One of the bestest places ever. I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Gili Islands at Lombok. I might have gone there a bit too late because its FILLED with tourists to the brim. People who go there to literally do nothing and have zero plans.

My villa was like 50 steps away from the beach. And theres no form of motorised vehicles there. Just horsecarts (which I HATE because the horses look so pitiful) and bicycles (which made my butt super cramped due to the uneven roads). The air is very clean, you are so relaxed there. Theres just you, the sun, FOOD, clear waters and very friendly people.

I went snorkelling because apparently to dive there is like to run a marathon when you have just learnt to walk. (Thats what my instructor said but I highly doubt so but the waters were crazy choppy that day, it might have been.) It was my first time snorkelling without a life jacket (with fins). WHY DIDNT ANYONE TELL ME HOW EASY IT WAS! I have a love hate relationship with the sea. Im so damn scared of it but once I am so comfortable, its like Im in my element or something. Its SOOOOOOOOOOOO calming and relaxing. My shoulders like de-tensed.

Food was AWESOME and relatively cheap compared to Singapore. The taste of the grilled snapper pictured above is still lingering in my memory. It costed about $13 for a whole snapper. Its really super good I shall try to recreate that.

What I REALLY LOVE about Gili was that the whole island is like your neighbourhood. You’re right in front of the beach, you walk around or cycle and everything is by the beach. Its THAT small. Everyone is so friendly, locals and tourists alike.

I pray I get to go there again like regularly!

We were  supposed to go somewhere on the last day but our driver basically got lost and brought us on a joy ride. Haha. Above is the new school premises. I kind of miss the old campus but not the nights there thanks.

We went to the market after but because it was HOT and there was nothing really for us to buy, we sat down at the coffeehouse and got the famous aceh coffee. That by the way is already with lesser condensed milk. Haha. I mixed it with half only. Its like triple shots of expresso with milk and condensed milk. YUMMMYYYYYY.

Quite sad to leave but it was a very very good trip and its high time we reunited with our beloved kids and chatted with them and woke up to such a peaceful sight and familiar smell. LIKE!

I would really like to go back there and bring K and maybe my brother and I know Asi is dying to go back there again!

xoxo

Breakfast was held at their patio overlooking the padi fields with mountains as backdrops with light breeze and the perfect level of sunshine. We were served everything from toast with cheese or jam to nasi uduk which is their traditional food kind of like nasi lemak. YUMMMM. By the way, yesterday for dinner we ate durians as well. YUM!

For some of us, this was the part of the trip we were most anticipating for! To Sabang we go! Sabang Island is basically an island off Aceh but we were headed to Rubiah Island which is beside Sabang. This place is actually quite not developed yet/at all but a lot of Australians and Europeans and Americans I think go there to dive and omg. Wait let me continue, firstly water,’resort’ facilities were barely nonexistent there ok. So basically only me and three other people had only 1hr to snorkel around. WITH NO TOILET OR CLEAN WATER TO BATHE AFTER. Aica said well the only way to pee is to snorkel. Thats her reason. Its true. Haha Pak Nusa brought us straight to the deep end of the island. What happened there was truly hilarious to the max! But not the point. It was BEAUTIFUL! I will DEFINATELY go back there to dive when theres MORE TIME and proper facilities and more friends. Haha. Visibility was probably 839210843920 m (exaggerating). The moment we finned off, it was 4-6mtrs deep and there were schools of fishes of every colour and we spotted an octopus! I cant imagine what the divers can seee in the middle. It was funny lah there. I hope no one took a video of Aica trying to swim back. Hahaha. Such a pretty sight. We went to the well and had a pail each of water to rinse ourselves. Because the sea water was so clean, we werent even sticky after drying.

At night, we had a barbecue dinner organised for us and we also had time to finally mingle with the kids. A few of the original students were still there, some came back and ALL of them are like TALLLLL and handsomeeeee (for the boys lah). Haha seriously shocking.

After that we were to play badminton with them and watched some of them finish their art pieces constructing wooden houses using basic tools. And we ended the night the same way.

This is already the 4th time going to Aceh, last time was in 2007. And I had major reservations about this trip because of the really bad stuff that I experienced there. (Nothing to do with the level of hospitality that we got because thats as usual impeccable.) But you know, I believe in things happening for a reason and I must grab and make full use of every opportunity to the fullest. And I SO did not regret going! Sadly it was a short 3D2N trip.

The airport…has a proper building! I remember it being super small. Now theres a proper check in place and check out area. Its more advanced as well. Btw, prior to the tsunami, Aceh was actually a closed country.  Now roads are level with proper lines and signs! Haha.

