I'm back!

So I’ve stayed away from my blog page like forever, I know and I apologize for that. Thing is, I’ve been cut out of my internet connection and I can’t do much with my own internet due to the low signal offered by my service providers.

Life? Oh, it’s been frantically boring nowadays. I have fallen in the state of slowing down. My passion for this island is still burning like hot torch but ironically; I don’t fancy it burning for the time being. I rather go out and breathe some polluted air in the city to remind myself why did I made the decision to stay here in the first place.

Okay, enough with the ranting and negativity. Let’s focus on the good things happening here. First thing first, I finally is, an almost certified Rescue Diver. Why almost? I know my completion form is still with my instructor so it will take roughly 2 to 3 weeks for my license to arrive.

I don’t like the training for Rescue Diver. It’s tiring and requires lots of stamina! You have to be freaking fit!! REALLY!! It’s tiring, exhausting needless to say. I jokingly told my Instructor, our “victim (a trained Dive Master) might ends up saving me sooner or later. Thank God, it’s stayed far from reality. Haha.

On the other note, the sun had beeeeeeen way to generous last month. It’s almost perfect weather everyday. Like seriously! The sun shines everyday compare to the two previous months (there's a myth here in the island saying you can't say anything about the weather or it will change so drastically to the worst you  can imagine and by that the weather really change into what I dislike the most, IT'S RAINING LIKE HELL NOW!!) 

p/s: I'll insert the pictures later okay. Internet down again :(

Later baby,

Janey 

Hey Janey, what happened?

I believe some of you wonder my whereabouts, wonder what I'm up to and probably wonder if I've completed my Dive Master course or not. Well, truth be told... I've been sick and I was asked by a very handsome doctor (which happened to be a diver as well) to rest for a week or two. Well during the check up, doctor told me that my body is quite weak and well, I know myself and I admit that my immune system has never been great my whole life. He told me that probably the reason of me keep getting fever is because of the weather in the island, less of water intake, lack of rest/sleep and improper diet (talk about instant noodles uh).

Blood sample was taken and I was given few types of medicines (yuckkks, I hate the tastes of meds) and like usual it came with the instruction to FINISHED IT UP. So with the restriction to dive was issued by the doctor (yes he's super good looking and I bet he look sexy in his wetsuit) I went back to my aunt house (I live with my aunt and her family in their small flat, I'll will talk bout my life later on), rested myself, slept like nobody's business, ate like no one watching, and read my novel & book like no one around. I was given antibiotics, paracetamol, some greenish pills I reckon  was for my flu, some creams for the bug bites and wounds on my legs thanks to the jelly bugs, and some meds for my nerves system.

                           

A week later I was back in the island feeling better and eager to dive once again but as if luck wasn't on my side, I started coughing like I have a stone buried in my chest. It get worsen by day till I'm about to give up on diving and just return to my aunt's. After few days and bottles of coughing syrup, I finally felt a lot better and less agitated bout myself and my condition so yes, I jump in for a dive! 

I tried diving with slightly blocked nose before and it was terrible (I know, I can be plain stupid sometimes and you can expect me to do that often) and as if blocked nose wasn't terrible enough, coughing is another deadly thing you shouldn't attempt to dive with. I've learn my lesson. I was diving with my instructor Julius, one of our friend (which happened to be my buddy during our Open Water course), a practical Dive Master trainee (Jen-Jen) and me. It wasn't that deep, it's only around 8m and I stayed at 5-6m most the time. Things get worse when my trachea starting to feel dry and I automatically cough way more than I should do. It happened several times and it almost gives me a panic attack because every time I coughed, my regulator was about to be blown away and since I'm diving close to my friend and Jen-Jen, they seems to noticed it and asked if everything okay. I thought I had everything under control or at least I could managed and I give them my "OK" signal.

After 15mins, I started to feel giddy and every time I try to equalize, I feels like vomiting. I thought I might as well abort the dive and ascend on my own but then I decided to stay and so I dove and brace my regulator for another 45mins at 6m. I know I was jeopardizing myself but I'm always this stubborn me and I always try to push myself even harder. In then end, what I did for the remaining 45min was, to breathe like usual, cough if I have to but making sure my hand is holding my regulator and did regulator clearing numerous times whenever I feel like my trachea is drying up. I would never attempt on doing another dive with half blocked nose or even a slight cough.

