California

14.06.2008 - 27.06.2008

The U.S: Los Angeles, Colorado Springs



It's been 30 years since I graduated high school and I thought it would be nice to head back to L.A. and catch up with old friends and see what has happened to the old neighbourhood. I arrived in L.A. in the evening and as I reached passport control I heard the loud thumping of an angry person and hoped I would not have to meet this person as it usually means problems, just my luck, I put on my best smile and walked to the counter and hoped for the best. The lady behind the counter barks out the standard question "what is the purpose of your visit to the U.S. of A". Still smiling and thinking this is going to be a long night, I look at the tired and angry woman and answer "I am going to my class reunion as it has been 30 year since I graduated high school". At that moment she stops what she's doing and looks at me, but then her face melts into a smile and she starts laughing and say thank you have just made my night I was really getting into a bitchy mood. As we talked she told me that she had just been to her class reunion and every time she thought about it it made her laugh, so with a stamp I was on way and as I looked she was still smiling and I was wondering how my class reunion would be.



I stayed in a hotel very close to airport as I was flying out the next day to visit my brother and his wife Theresa in Colorado Springs for a few days. I took a shuttle to the hotel that night but soon found out that it was faster to walk so the next day I walked over and then asked were my airline was located and was told it was on the other side and that I should take a shuttle as it was some distance away and too far to walk. I knew the airport was U shaped from living so many years in L.A, so I walked four minutes before I arrived at the airline desk. I was met by a long line of people and after I got to the front of that line I was told to go stand in another line as my passport was not excepted by the check-in machine, when I had checked in I join another line of 50 people to check my boarding card and then joined the next line where I had to empty my hand luggage, take off my shoes and have a body search, oh joy how much fun can you have, in all it took one hour and fifty minutes so I was lucky I was very early.



I arrived in Denver after a pleasant flight and walked out into the passenger greeting area expecting to see my brother and Theresa and found no one that I new knew waiting for me, so I looked around a bit and still no one, then I thought they are probably just a little late and will be there soon. I waited and waited, which to me seemed to be a long time but really was not that long, then to my relief I saw my bother who then explained that they had been sitting up there waiting but had not seen me (faster than a speeding bullet) and there were lots of other people waiting also. After our happy meeting we started our drive back to Colorado Springs but first we made a short stop at one of Theresa's sons where I met his wife and their pretty little daughter before heading off again. When we arrived at the house it was time for a rest as I was a bit tired due to an illness I got last year (lot's of dizzy spells, queasiness, vomiting, extreme tiredness, tinnitus and partial loss of hearing on the left side), so I was trying to rest as much as possible.



Now on with the adventure, after a good night's sleep I was ready to look around, I had been to visit a few years back and it is always great to spend some time with my brother and Theresa and see the beauty of the high planes (over 1800 meter above sea level). My brother had taken some time off so we spent most of the day touring the area, the weather was a bit rainy but survivable, our first stop was the Garden of the Gods, a magical place made up of red rock that reach out from the ground so that they seem almost out of place, towering pinnacles, large walls and large boulder that look like they could roll away at any time. Because of the rain there were less people so it was very quiet and we could hear the wild animals going about every day business of survival. After a nice long peaceful walk we drove around the park for a while also visiting the visitor centre to find out more of the history of the area and the wildlife.



Our next stop is at the very nice town of Manitou Springs at the base of Pikes Peak, the mountain is 4032 meter high I was at the top last time I was here and it is very impressive with mountain goats running around, to get the top you have to take the cog train up the very step sloops (There is an annual run up and down the mountain, my brother likes to run this race but only the up part so far). The town of Manitou is a pretty place with buildings in a western style from the days gone by with lot's of hand craft stores, bars, cafes and restaurants, and after a walk around and some lunch we headed home.

My brother really is a tourist guide so that I make the most out of my stay, next stop is Breckenridge, a ski resort in the Colorado mountains, to get there you have to drive through high plains that are surrounded by snowy mountain tops with grassy plains in all direction where buffalo still roam but not in the same numbers as in the past. The town of Breckenridge is at the bottom of a very popular place for skiing and hiking, it's a pretty town with lots of shops, restaurants, friendly people and even a Scandinavian store with some rare goodies for those that have not been home for a while. We walked around town enjoying the warm sunny day, did some shopping before we drove to see a bit of the area and some of the enormous houses they have there before we head back to Colorado Springs (I really like Breckenridge, it's so peaceful there).



