Tioman Dive Trip 12/8 - 14/8

Have you ever thought about what goes on under the never ending waves in the ocean? The luscious waves, gently engulfing one another are constantly creating white swashes in the sea of blue all around. It has been my dream ever since young to dive in the ocean, into a world different from what we have always been in. And now, I’ve finally have had the opportunity to learn diving with my friends before going on exchange overseas.

We signed up with DeepBlue Scuba after looking through the different companies which offers diving lessons. Part of the reason why we chose Deep Blue was due to the online reviews, but we were glad that we made the right choice. Tucked away in a little building called MMI building along 74 South Bridge Road, we made our way there for payment after booking our diving lessons and timings for open water dives (overseas) through email.

There was 1 theory session and 1 pool session which we needed to clear before going for our open water dives, and it was relatively easy to ‘pass’ these sessions, other than the fact that we had to tread water for 10min, but as a non-treader (I don’t know how to tread water lol) I struggled for the full 10min. HAHA.

TIOMAN

We took a bus to Mersing from Singapore (through Ubi) at 6pm on Friday, which took a total of around 3h to reach Mersing jetty. However, as the tide was too low, we had to stay for 1 night in Mersing before taking the boat to Tioman the next morning. One thing to note is that the Wi-FI there is H O R R I B L E. Don’t even try to send any Whatsapp messages as the connection was actually really bad.

At 5am all of us headed to the jetty again to take the boat to Tioman, which took around 1 1/2h before reaching. We stayed in a little hut-like room in Damai Tioman Resort in Genting. 5 of us stayed in a room together as it was more convenient for us to hang out to chill and instead of having to split us up.

Heading out to our first dive was rather exciting as we were grouped together with Rescue Divers who were under training, and we got to witness how their training was conducted. We were taught how to gear up properly, what to check etc, and what to do before entering the water. The air tank, is ESPECIALLY important. It’s like carrying your LIFE in the water. In the sea, we were tested on the skills we did during the pool session which was relatively easy so we cleared the stage quickly. The tough part about diving is equalizing, as the water pressure would affect the ears, and it is mandatory to equalize frequently, or your ears will hurt.

During our second dive, we were tested on the rest of the skills so that our next few dives after could be for leisure. Really, who wouldn’t want to see fishes when you are diving if you are already in Tioman?

Between dives, we went to the front of the boat to chill and the view was breathtaking. The vast horizon made the sea look so endless, and you’ll never stop to wonder what’s below the moving waves. The sun rays, though merciless, made the sea sparkle like tiny gems floating on the water, and we could get a nice tan at the same time too. It felt so much like a short getaway from all the responsibilities in Singapore, not needing to care about anything but diving and enjoying the view underwater. I felt so free.

Wendz!

Honestly, the leisure dives were the ones which made me excited the most as we could actually swim with the fishes and observe them. I was literally mesmerized by the world below, with tons of corals and sea creatures inhabiting the sea. Seeing how these fishes interact and swim together with others made it look like I was living the mermaid dream. However, it was regretful that we didn’t really know much about the different species of sea creatures, since knowing them would definitely make my experience much better.

We had to do this

Anyway, we felt that we should have gotten a GoPro to record the underwater views which were so spectacular. Maybe I should invest in a GoPro soon.

We left Tioman at 1pm on Sunday and reached Singapore at 7.30pm.

Tanned and PADI Open Water Certified, we are ready for our next diving trip!

BALI x x2noice

Heyyy :>

I'll stop the Taiwan Photodiary for a while and slot this post in :>

So basically what happened was I FINALLY WENT TO BALI!!! I have always wanted to go Bali with my friends and we finally got down to booking the flights and hotels and all so I'll just blog abit about Bali cause it's really very memorable and I wanna keep it here :>

I'll just give a little summary of the whole trip on where we stayed, what we did etc :>

Where we stayed: J4 Hotels, Legian Bali (in Kuta) ~S$319.16 for 4 nights in total

We booked the hotel through Expedia which was really cheap. Since we only had 5 people, we didn't want to stay in separate rooms so we shared a deluxe room which was HUGEEE, with a King size bed. But one person had to sleep on the floor usually which was quite sad :< cause the bed could only fit a maximum of 4 people.

The district we stayed was the clubbing district, so the music was really loud and there were clubs everywhere. Sky Garden was just right beside our hotel (literally 2min walk there). Sky Garden is one of the more popular clubs in Bali, and everytime we took a cab, we had to say 'Sky Garden' instead of 'J4 Hotel' cause that's where the cabbies know. HAHA. There was also Engine Room opposite our hotel and there were TONS of bars along the streets. Clubbing and drinking? Checked.


Flight: TigerAir ~S$250 return tix/pax

we were all at diff departure gates LOL

Preflight dinner (subway was the only affordable one fml)

WE B IN BALI

Attempts to block ray's face

It wasn't really VVVVV cheap but at least it was one of the cheaper options :> We were deciding between Jetstar and Tiger but went with Tiger and Jetstar's timing was quite shit (4am flight???). I'm q sure we would be late for the flight LOL. HAHAHA. ANYWAY, our flight departed from SG at 3pm and reached Bali at around 6.20pm on 9 July, Saturday :>

We departed Bali at 7.20pm (delayed from 7pm) and reached SG at around 9.45pm on 13 July, Wednesday :>

Bali felt like a getaway from all the responsibilities in Singapore (although I still had to do some work there), I felt so so so carefree, not caring about the time, not caring about anything but just focusing on having fun. IT WAS SO AMAZING. Most of the time we were chilling in the hotel and just taking our own sweet time for everything. 

yay to green slippers!!