So, I know I've been quiet with only a post published every month but I just can't help it. Sometimes, other priorities come slapping my face and I have to stay away from my computer and thus the lack of post. I would love to write everyday, post everything about Pulau Tiga and it's attraction and I wish I have a better brain to do all these creative writing instead of making it duller and duller by days. So as I press the enter button for this post, i wish this won't be the last I'll be posting for this month and before I get going and find more inspiration to write (yeah right Janey), I'll leave you with this stunningly beautiful sunset I took using my iPhone.

     

Till the next post, 

Lots of sea salt love from Pulau Tiga,

Janey

p/s: when are you guys coming, this ocean is so big to be playing alone all day long!

Hey! Which Way To Pulau Tiga??

According to research, Pulau Tiga island was formed on September 21st 1897 when an earthquake on the Philippine island of Mindanao triggered a volcanic eruption of mud and rock formed a new island. The island is 607 hectares in size and has couples of active mud volcanos at the highest part of the island. Pulau Tiga is one of the three islands that make up Pulau Tiga National Park.

Getting it's fame after being the secret location for the first installment of the famous reality show "Survivor", Pulau Tiga is often referred as Survivor Island and as a pretty much uninterrupted island, Pulau Tiga offers tons of activities for the nature lovers and adventure seekers alike whilst also offers a relaxing serenity for the laid back tourists.

        

                                                     *beautiful sunset in Pulau Tiga*

Pulau Tiga is typically reached via Kuala Penyu on the Klias Peninsula, around two hours south of Kota Kinabalu. After taking a bus or private car to Kuala Penyu, you have to take an approximately 30-minute speedboat ride to Pulau Tiga. An alternative to go overland is to charter a boat cruise from Kota Kinabalu or Labuan.

      

                                                        *Pulau Tiga Resort jetty*

Given the fact that Pulau Tiga was actually gazetted under Sabah Park, diving activities offers a fantastic experience. Depending on dive sites, depths range between 6m to 20m, the visibility is generally 5m to 20m with occasional strong currents on certain dive sites. This suitable for experienced leisure divers, some drift diving and lots of underwater photography.

        

                                     *Just a silly diver which happened to be me*

Some may ask, when is the best time to visit Pulau Tiga and best answer is, anytime you wanted to. Although best time is from October to May because June to September is the monsoon season and you may expect rainy and rough boat ride from Kuala Penyu to the island.

      

                                              *Rainbow on sunset, double blessing*

If you plan to stay in Pulau Tiga, Pulau Tiga Resort will be your first choice. You can book the tour online at their website at http://www.sdclodges.com/my/ where all the packages and information are listed. They even offers transportation from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Penyu and the best part is, their office is on 10th floor at Wisma Sabah in KK city center to take your order. Just visit their website for contact info and be ready for the unforgettable experience.

p/s: As I myself is enjoying my stay here in the island, I only use my smartphone to post this entry and I'm still working on how to attach pictures without making too much mess. Bare with me while I try to master this feature.

Till the next post,
Jane

#janeyonjourney #diverinlove #turnitblue

Dive... Dive.... and more Dive......and DIVE MASTER!

You probably wonder where have I been these past few weeks, without any updates or entries. Well apart from being busy diving almost EVERYDAY now, I'm also busy working as a volunteer at Pulau Tiga. Yes, you ready is right, I'm currently volunteering for Pulau Tiga for three months. Ahaaaaa. I guess you're wondering why I suddenly volunteers here, don't you?

Well, I'm currently taking the course to become a Dive Master, yes DIVE MASTER baby and in order to become one, I need to have an Advanced Open Water license, Rescue Diver license, an Emergency First Response (EFR) and finally to have at least 60 dives to be able to certified as a proud DIVE MASTER (DM). So you can imagine how busy I am with diving now.