One evening I was taken to a real working ranch for a western BBQ, the area had been made to look like a small western town with horse shoeing, examples of how people lived in the old days and some small shops, as we walked along the path we climbed up the lookout to get a view of the whole area before heading back for some food. We found our seats at the picnic, waiting for our turn to go to the food lines where we found corn bread, BBQ beef or chicken, potatoes and dessert. After dinner it was time for the show, we had a real country western band that played and joked for an hour or so, in all it was a really good night with good food, good company and good entertainment and a nice way to spend the evening.
All to soon it was time to leave after having such a great time with my brother and Theresa, I flew back to L.A. over the Grand Canyon, which is a fantastic site from the air.

After landing I headed to Marina Del Rey where I would be staying for the rest of my stay. I chose Marina Del Rey as I liked the area and it was very central to all the things I wanted to do and see while I was here. As my illness played a big part in my plans I had decided that I would rent a bicycle and bicycle along the coast north and south and to the house and the restaurant that we once owned, driving was out of the question. For those that do not know I lived in L.A. for 20 years so there is not a lot I have not seen here and the bicycle path along the coast is really a great way to get around and you do not have to fight the traffic and parking spaces.



I rented a bicycle by Venice pier and headed north for my first stop, Venice Beach , most people have heard of Venice Beach where lots of crazy things happen. In the old day Venice was the home of those that had nowhere else to go and Vietnam veterans that were a bit spaced out after the war, so anything could happen, along with street artists, a skate park, basket ball court, bargain shopping and muscle beach. Things had changed a bit over the years, the street sellers have mostly moved into shops with four walls, there were more drugs and alcohol, more people, lot's of tattoo shops and you should be careful of what you take pictures of, a lot of the unusual people there want money if you take a picture of then, or else they will start shouting at you in many colourful ways.



After my stop on Venice Beach I pedaled on to Santa Monica , my first stop was at Santa Monica pier where there is a amusement park, lot's of games and restaurants, so I took a quick look around and headed inland. Leaving the fresh salt air behind and soon to find out that things had changed a little, first was that they were tearing down the shopping mall and the second was a nice surprise, the old walk streets had been rejuvenated and where now full of life again with lots of new shops, restaurants and entertainment, the trip back to the hotel was great and I would do this trip again before I left.



I was a bit nervous about the class reunion as I had not seen these people for many years and had not lived in the U.S. in a long time. My friend Jeff, who I have known for many years and was part of the gang, met me at my hotel where we caught up on old times and got ready to go to the party. As soon as we got out of the car we started meeting people, Lisa was the first person we met when we parked next to each other and then came one after another of semi familiar faces, we got name tags with our old pictures on them and our names from high school and then we entered the area were pictures were being taken and then to meet more people. Some people had changed a lot and some not at all, but I know why the lady at the airport had laughed, skinny people had gotten fat, men who once had long hair were now going bald, some married with lots of kids, some looked very old and some had passed away and there was even a hip surfer dude that owned several beauty saloons.

All in all it was lot's of fun and very interesting, there was a bar and dance (not much of that as everybody was busy catching up). They also gathered up all the people who had gone to school together the most amount of years, and there were a few. In a way I felt a little bit of an outsider as I have lived outside the country so long, the party must go on, at one time they stopped the music to find out who had traveled the furthest to get to L.A, I thought for sure I would win this, so when they announced the name of the winner it was not me it was a girl living in London!!! With the help of Jeff we got the attention of the speaker and told him that I came from Norway which caused a bit of a chaos so we both got a prize (still wondering if they knew who came furthest). It was hard to keep track of all the people I talked to and time went very quickly, some decided we would carry on so we all met at a large hotel down the road that was open late and stayed to early hours.

I felt sorry for Jeff when he left in morning as he was off home to get ready for a party for his daughter who graduated and would soon be off to university. I was not doing very well in the morning, dizzy and queasy and not only from the alcohol, but after a long night's rest things got much better. After my recovery I continued my bicycling, this time heading south to El Segundo, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Hermosa Beach, these places hold lots of memories so I spent the whole day on this trip. I stopped at a couple of piers to get out over the water to smell the sea air and where I could hear seals barking in the distances. I really enjoyed the bicycling so close to the water it was very relaxing and I wish there were more places like this.



I have two really good friends living in San Fransisco so Jeff and I took the morning flight there so we could spend some time with them and hear how life was going. First I have to tell you about the flight, John Wayne airport was built in Orange County but you have to take off over Newport Beach which is where a lot of people with money and influence live, so what does that mean to us you may ask, well let me tell you, this means that the plane has to take off under full power as fast as possible (sometimes the rear end of the plane scrapes the ground), climb up as high as possible as fast as possible and then cut the engines to the lowest possible setting until we are out over the ocean and then fly like normal again. When the engines cut to low one of the cabin crew got on the intercom and whispers "would everyone please be quiet we are flying over the rich people" after that whole plane was laughing and people seemed more relaxed.



