Attacked by wild animals ...... again

After surviving an horrific meerkat attack in Botswana, I am again thankful for coming out unscathed from a wild animal encounter in the Similan Islands. Enter..... the cleaner wrasse!

My ears looked like I went a few rounds with Iron Mike Tyson.

Bangkok Snapshots

A quick business trip to Bangkok allowed me the chance to visit one of Bangkok's floating markets and the train market. The train did not run that day and my childhood memory of the floating market was something I wished I had not spoiled. Nevertheless, I do enjoy a market.

Kuala Rompin Sailfishing

I have just returned from the second annual fishing trip to Kuala Rompin. A world class fishery for sailfish, Kuala Rompin off the east coast of Malaysia has unbelievable numbers of sailfish in the peak seasons of around August to October.

Despite the sometimes sketchy looking weather and due to the efforts of the fearless crew, no minnow would be lost. Day one saw 6 landed fish (and released) and another 4 that got away. Those 4 were huge - you wouldn't believe how big!

Nathan and I returned bringing Jason and John along for 2 days of relentless fishing. With around 10-20 minutes of serious fight in each sailfish, sun and a beer or two, the wild boys weekend away ending with lights out before 9:30pm. Meanwhile, the wives poured themselves home at around 3am after a night at a strip club.

The fish typically ranged between 6-8 feet in length, still pretty far from their maximum 12 ft length.

See you next year.

Penang snapshots

Cocotte Sausage Eating Contest

It was Cocotte's second annual sausage eating contest and this year I was part of a team entry. I was shocked by the change in sausage from last year's delicious, moist, grilled sausages to this year's insipid & boiled chipolatas.

Tim, Paul, John and I ate well and took out third place and like year, the top amateur position in the country. If the professional eaters didn't go to the bathroom for a reversal of fortune, who knows how we would have fared?

Is this getting older?

Even as recently as two years ago it would never have occurred to me that she was doing anything other than her job. At a recent Yamazaki whisky event, I was approached by one of the promotional girls and from her demeanour, I couldn't stop from thinking "I've still got it!"

5 minutes later, the penny dropped and it dawned on me that she was paid to schmooze (the mostly male) crowd. Is this middle-age rapidly approaching? Is this why you so often see older mean taking up with much younger woman with an embarrassing misunderstanding of the relationship? In the years ahead, will there be more and more traps to make me feel like a fool?

Sipadan

Even from Singapore, Sipadan was a significant 12 hour trip. Taxi, plane, taxi to the other terminal, taxi back from the wrong terminal to the original terminal, plane, car, boat, buggy, hotel.  Scotch.

Blessed and relying too heavily on having such an iconic and premier dive site nearby, our resort was disappointing in itself but has the days passed, that faded into the background.

A recent typhoon had reduced visibility so our first actual dive at Sipadan was "shit," as we were told. Over 30 turtles, a dozen sharks, an immense school of jacks, a titanic school of barracuda, forests of hard coral, bumphead parrot fish ..... on one dive alone.  Mabul and Kapalai had equally as impressive muck-diving with leaf fish, scorpion fish, stone fish, giant moray, frog fish, giant cuttlefish, giant mantis, giant grouper, crocodile fish and my favourite, the Oriental Sweetlip.

And as the days passed, the weather and conditions improved to reach an acceptable grade as can be seen below.

Unfortunately my impression was that Sipadan solely represented a money-making opportunity to those in the tourism industry. There was no discernible connection between tourism and the local fishing villages and as they are therefore not stakeholders, being guardians of and maintaining conditions is of little importance. There was no culture of sustainability at the resort, no picking up of rubbish by dive masters during dives, no educating of us guests. I am worried about the future Mr Cousteau.

Pig on a spit

Some said that it may be the greatest thing that anyone has ever done but I don't want to blow it out of proportion. 

Amanda turned 37 and decided that I should celebrate by cooking a pig on a spit. 24 hours in a brine, trips to replenish the melting ice bath every 5 hours, 5 hours of roasting, 400 degrees on a small apartment balcony and I was as shocked as anyone that it was phenomenal. The logistics were such that I will never do this again, but I can't wait to do it again.

Conference-call- clashes

It seems that A and I only get a 30 min window for dinner these days. Each day we have to review our evening schedule of conference calls to try and find a slot for dinner. We each come to the table with the latest management speak however I can't compete with Amanda's company.

I have hard-stops and I had my first lens today however nothing resonates with me, nobody has a bi-lateral conversations and nobody is pinging me!

Burmese Cats

Over the Easter long weekend we took a trip to Yangon not really knowing what to expect. By-Elections had taken place the weekend before with Aung Sun Suu Kyi winning a seat in parliament and their party taking 43 of 45 contested seats.




What we found was a city seemingly little impacted by tourism and a window into what other South East Asian cities may have been like 30 years ago. As Yangon doesn't hold the major tourist sites of other areas in Myanmar, we would walk the streets and not see another tourist - an unusual and pleasant experience. There was no touting or hawking, prices seemed genuine with no tourist "premium," and market vendors didn't bat an eyelid at me speaking Mandarin (humph! I am special damn it!).




The people were extremely warm and quick to flash a big smile with a little encouragement. Beautiful children, a huge diversity of races and faces.




Shwedagon was an impressive a site as any religious building I have seen. Move over Catholics, the Buddhists can do it to.




The food was fantastic. A real mix of Asian flavours in the cuisine highlighted by seeing South-Asians cooking you tiao and East Asians cooking chappati!

Tales from the Crypt - Shanghai dumplings

It would have been one of my very fist trips to China (probably in 2000 or 2001) back when I was far more adventurous and game. I was down some back lane of Shanghai eating dumplings in a street side stall, concentrating on my chop stick action under the gaze of of all those eyes, set just above the rim of the slurped-at bowls.

I was sitting in the back trying to be inconspicuous, when an old man surprised me by suddenly rushing at me and brushing my then, very serious side burns. I have no idea what he was saying except that he was enjoying himself, even as he was chased away at the end of a broom. He continued to enjoy himself from the other side of the lane, until I slipped out the back and took off.

Sri Lanka