Many people may think I dive all the time because of the nature of my job(s) but I consider myself to be lucky to even go on a single dive in a year. I would like to dive more but I usually come up with excuses (mostly monetary) to not dive. So when I was counting my 2017 blessings, getting to go on TWO dive trips was one of them. While these two dive trips were only possible because I switched jobs twice last year (it was a bumpy ride for me), I am extremely thankful that I did go on these dive trips with no major regrets.
I visited Pulau Tenggol, Terengganu, Malaysia in May and then Koh Lipe, Thailand in December. Originally, I was just going to include experiences from both these dive trips into an entry but decided perhaps I should separate them. So here is an entry of my most recent dive trip to Koh Lipe! (Inspiration to finally write this entry is Thai food that reminded me of Koh Lipe food. I know, very odd inspiration.)
My visit in December was not my first visit to Koh Lipe. I went on a day trip with a bunch of crazy cetacean scientists in November 2016. Getting to Koh Lipe is easy for Malaysians and/or anybody who is already on Pulau Langkawi in the months of November till April (months may differ every year as direct ferry services to Koh Lipe from Pulau Langkawi is subject to weather conditions; November till April/May are generally the calmer months of the year). I purchased return ferry tickets from Tropical Charters for both my visits to Koh Lipe. (Not sure if this promotion is still on, but for my November 2016 visit, the cetacean scientists and I purchased tickets directly from the Tropical Charters office in Pantai Tengah and we got a RM20 discount each for our return tickets. This promotion is only applicable if you visit their office. Original price is RM220 for return tickets, which is what I paid for the December 2017 trip since we just got them from the website.) We embarked the ferry at the jetty in Kuah and took us about an hour and a half to get to Koh Lipe.
Shameless wefie with cetacean scientists, Vivian, Adrelia, Sandra, and Saliza, in November 2016. I shall call them "cetaceanist". Sounds a little bit like "satanist". Heh.
Since Koh Lipe is small island surrounded by shallow coral reefs, passengers will have to disembark the large ferries and get aboard long-tail boats. I remained dry the entire five-minute transfer on the long-tail boat but you may want to take into account some splashing onto your stuff so pack wisely. Once you get closer to Koh Lipe, you should already be able to see the coral reef at the bottom of the water. The shallow waters of Koh Lipe are generally crystal clear.
On the long-tail boat in November 2016. I did not take too many selfies this past trip. My bad.
When you reach the shore, you must head towards the immigration counter. There is no way for you to skip this process because your passport will be kept by the ferry operator during the transit and will be passed on to the immigration officers. Once you have gotten the stamp, you must approach a non-office station (just a table and a sign) where you must pay a national park entrance fee. (Sorry, did not get a picture of this station.) I forgot how much I paid, I think it could have been 200 baht. If nobody approaches you to do so, please seek out the right officers to make the payment. This is a very ridiculous rule but apparently all travellers into Thailand must have at least 10,000 baht per person or 20,000 baht per family. I do not think many visitors will be checked for this, hence many enter the country with not having to have too much currency. But I suggest if you are staying at least three nights in Thailand, you should have at least 10,000 baht with you. You do not want to end up like these folks.
The immigration counter.
Lack of shade. So you should already have some sunscreen on you before disembarking the large ferry. The line may be long, so just enjoy the view. (I meant the landscape. Not the booty at the bottom right. I just realised the stranger resting on the bar in this picture, which I captured in 2016!)
After clearing immigration, you can then move to your accommodation. Depending on where you have booked to stay, transportation in small vans or sidecars of motorcycles may be provided. If you are on a budget like me and my buddies, you can walk to your accommodation. If you are staying along Pattaya Beach, walk along Pattaya Beach. If you are staying elsewhere (like Sunset or Sunrise Beaches), make sure you use Walking Street and do not simply take a back lane easily accessible on the right side of the immigration office.
The cetacean scientists and I thought we were taking the quickest route to Sunrise Beach in November 2016 via the back lane. We ended up getting lost but thankfully, the island is small. So we finally found a street linking to the main pathway of the island.
