Iain Plank

Here’s the next installment of the Travel Log, Star date 15th August 1999….

I left Manoj on the 21st June and headed back to KL in time to meet a very special visitor….

Tara, whom some of you know, came out to see me for 3 weeks as her summer holiday. It’s hard to express how good it was to see her.

We decided to travel a bit but in the main to simply relax. Although this trip might sound like a continuous holiday, you are always on the go and sometimes you need to simply stop moving for a while, to do absolutely nothing and to recharge you batteries. Otherwise you’d suffer from sensory overload and would stop appreciating your experiences.

Cameron Highlands

We started off spending a few days in KL just looking around, going to the Batu caves, Twin Towers etc, and then headed to the coolness and hairpin bends of the Cameron Highlands in central Malaysia. They were first discovered in 1885 by the British surveyor William Cameron and subsequently considered ideal for the cultivation of tea. At 1,829m above sea level it is pleasantly cool (especially after KL) and an extremely beautiful place with a really different feel from what I’d previously seen. As it is so cool it is ideal for growing those fruit and vegetables that usually have a problem with high heat and humidity and apparently over 70% of
Malaysia’s fruit and vegetables are grown there.

Whilst there we relaxed a lot, did jungle walks and visited a lot of the local attractions such as the Boh Tea plantation, Butterfly farm, Rose Garden (like being in England), Strawberry farm, Chinese Temple etc. The Tea Plantation was absolutely fascinating and seeing the whole process from the leaves being plucked, pounded, dried, crushed and packeted was amazing. You would not believe what your morning cuppa goes through or that if you use teabags then you’ve basically got the ‘dust’ that was too small to be used for ‘real’ tea. I could talk about it for ages but for everything you ever wanted to know about tea but were too afraid to ask…..have a orange pekoe at the Boh Tea Plantation web site and you too can learn to tell your Assam from your gunpowder.

After the Cameron Highlands it was briefly back to KL and then to the east coast town of Mersing to get the boat over to Tioman Island.

Tioman Island

Tioman Island was made famous in the 1950’s as the beautiful Bali Hai of the film South Pacific. Although things have obviously changed since then it is still an extremely beautiful place and perfect for relaxing and topping up the tan. We stayed at Air Batang and to be honest there’s not an awlful lot to say about it. We simply relaxed, chatted a lot, sat in cafe’s, lay on the beach, walked, snorkeled – all those things you do when you do nothing. Actually the snorkeling was pretty good. Saw loads of things including: a Stingray, a Turtle, 9 Humphead Parrotfish together and even a 1.5m Black tip Shark !! I was so excited about the shark that I wasn’t scared – until the adrenalin wore off a bit and I starting wondering exactly how much a
snorkeler looks like a turtle to your average shark. Hmmm.

We ended up staying on Tioman for 8 days and relaxed almost to the point of being inanimate, but all too soon it was time to go back to KL, shop till we dropped and to see Tara off. It had been a great 3 weeks.

The Divemaster

As I said before I’ve been thinking for a long time about doing my Divemaster qualification. I’d thought about it even before I resigned from work and the thought has returned several times during the trip – basically every time that I’d gone diving ! Now it was time to make the dream a reality. Instead of returning to the Perhentian Islands as planned I decided to go back to Tioman as the dive centre there also gives Nitrox (Enriched Air) courses and I wanted to know what all the fuss is about. (If you want to know, then check out the site for IANTD – The International Association of Nitrox & Technical Divers for more info).

This time, instead of staying in Air Batang which is nice but quiet, I decided to go to Salang which is where the main Dive Centres are and where most travelers go to. I did my courses with B&J Diving under the instruction of Jean-Claude Chappuis (a swiss ex.ABB and Alcatel man for those of you at Tosh).

In all I did 5 courses in the month that I was there:

• PADI Divemaster
• IANTD Basic Nitrox
• IANTD Deep Air Nitrox
• IANTD Advanced Nitrox Diver
• IANTD Nitrox Gas Blender

It was great being on the other side of a Dive Centre for a month, working with people and doing your best to make sure that the customers had as much fun as possible but felt as safe as possible. Sometimes the faith that they put in you and your ability to look after them is humbling to say the least.

Working with students or introducing certified divers to new experiences, such as Night Dives, was particularly rewarding. It’s hard to describe the satisfaction you feel when you come up after leading a dive and the divers are really excited about what they saw. Obviously its the dive that was amazing but its satisfying to feel that you helped contribute to it.

Several people suggested I go on to do my Instructor course. I’m not sure yet, maybe…

Actually the people side was both good and bad. I love meeting new people but it was all a little transient. You’d get to know people, feel comfortable and then they’d leave, then you’d meet some more people and then they’d leave etc in an endless cycle. After even a short time you long for a little continuity.

It was difficult to leave in the end though. It had been hard work but a really good month, I feel that my diving has moved to a new level, particularly with the Nitrox courses, and I feel so much more confident about my own ability and from that, my ability to help others. I’d met so many nice people, quite a few of which I consider ‘friends’ that I know I’ll keep in touch with.

Eventually, though, it was time to put my traveling head back on and to continue the journey…

Farewell to Malaysia

As I write this I am sitting in an Internet Cafe in the town of Medan in Sumatra, Indonesia. I’d been in Malaysia on and off for almost the last 4 months and I would really recommend it to anyone. The people are lovely and the country beautiful. There’s something for everyone: the hustle and bustle of KL, the palm lined, sandy beaches of Langkawi, Tioman and the Perhentian, the beauty and refreshment of the Highlands and the jungles, animals and caves of central Malaysia and Sarawak.
Traveling wise it’s a very easy place to get around with good and frequent cheap buses and cheap internal flights. So book your tickets and don’t forget my commission.

Useless Facts

Things that you didn’t know you didn’t want to know…

• Been gone now 4 months (120 days)!
• Have lost 13kg (around 2 Stone) and still going !
• Tans going well !
• Still haven’t got my hair cut !
• Sense of humour still no better !!

So it’s goodbye to Malaysia and hello to Indonesia……this should be interesting !?

Talk to you soon,

Iain