IKEA Philippines Christmas Advertisement

I would like to share with you all, the IKEA Philippines Christmas advertisement, so progressive yet beautiful.. It's all about family, and like the advertisement says, more is always more.. 

Merry Christmas everybody!

A quick Singapore getaway

We were in Singapore the weekend before.. We have our new passports, newly minted, fresh from the oven after the borders reopen, so we need to "stamp" our passports with Singapore being the first, as always to be the first.. 

Well - there was no more physical stamping, as it was a thing of the past.. even the Singapore White Card or Arrival Card is electronic, which have to be completed online within 3 days prior to arrival.. We also have to submit our vaccination certification or QR code in the Arrival Card health declaration column, but it was an easy straightforward process of just taking a screenshot of the QR code and upload.. 

Since we were heading to JB also, we use the Causeway checkpoint.. On the Malaysian side, we cleared immigration immediately since there was no queue and all autogates are in full operation.. 

The ICA officer was kinda grumpy, maybe because he's late for dinner, and closed the gate behind me.. As he digital-stamped me through, he has this resting-bitch face that his shift is over.. Not that I'm bothered :) 

Initially we have made plans for dinner with a friend but because of the delay we encountered on the highway (read about fatal accident here), we were parked on the highway for more than 3 hours, and only reached Singapore about 8pm, and that put our plans all haywire.. 

No - we didn't get to catch up with him.. 

The next morning, we were just out and about enjoying our time, and decided to head to Jewel for some kill-off time before leaving Singapore.. 

So we shot a short clip at Jewel.. Never really stepped into Jewel before - only glide through it from the aerotrain hopping from terminal to terminal the one previous time I flew into Singapore, so this was something "new" for us laaa... 

We left Singapore after this and head back to JB - where I was invited to join his family at his relative's wedding dinner..

I know - it's awkward for both of us, but his parents were just cool about it and shielded "potential questions" about my presence.. HHAHA yes indeed some of his relatives did ask ... 

It's still awkward but we prepared a script to say I was just tagging along on my way to Singapore, cool innit? HAHAHA

So there goes our quick Singapore getaway.. of course nah not sharing the nitty gritty details.. 

Till next trip overseas! 

Sunway Lagoon's Night of Fright 8

 Last weekend on Sunday, we went to Sunway Lagoon Night of Fright 8.. we arrived in Sunway Pyramid at 5.45pm but there was already a crowd at the entrance queuing up.. Doors open at 7.30pm but due to the size of the crowd, it took about 20 minutes to get past the turnstile.. The theme park closed at 11.30pm..

Sunway Lagoon Night of Fright happens every Friday, Saturday and Sunday only with the climax on Oct 31 being a Monday..

We bought our tickets from Klook, with the discounts given, each ticket comes to about RM99 each, but that was then lah, now no more..  

They boasted:

• 8 Haunted Houses
• 1 Haunted Theater
• 2 Scare Zones
• 11 Thrill Rides (basically the dry rides lah, really nothing much to shout about)
• 3 Shows on Stages

The 8 Haunted Houses are:

• 99 Doors
• Bloodshed 2
• Horrorwood Studios
• Hotel Deville
• Lucha Libre
• Lycan
• The Harvest
• Sharknado

 Here's my take on each of the haunted houses.. we didn't manage to enter Sharknado, but 7/8 is an achievement given that we only have 4 hours to play, but the majority of the time is spent queuing.. HINT: Get the express pass if you can afford it (not only you get to enter the themepark first, you also get almost nobody in the queues to enter the haunted houses!). 

The only time where I will buy the express pass is Universal Studios., any Universal Studios for that matter.. this is a no brainer.

• 99 Doors
• This is a sit-in theatre, where there's a projection screen in front, and a 2-storey old papan doors and windows on both sides.. The story is set on haunted mansion, and the NPC ghosts will appear and bang on the doors and windows.. Plus the NPCs will run around the place.. One of them are dressed in full black, blended in inside the dark theatre, so you may not see where he is until he's in front of you.. I have a feeling the hantu pocong is real despite him standing not moving there.. 
  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⚫

• Bloodshed 2
• This is not bad, there's surprises here and there and quite an exciting house, with chainsaw and axe and stuffs like that.. ie bloodshed geddit.
  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Horrorwood Studios
• This is a rather confusing haunted house.. It says its melted wax, but surprisingly I don't recall seeing much of it because it seems to be it's part of the Zombie house... 
  Rating: ⭐⚫⚫⚫⚫

• Hotel Deville
• Set in a hotel, the journey takes you from the lobby to reception through the rooms and toilet and service areas of a hotel.. Looks cool and awesome..
  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⚫

