Pulau Payar

I'm not going to bore you guys about details of the audit peak. Not when some of you probably can't relate to audit and all of you are in CNY mood. I'm going to write about something more fun, like snorkeling!

I recently visited Pulau Payar to see the sea life there. I've never been snorkeling before and swallowed half the sea before I got the hang of it, but it was worth the trouble. Unfortunately I don't own a camera that can survive underwater, so I can't share what I saw on the seabed. It was really cool. There were fishes of all colours of the rainbow, sea urchins, coral reefs, sea anemones and even reef sharks. No reef sharks don't bite, and they're actually quite shy.

I swam for 5 hours and got myself 5 hours' worth of sunburn. I can't remember when was the last time I swam this much. Probably have never done so. It was 2 weeks' worth of exercise packed into a day.

This is Pulau Payar.

And this is where you hop off into the water.

You can see fishes even without jumping into the ocean.

The sea was actually greenish. phytoplankton I suppose.

We were not allowed to swim beyond the buoys. It was pretty safe. Sea wasn't very deep.

Nahhh. Fish.

I took this photo (and the one above) when somebody threw breadcrumbs into the sea.

If you know nuts about snorkeling and intend to try, I recommend this place. It feels relatively safe since the water is only a few meters deep. In addition there are always so many people around I guess it's unlikely you'll ever drown. Just don't swim away to some obscure corner alone. Also, you'll be given a life vest that will keep you afloat always, which is great for inexperienced swimmers like me.

Ohhh, and remember your sunblock. I'm making a mental note on that so I don't get barbecued in the future.

Happy New Year!

I said I would save this greeting for the new year post, so here it is. HAPPY NEW YEAR my dear readers! Hope you enjoyed yourself last night at some countdown or new year party with family and friends. I know this is the time to talk about new years' resolutions, but I'm not a resolutions type of person. They're a bit too rigid for me and I prefer to make my stuff up as I go. In short, I wing it.

But there are two things I promise myself I will do this year.

1) It will be a tough year ahead but I promise myself I will freaking learn my way to success. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. What makes me stronger makes me invincible. To be invincible, I must first learn to be stronger by not letting things kill me. Makes sense, right? Wait... ah yes it does make sense. Sorry, blanked out a moment there.

2) I am now officially earning, but I will make sure money does not change me. I can change money, but I will not allow money to change me. No ifs, no buts, non-negotiable. I have seen enough cases where people have changed for the worse since working. I refuse to be one of those people.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I also wish that 2014 will be a year I can have fun in. Let it not all be about hardcore work. Life's too short.

May 2014 also be a fruitful and fun year for you!