thirtytwo

this is me while waiting for the others to finish with their underwater pictorial session...

look mommy no reg...hahahha

group picture

mainit sea scape

my favorite soft corals...i just love touching them....oooppsss i've just remembered, im not supposed to touch anything.. this is the cathedral's cross..

all pictures courtesy of our DM , thanks neil.

after 3 months and 5 days...i was able to dive again. i was a bit nervous to jump into the water because its been awhile, but except for the usual me having a hard time sinking...there was no major problem, i adapted to the water effortlessly...

i do miss diving a lot...and ive realized that, the moment i touched the water.

dive 1 : mainit
in this dive i saw another shark...and my divemates were teasing me endlessly because only me and the dm saw the shark. they were puzzled because the person who least wanted to see a shark which happens to be me, always ends up seing one. i told them that the bkm (best known method) is to always stay close to your dm...so you wont miss any of the action.

dive 2 : cathedral to eagle point
i had minor problems with my mask on the second dive..no matter how hard i clear..the water keeps comming in...i was a bit annoyed...because of all the skills during training, the mask clearing is the one i hated the most, so if i can avoid it...i will...teacher if youre reading this...dont spank me..

anyway i saw the cross which was blessed by pope john paul and was placed there by ex-president ramos. its a concrete cross in between two huge rocks...maybe that's why the place is called cathedral. when we reached the cross...there were many divers there, so its a bit crowded...just like going to church on a sunday.

we also did some fish feeding...so many hungry fishes..i think they can smell food a mile away...

we have 3 underwater cameras but unfortunately im not one of those who have them...so ill just post first our land pictures then later on ill do the underwater ones.


before we leave for the dive site...fist thing first...picture..picture...:)

during our safety interval..in one of the islan of anilao...sorry i dont know where exactly...in fact if they left me on that island..i wont be able to find my way home.

right after lunch...at the outrigger resort dinning area...i think this is around 3pm already.

we left the resort at around 6 and had to stop by boyet's brod's place nearby.

i reached the house around 11 pm....headed straight to bed...dreaming of our next dive.

so true...indeed!

so this is what it felt like to be part of just another stats... its almost official, its only just a matter of time....

pre-dominant emotion : relief

major thought : so many options on how to live the rest of my life

i know im talking in circles here...but for those who know....shhhhh :)

the first thing i noticed about bangkok is the distinct smell...i dont know how to explain this but ill try anyway....overall its smells like food (probably because street food is present everywhere) ....and once in a while i would smell chinese balm\ointment...(if you are familiar with 'salompas').

DAY 1 - Feb 24

our first tuktuk ride with mai our thai friend on our way to MBK plaza to have dinner.


our first night, we had dinner at "black coffee" resto in MBK plaza with friends. the food is a mixture of american and thai... almost everything is flavored with lemon grass' which im not too fond of.

the pink girls out to have some fun ...and what do girls do to have fun?? yeah...shopping. this was taken at the red light district called "pat pong". the goods are priced really expensive so we have to use our bargaining skills to the hilt...thank God were women.

after looking at girls clad in skimpy outfits dancing and parading their wares. we sad down to have some non alcoholic drinks (pine apply juice and iced tea) in a "music" bar along patpong...this is an honest to goodness bar ...not the same as those bars patpong is famous for.

DAY 2- Feb 25

half day city tour with boat ride to the temple of dawn " Wat arun". this place is pretty amazing in person. too bad we were not able to get off the boat, because according to the guide we cant.

then we went shopping again at chatuchak, but i have no picture of the market...just the park accross the market which is called "chatuchak park". the market is a heaven for shoppers....i could probably spend 2 days roaming it. nice goods and the prices are affordable too...in fact some are really cheap.

standing along BTS "mo chit" station waiting for our train to arrive. who's that guy? good question..i dont know...i just find him kindda cute so i took his picture...ha ha ha...hey if this happens to reach you..im sorry ....feel free to send me a note ;-).

rainy day bangkok at impact stadium

this picture has a story, it was taken in the middle of an argument, and confusion...but whe i said..hey picture picture.... the girls still made an effort to smile .

dinner out with other rain fans...thai food ...still with the everpresent lemmon grass flavor ...

DAY 3 - Feb 26

floating market with a malaysian friend whom i just met on the tour.

afterwards i went to sukhumwit to experience an authentic thai massage for only 250baht for 2 hours. i only have two words to describe it...." painfuly delicious "

last dinner at an italian resto near patpong...i ordered "tom yum" soup with noodles...very spicy and still with lemon grass flavor...i can still taste it if i imagine hard enough.

street food composed of various crispy fried insects....anyone??

DAY 4 - Feb 27

at the airport on our way back...as they say..all good trips must come to an end. bye bye bangkok..bye bye lemon grass...ha ha ha :)