We were met by our friend Alan, who I had met now and then in different places in the world, for a happy reunion and we soon drove off to meet Doug who had a surprise for us and was waiting there. Doug looked the same except he was a bit older but in excellent shape, we entered a large building we soon found out that it was a Saki distillery, we first walked around and learned a bit about the history and then how they made sake in the old days. After the history lessen we had a tasting of about ten different types of sake and what type of food we would eat with what, all the food talk made us hungry so we ate at a restaurant by the sea and got caught up on what we have been doing over the years. It was almost time to head back to L.A. so we stopped off at a coffee shop to talk a bit more before we headed to the airport and sadly left my friends behind.



I stayed overnight with Jeff and his family in Orange county and the next day he dropped me off at the hotel, I spent the rest of the day doing some shopping (really hard to get around without a car, it's hard to find taxis and it was hard to figure out were the buses go) and later walking on the beach. My last day would be a trip down memory lane, I once again rented a bicycle and set off to the area I once called home. The first thing I noticed was how much had been built in the area, gone were all the open fields where we walked our dogs and played, now there were houses everywhere and more traffic than ever. As I journeyed on I found another area where they had built a large shopping mall where there had been bean fields before. The closer I got to my old home I saw the changes but as I started down our old street things started things looked a lot like they used to (except for one of the areas that had been vacant fields), even the house looked the same. Then I headed to the Little Inn (the restaurant that we own for many years) which had not changed much at all so I went in and had a quick look around before having lunch at the local pub (Tower pizza).

On the road back to the hotel I had time to think while I looked at all things that have change it hit me that this was not my home any more and I do not really belong here like I used to, now I was just another tourist like so many others, yes it was time to go home where I belong. It will be sad to leave my friends but home is where my heart is, I will continue to travel and find new adventures.

Copenhagen

06.09.2007 - 08.09.2007

Denmark: Copoenhagen (København)



It has been many years since either one of us had been to Copenhagen so we planned a long weekend to find out what was new, we chose a hotel in the centre of town within easy walking distance of most things and the rest by buses that were close by. The temperature was mild but sunny which was great for us as we walked a lot, in streets with all the shops, the Royal Place and down to the main harbor where we sat by the sea for a bit. That evening we ate at an Australian restaurant that we had heard about that served excellent food and wine. We ate crocodile, emu and other tasty items, we also had a really good waiter from Australia who made the evening a huge success.



The next day it was time for a boat tour, there are many low bridges here so the boats are very flat and hold up to 30 to 40 people at a time. It was a very pleasant trip and a great way to see the city from a different viewpoint. Some of the places we went to by boat and by foot were Christiania havn, The little Mermaid, Gefion fountain, The Royal Danish Playhouse, The University of Copenhagen botanical gardens to name a few of the places of interest. That night we ate at the Tivoli and walked around a bit but did not find it that interesting, they did have a short play with music and dancing that we liked and believe it or not they had an aquarium and of course we spent a bit of time there.



The last day was a bit rainy and we had a later flight so we went to the movie as we have done in many places around the world and after a quick meal we were off for home.

Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia - part 3

31.03.2007 - 15.04.2007

Indonesia: Bali (Tulamben, Kuta Beach)
Singapore



Soon we were on our way back to Bali, we landed at Denpasar and were picked up by the driver from Tulamben Wreck Divers who would drive us north on a dark and windy (for the most part) road for a 2 hours ride to the hotel. Jorunn did get carsick...



The next day we woke to a warm and sunny day and Christer got ready for diving, the tanks were carried to the water's edge by women of Tulamben as they have been doing for many years (this is a deal made with locals so that they would also benefit from the dive industry and it helps the local economy). I found my tank on the shore and we were soon in the water. We dived out over the black volcanic sand and soon saw the shadows of the Liberty wreck, the USS Liberty was a WW2 cargo ship that had been badly damaged by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine close to Lombok where a Dutch destroyer tried to drive it to safety but the ship was too damaged so the captain decided that in order to save as many people as possible the best was to run the ship aground where it eventually sank.



The Liberty wreck itself is in very good condition and lays from 6 to 30 meters parallel to the beach. At the time the visibility was about 20 meters and Christer had several great dives, Jorunn also got to see the wreck snorkelling. Tulamben is a very small town with not much to do, a few good restaurants, the beach was all rocks so we stayed by the pool or watched DVDs in our room. Actually it was great to watch DVDs after a lot of travelling and staying in remote areas without TV. The owner of the dive centre (an Australian) organised a BBQ out by the pool a couple of days a week, which was lot's of fun and we got to know some of the people there. There was some really good diving and Christer dived the following sites: 2X Liberty wreck, 2x the drop off, coral garden, Noisy reef, Soriga secret (in the next bay), and Kubu reef. things to see: Harlequin shrimps, boxer crabs, pygmy seahorses, blacktip sharks, 200+ trevally, Napoleon wrasse, tiger shrimp and an amazing amount of nudibranch.