There reason for volunteering is to ensure I get the cheapest rate for my course and well for sure, for my accommodation and FOODS too! Doing a volunteering means I have to obliges to the company's rules and regulations but the fun part is I'm also trained on how to run a resort/lodging and diving station.

When I don't have any diving practice, I'll be assisting Kenny for Discover Scuba Diving (DSD). Sometimes I assist him and Julius for boat diving too (I'm lucky, I know) and I love it. Julius always say I'm a hyper diver. When I first dive in 14 meter depth, I tend to lose my mind and heads for the blue but now, Julius noticed the pattern had changed, I love chasing after fishes. Julius famous remarks about me are;
1. Sometimes she's diving below you parallel to the sea floor and when you look down she's already gone and diving above you.
2. Sometimes she's on your left and when you turn around she's already on your right.
3. She's just so comfortable in the water and on busy days, you want to prevent her from entering the water because once she's wet, it's really hard to make her leave the water. She'll only show up during lunch time and rested for a while before joyously heading back to the water and you'll have to give her a time out or she'll probably won't leave the water." He kept telling people about this and how I overcome my aquaphobia. Funniest part? I still can't swim at all.

Yes, still can't swim but I'm good to go once you give me my gears. I can stay in the water for hours practicing my skin diving skill as long as I have my mask, fins and snorkels. I haven't been able to fight the fear of not being able to float back if I jump from the jetty and I'm always feel jelly when I saw them jumping from the jetty. Oh talking bout the jetty, I saw one trunk fish yesterday and it swam along side the barnacles and it was big, trunks is definitely one of my favorite fish!

Anyway, I had assisted Kenny for at least 5 DSD so far and sometimes I'll do some filming on my GoPro. Being able to watch new divers being brief for the first time is always my favorite part. It's a refresher for me every time and sometimes, I'll do share my experiences to the new divers. Oh, I can't wait till the day I become a certified one.

Till the next post..

Lots of love (with tons of sea salt)
Jane.

First lesson!

So yesterday, I put an entry about how I had fallen in love with diving, so today's entry will be my first few lessons going underwater. It was funny, it was comical and some of it, totally humiliating to watch even. Oh, by the way, I'm talking about the videos taken during the lessons given by the Open Water Scuba Instructor and he was assisted (if available) by the Dive Master. Both are PADI certified so students can count on them and take the lessons with peace in head.

I started my first day diving with Kenny, the Dive Master. He's brilliant, the only thing is, I can't find my momentum to be serious with him and I ended up laughing all the time and we have to abort all the lessons he's giving me. It was hilarious because it was my first time being underwater and everything he did tickles every inch of my brain, trust me, I was laughing the moment we enter the water. I mean come on, I didn't know water and mask can change the way you look, when I look at Kenny it makes me think,  "if he's face is that funny, how 'bout mine?" and I'll stand up right away laughing and swallowing sea water. This is silly you may say but I start laughing the moment the question hit my brain and this happened about 6 times before Kenny start giving me warning to be serious. It was after 2PM when we started the lesson on "Regulator Clearing", "Regulator Recovery" and also "Mask Clearing" and ended up aborting everything at 3 something, because yes thanks to Kenny's funny face. Haha!

Kenny (Dive Master) and me after a swimming lesson. Oh please ignore his bare nipple.

The only downturn was, after we aborted the "failed" skill sets lesson, I had serious migraine attack and I spent the whole evening stuck in the room all alone. It almost put halt on my diving interest but thank God, with Julius the OWSI, my proper and serious finally rolling in. Although I was really scared (I heard Julius is quite the serious type) I can't contained my excitement. Really! 

Julius's method was different. He first asked me if I have any fears, trauma or phobia that he should know. Well of course the answer is YES-ness! I have Aquaphobia but Julius said it can be fixed. He then brief me everything I need to know about my basic skill-sets and how to use the regulator (your only LIFE while in the water) and the proper way to wear my mask, NOT to tight nor TOO LOOSE. He convinced me I have nothing to worry although I keep on telling him I can't swim at all. So the first day of learning the basic skills, began. Oh I was joined by the Pulau Tiga Resort staff, you can look for her (her name is Mimie) at the Reception Area, in fact if you're here, she'll be the one welcoming you upon arrival and will do the briefing about the island and what it has to offers you during the stay.

