Dawn of a New Era

At 4.03am, triumphant PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim described the victory of the opposition parties in five states and its breach of Barisan Nasional’s two-third majority in Parliament as “a defining moment” in the history of the nation and the opening of “a new chapter.”

Our prime minister only has these words to mumble: "We’ve lost, we’ve lost" - 4.12am

These were the only words which Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi could muster when quizzed on the ruling coalition’s shocking defeat in five states.

So what does it matter that the turn of events spell a different future for Malaysians?

Malaysians go to polls as rest of world reel

Today I cast my vote with my wife at our designated polling centre in Cheras.

Barisan supporters wooed us to vote for change chiding others at the centres to give Dr Jefferey Goh a break. After all, what has DAP's Tan Kok Wai done for Cheras folks?

Guess beside whose face I marked my cross?

While the rest of the country shuffled to the polls, the rest of the world continue to reel from the endless waves of bad news.

Top UN World Food Program official Josette Sheeran said the world's economy "has now entered a perfect storm for the world's hungry" caused by high oil and food prices and low food stocks. That simply means record high food prices and resulting inflation are set to continue until at least 2010, fuelling a "new hunger" across the globe and anarchy on the streets of poorer nations.

Rev 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The poor will be poorer and the rich will wallow in more wealth.

In Jerusalem, a gunman, who once worked as a driver in the same college, opened fire with an automatic rifle at students in the Jewish religious college library killing eight girls. Palestinian Hamas supporters celebrate the killing. Meanwhile, violence in the Hamas-run Gaza strip continue to escalate with the Israeli government vowing intensify major offensives on the city and the occupied West Bank.

For the dead, life ends. Chapter closes. Curtains. Game over.

What does it matter to you and me?

And in Baghdad, the death toll rosed to 68 when the whammy from double blasts tore through a packed shopping area, making it the deadliest attack in the capital for nine months. The bombs wounded 120 people. The horror unleashed hours after a brigade of 2000 US soldiers were withdrawing the capital.

Senseless killings persist.

The list goes on. You name any country in the world today that is not hit by some kind of madness.

What does it matter?

Life goes on meanwhile in our backyard. Pottering over our cute little bonsai.

Our upcoming vacation. Our next business deal. Our new job. Hmmmmm.

Perspective. O God, we need perspective.

More Dive Shots from Phuket

Aha. Who's this muscleman? Bet you can't recognize him without his pink outfit!










Moray eels the thickness of your fist abound in the nooks and crannies if you slow your finning long enough to
peer through the cracks. Always fun to stick your finger at them for a tempting bite!

Jeff holding the standard underwater hovering position. Excellent buoyancy control!

Yellow spotted puffer fish are among the many exotic sea life around here. Tasty but deadly if you sliced and cooked them the wrong way. The Japanese and Koreans are known to love these buggers. When we were in Korea last year, the wet markets were selling them by the buckets.
Hmmm. Recognize who this one is? It's funny how a mask and a regular could conceal your identity so easily.
Who's this cool slit-eyed dude holding his position in a steady hover? I'm sure you could identify this one.



What's this!? Tempting to grab and shove into a grub bag eh. Lobster hunting anyone?

Carl shot this from the bottom. Certainly not one of the sea beauties, Shannon and Wenshu, trying hard to blend in with the underwater flora and fauna.

Wow! This is the radiant blue crown of thorns. This is one of the poisonous buggers you wouldn't want to stick your palms onto for balance underwater.

Aha! That's me in my usual tropical underwater garb. Much more relaxing diving in Ts and pair of shorts if you enjoy the cold. But gotta watch out for the jelly fish and other stinging stuffs.

Wow cool. This is old man Octopus Kracken (guess I spelt this right?) in Pirates of the Carribean curled up comfortably under we spook him from his slumber.

Sean and Sidney checking out this huge blob of a jelly fish from a safe distance. Another cool find underwater!

One of our adventure dives on Day 2 on a longtail boat. This kind doesn't have a rudder. The propeller extends overboard like a tail and can swings around 360 degrees.

Aha! Nothing like SYTs to add color above the underwater world on the journey to our dive sites. Snorkelers Shannon and Wenshu.
The fish here is so friendly that if you make friends with it over a banana or bread slice, it'll let you play with it!
Opening a bottle of coke using a bottle of mineral water. I did it! Our six-footer host Carl Richardson could do the trick with anything.
Jianz in one of his pensive moods. I like this shot.


Sidney and Sean dropping off into their first dive on the sandy bottom of Racha Yai. Jeff finning in the left rear.

Perfect spot for buoyancy check!

Excellent visibility!



A pretty clown fish in a quivering in blossom of sea anemone. This is when you take off you glove and caress the slimy blue portion and the sticky green strands. But be careful! You could get nasty stings...

I got seared once and the rashes lasted two weeks!







Jeff (and the other guys) exploring wreck off Banana Rock at a depth of 22m.

It's always a thrill to hover around one of these sunken barges and watch the
underwater creatures settle in their new home. Here the visibility drops to 5 meters.

A dazzling shot of a lionfish in all its cocky splendor up close.

But don't be fooled. These buggers could give you sting that hits 9 on the richter scale! Thankfully I haven't experienced this kind of shake up.