Once again we are on the move and driving through the beautiful Bali countryside doted with small villages, rice fields, green tropical forests and volcanoes that reach to the sky. After a couple of hours of driving to Kuta Beach we found a great hotel close to the beach. Kuta beach is very crowded, too much traffic, people were trying to sell you stuff all the time (even on the beach it was non stop), the beaches were crowded with surfers and people learning to surf so you had to be careful. Still you can not complain, it's a tourist spot, and we'd spent a lot of time at small dive resorts, and just having Internet with a better speed was great. We spoiled ourselves a little and stayed in a bungalow with a nice hallway entrance, a large room with a four poster bed, a sitting area with two chairs and table, a small garden with a little waterfall that fell into the pond. The bathroom was Balinese style, semi outdoors so there was plenty of ventilation (there was also a wall around the gardens including the bathroom). We spent most of our time on the beach and walking in the city.



About this time I started feeling much worse as I had been having stomach problems for about a month, so we went to a pharmacy where I got antibiotics and thought things would soon get better. I had been taking the pills I received 3 times a day for a day and a half and I was just getting worse so we tried a local doctor but he could not help. We took a taxi to an International hospital where they found out that the medication I was given had sulfa in it which I am highly allergic to. I was having some trouble breathing so first I was given oxygen and the they started an IV. I lay there for the day until I was stable enough to go back to the hotel for the night but had to come back first thing in the morning for more treatment, they were still not sure if they were going to send me to a hospital in Singapore.

I will stop there as there is a funny story here too, I was not feeling too well and not sleeping well at all, that night we had a little rain shower and when it began it brought out the frogs living in our little pond and they decided to have a concert, this did not help me at all. After laying there trying to sleep and listening to the noise for an hour I gave up, I got one of the rubber gloves I carry in the medical kit and went frog hunting in my bithday suit (not a pretty sight). In the end I found 5 little guys and promptly threw them over the wall (no dead frogs in the morning so they survived their short fight), after that I fell into a short restless sleep.



The next day they were still worried and were still thinking about sending me to Singapore, the thing was that we had left stuff at a hotel in KL and needed to pick them up as we were soon going home (lot's of problems). After half a day they told me we could fly to KL and if there were any more problems to go to the hospital. The next day I was week but we made it to KL and the hotel with little problems, sad to say things did not stop there, they had forgotten my intestinal problems. That night I woke with stomach problems and found out I was bleeding, so the next morning after a talked with the insurance company I was off to the hospital where I would stay 4 days in treatment and would be released the day we were to fly to Singapore and later from Singapore home (I had to sit in a wheel chair how embarrassing is that!).



While I was in the hospital Jorunn had her purse stolen while having breakfast, losing a credit card, our mobile phones and some cash (what a day). In Singapore we needed a cheep place I could rest, that night when we left we found out we were right in the middle of the red light district. Finally on the plane and on the way home what else could go wrong, as it was there was a group of Australians there (this was a night flight) who were very excited about going to Europe and five of them decided they would talk about it right in front of our seats, after a half hour I had enough and we called the stewardess and finally got some peace, only to have them come back later and again to be chased away. We finally arrived in Paris and the worst airport we have ever been to, and we have been to a lot of airports, no place to sit, overly crowded, poorly organized, hard to find a restaurant, cold and more. We will in the future, if we have to, pay a little extra to avoid Charles de Gaulle airport. So ends our last long trip for a while as this was just a bit too much, time for some shorter trips for a while.

Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia - part 2

01.03.2007 - 30.03.2007

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Sipadan, Mabul, Tawau
Indonesia: Manado, Bunaken, Lembeh Straits



We made our way back to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia where we stayed for a couple of nights before flying to the city of Tawau on the island of Borneo. We travelled by van to Semporna, then by speed boat to Seaventures which lay just off the island of Mabul. Seaventures is a oil platform converted into a dive resort, when we arrived we were brought up to the platform by a elevator that went down into the sea, and it was also used to transport divers for housereef diving and to the boats.



Seaventures is no luxury place, it was an old oil rig and the rooms were small and fairly comfortable, but with the sound of a generator in the background at all times. Otherwise there was Internet, a videographer, good food, a sun deck and a well equipped dive shop. It was very social here as we all had lunch and dinner together, and we met some interesting people so we had a lot of fun sharing travel and dive stories. Before I get into the details of the diving I will have to boast a bit, on the fourth day I was diving West Ridge on Sipadan and I was trailing along in the back as always, I looked back, and couldn't believe what I was seeing, a WHALE SHARK cruising along right towards me, it took a little bit, but the other divers finally noticed my discovery. What a surprise, we were ecstatic with joy and could not wait to get back to Seaventures and tell the others, only to be met by scepticism until I showed them the video and they believed it.



