Thai LOB 4th-10th April

Alright, Hallo, this is the time I finally can sit down and blog my trip peacefully.

For those who dont know what is "LOB", it means "liveaboard" which simply means a diving cruise, so to say. Of course, the boat isnt as big as a cruise but the logic is there, you dont get to the island, just dive eat slp on the boat for few days.

Departure date: 4^th April

Arrival date: 10^th April 0035hr

Operator: Seamoth

Members: Eric Wang, Kym, Joyce Lim, Greg, Chris, Jinhong and Yours truly

Location: Trang

AND RASH GUARD ALL THE WAY! NO WETSUIT!!

DAY 1

I met up with Eric at Cityhall and we took the train to Singapore Airport. Our first time to Budget Terminal via public transport. I must say it's very convenient!

Checked in before Chris reached, no idea why he was sooooo late! Had a quick dinner inside. Mee Siam + hot Tea.

Reached HatYai at near midnight Singapore time. Amazingly, the airport staff said there are no taxis around. WHAT??!! Its the airport and no Taxis lor! Fine, we booked a van. hmphf. To Sakura Hotel and meet up with Seamoth op- Gan. Its the 'best' hotel available in the small town already even though it looks slobbish.

After checking in were the roadside stalls dinner::

Can't imagine the crazy idea.. To the pub. PINK LADY.

Was supposed to be one of the happening ones in town, apparently, inside is like a dead zone. Quiet and nobody. So I indulged myself with....

Only awhile we hung inside and left back to our respective rooms.

My gals in our connective room::

DAY 2

Woke early for Massage. Jinhong woke me. Tempted me soooo much I have to wake. 240baht for a 2hrs Full body massage. JH, Joyce and myself went. Then jinhong have to tempt me again for Foot massage. 250baht for 1hr. Oh well... Since we have the time, why not?

We took so many hours to massage here massage there. End up, rushed for lunch, everyone's waiting. Heh. Tom Yam is a must.

Alone on streets (the bellboy took this pic for me!)::

Took this fun pic while on the move. I swear I dint know they were posing behind me!!! ::

After lunch, Gan waited for us at the Lobby. Grabbed our gear and luggages n board the van to Trang.

Shopped at stopover- Tesco::

Hallo Seamoth!!::

Had simple briefings by Gan on boat till ChongPeng arrived with two other lady Thai divers. By then, dinner is served. Yummy! Thais really have good food sia.

(Left) Dive area (Right) Makan booth::

Oh, and after setting off for sometime away form the jetty, Seamoth actually puts off Firecrackers onboard, its like a form of "good luck and smooth journey" prayers. Very interesting!!

Joyce n me took a pic while waiting for the crackers::

Travelled and I finally felt a little sleepy, headed to bunk. Kym showed me some videos we took earlier on in Hatyai. Thanks to that, I felt giddy immediately, felt like throwing up. Boohoo.. Went up to deck hurriedly and stare at sky blankly. Chongpeng laughed!! Followed came JH and Kym.. Whahaa... Apparently I'm not the only one seasick-ing.

Took me like 45mins before I calmed myself down and ready to sleep!

DAY 3

Hurray!! Diving!! Yeah!!!

@Q$#@%$#&^ First dive of the trip only cannot equalise. Took me some time before I can descend. DM Chongpeng was with me then DM Chai took over. Ultimately, yes, my style is simple, still stubbornly descend.

It was a Cave Dive. I fell in love with Cave diving..

I know, pictures damn blur, i dont know how to operate this Sony camera::

I was impressed at the same time, felt abit horlan, as usual...

Dive 2 was even better!! A more cave-y cave. One entrance two exits. Eric and Kym and some others want me to enter first so I did. I already knew they made a wrong choice. Whatever. Hoho. Yep, as most have already expected, I horlan-ed, IN the cave. I was camwhoring till I wanna move out of cave and eh, where is the exit? Suddenly a bright light came across!! Whooohooo... Yala, Chongpeng knew I was lost so he used the light to guide me. Doh. How embarrassed. And he said its the first time he ever seen his diver horlan-ed in the cave. FINE.

Happy after dive::

I wasnt familiar with Pauline's camera which I borrowed for this trip so couldnt make focus for most of the pictures I took. What a waste.

The poorly taken nudi...::

Cant catch the juvenile emperor angelfish well::

We did the night dive as well.

Interestingly, I finally get to see how they dive. Some with super fast air consumption, some irresponsible, some just kick n kick, kick your face, your tank, your butt, your legs. I wasnt the perfect one, but still.

Dinner was good and ChongPeng was funny. No seasick experienced for the night either. Heh. But its LOB and everyone slept so early. Left me, Chongpeng and Joyce talking at the deck.

And then I accidentally boiled a bug with hot water alive::

DAY 4

Another day of cool diving. Hin Deang. Was expecting mantas and whalesharks cos we are still in time for the season.

But poor visilibity disappointed me. No sightings of Mantas nor sharks. We basically just finned aimlessly hoping manta or shark will bypass us, but in vain..

Two of such dives. Meaning twice the disappointment.

We gave up in the end, of course. Not in the luck means not in the luck.

That's me (nothing to take so take myself)::

And then JH was clearing her mask when she was stung by Crown of Thorns. Sigh. The accident was witnessed by Greg.. No sightings of mantas or sharks did not disappoint me as much as this incident did. How could one witnessed it and did nothing and only to laugh aloud? I share her agony while Chongpeng tried to treat her bruised and poked knee.

