Archive for the 'My Diary' category

Tucked away on a treasured island

Friday, 16 May 2008 1:09

Diving in Bunaken

I had the pleasure of meeting Sarah Porter, who is a journalist for The Jakarta Post, when I worked as Dive Resort Manager for Bastianos Dive Resorts in Indonesia. She arrived at the dive resort with two friends who decided to do their PADI Open Water Diver course with me, while Sarah tagged along on our training dives.

We had lots of fun during the course and saw loads of exciting marine life. They left as a happy bunch after their course was done and I went on with my work. A while later I discovered that I was mentioned in The Jakarta Post, as Sarah had written an article about the experience! So here it is:

Next: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Sunday, 6 Jan 2008 18:24

Andaman Islands

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a breathtaking archipelago located east of India. It is also my next exotic destination as I will work as a scuba diving instructor there for a while. As mentioned in my diary in earlier posts I have a friend there who own a part of a diveshop on the beach that was voted the best beach in Asia in 2004 by Time magasine. When I was offered to come and work at Barefoot Scuba and meet up with the owner Jeremy Zay Blake (Jez) and my friend Wayne Blairs who work there as a videographer I accepted right away. I had several other offers for work over most of the world, also some management positions, but I have always had a small dream of diving in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and to meet up with my friends again.

10 reasons to love Chennai

18:18

Chennai

As my next destination is the Andaman Islands I need to do a stopover in Chennai (also known as Madras) in India and I thought it could be a good idea to find some more facts on this Indian city before I arrive. When I was digging up facts I could clearly see there is loads of interesting stuff for a visitor like me to pass time with, the main problem would be to get enough time to see it all. Please feel free to use the tips in this post if you should visit Chennai yourself.

Fantastic Sipadan

Wednesday, 2 Jan 2008 12:12

Sipadan Island

Scuba diving is a social sport as it is both safer and nicer to dive with a buddy. My buddy is my brother who’s scuba diving teacher I was on his vacation to Phuket in 2005 where he came down to visit me who at the time worked for Scandinavian Divers. The course was probably more comprehensive and time consuming than he had in mind when I suggested it for him, but after four days he was the proud owner of a PADI Open Water Diver license. As he during the course got the same love for scuba diving as I have he went straight to the next level which is PADI Advanced Open Water Diver.

Messy Air Asia

Tuesday, 25 Dec 2007 21:05

Air Asia

My only experience with Air Asia was a flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok a year or so ago. I remember it as pretty ordinary with the exception of some smaller incidents. Not more than one could expect when saving a little bit of money by flying a low cost airline.

So when my brother and I was about to make our reservations from Bangkok to Tawau on the Malaysian island of Borneo, and Air Asia provided the fastest method of getting there, It never crossed my mind not using their services again. Well, I surely will think twice about doing that next time.

I don’t like to sleep alone

Thursday, 20 Dec 2007 23:29

Broken love

Some are lucky enough to find true love so breathtaking that it is more than able to disable a person when it is crushed. The psycological pain that felt at that stage is so overwhelming that it can also be directed into physical pain. And in total set a part of a persons life on pause.

When I met my true love I could feel it in my body straight away. At the moment I saw her my body gave me signals and feelings that had never before been felt. When we first talked it was like I was completed and I knew she was the right one for me. Every day with her was cherished and I got no signals that it was about to end a couple of years later. By forces that we could not control.

Going to Sipadan

Wednesday, 5 Dec 2007 0:47

Kapalai Dive Resort

My brother is coming to visit me in Thailand and apart from exploring the cities of Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur we are planning a dive trip to Sipadan on the malaysian island of Borneo. We are both avid divers as it is my current profession and my brother has done a number of dives and hold the advanced open water diver certification. Our goal is to do a dive trip together every year, and last year we went to Similan Islands. It was a fantastic tour with Queen Scuba, a liveaboard boat departing from Phuket, with an amazing marine life. We saw manta rays, sharks, turtles, eels, seahorses, harlequin shrimps and much more.

Working in Indonesia

Tuesday, 4 Dec 2007 21:41

Bastianos Dive Resorts - Bunaken Island

After my recent holiday that included some great diving in Indonesia I eventually came back to Phi Phi Islands in Thailand. The island where I had been working for a long time and was really looking forward to come back to. This time I came back with a old colleague of mine from Island Divers, he is a great guy from England who is nicknamed Jez. He is building up his own dive shop in the Andaman Islands in India (check out his website), and took a trip down memory lane by going back to Phuket and Phi Phi Islands when the season was over for him in India.

By popular demand

Tuesday, 17 Apr 2007 6:18

Sean at Lembeh Strait

I’ve got some e-mails from my website lately where the sender ask me how I look like. Some point out that I have a photo album with no photos of me so that made them curious, some are friends of mine and just want to see if I have changed and some state no reason for why they want to know how I look like.

From Bangkok to Manila

0:29

Friends at Lembeh Strait

I’ve been on my holiday for five solid weeks now so I guess it is time to update my diary. Not everything has worked out as planned during my leave from work, but I have been to new places and met some really amazing people along the way.

My journey started from Phi Phi Islands in the beginning of March. I left the on the morning ferry and went straight from the harbor to the airport in Phuket. As I had no ticket when I arrived I looked trough the options with the different companies. Tickets from Phuket to Bangkok can be found for as low as 1700 Thai Baht, but I had to pay 2975 Thai Baht as the only flight available with reasonable waiting time was with Thai Airways.