Jorunn was less lucky with her snorkelling on the same trip, being attacked by a triggerfish. No harm done, she managed to use her fins for protection, but still not too fun. Snorkelling on Sipadan is actually really, really good, most of the time you get to see the same sharks, turtles and big schools of fish as you do diving. But you miss out on the small stuff, though.



I dived several places like Malbul, Sipadan and Kapalai and found the diving fantastic and could not believe how many things there were to see, big things, small things and strange things so here is a small taste of what we saw: whale shark, 10+ turtles on most dives at Sipadan, 10+sharks on most dives at Sipadan, crocodilefish, pygmy seahorse, 30+ humphead parrot fish, giant barracuda, cockatoo leaffish, napoleon wrasse, garden eels, hairy squat lobster, ghostpipefish, octopus, frogfish (many types), ribbon eel, devil scorpionfish, robust ghostpipefish, school of 100+ Chevron barracuda, school of 300+ trevally, loads of flatworms and nudibranch and lot's more. Dive sites at Sipadan: South point, barracuda point, staghorn crest, west ridge, midreef. Mabul: Old house reef, paradise 2, seaventures, no lobster wall. Kapalai: gurnard point and mandarin valley.



Seaventures is a bit of a special place, noisy, but beautifully situated raised above the sea with a good view of the surroundings, a fresh breeze so it does not get hot, fantastic sunsets and so peaceful when you sit on the back deck and watch million of stars above you and the beauty of the sea moving below you. Sad to say it was time to move on, we once again flew to KL where we rested and enjoyed the pulse of city life after being so isolated.



We are off to Manado, then on to Bunaken where we had been a couple of times before but always enjoyed the diving and the people there. First we had to overnight on Bali, due to the late fight and also we were coming back to dive, so we took a early flight in the morning and arrived on Bunaken in the afternoon. I will not write about our stay at Froggies as we have been here before and we enjoyed our visit immensely, however I will write down the dive site we dived but not the fish we saw, for more information just check on the older trips on this web site.



The dive sites were: Mike's point, Muka Kampung, Sachiko's point, Raymond's point, Panalingan, Fukui, Likuan 1 and 2, Mandolin, Tanjung Pisok and Tengah. As always Froggies was very social, with the staff and other guests.




Our next destination was across the upper part of Sulawesi, the Lembeh straits. We were picked up at the dock at Manado by the owner of Divers Lodge Lembeh, it was raining heavily most of the trip but it had stopped by the time we reached the other side of the island so we had a dry trip to the island of Lembeh. The dive lodge was on a hill, there were quite a few steps to get the restaurant where we received a cool drink, soon we found out that bungalow was at the very top of the hill, another 100+ steps, oh well, when we finally got to the top it was worth it as the view was great and the room also had the same great view. Also Jorunn was lucky enough to spot a civet (a small mammal that looks like a big cat) at one occasion. We also saw tarsiers in their favorite tree by the beach.

Video of a wonderpus:


Sadly we would have to walk these steps a lot in the week we spent here, otherwise the food was good, there were plenty of DVDs and books, and we met some nice people to talk to. The ones we got along with the best with were some girls. The others were in their own little world and would ignore us for the most part (not very friendly at all). We had a very fun momemt watching some underwater video that looked quite kinky, and the person who had filmed it didn't seem to realize what her film reminded of. Even with all all the diving we did take time out and take a canoe out for a spin, no swimming due to dangerous jellyfish, and got see to see a little of the southern part of the island. I almost forgot, we also took a long walk in the area around the lodge which was very hot, with lot's of big spiders and great lookout points that looks out over the clear blue water and coral reefs to the south of us.




Now for the diving, Lembeh is one of the stranger dive areas as there is black sand everywhere, a fair bit of pollution from the local ship building industry, and the locals dumping garbage, even with all this the amount, variety and strangeness of the creatures that live there make the diving here amazing. Here's the list of the dive sites: 2x Police pier, Teluk kembahu 3, Nudi retreat, Hairball 1, 2x Tanduk rusa, Air prang and Nudi falls. I will only mention some of the thing we saw as there were all to many to name, here are some of the special things: 2x mimic octopus (see video), wonderpus, decorater crab, black hairy frogfish, gold hairy frogfish, stonefish, lot's of different types of frogfish (big and small), harlequin ghostpipefish, mantis shrimp, seahorses, 5x Pegaus sea moth, octopus in a coconut, blueringed octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, crabs, shrimps, and over 100 nudibranch.