• Lucha Libre
• Easily the WORST "haunted house".. for it is NOT haunted at all.. just a 3D boxing match.. if you watched Nacho Libre, this is based on that - a Mexican luchador boxing match that is NOTHING haunted and NOTHING spooky.. and you wear a 3D paper glass to see the 3D neon effects.. No wonder there isn't a long queue for this.. YOU CAN SKIP THIS, EVEN IF YOU HAVE EXTRA TIME.
  Rating: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫

• Lycan
• Set in a hotel, the journey takes you from the lobby to reception through the rooms and toilet and service areas of a hotel.. Looks cool and awesome..
  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⚫

• The Harvest
• The grassy and outdoor haunted houses complex is a breathe of fresh air, but to queue among the bushes and water features is a heaven for mosquitos.. Yes plenty of it.. And for no logical reasons, I really don't see the need of being participative ie, everyone must hold on to a rope and walk as a group.. I mean, I want to enjoy the spook sight and sound and not being pulled along by the group, or someone behind you crept up too close to you. 
  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⚫⚫

• Sharknado
• I did not manage to see this so I have no comment.

• Zombie Hunter
• I leave the best for the last, like boyfie said, this is probably the best house.. Also because we have very high expectation for this one, and it didn't disappoint.. The name is a big giveaway of what to expect inside.. But I also expected NPC zombies to walk around the themepark - that will be even better! Dear Sunway Lagoon, you might want to take note!
  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you would like to go, you still have 3 more weekends to go.. don't missed it! 

But comparing Sunway Lagoon NOF and Universal Studios Singapore Halloween Horror Night, I still prefer lah USS HHN :) No offence but the spookiness elements are the judges..

#NOF8 #SLNOF8

Hey peeps!

Just thought I have some time to pen something today.. 

So keeping my life in the low profile end, and mostly private other than to close friends and some online friends, I'm now in a relationship, woohoo.. Ok excitement aside, I didn't know what attracted me in the beginning other than his laughter, its that kind of laughter you know in the darkest days and times, this is the kind of laughter you want to cheer you up and provide you with smiles and laughs for a good long time to come.. 

Slowly as I get to know him better, and his family better, I seemed drawn to him because he made me feel I am part of his life, everyday all day.. I need that sense of security, that sense of belonged, that knowing at the end of the day, I belong.. 

And somehow his family have been quite welcoming of me too, to the point that his mum even gave me the access card into his neighbourhood, and on a few occasions asked if I will be staying for dinner.. 

Not a day goes by without we video-calling for hours on end, because even if we are not talking to each other, we can see each other and that's just as good as being beside each other.. 

I couldn't ask for more, perhaps I already have more than I deserve..

Cheers, peace. 

Wreck Diving and it's dangers

Over the CNY weekend, I was off in Tioman to take the PADI Deep Diver Specialty & PADI Wreck Diver Specialty.. since both are inter-related, both can be taken as a combo course. 

Each specialty requires 4 dives, but however, since I already had taken both as an adventure dive during my Advanced Open Water, one of the dives from AOW can then be credited to the specialty, thus, I only require 3 dives each.. 

Deep & Wreck  are usually taken together as wrecks are usually located deep, below the reach of Open Water divers.. 

In Deep Diver Specialty, divers dive to about 36-38metres, up to a maximum of 40metres.. 

I would strongly recommend to use Nitrox to allow longer bottom time.. Nitrox is also a specialty by itself.. 

I was using EANx28% for my deep dives training, which allows me to go to a maximum operating depth of 39.9metres.. 

The descend was pretty straightforward.. It was a straight drop down to 36metres and then swim around at that depth, paying close attention to the NDL (no decrompression limit) as well as how fast air consumption was..

Standard practise was to test your judgement and how fast you can perform simple task at depth, as the effect of narcosis is always there.. 

For me, I felt light headed, like a drunk feeling..

Upon ascending, at 50bar of air left in my cylinder, I was then taught to switch over to using a "pony bottle" to breathe.. A pony bottle is a smaller independent tank that was either brought as a sidemount or hang at 5m from the bouy/boat.. 

This is to ensure enough gas supply to safely surface as there are multiple safety stops that needed to be done.. A deep dive would require multiple safety stops, for obvious reasons.. A 1-minute safety stop at 15metres and a 5-minutes safety stop at 5metres.. 

The pony bottle has about 100bar of air, but at the rate I was using the pony bottle to ascend, I used around 50 bar just to do the safety stops and ascend.. At 30m, the maximum bottom time was just 16 minutes, using EANx28%, hence including the descend and ascend, it comes to about just below 30 minutes for the whole dive.. 