For my most recent trip, my friends and I stayed and dived with Davey Jones Locker (DJL), an establishment that provides free lodging (dormitory style) for people who dive with them. Getting to DJL was a little bit challenging because it is located towards the extreme western end of Pattaya Beach. I have no problem with walking but walking under the sun with no shade? Quite tough.
Walking Street - the street that connects you to any part of the island. And the street to lead you to delicious Thai food! You will be spending a good amount of time along this street. Clinics, convenient stores, restaurants, cafes, massage parlours, and etc. are all located along this street. Do not be afraid to take a "risky" turn. Quite difficult to get lost along this street.
Very nice path to walk on. I saw many people walking barefooted here. Totally fine. But just be reminded that there could be much hazards like sharp objects. It is after all a very busy street.
Me at the zero mile marker. Behind me is the post office, if I am not mistaken.
There are many cool looking establishments along the street. This is my favourite building. I do not know what it is. Just looks nice from the outside.
Enroute to DJL.
We finally arrived at DJL after 10 to 15 minutes of walking on the beach. It is a very lowkey place with a nice sea hibiscus tree at the front. We paid our dive fees which included an additional national park diving fee of an amount I forgot. Yes, you will have to pay two national park fees when diving in and around Koh Lipe. You have been warned, so do not be surprised when the dive centre requests for this payment. The dorms are simple - no hot water for shower and no electricity during certain hours of the day. I found the sleeping arrangement comfortable, even without the air conditioner. (The AC was broken during our entire stay.) Most importantly, the place was clean.
Embarrassingly, I did not take a picture of the front of DJL. This is the only picture of the front of DJL I have. The sea hibiscus tree is the only shade provider of this establishment's veranda.
The common area. You can use the refrigerator and there is plenty of drinking water.
The bunk beds we slept in. Nicole is on the left and Shion is on the right, my travel companions to Koh Lipe in December 2017.
I paid about 7,500 baht for six dives. This fee included the dives, full gear rental (I got to use a dive computer for the first time in my life, wheee!), boat rental, guide, "refreshments" (just cold water, which was very much enjoyed by me), and lodging. Only Shion and I dived. We did one dive during the first day in the afternoon (east of Koh Talak), three dives the next day (Koh Talu, Koh Adang, and Stone Hedge), and then two dives the day after (east of Koh Talak and Pattaya Corner). I thought the dive service was great. Our guide, Ed, did a good job in briefing us for our dives and helped us to put on our gears. Unfortunately, dive conditions were terrible. The surface waves and underwater currents were strong during our first dive and the visibility throughout our stay was shit. The changing weather pattern has screwed up temporal dive conditions. Anyway, I got to see many amazing creatures. I was so glad to see many species in the wild that I have only seen in captivity!
Shion, Nicole, and I hiding from the hot sun.
Our guide, Ed, at the bow.
Ed warned us about keeping as close as possible to the bottom to avoid being caught in strong underwater currents. He also warned us about sea urchins. We were caught in between a moving body of water and a sharp bed of sea urchins.
This is a common sea cucumber but I have yet to learn its name. Many people think that the black stuff coming out at the front are feet of the sea cucumber. I think it is the body part used for feeding rather than movement. Someone correct and inform me!
A lionfish. I do not know which species this is. Pterois antennata or Pterois volitans? They all look the same to me!
And what are you suppose to be? A black Pterois volitans?
Shion goofing around.
Some Christmas tree worms, Spirobranchus giganteus. It is a polychaete worm, many-haired worm. The "many hairs" on its "crown" contains cilia to filter food in the water column.
Painted rock spiny lobster, Panilurus versicolor. I have seen this in captivity and a former colleague found a perfect moult on the beach before. I was really excited to have seen this living specimen in its natural habitat.
The white stuff are apparently Synaptid sea cucumbers. I need help identifying the small black fish that seems to inhabit the sponge.
A very well camouflaged scorpionfish, Scorpaenidae. Like the lionfish, the scorpionfish is extremely venomous. So it made sense when Ed told us to watch before we held on the bottom if we experienced exertion and needed to rest.