All I can say is that this is a fantastic place to dive and the varity of underwater life is amazing and well worth the trip and we would recommend it for those divers with good buoyancy (this is very important as the sand is very fine and most divers will kick up sand and there goes the visibility). It also helps to have a love of strange creatures!!!



Here is a story that I think you might find interesting: before we arrived in Manado there had been some bombing of other religions in the area and they found out that it was Muslims from another island that were there to make trouble, in the north they found the solution: Muslims had to protect the churces and the Christians had to protect the mosques. Now this worked out very well as both sides wanted peace and no one wanted the police and military on there necks, at the same time people were to watch out for strangers in town and as it happen they did find a couple of strangers with no reason to be there and they were put on the next plane south and there was no trouble. This is very typical of northern Sulawesi, the tribes banded together in troubled times as in the old days and were never conquered by the south.

Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia - part 1

01.02.2007 - 28.02.2007

Singapore
Thailand: Khao Lak, Ao Nang, Ko Lanta



We are off again and on our way to Asia, the first stop will be Singapore as usual, we always like to go to Singapore first as it gives us a bit of time to relax after a long flight and also get used to the climate a little before we move on. This time we met up with Sharon and Mike from Canada (Sharon is an old friend from hotel school). We had to use a different hotel because our usual hotel, the New 7th story was fully booked. We filled our days with sightseeing, eating, drinking and talking of the old days and life at home, and also met up with, Svein, an old friend of Jorunn's and had a long walk along the seaside before we headed out for dinner. We also bought a new camera, a Canon G7 with an underwater box, and it took some time getting used to taking pictures with this one underwater. After all too few day of sightseeing and exploring Singapore we went our separate ways, but as it happened we would soon meet up in Kuala Lumpur (KL).



Taking the morning bus to the border, at the border you get off the bus with your luggage, go upstairs, go through customs and passport control for Singapore then get back on the bus, drive to the Malaysian side and do the same again then we were off for KL (things go quickly and are well organised on the border). We stayed at The Swiss Hotel on Petaling street, nice and easy to get around and there were plenty of restaurants to chose from. Sadly time was short as Sharon and Mike were getting ready to go home and we were heading to Thailand.

By plane from KL and then by bus and then we are once again in Khao Lak. It was mostly for relaxing and a little diving always helps, we found a nice room by the road close to Sea Dragon dive centre, close to restaurants and fairly close to the beach. Our first day we spent on the beach relaxing as they have long sandy beaches and there are no crowds, we also tried snorkelling in an area around the rock that turned out to be better than we thought it would be. The next day we off to dive the Thai Muang wreck, we were not disappointed, the wreck had been scattered a bit more by the tsunami but the fish and other creatures were still there. We did two really good dives and saw: lot's of barracuda, snappers, cuttlefish, crabs, shrimps, devil scorpionfish, trevallies, and lot's of nudibranch.



The next day we once again relaxed on the beach, strolled around town but it was not until after dinner we got a big surprise, we had gone to bed as we were going diving in the morning when the music started, a live band right next door!!!! The next day we found out that they had live music every Wednesday and Saturday and we were going to be there Saturday, now the question was shall we move or shall we stay and hope for the best. In the end we stayed, the next day we were a little tired but we were only doing an easy shallow day that day so things worked out in the end.

The next day we dived the house reef which is not really that close, you drive 15 minute to the harbour and then by boat for 20 minutes, then you dive at a nice shallow reef with lot's of different moray eels, lot's of nudibranch and other small creatures (we were mostly there for the nudibranch). After another day on the beach it was time to dive again, this time another favorite the Boonsung wreck, again the wreck had been affected by the tsunami and thing had been more scattered than before. We did two great dives here and there seemed to be even more fish now than last time, I will not go into detail of what we saw as it was about the same as the Thai Muang wreck.



After more time on the beach (this is a vacation after all) we decided to take a speed boat out to Koh Bon in the Similan island, with great diving and manta rays. We left early in the morning on a fast and bumpy ride to Koh Bon. Once there it was time to get wet, but for our first dive we only got a glimpse of a manta ray. On the second dive we were entertained by two manta rays that we took videos of until they departed but we saw more: giant moray eel, giant cuttlefish, dogtooth tuna, giant trevally, rainbow runners, spanish mackerel, octopus, banded shrimps, seasnake, titan triggerfish, groupers, snappers, and much more. After a bumpy ride home we spent the next day on the beach and that night we packed our bags.



