Its chinese new year and we're certified divers!

Well we're back and feeling rather shattered. We can hardley move especially when going up or down stairs... god it hurts!

To make matters worse for me.. when we got back i noticed that my left toe was black and blue and that ive lost my nail!! Its hanging on at the min but im covering it with a plaster to protect it.

Weve come back to the youth hostel we were staying at before climbing the mountain and really enjoying the chill out. There is hardly anyone staying here and now its chinese new year so we can look forward to some good street parades and parties.

2 resting days later!

Feeling much better now although it still hurts on stairs. ave signed on to an open water diving course enabling us to go scuba diving when ever we want . At the end of the 3 day course you get a card to proove your ability and to show to dive companies wherever you want to dive!

First day was completely in the classroom. Our instructors are really nice and a bloody good laugh. The day was taken up with loads of dvds and lectures and then we had to pass an exam at the end of the day to go through to the second day!

Frances and i had a bet on concerning the test score and thankfully for her, she won although i assisted her on many of the answers!!


diving day 2

after my winning performance on the test scores and one free beer later i was raring to get into the water on day 2. We hopped on a boat and headed out to a small island just off the coast. We spent the day learning the major diving skills that will help us stay alive! we made our very first dive and after a few boyancy problems headed off into the deep.....

by the end of the day we were absolutely knackered. The dives undertaken had given us sightings of Lionfish (crazy poisonous fish), moray eels, and loads of other weird and wonderful creatures!

day 3

our last day of the open water course. we had a couple of great dives, met our first turtle and dived up to 18.8m. both really love the diving thing and i want to get some pink flippers!!! (frances)

Graduating was great and we now have a pass card enabling us to dive anywhere in the world baby!!! Well worth it and cant wait to get back under for some more.. weve climbed to the highest peaks and swam to the deepest depths... not bad for a couple of weeks wouldnt you say!

By the way... our course leader was a crazy kiwi who went by the name of Neville Kippenberger (German ancestory)!! This guys is a bit of a cult hero in sabah... ladies watch out!! He likes a hug, a grope, and a good view of a hottie in a wetsuit! Cant say i blame him!

Chinese new year has gone on for the last month and is still being celebrated would you believe. The last few weeks there has been fireworks, parties, loud music and dragons and when it comes to the actual new year.... nothing... Everything stops and knowone goes out... pretty miserable if you ask me.

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