You may have to squint your eyes and spot tiny shrimps floating about the spines of the sea urchin. I think these shrimps are Harlequin shrimp, Hymenocera picta. A "lifer" for me.
Some cool looking nudibranchs (the purplish and orangish stuff). I will have to identify them in the future when I can get my hands on a nudibranch guide book.
A very beautiful clam. No idea what the name is.
A very large grouper. I think it was the size of my entire upper body!
This is a Dogface puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus. This is perhaps my most favourite pufferfish in the world! Its face resembles that of a dog and all dogs remind me of my good boy Tiny!
A school of Moorish idols Zanclus cornutus.
Another beautiful nudibranch whose name I do not know.
Which lionfish are you?!
The Giant moray eel, Gymnothorax javanicus, was a common feature on all of my dives.
My action pose.
The long-tail boat we used to get to our dive sites. Diving off of these guys are an experience of its own.
Waiting for my turn to climb aboard the boat after my last dive at Pattaya Corner.
I forced myself to bring my "dome" this trip to Koh Lipe. I remembered snorkelling with the girls in November 2016 and how clear the water was in the shallow reefs. Regretted not bringing the "dome" back then.
Nicole diving in for me to shoot. She could not dive with us because of a life changing event. I am so glad she got to join us on this trip.
I was hoping to see more and I missed a lot of small stuff another diver got to see (like Sexy shrimp and pipefishes). Below is a compilation of the scenes I captured. Enjoy!
During our downtime, we lazed a lot on the beach and in the water. We walked to other areas on the island, like Sunset and Sunrise Beaches. These two beaches are aptly named because you can actually check out the sunset and sunrise from the respective beaches. Enjoy eating the incredible Thai food along Walking Street and in restaurants. I wrote a little bit on the food I ate while in Koh Lipe in my previous entry.
Fresh coconut with no straw! I drank it out of the shell. Coconut water comes in a natural goblet!
Sunset Beach.
After the sunset.
In the morning at Pattaya Beach.
The bar next to DJL. I had toast for breakfast on the first morning before diving. Spot the cetacean vertebrae.
Yummy coconut ice cream!
We get to put any toppings on our coconut ice cream! I chose not to taint the ice cream with chocolate syrup and added cornflakes and peanut toppings for a crispy texture instead. Sadly, the spoon was disposable.
I had this "Thai pancake" for breakfast on the last morning in Koh Lipe. It is basically banana stuffed roti canai with cinnamon powder and condensed milk. Artery clogging goodness right here!
I refrained from alcohol during the beginning of the trip. My strategy was to save as much money as possible and maybe get a couple of drinks on the last night. There are many amazing bars along the Street and the beach. I spent most nights sleeping while Nicole and Shion enjoyed the nightlife. Nicole found out that one of our dormmates is a singer when she visited a bar on the beach with a huge Peace sign at the entrance on the second last night. Nicole convinced Hillary, to play again on our last night. And wow, she sings and plays the guitar really well! She's also a passionate soul in greening urban areas. Wonderful. If I do not return to Koh Lipe for diving, I may return to Koh Lipe to hangout at this beautiful bar, whose name I never learned!
I really like these art fixtures a restaurant placed on the beach. A very attractive string art!
The inside of the cool beach bar we went to on the last night. I like how the entire building is made with a lot of wood and have no flooring so you can actually still enjoy the beach even when inside the premises! SMART!
My "tipsy" night sky picture using my GoPro. Someone really has to teach me how to capture the night sky using the GoPro.
If you do not SCUBA dive, try snorkelling! The visibility is way better than diving but you see less stuff, though. Just be careful when you go out snorkelling. Always have your orange life vest on and be alert for speeding long-tail boats! There is little to no designated safe snorkelling sites around the island.
The diving may not have been great but thinking of Koh Lipe makes me smile because of the wonderful experiences with amazing people. Thanks, friends, for making Koh Lipe amazing!