Julius trying on my spectacles. You look great Teacher!

First skill set is, to do a "REGULATOR CLEARING". This is an easy one, all you have to do is to take your regulator out of you mouth and hold your breath while releasing small bubbles for few seconds while making sure your reg is pointing down and breath through it again when the DM or OWSI signals you to do so. Easy right?

Second is the easy breezy skill. "REGULATOR RECOVERY". Why it calls recovery? Well sometimes when you're diving, you'll encounters lots of the unexpected such as a reckless diver who can't keep their hands to themselves and knocked your reg out, or you might swim to close to another diver and he/she accidentally kicked your reg away from your mouth so you'll know how to do your REGULATOR RECOVERY right away.

And last but not lease is the MASK CLEARING!! THIS IS HARD.. This skill set requires you to do a mask cleaning from fogging. Why fogging, you may ask. According to Mr. Google, the air inside a mask's face pocket is warmed by your face. While its glass faceplate is cooled by the water. The layer of warm air that comes in contact with the faceplate becomes cooler, and the resulting condensation on the inside of the glass forms that annoying fog (eheem, this is my exact same answer actually).




Yes, that a funny video. I'm embarrassed too. That was the " Regulator Recovery" and I kept on doing mistakes. Grrr, embarrassing much. Since Kenny wasn't around to the filming for my few other lessons, I will just jumped to "Free Flow" skill. Free-flow was an easy bits and I passed it without much hassle (just kick me if I can't even do free-flow).

I think that's all for today's post. I will post more tomorrow. I have too much to share, it makes my brain jammed which story to post first. Just stay tune with me. Let us uncover the sea universe together. Why don't all of us become divers? It's amazing. It will blow your mind. I mean it cause I love it.

#makeitblue #diverinlove #janeyonjourney


Till then, lots of love (with bags of sea salt)
Jane

Month of silence.

I know, I know.. I'm so sorry for neglecting my writing for a month now. I was busy (really Jane, were you that busy?) been here and there to gather materials for my write up, which I have plenty of them but I'm currently had fallen in love with something greater. Something that come and hit me hard in the face the first time I try it out. It is beyond expectation, beyond imagination, beyond anything and everything that I've ever tried in my life. Wanna guess it? I guess you won't expect it (drum roll) it wasn't really love at first sight (drum roll continues) it was love after few attempts. DIVING. Yes diving, I fall in love with diving and it was so worth it.

I can't stop talking about diving. It's been diving this and diving that. Ask anyone close to me and they'll tell you how much I bores them with my diving stories. I swear to God, diving is just fantastic, I can't explain them in words (box of tissue please, my eyes getting wet). It all started with my first visit to Survivor Island or Pulau Tiga as we call it in Malay. Story cut short, it was a trip for relaxation because after all the parties I had while on my trip to Labuan, I wanted to go somewhere isolated and peaceful and a friend suggested Tiga. It was the best decision ever, period. 

Survior Island welcomes you anytime 

I'll branch out a bit form diving and now lets talk about Tiga. Coming to Tiga was the best thing I ever did in my life. The tranquility it offers in its serenity surrounding evoke a nostalgic feeling although I never stepped my foot in this island before. It's this feeling I can't describe, it smell like home. It was really love at the first sight. The feeling is just magnificent, I'm home *watery eyes* and I really feel part of the island. 

The place I hangout a lot!

As my title says, "Month of Silence", it was really a month of silence because I was busy making love to Tiga (it's not dirty okay people, please soak your head in a basin of salt water!), I engaged in every activities the island has to offer and yes you guess it right, diving is part it! Pulau Tiga and DIVING, it's magical. I'm not bluffing anyone but somehow, Tiga managed to persuade me and lose my fear of water (I was traumatize after I almost lose my life to the water when I was 10 years old, which I'm gonna do a write up about it too later so we'll leave that story till then). 