We got invited by the governor and CHECK OUT THE PLACE. We were basically seated at their ‘Parliament House’ . Haha. My history is really bad but basically Aceh was a special region of Indonesia which was never colonised by the Dutch. You can read more about their involvement here. It is really interesting. However they had some Dutch sitting in their ‘Parliament’ then, thus the architectural influence of the building (and in some handsome boys).
I, was really looking forward to food, personally. We were served some local pastries at the Governor’s house which tasted like variations of sardine rolls and crepes or pancakes with kaya coconut. After that we were fed  some Acehnese dishes with rice. Second food picture above is actually not consisting of peas and chillis but CHILLIS AND MORE CHILLIS. Hahaha. Like some interesting versions of chilli padi. The LAST picture, is, my saddest regret about the trip. Its basically like a a fluffy but a bit chewy pancake-ish thing with CHOCOLATE and CHEESE filling. I ate only TWO tiny pieces because we THOUGHT we were going to buy some back. But we forgot.  Le sigh!

Ended the night, with a fantastic shower (with clear water ok) and ROTFLs conversations at 1am.

I never ever thought that this plan would actually finally materialise. Its really so much easier to just find people who really want to go also. Aestee and I have been talking about going for YEARS. This was one of those things where you just DO irregardless of whether you are prepared or not and just expect the worse. Cos, God knows, how DAMN scared I was.

We went with Gill Divers, well, cos’ that was the first company that Google showed us and they look reliable anyways. We went to Dayang Island (4 hours off Mersing) because that was the only location they were going to for that weekend?

You have no idea how kiasu we were it was hilarious! But now I forgot what about. Haha. Oh right the first was to literally RUSH for the beds on the boat. Ok Aestee lah not me. HAHA.

Btw I was SO ANNOYINGLY kancheong I just couldnt relax! Basically I managed to calm myself down through everything EXCEPT for the whole hovering thing whereby you basically float in water at the level that you want (and NEED to else you’ll be left behind!). You see  I have a not-so-mild phobia of the open water (IKR) and the dark parts underwater (A-HUH). SO, I was more inclined to be in the centre (and near) of everyone else. So people were finning into my face and I kept bumping into everyone! Haha. Sorry lah.

So back to the point, when we were descending, I basically do not descent for some reason I couldnt relax (you control your bouyancy via breathing) aka couldnt sink fashionably. Sigh. So I had to trial and error between sinking like a rock and inflating myself to a level that I do not touch the seabed/reach my desired level.

I somehow have to practice this because when we do take our advanced course, I do not want to be freaking left behind because 1) THERE IS A NIGHT DIVE and 2) we go DOUBLE the depth.

Oh ya, I need to invest in a damn clear mask.

ALL that aside, when you do calm down and forget that you are underwater and are ‘flying’, its a rather AWESOME feeling when you get to swim with the schools of fishes and interact with creatures like they are not aware of you.  45 mins per dive is the max I can go before I run out of air and seriously thats not a long time!

THANK YOU GOD for keeping us safe throughout. Eternally grateful! Need more of those for the next trip ok?

]]> http://daisydianainparadise.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/open-water-diver-course/feed/ 0 daisydiana 2011-05-122 http://daisydianainparadise.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/spring-you-spring-me/ http://daisydianainparadise.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/spring-you-spring-me/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2011 04:55:33 +0000 daisydiana http://daisydianainparadise.wordpress.com/?p=558 ]]>

Mark Twain once said,

It’s spring fever…. You don’t quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!

I stumbled upon the Spring Clean contest on Reebonz and just thought I’d give it a (VERY LONG) shot!

Ok fine, I have to admit that it was because the corner of my eye spotted GREEN (Prada Tessuto Impuntu). Seriously, I think without green, a rainbow will never be a rainbow. Obviously the colour of Spring (oh come on, just agree with me already!), this bag will match ANY OUTFIT EVER. And will INSTANTLY brighten up your day. And, you can put ALOT of things in the bag without it getting out of shape and the likes.

So anyways, here are the three outfits I put together.

Via Polyvore.

♥♥♥

Daily morning afternoon and evening ritual for Aes! Haha.

Off to dinner at Dome’s!

This girl is very mental. I meant mentel.

By the way, we do go to the gym in the morning ok. Supposed to wake up at 8am but ended up waking up at 10am after a damn good sleeep!

Oh coffee how Ive missed you!

That night by the way, we were waiting for Zi’s cousin for 3 hrs and while waiting we had a really interesting chat/ game which totally failed. Hahaha. This was the morning after when we went for a ‘dip’ or rather 432904723908 dips. THE WATER WAS MEGA C-C-C-CCCOLD!

