28June2011
Posted by oulin under: O Space.
Obviously I am not maintaining my blog very well. Apology to all of you who are stopping by to check on me from time to time. The truth is that since last August, I have been living as a full time dive instructor and I have pretty much working constantly without much of personal time. Casper and I gained a lot from working in both Scuba Junkie and Crystal. It’s been so rewarding and I won’t trade this experience to anything else. I’d like to see it this way, every time we give a course, we make a change in someone’s life. I am valuable to them. This is definitely the best career choice I’ve made so far! But island life can be lack of varieties in terms of entertainment or food, or, to some people, type of work they can do. And our work schedule can be very intense, too. As a full time instructor sometimes means working 20 days in a row or giving quick courses back to back like I did the first 17 days this month. It’s mentally and physically demanding. All I want to do sometimes is just to lie in bed all day and do nothing. I don’t even care to see the sun outside. When I am exhausted, it is hard sometimes to hold up and give the patience and energy to the students. We need holidays from the “holiday” now and then.
Casper and I have grown closer to each other and built a fantastic relationship through the past year. We are great companions to each other. But we both miss our own friends and families who are far away. Therefore it’s always such a pleasure to have friends visiting. The greatest part is to teach them how to dive! Steffen and Sarah were the first couple of friends I’ve taught, then Matt and Hsuan were also brilliant students. We had such good fun together. Matt and I even held a little underwater facebook divorce underwater, haha, that was hilarious. Finally Casper and I, Matt and Hsuan can finally “announce” our real relationship on facebook. How silly we are, huh?
Being a dive instructor living on an island was something adventurous and challenging to me. The life style was very attractive which enabled me to visit many amazing places and meet many amazing people. However, something is missing. We miss the stable circles of friends which won’t change every few months, and a place we can call home always. It seems to us it might be time to leave the islands and settle down in a place. For many couples who are from different countries, the ultimate question of all time might be “where are we going to settle down in?” A mutual place to make both sides satisfied to live in “forever” is rare. Eventually one of us will need to compromise more or less and choose what’s the best for both of us. This is the process Casper and I are going through right now. Neither of us has been to the other’s countries. We found it a great idea to visit each other’s country and decide what the best is.
I am so looking forward to seeing Casper again in the fall! We have been missing each other tremendously since he returned to Denmark in May. I can’t wait to show him Shanghai and travel to some amazing places together! I can’t wait to see Copenhagen and visit those fairy tale looking places in Denmark, even though it’ll be freezing cold by the time we go 
I think only until then we can really know and understand each other.
The adventures are never ending. Each chapter of our lives is a new adventure. Although plans might be made to be changed, it always gives us something to look forward to. One step at a time
27August2010
Posted by oulin under: O Space.
I realized I have stopped writing for eight months. What have happened in these eight months is hard for me to put in one piece of article but I will try my best.
Since last May I set off for my big trip, I have had quite a few life changing experience. However, nothing has changed my life as much as diving (lol, I’m not doing PADI advert, don’t worry). I can’t imagine myself living away from the ocean and not able to dive on a daily basis. It’s no longer about sitting in front of in front of a computer in an office on a grey gloomy day. The ocean is my office everyday. The incredible corals are decorations on my desk. The fishes are my play mates. At the end of the day, a lovely dive boat is my taxi home while the late afternoon sun light reflects on the deep blue water shining all the way. My skin is tanned, my muscles are lean, my smiles are genuine.
I tried to get involved in the Eco projects and teaching in the school in Trawangan in the beginning. But it didn’t go the way as I wished. The divemaster course helped me to make up my mind to become a diving instructor because I felt so happy and rewarded seeing the big smiles of the students after their first open water dive. It’s like opening a door to a new world for people. I want to make it possible to swim with turtles for those who might have been even scared of water. I want to show the amazing marine lives to those who are so curious and excited about new experience. I want to maybe change some people’s lives by laying out the possibility of a different lifestyle in front of them. I met some wonderful people during my instructor course in Bali, who I am sure will be life long friends. My course director Minni is one of the most incredible women I’ve met in life, who’s affectionate, smart, influential and lots of fun. Learning from her definitely helped me to gain the confidence to be a good instructor. A very nice surprise also came along during my time in Bali. I met Casper, who’s now sharing the adventurous life with me. We fell in love. We feel happy. We want to be together. Life feels more complete to both of us.
Gili Trawangan has offered me a lot in the past seven months. It was home and it was my life. Most of my diving experience is from there. It was there I saw the school of twenty devil rays. They were “flying” above me in the water and my heart almost stopped beating. The absolute beauty of the nature is definitely overwhelming. Not only diving that Trawangan offered me, it also brought me lots of joy to become close friends with some amazing people especially Britta the most heart warming girl I’ve met. I am missing them while I am writing at this very moment. I miss the yummy home made icecream, too!