Our next stop was in Krabi, and by bus to Ao Nang to meet up with my father and my stepmother who were also in Thailand at the time and it was a nice place to rest for a few days before heading off to Ko Lanta. We had not been to Ao Nang since our first trip in 2002 when we found a small town with a few bars, restaurants and hotels, but now after the tsunami things had exploded with lot's more restaurants, bar and lot's of fancy hotels. There were also lot more people so we were lucky when we sent a message to my folks to see if they could book a room at a hotel we knew of. Once we got settled we went for a walk to look at all the changes which were many and there were so many people there it was almost uncomfortable as we usually travel to places with less people.



Our time together was spent island hopping, the first island we visited was Poda island. With white pearly sand and blue waters it's a great place to enjoy the sun, swim, snorkel and view the huge limestone pinnacles rising out of the sea with green plants hanging desperately from small crevasses in the stone. This island had a restaurant so food and drinks were easy to find, but eventually things got hot and crowded so we hopped into a longtail (a very noisy boat) and headed back to Ao Nang for relaxation before venturing into the night.



After a fun evening out we decided to take a longtail boat to Railey beach, we did not go to the main beach with hotels but a small white sandy beach which eventually got very crowded and there was limited shade at this beach and everyone wanted some. After sunning, swimming and just laying around it was lunch time and this was a bit special as lunch came on a couple of longtails that had hot (gas stove) food, sandwiches, snacks and drinks, this was great and the food tasted pretty good. Another reason we love travelling in Asia, so much great food easily available. The sun started going down so we walked across to one of the hotels on Railey beach and had some drinks before we took a longtail boat back to Ao Nang to relax before dinner. That evening we had a really nice meal by the sea but as we were paying the restaurant next door (who served sizzling platters of food) served a sizzling platter that had lot's of chili, all of a sudden it was a bit hard to breathe and our eyes were beginning to water, at that point we rushed out of the restaurant followed by several other people desperately looking for fresh air. Later my father and I headed to the pub for some beers and to watch some soccer and just spend time together. Sadly it was time for us to head off again so we left my folks to enjoy the last days of their stay while we made our way to Ko Lanta.



We hopped an a ferry and after about an hour and a half we reached Ko Lanta (Ko Wasa to some as there are so many Swedes here and they have Swedish meatballs!). We stayed at a place further down the coast than we wanted but it was hard to find a good place to stay for a good price at the time (we met a few people still looking for rooms). The sad thing about Ko Lanta is that you can only go swimming when the tide is in, otherwise there are lot's of rocks. Our first day of diving was with Ko Lanta dive centre as we used them last time and they were very good. Sadly things had changed, not that they did a bad job, it was more that it was very German, the dive guides spoke only so-so English and they had the dive brief in German (we were the only non-Germans). We dived Bida Nida and Hin Bida on Phi Phi island, had two excellent dives and saw: 2x leopard sharks, turtle, banded sea snake, porcelain crab, trevallies, false stonefish, and a few nudibranch.



Back at the hotel we spent our time lying in the sun or shade reading, swimming and snorkelling when the tide was right, in the evening we walked the beach and ate at the restaurants along the beach. We switched dive centre so we went over to Lanta divers, they had a large boat and trips to different areas each day so we could pick and choose where we wanted to go and they also had good a good storage area for our gear. We dived the following sites: Hin Daeng, Hin Muang,and 2x Ko Ha 1. At Hin Daeng and Hin Muang with these pinnacles far out from land with beautiful purple and red soft corals we saw 3x leopard sharks, barracuda, banded shrimp, potato cod, cuttlefish, batfish, giant moray eels and nudibranch.



After a day on the beach we were off to Ko Ha, an island group with a number of islands that we passed on the way out to Hin Daeng and Hin Maung the other day. It is a very pretty place with very clear water and at some parts very shallow, this is also a place where you will find a very nice underwater cathedral. This time our first dive was on Ko Ha 1, we hit the jackpot, it was not long into the dive before the dive guide was pointing and to our amazement there was a WHALE SHARK. Yes, a diver's dream, (yes, I took a video) and then we saw it a second time and after that things went wild we saw: whale shark, large cowtail stingray, marble stingray, bait ball (lot's of small swimming together for protection), lot's of trevally, several species of moray eel, lobster, cobia, squid, barracuda, scribbled filefish and dogtooth tuna. What a dive, so much to see and only so much air, back on board things were electric with talk of whale shark and one pissed off dive guide who had to surface with another diver with ear problems and on the second dive the whale shark was on the other side of the island, so she missed it. This was the end of our stay in Thailand, always a great country to visit. Time to fly back to KL.

Egypt

03.09.2006 - 10.09.2006

Egypt: Sharm El Sheikh



We are off to the Red Sea again. This time we travelled with Sigi and Arild. After her experiences in the Perhenthians Sigi took her open water diver and is now ready to experience more life underwater. We decided to stay out at Shark's Bay which is not far from the airport, has less tourists and is great for snorkelling. We had a place right on the beach with OK rooms, and the only bad thing was the bar not far away only playing Enrique Iglesias and Celine Dione, it get's really irritating when played 12 hours a day, one time was more than enough. "I can be your hero, baby...". No thanks, Enrique.