The closest was jabs from sea urchins that left black poisoned looking blotches on your skin.\

So Sad

Justin's friend, Bruce passed away just before CNY from dengue.

So sad.

When I read his blog, I was impressed by his way of expressing his feelings. His poems are really something.

Bruce Chan-(1987 ~ 2008)
"Bro, Bruce is dead..."
That's what I got from the sms...
He is only 21...
Isn't that too early for him?
Mankind...
The weakest kind...
Even a mosquito can take your life...
You can die anywhere...
anytime...
The question is...
"Are you ready for that?"
"Are you sure where you going after that?"
Words left unsaid...
Dreams left unfulfilled...
How does it feel when you know all your friends and family came to see you,
talked to you but you couldn't give any respond?
Not even until the last breath...
Tell me about it Bruce..
Sorry my friend...
I hope you rest in peace...

Congratulations!!!

Happy to announce that we're back from Phuket after a five-day four-night trip.

PICTURES TO FOLLOW THROUGH SOON!
Whoooooo hoooooooooooo! We did it!!!

That's Sidney doing his favourity backflip from a rock on Banana Beach where we pulled in for lunch break in our longtail boat.

Congratulations to new PADI Open Water Divers Zlwin and Justin!!!

Both of them were fabulous. Scored 80% to 100 % in their theory exams and cleared all their practicals easily in the Andaman sea successfully! even though Zlwin farted and burped and vomitted at both ends in between dives because of too much wind in his system. Heh heh.

Many of you would not be surprise since Zlwin usually has so much so talk about... so much wind in him, that it takes the diving to put pressure to bring out the wind in him!!! Heh heh heh.

Justin was simply excited and wanted to join the Advance Divers to do their last three adventure dives for the trip on Phuket's largest wreak - an 83 meter-long sunken ferry at a depth of 33 meters plus. But I guess five dives is just about right for them on their maiden plunge into the Andaman Sea on the South-West tip of Phuket Island.

And Congratulations to Jefferey, Sean, and Sidney on achieving their new merits as PADI Advance Open Water Divers. And all three did fantastically well hitting a maximum depth of 30 meters and exploring eight different dives on a single trip! Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation at Racha Yai, 2 wreck dives (at Kingcruiser and Banana Rock also deep dives to 22 to 30 meters), Deep dives, Fish Identification, two different types of boat dives, and even a drift dive at 0.4knots current at Koh Doc Mai.

All three demonstrated wonderful peak buoyancy during the dives and did minimum damage to the corals.

I discovered Jeff to be a cool diver. He didn't just shrug off a broken rib and continued to scale Mt KK last year. This cool and tough dude didn't even panic when I buddy ascent with him after offering him my octopus when he was down to his last 20 Bar of air on one particular strong current dives at Koh Doc Mai (Flower Garden in Thai that looks liek a giant muffin floating out of the sea with vertical drops to 25 meteres).

In fact, he told me later, he was ok because we already did our safety stop and was only five meters from the surface.

Cool! He's one guy you'll want to dive with. Only problem was he had some stuffed ear problems on his last few dives and had difficulty equalizing. Maybe he was too cool. Needed to warm up with a couple of half-dozen chin ups and push ups. Heh heh.

As for Sean and Sidney, I happily waved them off into the deep blue on their own to do natural navigation in their last dive at Shark's Point to navigate around the first pinnacle before gliding across the sandy bottom to the second pinnacle at about 22 meters.

My dive Swedish dive buddy, Carl Richardson, was the best host giving us added value pictures and video shots to take home.

Sean, Sidney, and Justin had a special welcome from the Royal Thai Police who waved them off after issuing them a summons for illegally parking their motorcycles.

So glad to have Shannon and Wenshoo snorkel with us when we went out to Banana Rock and Banana Beach and Kamala Rock on our second day.

Nothing like having a few pretty girls to add colour to the already colourful underwater world. Heh Heh.

Kudos to Justin's parents and Zlwin's father for joining us on this trip and exploring Phuket on their own.

Annnnnnnnd ..... All of us came back with a tan!!!

Cool Divers All set to go

Wow! Look's like we're all set for this dive in February.

The all guys team are Jeff, Sean, Sidney (all open water divers doing their advance certification) Justin and Zlwin (doing their open water certification) and Jon Chandran (advance diver) trying out the open seas around Phuket for some adventure dives.

And yes! Real cool! Zlwin's dad is JOINING US!!! Wow. The brief chat with him that I had previously, despite his steely no nonsense demeanor, I know he's a radical adventurous spirited guy.

But he's going to laze under the swaying coconut trees and sip some Phuket cocktail most of the time when he's not joining our boat trips.

First Dive of the Year

Hellooooooo... all you diving kakis and diving wannabes... I'll be planning my first dive for the year Feb 24-28 in Phuket (Five Days from Sunday to Thursday).

Those keen to get certified as an Open Water Scuba Diver with me on this maiden dip during peak diving season in the Andaman sea and surrounding islands are welcome to join.

Other certified OWDs may also join us for the simple thrill of adventure dives. Of course, those who wish to step up their diving level to Advanced OWD may also get certified on this trip.

Shoot me an email me at johnbeh@gmail.com for further details so that I can make early arrangements.