PS: I just remembered that the day before we left Langkawi for Koh Lipe, I had a fever that rendered me very weak. I thought I was going to have to flake the trip to Koh Lipe and just buy an expensive flight ticket to go home. Thank God I recovered almost immediately the next day and managed to visit Koh Lipe again and dive.
(This is not a review. A recommendation, possibly. With a hint of segue to my next entry. I cannot do reviews. I am bad at it.)
Spending quality time with Aisha conveniently is going to get a whole lot difficult when I move back to Langkawi. (Wait, move BACK to Langkawi? Yes. I moved back to the Klang Valley and now moving back to Langkawi. Want to know the details? It will only cost you a plate of nasi ayam goreng kunyit.) So I am letting her choose where we go on dates for the remainder of my stay in the Klang Valley. OK. I confess. Maybe I let her choose 50% of the time. (Is it really "let" when she cannot make up her mind? Discuss in the comment section!)
She chose Go Thai in SS2, Petaling Jaya, a restaurant she wanted to bring me to eons ago but never gotten the chance till last Friday night. I am not sure how the crowd is during any other time but there were not too many people at the establishment when we arrived around 8:00PM, perhaps five other couples. I did not expect Go Thai to be serving food popular to tourists in Thailand. All Thai food places I have been to prior to my visit to Go Thai does sharing, ala carte meals rather than the individual meals one might find in a tourist hot spot in Thailand. (Actually, who am I to write about tourism in Thailand? I have only REALLY travelled to a Thai destination ONCE in my life, yet. The "not really" travel to Thailand was with my parents... about 15 years ago when I used to wear football jerseys. Naturally, I forgot almost everything about that trip.)
Ordering dishes to be shared like in this picture is usually the mode of serving in the Thai restaurants I have been to in Malaysia. This picture was taken when I was in Koh Lipe with a couple of my friends. The Malaysian in us decided to order sharing dishes on our first night. We had pork belly with basil, masaman chicken curry, seafood tom yam, and stir fried mixed vegetables, with of course a plate of white rice.
I looked at their menu and I was confused at first since I am not used to Thai restaurants in Malaysia serving food like this. (Writing this a second time makes me wonder why am I making this such a BIG deal?) I got myself the pad thai (I asked for very spicy) and a glass of iced Thai tea with no straw. Aisha got some sort of minced basil pork meal that came with white rice and a fried egg. Forgot what it is called. And she got this refreshing pandan lemongrass drink with no straw. Yes, "with no straw" is an important part of beverage orders because that is how I am going to gauge what food places to recommend on this blog (if anybody really cares). You bring me straw when I told you not to? No recommendation! (My recommendation does not matter.) In addition to our own meals, we ordered some pork-on-a-stick (a plate of three sticks). The "sticked" pork were charcoal grilled.
Inside Go Thai restaurant. Super clean with very simple decor. Note how the couples were seated. The lady always facing the entrance. Originally, Aisha and I were sitting in opposite arrangements, then we decided to "conform". Haha. No picture of the outside and entrance. Again, this is not a review.
My yummy pad thai.
Aisha's comfort food basil minced pork meal. The minced pork may look dry in this picture but once you put a spoonful in your mouth you can taste the salty juices from the seasoning and the pork. I know it is just a fried egg but I feel like people do not pay attention to much on how a fried egg is served to a customer in a restaurant. Go Thai fried this egg perfectly: not burnt sides, all whites were fully cooked, and the yolk just half cooked. Perfect.
Baby girl with my Thai iced tea and her pandan lemongrass drink WITHOUT STRAWS. Tasty and refreshing drinks, no single-use plastics used, and gorgeous wench equals WIN.
Pork-on-a-stick, or known to me as "pork butter" from my trip to Koh Lipe. Haha.