Glad she still can walk, dive, jump, eat and sleep :)

The night dive of the day was the BEST dive of the trip. Chongpeng was the first diver and I was the last. Somehow somewhat, we end up buddying each other. The rest were ahead. I dont know what the rush is for. I was enjoying though.

My torch batt went low.. So I switched on when Chongpeng showed me some interesting stuff and switched off when we moved. I did this continuously till Chongpeng passed me his spare torch. And he told the rest, have you ever seen your buddy always on her torch only when you showed her something and off it when we are done? Damn. Me lor. Hehehe. *blush*

But the night dive saw Mantis Shrimp, crabs, alot macro which hyped me up!! Hyped Hyped Hyped!!

More of them stayed up for the night. They dont drink though. Hmm..

Then as usual, I went round making people take photos with me.. LOL. I even went into the staffroom to find the whole bunch!!

Me and some crew who always helped me and make fun of me too::

Funny man and me::

DAY 5

Boohooo.. Last half day on board. Last 2 dives. Of course followed Chongpeng throughout!! Wahaha...

And then Jin Hong couldnt equalise. And I dont know why she didnt want to follow the bubbles so I had to surafce with her. Greg saw but didnt come to our aid. So being the confident me, led Jin Hong to surface and she said she wanted to try again to find the rest.

Scary eh? I said ok. So we descend. She held on to my hands. I was in front finning, looking at depth gauge constantly. Cos we were in the middle of nowhere, no reefs nothing. Visibility damn bad too. She told me I looked so confident she felt safe.

But faints. All along I was in wrong direction la! I dont get the "horlan queen" title for no reason. Ooops. Confident but wrong direction.

Anyway, I signalled to her let's do safety stop. Constantly pulling her as I doubt she even look at her dive com. Yet I was relying on my watch n depth gauge. Launched the SMB was funny. As usual, I cannot understd sign language. I thoguht she was asking me should we launch one or two SMB. (on surface she said no, she was signalling its her first time launching). Anyway, she let go the SMB without sufficient air inside, I have to ascend to grab back the SMB. Her string was in a tangle. -.- When she pumped air, I have to grab her fin to ask her come back and stay at 5m alright? And please be aware! sighz...

And then, Hallo Chongpeng!! Hehe.. He found us by our SMB :)

ME and ChongPeng underwater::

You can see the visibility is bad.

After all dives were the exploration to Emerald Cave. NOt confident in swimming then wear jackets.

So some did.

At the entrance of Emerald Cave::

Look at the waters in Emerald Cave::

having fun above water as well::

Myself in Fins, cute anot?::

Group photo::

I took this pic::

... the small boat (right) I sat with Chongpeng and one Thai to check out dive sites before too!! The Thais asked me along :)

Last day onboard::

So travelled to land and headed to Police station because Greg wanted to report his damage of his video camera and to claim insurance in Singapore. Apparently, was flooded. -.-

The guys did funny things secretive and out of us girls' knowledge. Fine. Not as if I am very interested. So the rest of us, less two men, headed to dinner.

After some time then gather to go some ulu pub.

Us @ pub::

BAck to hotel and then so bored, they dont really drink::

DAY 6

Woke early after Jinhong physco me to Massage again. We discovered there is a man in the women's room. Whatever. Even though I didnt expect but oh well... Not in MY room, that is what matters.

Had the Oil Body Massage at 350baht/hr and we had TWO hours. Cool.

Headed back to hotel room and nearly fumed mad, the next door girls already checked out?!!! Without us.. What the.... Not even calling us on our mobile or anything like that to inform us. They left a note though. Telling us to find the rest upstairs.

We went up to their room. A room filled with 6pax. Chris was out shopping alone. Doh. Two beds. One taken up by Greg and Joyce, the other was squeezed by Eric and Kym. Me and JH? Took the armchairs.

JH was pulling long long face.. She wanted me to go eat with her without them. They were basically enjoying the moments hugging in bed while me and JH suffered from starvation.. They had heavy breakfast without us apparently!! No one wake us up!!??

Then I have to hurried them and emphasize there are people hungry here, would you guys mind we go check out for the girls' rooms and head for lunch!! After some time they finally move their butts outta bed. Good.

OUCH!!!!! At the reception, the girls have to ask, "do we need the room key for checking out? no need right?" First time stay hotel meh? Oh great, we ended up waiting longer AGAIN. For them to go back to room search the key, cannot find then come down, another one go up find. Doh.

Look at their mess, ho ho ho::

Had lunch and JH and myself went shopping on our own. We gave up and left the group to do our own shoppings.

Hallo Mr Froggy!!

And bought two bras nia! Cheap mah. 100baht each!!

Back to hotel at Singapore time 7pm. Checked out and took the van (350baht in total) to Airport, much cheaper than the Airport cab we took on arrival to Hatyai.

Bye bye Sakura Grand::

Slacked at coffee cafe after checking in @ the HatYai airport. HEee..

(left) pic shown on menu (right) what i got::

DAY 7

Reached Singapore Budget Terminal at 0035hrs. Finally bought the Clinque Perfume at DutyFree, no 5% GST. Yippeee...

Shared cab with Eric back to home sweeeet home. For 3 days and head off to Sipadan!

Injuries for the trip::

All the cuts were gotten from horlan-ing in the cave. Bruise were from someone who use tank buang me. bottom right was dont know by what, many many red itchy spots.

Look out for updates on Sipadan trip SOON too!! Promised the underwater pictures will all be MUCH better! Because its Olympus720! Wahaha... Pauline, not ur cam not good, is this silly girl no time to figure how to perfect her pictures. :p