As this is my fifth paragraph, I better stop writing for now and apologize for not posting any write ups after my first article was up month ago. I promise I'll bring you more to read afterwards. Well, of course I want you people to read and feel jealous of my diving experiences and makes you itchy to join me on my journey towards becoming a professional diver (ta-daaaaaa! I decided I should be a professional diver but I'll leave the fun of writing it for my next post). 

This is peacefulness at its finest.

PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE MONKEY'S (unless you're a monkey too)

Left pic wasn't taken in Tiga but middle and right pic are. 

Till the next post babes. Lots of love (with sea water)!

Jane

Finally. Wish Me LUCK!

Travel.. Food.. People.. Culture.. Attraction.. Memories.. Dream.. Finally..


After years of contemplating, I finally decided to embark on my first journey to visit some places I've been longing to go ever since, ermmm what a kid? Pulling out my bravery out of the closet(oh, who am I joking here), no good heaven, I don't have that "bravery-thing" hidden somewhere in my (rather small) closet but I was actually deeply motivated and inspired by an outstanding (probably I praised him to much but he is) journey of  Nathan Ashker, a sensational Instagrammer made popular by the Instagram feature. He started his journey in Hong Kong (his home back then) to come home to his parents in Tennessee USA without taking a single flight! Talking bout balls eh!

Anyhow, I decided I could do a little stalking session and I can't believed how much I've fallen in LOVE with his story (oh! I could marry him you know, hehe).  But there's one particular story, that made me gauge my life.. Its about his friend, Delissa.. I could do a snapshot but I'm to lazy to do so, guess I'll attached the picture later on then.. What I really want to say is, the story made me realize what I always wanted to do, to TRAVEL. I always wanted to go to BALI, I always wanted to experience the thrill of hopping from one places to another, all ALONE and making friends along the way, I always wanted to visit people where I can make some great memories and truth is I always wanted to exploit myself to the world.

I have the heart of a chicken (how big is a chicken heart anyway?), I always want things to go my ways but I'm too coward (wait, I'm a cow then?) to try and make it happen. I'll plan the whole thing out and ask around if its okay. I once bought a ticket to Thailand and I backed out a week before going there. I remember back then when I was doing my degree in some private university college in Kuala Lumpur, I managed to encouraged few friends of mine (girls) to ride a night train bound for Penang and decided to backpacked. My palms were twitching all the way to Penang and keep asking myself if I did a correct decision to go with these girls. To make it short, it was apparently a mistake and it was a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE one! We ended up not visiting the places I wanted to go and had an ugly QUARREL with the friends (NOT friends anymore).

It was an ugly and bitter experience, I remember I stayed out all alone the following day to visit some of the places I wanted to go but I dint have the faith to follow exactly my plan cause I'm too afraid something bad might happen (oh what a silly thought I had!). Anyway, that is one of the reason (excuses I know) why I don't bother traveling anymore but thanks to Instagram, I'm finally taking a big leap of FAITH, yes that LEAP!

So starting on today (4th April, 2014), I decided to embark on my personal journey. I have planned quite a few trail for me to follow but I can ditch that later on, don't I? (is that a good idea?) What I did today was, sorting out the date to begin, bought a flight ticket to Kuala Lumpur, do a quick research about places I have and must visit (I can always skip that and find a new place to go, right? Still a chicken me I presume),  get a handy camera that will go along nicely with me (had my eyes set on the GoPro Hero 3+ actually, and its quite firm), call few people along the map trail to give them a heads up for my arrival (talk bout free accommodation and foods!!), and finally setting up my travel blog.

I have a skimpy experience in blogging as I found them rather frustrating when I have a blog years back. So I just settle down with a not so fancy blog template and I hope I can pick up someone expert along the way and enhance my blog, perhaps. (Oh how I wish I can put a smiley emoticon on my sentences, I can do that don't I?)

So here goes my first long elaborated (rather out of topic, sorry) entry for my Janey On Journey blog. Hope you'll stick around and read me more. I'll try to post on daily basis (don't ask much, I'm such a lazy bum-bum) and perhaps, if you're reading, do drop me a comment! and subscribe!!!!
❤️ Thanks for reading!



Love,
Jane