The meal was very tasty! My pad thai was... pad thai. I thought it tasted, smelled, and looked authentic. (I had to add more chili powder/flakes to turn up the heat.) It had chicken meat with thinly sliced read onions and even some crushed peanuts. Most importantly, it tasted like pad thai (because some Thai places in Klang just cannot get it right)! The best way for me to describe Aisha's meal would be that it is comfort food. I had minced pork growing up when I visited my grandparents' place over the weekends and it tasted similar. But Go Thai's minced pork had the extra dimension of basil in it. Very delicious. The iced cold Thai tea was delicious, very standard really. Aisha's pandan lemongrass thing was... refreshing. Both drinks, to me, were not that sweet. And the pork-on-a-stick tasted amazing! You could taste the charcoal smoke in the meat. I thought the cook used liquid smoke but they actually started a charcoal flame in their kitchen to grill the pork! Love the taste of pork glazed with sweet and salty marinade. YUMZ.
Other than tasting exactly the same, the foods and beverages costed almost the same as when I was in Koh Lipe last month! What a coincidence! The two main dishes we ordered cost about RM12 which is about 100 bahts with the current exchange rate! The only pricing "anomaly" would be the pork-on-a-stick, which is funnily labelled as "pork butter" in Koh Lipe. I paid RM2.50 a stick (20 baht) so three sticks would make it RM7.50 but Go Thai charged about RM12. So while I was spending some quality time with my Love and consuming delicious food, these similarities reminded me of my Koh Lipe experiences. I felt joy, romance, and satisfaction. 'Twas a beautiful night.
My pad thai I had in Koh Lipe last month. Interestingly, I also had pad thai from the same restaurant in Koh Lipe the year before! Mighty tasty! The Koh Lipe pad thai had larger and more peanuts compared to Go Thai's.
"Pork butter" for 20 baht. We frequented this joint opposite Siam International Clinic along Walking Street in Koh Lipe. We frequented this stall multiple times everyday we were there and I always got "pork butter". It is seriously very tasty. And Go Thai's "pork butter" (it goes by a different name in Go Thai) tasted very similar to the ones I had in Koh Lipe.
"Pork butters" flanking a sourish, Thai pork sausage.
We visited everyday.
Like seriously everyday.
Go Thai SS2 is a very clean restaurant with extremely friendly staff members that cook up very authentic Thai "tourist" foods (foods that I think are conveniently eaten by tourists in Thailand, tourists like me) at a reasonable price. In addition to this, they obliged to our instructions of not presenting our drinks with plastic straws. A very nice place for a date and for get-togethers without having to decide what sharing dishes to get. Food and beverage selections may be small compared to the other Thai restaurants but I bet the rest of the dishes would taste as amazing as our orders.
Get it? Get it? I cannot Belize (believe) it is the finalEE (portmanteau of "final" and "EE" to spell "finale"; "EE" is the acronym of Earth Expeditions). Okay, okay. I tried too hard.
This year has been weird and confusing. I left my awesome job in Langkawi and moved back to the Klang Valley to be closer to my girlfriend, family, and Tiny and started working for a place I thought would kick-start my career in Malaysia at after graduating and moving back to Malaysia about five years ago. The last couple of months in Langkawi drained my usual motivation and passion I have in life. I do not know why, maybe it is the packing, maybe it is the uncertainty feeling you get after making a major life decision... Whatever it is, I have become lazy and pessimistic. I was not even looking forward for my last ever EE in July. No more close-to-ideal job, no more clear roads (traffic in the Klang Valley is legendary), no more cheap booze, and how can Belize EE top last year's super amazing, mind-blowing Baja EE!
I shall dedicate some time in writing about my entire Belize journey in detail in the months to come but the conclusion is that my field trip to Belize was very uplifting, eventful, and memorable. All that negativity that defined me since the beginning of the year started to melt away at the "beginning" of the course when I met a couple of my classmates in Dallas Fort Worth airport waiting for our flight to Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport, Belize. I knew from then on that it was going to be a fulfilling time in Belize. And it actually turned out to be so!
There are plenty of things to write about my Belize EE; the wonderful classmates and field partners, the uniqueness of Belize Zoo, me being introduced to yet another natural habitat called the "tropical pine savanna", the diversity of peoples in Belize, the community-based initiative to conserve riparian forests and "baboons" and my foster family, the Mayan ruins and culture, Baird's tapir shit, Vermilion flycatcher and other beautiful birds and wildlife, amazing Belizean food, and the coconut-falling-but-it-missed incident. I am tearing up recapping the trip.