Life moves on though. Casper and I were eager to teach and pass on the passion of diving. When this high season turned to be a “low season” for us the freelancers, we decided to seek work opportunity else where. It happened very quickly that we both got a job from Scuba Junkie, based in Semporna, Borneo Malaysia. Diving around south east Borneo is amazing. One of the best diving areas in the world Sipadan is also here. They wanted us to be here ASAP. We didn’t have much time to let the idea to sink in. We packed up and left Trawangan in one week. By the time I arrived in K.L. airport last thursday, I was still feeling a bit strange like I wasn’t totally prepared of the change. It’s like every time when I made a move to unknown, I feel a bit intimidated although I know it’s the right decision to move on. We were welcome by many friendly smiling faces. Scuba Junkie has a very nice team. We felt accepted right away and we have been working a lot since day one. So I don’t have much time to be “intimidated” at all.
Semporna is a very small harbour city. Not much to do. It’s not as dirty or ugly as some people described it to us though. I find it quite okay to live in. We were offered a very basic room above the dive shop’s restaurant. It’s with fresh hot water shower and air condition. For me it’s already luxury as I didn’t really have fresh water shower for over six months, let alone hot water shower. There is a big supermarket and food market down the end of the road where I can go wander around everyday. A nice western pharmacy is around the corner of the dive shop. A few Chinese and Indian restaurants are in walking distance. Life is very basic but I don’t have much to complain. We don’t have much free time to actually do a lot either. Our typical day starts at 7am from breakfast at the dive shop restaurant, and ends at around 5pm after 3 dives. Dinner is at 730pm in the same restaurant. The menu changes everyday and food is quite good. All meals and soft drinks are free for the staff. Now comes the best bit, as instructors we get 4 crates of free beers per person per month Therefore we are taken care of in all ways. We pretty much don’t need to spend any money. It’s not a bad trade although we only get paid a small monthly salary instead of by commission of courses. We hang out with our team at dinner time normally. Not much of a social life around here to be honest. We chat about our days and maybe have a few drinks together. There are no parties except a local band plays on every Tuesday and Friday from 8 – 11pm. On a day off, we can either hop on a boat for some fun diving or stay in for a dry day to get online or read a book. At least internet is free here and the connection is working quite okay most of the time.
It’s been only one week since we arrived. I don’t want to make the judgement about life here, yet. It’s not as fun or as tempting as the island life we had before. It’s another kind of life. We belong to something, a shop and a team. We don’t have to worry if there will be any work the next day. We share the responsibility equally with the rest of the team. In a way, I like it.
I am grateful that Casper is here to turn this new page of life together with me. It makes everything more possible when you have a great partner next to you, non? I would like to stay in the diving industry at least for the next couple of years to see what more I can gain from it. Working as a diver might seem like just a holiday job to many people. But other than the flexibility for travelling, it’s actually like any other “real” jobs with rules and standards to follow, with work schedules and even bigger responsibilities for the others. There are different goals people can set for themselves as a diver. To travel the world, to go to the higher professional levels, to open their own dive centers, to own a liveaboard boat to do diving tours, etc. Some divers dedicate themselves in marine life protection programs and actions, such as those people from The Cove and Sharkwater. We carry some very important messages about marine life, ocean eco system and conservation to people we teach diving to so that they can also pass these messages to their friends and families. So, although we are a different bunch and look silly sometimes with our equipment, trust me, we are working seriously
Tropical breeze to all of you that are not near an ocean at the moment! I will keep swimming, keep swimming, swimming swimming…
2January2010
Posted by oulin under: O Space.
2009 went by in a circle. It started in the Philippines for CNY, and now ending in the Philippines for the New Year’s Eve of 2010, both in Cebu Island. I didn’t plan it that way. It just happened and I think it’s better like this. It gives it a little dramatic feeling.
2009 has certainly been a very special year in my life. After mumbling countless times in the past five years about leaving Shanghai, my visit in Malapascua early this year helped to confirm the decision. While swimming in the clear turquoise color water gazing out to the horizon, I realized I could never be satisfied living in the pale city of Shanghai and sipping Starbuck’s coffee every morning at my pathetic looking office desk. The idea to travel around for a long period of time formed in my mind since I read the book written by the Lonely Planet’s founders three years ago. I remembered talking to Didier about it back then that we should leave our jobs and go off for a year traveling and diving. I never gave up that idea. I was still trying to figure out what I should be doing as my new career and how I should pursue it when the travel plan became a detailed picture – first in China then South East Asia. I was simply tired of the commercial work environment where everyone just focused on the profit in the very near future. I was a consumer, a materialistic person, shallow and selfish in many ways. I couldn’t’ see myself contributing to the society or helping the world and those in need. I wanted to do something, something more than just about myself. Working in education with NGOs became my new goal in career. That’d be what I would do after finished traveling. After thought it through, I felt “safer” to leave things behind and start over again with a goal in mind. Then, I counted my money and it should be enough for me to travel for six to eight months. It’s a pretty good length of travel time. Within two months, I left my old job, moved out of my lovely apartment (oh, I still love that place so much and miss the bbq on the giant terrace!), packed my life away, hugged and kissed my dear friends goodbye, jumped on an over night train to Beijing, my first stop in the journey. I secretly thought that’s quite romantic the way I left Shanghai
No doubt it has been a journey of lifetime. Seven months flew by as if I just left Shanghai yesterday. I lost the concept of time and dates soon after the journey began. The absolute freedom of time, of whatever I wanted to do seemed quite overwhelming in the beginning. I remembered after one month on the road, I said to myself that I missed working. Oh well, I ditched that idea the very second I hopped on another over night train heading to another new place. I was surprised to find myself quite adaptive being a backpacker. Most of the time, I was being very positive and enthusiastic. I learned how to live within a budget although I from time to time did indulge myself with good food and some shopping 
I learned how to smile (when was the last time you smiled at a stranger passing by?) I awed at almost everything I saw. I didn’t complain much about the tiring transportations. I ate any local food and mostly enjoyed it a lot. I kept my curiosity and open mind to anything new. I learned new sports, tried out new activities and physically challenged myself. I was eager to learn about different cultures and traditions. I was easily fascinated by the nature and its mighty power affecting the human life. My eyes were opened and my heart became bigger. The world seems very different to me now.