FUNNIEST SHOT EVER! Firstly, I BLOCKED both of them. Secondly, this looked like the Strips advert which would only mean that Im the gorilla!

I REALLY wish that our food republic would be like theirs. Their food looks SOOO good and you can eat everything! Duck rice Duck rice Duck rice.

Waffles and the root beer float waas aweesome! Brought back the coney dogs and only ate them a day later and they still taste so goood!

Since we were in KL, we decided to go watch a malay movie. Titled………… AKU MASIH DARA. It.was.so.bad. It was basically hilarious. I shall not go into details, you might want to check it out at youtube.

There were actually more bags. OF FOOD!

Overall it was a very very very fun trip!! Cant wait to go again next time with Este and Mab as well. ) It was a very intimate group so we bonded more and it was tiring but I WOULD SO DO THIS AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT!

I was NOT scheduled to go on this trip after something was planned but that was cancelled and boy, was I glad I went!

Our bus ride, to me, was faster than expected and not the mention the fact tt we ALMOST didnt get any transport!

Mine and Aes’ aim was to whack all the would-be-not-halal food in Singapore, I think not bad lah. We managed to cover a bit.

Pepper Lunch was really SO-SO. Jakun was an understatement. Haha.

Whatever happens, my bears must be laid out properly first ah.

We went to Chilli’s for dins which is a total must!

I LOVE MEAT! MEAT MEAT MEAT! The nachos were one of the bestest Ive ever tasted. The beef in the fajitas were really juicy tooo!

THIS WAS REALLY EMBARRASSING OK! The staff were singing from far and I was like WHO IS THIS UNLUCKY DUDE? And Im the dude. Haha I was super shocked and surprised. Thank you very much Zi and Aes. Hehe. Next time you all watch out. Thanks.

83219073490217402317 pairs for 3 days. NOT enough.

This was Aes’ cook-yourself nasi goreng. I think its best to eat it with beef. Yum yum!

The Wedding Chateau has launched their very first Favour Bar! Its something like the Dessert Bar except they’re,well, favours and all packed and ready to be brought home!  In conjunction with the launch, they’re having a giveaway whee!  Just leave a message on their facebook wall (I WANT THE FAVOUR BAR!) to stand a chance to land your hands on one of the above vouchers!

Favour Bar packages from TWC start from S$1050.

On raya night, only 3 girls including me can pray (in my clique) so three of us went for prayers thinking that there’s gonna be takbir after that (like Singapore) so we waited, but realised that people were going back. I asked this small boy (more like conversed using sign language like duck and chicken) when takbir is gonna be. Apparently its after subuh so we decided to do our last tawaf instead. Managed to take some pictures above. Heh heh. Thats the green light to signal the change and is also the starting point. The 2nd pic is when I prayed behind Maqam Ibrahim after each tawaf set.

That was probably the most peaceful tawaf for me.

After that, three of us, plus Kak Hidayah’s husband went to find HARDEE’S! (Carls Junior actually) cos we were super craving for burger. I got the Portobello Mushroom Melts. Yummy! And we ate another round of ice cream. So thats how our Malam Raya went. Instead of Geylang.

Subuh was only like a few hours later soo with eye bags and no sleep (I think) we went to the mosque. Everyone were dressed normally except for the kids who were in like pretty ott dresses. Cute! And people passed around MANY MANY dates to eat. Takbir itself was interesting. Obviously I was emo (but didnt tear) since I couldnt believe I was there. And I managed to go through the trip! This was the most random and unprepared trip ever but Im pretty sure I was there for a reason. Like He must be like ” This girl must go! Cancel any plans or anything that will be a nuisance to her going so she has  no reason but to go!” . Haha.

Maybe I couldve done more but this means that I MUST GO AGAIN now that we can plan better! This time probably with my family and K who really wants to go. Heh heh.

Then it was time for us to leave. Boohooo. We stopped by the floating mosque at Jeddah and erm ate BAKSO! By the Red Sea.

Thank God for airconditioned mosques. Really.

I think I am very very lucky to have the coolest and bestest bunch of people to go with me. My walking encyclopedia (my Ustad) went along so I can just ask anything and erything which made it MUCH easier. We were always laughing and keeping ourselves positive despite the many many setbacks that we had. Yes it wasnt smooth sailing at all. But somehow its all good in the end. I like!

Note to selves – BRING MORE POTENT AND NON DROWSY COUGH SYRUPS AND FLU MEDICINE!

Thank YOU very very much. YOU know I know ah.

Oh ya and thanks to my mum who forced me to go for this trip.