There are two significant and memorable incidences during this EE: looking at extensive seagrass meadows for the first time in my life and snorkelling outside of a massive barrier reef. These moments left me dumbfounded in awe.
I want to respectfully and responsibly lay on the seagrass and just enjoy the blueness of Earth.
In both situations I felt peace. I can truly admit that all the worries I had of uncertainties, sadness from the dying of an artist who is part of my biggest musical inspiration, tiredness, regretfulness, all disappeared during these incidents. The blades of seagrass stood still, sometimes waving to the gentle currents. I wow-ed countless of times underwater in the presence of the magnificent spur and groove formations of the largest barrier reef of the western hemisphere, formations shaped from the movement of water for thousands of years. It is akin to a patient artist sculpturing his/her very own Le Penseur. All I want to do is just float in the water, be still, and enjoy these natural phenomena.
Me trying to be part of something great.
Many of the past EE participants will mention that these field trips will help you discover yourself. I believe I have finally discovered myself or refueled the passion in me, experiences that are so relevant to me for this current period of my life. It is moments like being inches away from the blades of the seagrass and floating over a barrier reef that make me want to be a better environmental steward and inspire the people around me to care for the natural environment that also keeps us as a species alive! I am also reminded how important and valuable the people are in saving the things I love. They are after all part of the things I love.
The next few months after the publishing of this entry will resonate with what I have learned, felt, wanted during my final EE. I have revert to my former self of being afraid and excited at the same time, a feeling that I know has brought out the best of me in the past.
I am missing the cultural and natural heritage of Belize, Chester Bennington, and my classmates, instructors, and field partners.
I remember Shakira telling me last year about a new eatery in Langkawi Parade - K Chicken. K Chicken, or referred to as K-Pop Chicken by Shakira, is a Korean fried chicken place serving a fried chicken "Korean" style with limited selection of Korean dishes like kimbap, jumeokbap (just the rice ball), and kimchi (of course). It took me five months before deciding to try this place out.
The outside of K Chicken - Sweet and Spicy Korean Chicken.
So one fine Monday afternoon (used to be my rest day), I walked up to the third floor of Langkawi Parade and ordered myself a plate of six pieces of "spicy" Korean friend chicken and a plate of kimbap. The kimbap tasted alright (like how all kimbaps taste).
The chicken, on the other hand, was surprisingly very tasty. I was not expecting crispiness from glazed fried chicken, but it was slightly crispy. The spicy glaze, which was applied very generously but the right amount, is like what their tagline says - sweet and spicy. What made the sauce taste special is the small bits of fried garlic sprinkled on the top of the chicken. Very nice touch, K Chicken. You know the chicken is deep fried to perfection when you bite into it and feel the juices envelope your tongue... Mmmm. That is what you get when you eat K Chicken's star dish!
A picture from my first visit.
A picture from my nth visit. Yes, I always order the same thing... Six pieces of spicy Korean fried chicken and kimbap.
Therefore, if you want a good meal in a clean place with A/C, you should definitely give K Chicken a try. (My usual order costs RM28; RM19 for the six pieces of chicken and RM9 for the kimbap. You can check out their menu on their Tripadvisor page, though their prices have changed. Six pieces of chicken is too much for one person, so maybe you should share it with someone else. I eat for two - first tummy and second tummy.)
While writing this entry, I realised that I never visited K Chicken with Shakira. Next time when you visit, Kira!
Epilogue
I do not know why the Korean fried chicken in Malaysia is glazed. I understand why Korean chicken made in Hawaii is called Korean chicken (it is because the fried chicken is dipped into "Korean sauce"), but I have eaten friend chicken in Seoul and they do not serve it in any sauce. It is just simple crispy and juicy chicken served with cold beer.
Forgot where I ate these yumminess in South Korea.
Although, I have come to a conclusion that I enjoy all preparations of fried chicken I have tried so far. As long as the chicken is fried properly, of course.