It’s toward the end of my travel. I finally felt the urge to go HOME – in any sense that means Shanghai. I miss my friends so much. I couldn’t wait to see their smiles and hug them again! Especially I realized a new chapter was entering my life. I can’t wait to tell them about it! I will shorten my visit in the Philippines and take Vietnam out of the list. I am going home soon! My wish for the end of the journey is to dive with the whalesharks in Leyte!
Another sleepless 28 hours hopping from one kind to transportation to another, I arrived in Panglao, Bohol on the New Year’s Eve. It’s a gloomy rainy morning. Though, the white sand beach and the different shades of blue color of the ocean were still unbeatable. New Year’s Eve was with all the wonderful elements, big group of interesting and dynamic people from Shanghai, beautiful beach, BBQ feast on the beach, firework, full moon, good music and local rum and coke 
The night ended by listening to the waves and sleeping on the beach.
A brand new year arrived in an impeccable way!
5December2009
Posted by oulin under: travel.
I am sitting in this Belgian café in Kuta, Bali trying to recollect the memory of my days in Cambodia. It feels like ages ago especially with all the half naked blonde people running around on their roaring motorbikes with surfboards attached.
It wasn’t too complicated to cross the boarder from Laos into Cambodia. The $1 bills I particularly saved up for this country became very useful since that point. US dollar was use just as much as the local currency in Cambodia which was quite bizarre to us at first. With my great travel buddies Lena and Jess, we spent a couple days in Phnom Penh for the killing field and PIO’s orphanage and school at the slum. Learning about the history of Khmer Rough reminded me a lot of the Cultural Revolution in China although it’s a completely different issue. However, the similarity in craziness shook me just the same. Failing to hear back from Riverkids, I decided to volunteer with PIO after my trip to Sinhanouville. Then we headed to Siem Reap. There were still sights of damages from the typhoon all over the country. Red earth was washed off from the mountains and fields covering the main highway as we were riding on a bloody road. It was raining in Siem Reap most of the time. Fortunately it was sunny when we were visiting the most interesting parts of Angkor Wat. After seeing so many images of these amazing wats, it’s still fascinating to be inside them. It was indeed a miracle how the ancient people managed to move those massive rocks and built their holy temples. And the stone carvings were so incredible that I was obsessively looking at them which made my neck ache after the morning. Of course that we couldn’t immune from the lure of the night market and both Jess and I bought many Kramas (local scarf) I have to say the Cambodian food was still my favorite during this trip. It’s so rich in flavor mixed by herbs, ginger, saffron and coconut milk. I attended a cooking class and learned how to make Amok my favorite dish from scratch!! I kept some recipes and would definitely try to cook them later on.
Lena left us for Vietnam after 3 days in Siem Reap and I parted with Jess after our trip to the seaside a few days later. I started my one week volunteer experience with PIO two days after I got back to Phnom Penh. It was definitely the most rewarding experience I had in my life. All the kids were absolutely gorgeous and so eager to learn. They were living in absolute poverty but with dignity. All were very polite with only hope for love instead of any material items. They offered me their great affection and the sweetest smiles in the world. I played with them in between classes and learned their little games. I taught them how to bowl using the plastic pins and balls, and it became their favorite game after school. I wished I had more time for them. I was teaching mostly grade 5 and 6. I tried my best to teach them as much as I could in that week. Not only teaching English language, I also encouraged them to think out of the box, be creative and do more independent thinking. It’s obviously a new concept to them that one question could have more than one answer. Their eyes widened and jaws dropped when I told them they should even challenge the teachers sometimes. Haha… Yes! my dear children, you can be smarter than the teacher sometimes! By the end of the week, I felt so connected to the children especially the six-graders. They all wrote me a note about themselves so I could remember them in the future. Nothing could compare this fulfilling feeling that I might have made a difference in those kids’ lives. This extraordinary experience confirmed my thought of working with NGOs in the future. Quitting my job in Shanghai and seek for change in that direction probably was the most correct decision I’ve made in my life
Ah, I shall soon send those kids their photos and some gifts before they thought I forgot about them already!
For more photos, please go to: “http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157622570246371/