AND I FINALLY GOT TO SURF. But we only had time to surf for 2h which was rly q sad cause it was actually hard but it felt so amazing being able to stand on the surf board :> Really can't wait to go back to the beach to practice surfing again!! The waves were really different from those in Singapore AND I ACTUALLY LOVED THEM. Watching the waves were really calming and made me feel really peaceful :>

handsome not

We were at Kuta beach most of the time, although we went to Potato Head Beach Club on the 4th day which was a different part of the beach. The waves was really strong when we went to Potato Head so we didn't really see people surfing.

Kuta Beach!

Potato Head

HAD TO PUT THIS HAHAH it was so funny cos ray was sick (i dun think any of them will see this anw HAHAHA)

The pains we went through to get a photo together without asking people LOL

Meals were really fucking cheap, and we had a common fund where we just pooled money together to pay for most of our stuff, such as food and transport (which is what we mostly spent on LOL) BUT ANYWAY, we ate like KINGS. Basically, we just ordered whatever we wanted on the menu, around 3-4 mains and some sides, plus drinks. Sharing made it cheaper but in general the prices were already cheaper than in Singapore so we ate till we were really full usually AHHAAH. 

Didn't find the food really amazing tho except when we went cafe hopping in Seminyak where all the good cafes were!

Shopping

Money brought: S$350 ~ IDR 3 000 000

(if you intend to buy more stuff/do water sports etc, do bring more money!)

Shopping in Bali was like heaven. There were so much stuff all around!! And they were all really cheap. You'll definitely need to bargain for the items you buy there, since the prices they usually give at the start is REALLY HIGH. For example, I wouldn't pay >S$5 for singlets there so we basically bargained like mad for the singlets. Their starting prices are usually CRAZY high so YOU MUST BARGAIN!!! There were many stalls selling the same clothes so if one doesn't give you the price you want, just go to another stall ;>

Got cheap magnum!

The alleyways are really amazing with many stalls

We wanted to get white singlets cause they looked alot nicer, but we couldn't find 5 pieces from the stalls there and they were usually sold out (sobz :<) so we settled on the black colour which is still nawbad!! Really loved the singlet cause it's so comfortable and CHEAP (S$5/singlet). We had to buy from separate shops tho cause there was no one stall which had 5 pieces so we split 3/2 HAHA.

Finally got our same singlets on the last day!!

Also bought a dreamcatcher and a tiny bag!! :> vvvv happy wif my buys hehe <3

We also went for a massage there cause it was FUCKING CHEAP, you can get a full body massage for less than S$10 there which felt really amazing. Too bad we only had time for 1 sobz :< Really dm going back for the massage and surfing and food and clubbing!!

Massage x manicure!

HAHAHAH found this lego shop rly cute

WE ALSO TREKKED MT BATUR!!! (I'll leave that for another post but here's a sneak preview of the scenery hehe)

Either way, we were really sad about leaving Bali :< BUT I WILL BE BACK!! (when I have the money LOL)

Bali's airport 

Sad about going back sobz but look at zitt's judgemental face

:<

Total expenditure: ~S$670 all inclusive (didn't finish my IDR tho, so prolly less than S$670!)

rly can't wait to go overseas again!! :>

Luv, 

Tingz

VOLLEYBALL CHALET [Aloha Changi] // DAY 2 // Drama // Mad

DAY 2



Right, actually time passed damn fast, I'm not even joking. Tanked the whole night and had HTHT with 736iu and since I was falling asleep and didn't wanna leave him alone, we went for a morning walk. Supposed to see the sunrise with the others, but apparently we were looking at the wrong direction HAHA. The sun rises in the East and we were looking towards the North, since we though there was a bright light behind this mini island across the sea. AIYA. noobshitz.

Got really really hungry so we just walked to Changi Village for breakfast without waking everyone else up since they all crashed HAHA. Found this playground with swings so we basically played on the swings for around 1/2h while talking. BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE PLAYED ON THE SWING. And best part is swinging till REALLY HIGH. But we actually got tired after HAHAHA.











Went for breakfast and Ipoh Horfun hit the right place. Mmmm.

[caption id="attachment_736" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Ipoh Horfun- $3.50[/caption]

2nd round with those who woke up late and well we walked too far and reached the hiking trail HAHAHAHAHA

 







BEACH BALL BABES ATTENDANCE 5/7 IN THE AFTERNOON. Ali and Nhu :'(

And well, drama happened. Shall not talk about it but in the end everything was good <3 BBB can handle anything as long as we r tgt <3 HAHA eww cheesy but for BBB!!!







[caption id="attachment_745" align="aligncenter" width="660"] WHERE IS ALI AND NHU[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_746" align="aligncenter" width="660"] BBB htht session[/caption]

Dinner at Changi Village too and it's quite funny cause the Hokkien mee uncle was like: " Wa girl is this your uniform you always come here leh" "Very nice wad gimme more leh" HAAHAHAHA. But he's really nice!!! ;))

[caption id="attachment_747" align="aligncenter" width="660"] remnants of our dinner???[/caption]



Night was fun again actually. But I slept this time!!! I was too tired alr so I guess it's best to crash x)

[caption id="attachment_749" align="aligncenter" width="660"] wore comfy hobo pants![/caption]















PS sorry for all the cui looking photos!! We are all really cui and photo explains us all ;)


Day 2 ended even better, but means chalet is ending and I'll defo miss it like crazy :(

I don't really know but I felt the chalet's less scarier with more people and the feeling of good company <3