In Wreck Diver Specialty, there were several things to accomplish..First is to sketch out the wreck, in my case, I use KM Sipadan as my training wreck.. From the sketch, I know I am a terrible artist.. 

As Wreck Diving involves going inside the wreck, the next fundamental thing to learn is to lay out the line from the entrance of the wreck to the exit.. 

I never really expected the insides of the wreck to be so dark and filled with silt! Even a fin kick or bubbles from breathing can stir up the silt and cause zero visibility! 

Like they say, every experience is a teacher, and I get to experience first hand what it feels like to get stuck inside the wreck.. 

Obviously it was not a good thing to get stuck but shit happens sometimes..

I got caught in one of the doors as we were aware there are things that have become loose or disintegrated and obstructed the path partially.. I wanted to avoid the protruding steels as I lay the reel line, but I was wedged in between, I suddenly find myself stuck, unable to move forward or backwards or sideways..  Then I stopped, and put my training to test.. 

Think.

Breathe. 

Relax. 

Then I decided not to wait for my instructor which was way behind me, so I used some force on my arms to push myself ahead to set free, by that time, I have no choice but to also kick on whatever things to free myself, stirring up a soup of silt!

My instructor asked me when at the surface why was the visibility so bad, what did I do! Hahaha... then only I told him I got stuck and need to free myself ASAP.. turn around and abort penetrating deeper..

And lastly, on the last Deep+Wreck dive, one of the divers was nauseous at the surface due to choppy waters, and began throwing up.. Sensing she couldn't make her way back to the boat on her own, my rescue instinct kicked in..

I grabbed her tank from behind and started to pull her along, she began throwing up more, and there I was, together with her vomit.. 🤮 

 

Not a good sight, and not something I want to remember, but it's real and it happens.. 

I then descended a little and did what we call, the tired diver tow using the underarm tow. I held her hand and tow her back to the boat.. yeah she threw up more once she got on to the boat.. 

But it was a good real-life first hand experience for me to practise what I've learnt, to perform a simple rescue.. 

Because shit happens, and when it does, oh boy someone better know what to do..

And that is why, being a rescue diver is very important..

Chinese New Year

I left KL last Saturday at 5.30am for a straight 4 hour drive up north back to my parents' in Bukit Mertajam, Penang..

We have not spent any CNY here before despite them moving back here when I was still in school.. but since we have made the decision during the MCO as a family to put the Ipoh house up for sale, we have begun to clear things out and away.. practically nothing much left there except for some furniture and appliances..

I still have got my guitar in Ipoh, haven't played it for more than 25 years..

Anyway, my sis and her family joined us in Penang as well after 2 years, and my brother came back earlier and spent a week in quarantine as his flight was not a VTL flight..

Hearing the nephews would be back, I bought some fireworks, they loved watching fireworks so yeah..

Spent the past week just at home, no visiting and not allowing relatives to visit due to SOP and covid as my nephews have not been vaccinated..

Its good also go just recharge and leave work behind for a while.. in fact I left both my work and personal laptops in KL.. sooooo not going to touch it for a week..

Annual tradition to light up the red dragon

Also this CNY is much unlike previous, as I will be also heading to Tioman for a quick break and clock up some dives, gonna take on 2 more PADI specialties - Deep & Wreck which will allow me to go deeper to 40m and do wreck penetrations, all while carrying Nitrox tanks..

Problem with Tioman ferries during year end and beginning of the year is the limited frequency which means one ferry per day. Miss it and you're done..

And last but not least, this year may just be better and it's only the beginning :) I have a good feeling about him..

How is your CNY?

39th Birthday

 Spent my birthday week with some close friends.. its a quiet affair as I am not one who throw or have tonnes of friends secretly plotting parties.. and also since my birthday was so close to CNY and everyone is busy either running errands or gone back hometown..

After all, after one CNY spent in lockdown, surely everyone wants to take the whole week long to be with family..

I had omakase for birthday dinner, its my first time having omakase and the fish the chef chosen is tuna and fugu!

Yeah that's how I spent my birthday.

Running errands and meals.

2022 and Beyond

 

In just a short 2 years, minus the multiple lockdowns periods where travel and diving are prohibited, I've reached Rescue Diver level, and for 2022, adding on 4 more specialites and I'll apply for the Master Scuba Diver certification.. 

Master Scuba Diver (MSD) is akin to the black belt in recreational diving, but not many divers will go to that end.. Most will be contended with Advance Open Water or Rescue, and some progressed on to the pro level - Divemaster. 

I will take MSD first, and then later on only decide to go into the Divemaster (DM) probably in 2023 or later. 

One baby step at a time, yah. 

Happy New Year 2022!