The days were nice and warm and it was great to be right on the beach, we decided to dive with one of the local dive centers that used local dive guide, this turned out to be a disaster in the end. Most evenings were spent in Shark's Bay as there were several restaurant to choose from so we avoided the crowed and the hawkers trying to drag you into the shop to sell you some thing. We dived the following dive site: Gordon, Woodhouse, Ras Bob, Ras Nasrani, Shark's Bay and Ras Mohammad (Yolaunda reef).

This is where Christer filmed our most popular video on YouTube, a giant moray eel swimming, check this out:


We also did a night dive (the first for Sigi) which was great fun and there was lot's to see. Another great thing about the dive is that we were so close to our rooms and nice hot showers and some warm cloths. Things we saw diving: Several eagle rays, octopus, giant moray eel, pajama cardinal fish, crocodile fish, jack fish, banded shrimps, rainbow runner, crabs, squid, and Spanish dancer (a species of nudibranch). And we had a very close encounter with a huge napolean wrasse, it came so close to Jorunn she had problems getting a good picture. A great experience !



The dive guide was authoritarian and all things had to be by the numbers, all buddy groups had to stay one arm's length from each other, we dived from A to B at great speed with not enough time for pictures or even to look at things, and he mixed experienced diver with open water divers even when they had just two dives. Being a dive master myself I knew he was going too far, but the fact is there is only one boss on a dive, so I stopped and looked and took my pictures and tried to enjoy the diving. On the last day of diving the dive guide went ballistic, when we came up from the dive he started yelling at me in front of everyone and at the time I said very little and let him get it all out until it was my turn. I choose to go directly to the shop manger and let her collect all the facts, in the end the dive guide was put on shore and not allowed to guide any more and we heard later from people who work there that he doesn't guide any more.



One thing before I close, all hail Sigi the bug smasher who saved Arild from the wild creator as it rampaged through the room, may she not fear to have a smashing time whereever she is (this is an inside joke).

The Philippines - part 5

10.04.2006-02.05.2006

The Philippines: Manila, Alona Beach, Moalboal.



We were back in Manila where we would stay for five days to have a hospital check for Jorunn, get some rest and take a look around Manila. The hospital check was OK, but Jorunn decided not to dive for the rest of this trip. Then it was back to Bohol and Alona Beach where we could, eat, relax and Christer could do some diving. We found a nice place to stay with a view over the water and it was close to the beach and I dived: Pungtud, Gak Ang, Arco Point, ABC, Habagat wreck and a few other sites. We also went out early one morning by boat to look for dolphins, but it seemed more like a dolphin chase than anything else. I won't say much more as this is our second time here on this trip and that Alona Beach is a really nice place with nice people, good food and is very relaxing (we met a girl here who lived down the street from us in Oslo). Jorunn spent her time in the sun, snorkelling and being social. And of course she met people who thought she was Molly from the time we spent there a couple of months earlier.





We took a ferry to Cebu City where we caught a bus to Panagama beach, Moalboal on the opposite side of the island Cebu with beautiful coast line facing Negros island. We stayed at a nice place on Panagsama beach with nice staff and it wasn't too busy. Off the coast was a small island, Pescador marine park that I had heard about and would find out what it was all about. Generally the diving was sloping walls except for Pescador which had hundreds of meters deep walls and at time a heavy current. I dived the following sites: 2x Pescador island, 2x Kasai, White beach house reef, Marine Sanctuary and oango Point. Things to see: Great barracuda, green turtle, hawksbill turtle, dogtooth tuna, batfish, lot's of schools of fish, mandarinfish, groupers, snappers, unicornfish, lot's of nudibrach (even snorkelling) and lot's more (really). This really is a great place to dive and relax if it were not for the karaoke bars blaring music all day and night and the weekend outdoor disco that played the music so loud we could almost hear the lyrics and we were over 3 kilometer away, until 6 in the morning.



We did take time out for a little sightseeing while were here as we had heard of a nice walk up a river gorge which started out wide and slowly the walls got steeper but the walking path was really good and very pretty. We walked for several kilometers following the river until we came to a fantastically beautiful small lake with bluegreen water and and a 10 to 15 meter high water fall. It was a very relaxing place with people swimming, eating and having a great time. We dipped or feet for a while then headed back down track to get a ride back to the hotel to pack as it was time to head back to Manila and then home.



This had been a long trip with some good and some bad but we learned that it is not easy to be in a third world country for such a long time with heavy drinking, poverty and people who are just trying to survive and do the best they can.