'Pirates of the New Age'

Copyright legalities: I admit to all that the pictures on this blog of Sipidan were all taken by Mat. Except for the sunset pictures which I took with his camera. I didn't use my camera, so I got his pictures with his permission. Sorry if there are the same pictures on both our blogs, I tried to avoid and control this while we were travelling, but what can you do.
Any issues or concerns send to him not me. Thanks.

Goodbye for Now

For Mat and I, Sipidan was the last of our adventures together for the mean time and what a way to go out! The diving there was comparable to Palau in quality, yet both are quite different. Palau is loaded with the big stuff. Sipidan had amazing small stuff including the pygmy seahorse, flamboyant cuttlefish, common octopus, big cuttlefish (for lack of the proper name), black and blue ribbon eels, Pegasus aka seamoth, and some other stuff which Eve our dive instructor saw earlier in the week when we had yet to arrive: blue-ring octopus (the most deadly creature in the ocean and only about 8-10cm, ha), mimic octopus, and the ornate ghost pipefish. My favorite included the pygmy seahorse, which is unbelievably small, and the flamboyant cuttlefish. (Click on the links to see pictures of these creatures, they are pretty crazy looking. I only wish I had an underwater camera, but thank gosh for Wikipedia!)

"Alien Casino"

The Seaventures oilrig was quite an experience and I wouldn't have wanted to do it any other way in Sipidan. For one reason, my memories of UCSB consist of the lit up oilrigs lining the horizon. Also, the song by Jack Johnson that describes the distant oilrigs in Santa Barbara as pirates of the new age and alien casino's used to be my old ringtone and one of my favorites. And now I can say that I've stayed on one. The story behind the oilrig is that it was originally supposed to be a casino/hotel in Brunei. But somehow it ended up off the coast of Mabul as a hotel for Sipidan explorers. Underneath the rig is one of my favorite dive sites we explored. Here lies the pygmy seahorse, ribbon eels, broadclub cuttlefish, a huge moray eel, and a lot of crocodile fish. The package for Seaventures included unlimited diving underneath the rig which allowed us to do sometimes up to five dives a day. Yes, we did a lot of diving. And in a matter of about two months I've been able to rack up forty dives since getting certified.

Taken Down
The only event that didn't go according to the plan in Sipidan was the food poisoning. After our third dive of day 2, under the rig, Mat told me that he didn't feel very well. But, being the tough guy that he is, he sucked it up and did our fourth dive at Kapelai. We had discussed doing a night dive that night, but after Kapelai Mat headed straight to the room looking pale and feeling miserable. Within the next hour he was in the bathroom losing it. Poor guy. Anyway, that night at dinner I was talking with the rest of our dive group and everyone seemed to be ok besides one other guy who was sick. But, by the next morning about 10 other people had all been taken down by something, we still aren't quite sure, but it was not good. Luckily, the main office was quite understanding and accommodating and we were given another day of diving and accommodation for the one that was spent sleeping off the sickness.

For Now

Well, back to the unknown adventures. I arrived back in Bangkok on the 23rd, stayed there for two days, and am now in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is beautiful! I'd say it was San Francisco verses Los Angeles in comparing Chiang Mai and Bangkok. After the overnight train I grabbed a motorcycle taxi into town. The woman had no idea where we were going. At one point she pulled over about 50 feet from a police stop to put my helmet on, otherwise it was a 400 baht fine. It was hilarious. The cops could see me put on the helmet, but as long as I was wearing it when we drove by them it was all good. Then, when we finally found the guesthouse I was planning on staying at, they couldn't hold true to my reservation and instead only had a room for over double the price. I said heck no and headed to an internet cafe to re-evaluate my options. I remembered an e-mail I received from a couchsurfer who had offered me accommodation if I needed it. Luckily, Jenny had given me her cell phone number in the e-mail so I called her up. Even on short notice she warmly welcomed me to stay with her. Her place is quite nice with the main shopping center right next door, a pool if I feel the need, and is walking distance to a really cool part of town near the university with artsy coffee shops and boutiques, and did I mention free. Last night her friend took me to the fruit market where I purchased over 3 kilos of mangos (it is just the beginning of mango season and one thing Mat did pass onto me was his love of mangos)(GOD DAMN, they are GOOD), along with kilos of papaya and bananas. I love how easy it is to get delicious fresh fruit. I can't get enough. And it’s all SO CHEAP!

Not sure how long I will stay in Chiang Mai, but probably for a few weeks. From here the endless road of adventure leads in all directions: Myanmar, Laos, and China. So much to do and not enough time!

my love to all,
kendra

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