of each other. Can you tell I'm a bit bored? I left Malapascua on Friday morning and since then all I seem to have done is hang around waiting for flights. 2 days in Cebu, which was terrible and then 2 days here in Puerto Princesa, which isn't quite so bad but is still rather limited on the entertainment front. Still, has given me a chance to get loads of the reading for my divemaster done, and have watched a good amount of crap cable tv - enough to keep me topped up for the next 2 months anyway.

Has also made me finally realise that cities just aren't for me. How I survived 8 years in London I don't know. All the way through this trip I've been far happier in the smaller places, but here in the Philippines this has become even more evident. It's not that the people are unfriendly in the cities, it's more that they're not particularly friendly. Tourists are hardly 2 a penny round here (in fact I haven't seen another westerner since Malapascua) and in other South East Asian countries the sight of a lone tourist wandering around the streets would draw a certain amount of attention. Here it's like I don't exist. I'm not expecting people to rush out and invite me into their houses or to sit down for a beer with them, and it's actually quite nice to walk around and not be hassled, but it's a bit unsettling when I'm completely ignored in shops, restaurants or any sort of queue.

There's no doubt about it, the Philipino's are very different to other South East Asians. It's probably down to the fact that for most of the last 500 years they've been colonised by various empires, so have struggled to preserve their own identity and culture. The Spanish and American influence is huge and has left a country that is a confusing mixture of east and west. This is so much more obvious in the cities, though, where traditional markets compete for space with shopping malls, fast food outlets, mobile phone shops and internet cafes. In the smaller towns and on the smaller islands where the west hasn't had such a profound effect, I've found the people much more open to tourists. On Malapascua I don't feel uncomfortable walking around the village, stopping for a drink in a local bar (even banging out a karaoke tune or 2), but here, and in Cebu I haven't felt I could do that. Or if I did, I just don't feel I'd be accepted in the way I would outside a city.

So this got me thinking about cities in general. What I loved about London was it's anonimity. If you didn't want to talk to someone you didn't have to. But this seems wrong to me now (sorry to my upstairs neighbour in Brixton who I didn't speak to for 18 months). I want to talk to people, and interact with them, and when I'm in a place that that's hard to do it feels strange. Perhaps my Devon roots are coming through here or perhaps I'm just becoming middle-aged, but i definitely feel happier and more comfortable in smaller places, which is something I would have scoffed at a few months ago.

Cities are for travelling through, everywhere else is for staying. Maybe this is obvious to most people, but to me it's a whole new feeling, but I like it.

The best thing about travelling...

donne_tj@yahoo.co.uk (Tim) — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 08:32:00 +0000

is the fact that you can change your plans as often as you like. May19th: " It's looking unlikely that I'll stay here for the 3 months I intended...I need to do (my divemaster) somewhere a bit more lively so will probably head down to Malaysia, or even Indonesia in mid-June to settle on a beach somewhere for 2 months". On May 22nd I signed up to do my Divemaster on an island in the Philippines, 3 hours from the nearest bank, with no internet connection and only one late night bar (that has since closed). Hardly lively. Love it.

Malapascua is heaven. It's primarily famous for being home to Thresher sharks, and is the only place in the world where they are known to appear every day. Although that's why I went there originally, within a day of being on the island I knew I'd found the place I could stay for a few a months. I won't even attempt to describe what made me feel like that, as I'm not really sure I even know, but it just felt right. The island, the diving, the diveschool, the people. All of them.

I'm actually in Cebu at the moment as the couple who run the diveshop are on holiday for 2 weeks so I'm using the time to fly to Palawan to get some serious wreck diving in. It's meant to be the best in the world as the sea is littered with relics from WW2, Japanese and American. Then it's back to Malapascua for 6-8 weeks, so don't expect to hear too much out of me.

I love diving. I've been doing 2 or 3 dives every day for the last 3 weeks and I still think it's so exciting putting on that wetsuit, checking the equipment, getting in the water, giving the signal and descending down into a totally different world. There aren't many things in the world that would get me up at 5.30 every morning but the chance to see Thresher sharks is one of them. But it's not just the sharks. Coming back from the dive as the sun is just warming up, the light is perfect and the island is just waking up is almost as amazing as diving itself. If you've dived you might know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, why not?

So my plans for Malaysia and Indonesia are on hold for now, but hey, they'll still be there another time. It feels great to have made a decision about the divemaster, and I'm really looking forward to staying in one place for more than a week or so. There may be no internet or any nightlife to speak of on Malapascua but there is rather bizarrely a fantastic Crazy Golf course so when not diving I'll be improving my putting skills over a cold beer or 2.

There're some photos to go on but haven't got the right bits and bobs here now so check in a day or two if you're interested.

Funny how i've ended up doing exactly the thing I intended to do when I left England, having spent the last few months constantly thinking I'll do something else. But that's the best thing about travelling...