The Australian Open

My first tennis grand slam. Only $29 AUD a ground ticket, 35 degrees heat, sky blue courts, and neon fashion from the players… Its a vibrant version of Wimbledon, if only they had the strawberries and Pimms!

Pics of the Week; Kallang Bowl, Indoor Stadium

Childish fun….

So retro….

And $4 SGD a game! :)

Pic of the week: I heart my bike

Sunday at dusk makes for the perfect evening bike adventure along the Whampoa & Kallang River. Suburban HDB’s, the intriguingly abandoned old Kallang Airport, and even an aspiring tightrope artist practicing at sunset. I’m looking forward to my new neighborhood already…

Sipadan, Marbul & Kaipalai, Borneo

Sipadan is consistently voted one of the world’s best dive sites. Here’s  7 amazing things  to see there, above AND under the water….

1) GIANT green turtles & hornbill turtles
Dozens of them just floating around magically at sites like Hanging Gardens & Lobster Wall. By far everyone’s secret favorite underwater animal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTENLcLgWI8‎‎‎

2) Reef Sharks
Up to 40+ in one day is pretty average for Sipadan, which is just about enough to convince me they are friendly. Most of the time they are safely 10 – 20m down on the seabed, cruising around the cleaning stations using smaller fish to prune their sharkskin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mUAVi9iFQ8‎

3) Barracuda Tornado
You’d be hard pushed to out do a shark, but these guys manage it as shallow as 3 metres with their perfectly choreographed tornado swirl. They can be found at the aptly named Barracuda Point site. It’s pretty lucky to see them don their famous formation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4JDt3-WDTc‎

4) Into the Blue Dive
Sidadan is famed for its 600 metre drop off – hence all the interesting Marina life that flocks towards it. This creates the opportunity for an daring (read petrifying) ‘Into the Blue’ dive, where you swim into the void of such deep  sea that you can’t tell left from right or up from down without a compass as frame of reference. I’ve never been more relieved to get back to a reef!

5) AWAS, Mabul Island
Everyone seems to love this site, just 50 metres off the Marbul jetty. It’s artificial house reef & mini wreks are cool to explore, as is surfacing just under the pier and being 30 seconds away from the nearest beer.

6) The Sea Gypsies of Sabah
Marbul island is shared by thousands of ‘stateless citizens’ displaced from Malaysia/Indonesia/The Philippines and known as Sea Gypsies. The kids have distinctive sun bleached streaked hair, plenty to say, and seem to cohabit in relative peace with the dive schools.

7) Scuba Junkie’s homemade pizza back on mainland Semporna. It’s not just desert island good, it’s world good.

How to get there: AirAsia fly from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to Tawau for around $250 SGD even at Chinese New Year.

Diving: Scuba Junkie are one of the best dive operators.  3 day/2 night/10 dive packages are around $650 SGD. Book early as only 120 permits to Sipadan National park are issued a day.

Batam, Indonesia

Ah the perks of ‘popping’ to Indonesia for a Sunday day out! Here are 10 reasons to try wakeboarding in Batam…

1) Dust off Sunday’s hangover and do some exercise, if only for the month of January.

2) You get ‘express service’ for the $10 USD visa so can hop straight from the ferry, no queues.

3) Unlike East Coast Park you pay for the day (7 hours!) and not by the hour.

4) $2 SGD Bintan beers!

5) $20 SGD massages by the lake.

6) Great instructors, friendly, patient and fun; “Welcome to Batam where the time difference is 1 hour and twenty years behind Singapore.”

7) A motobike pick up service when you stack it on corners 2 or 3.

8) Jumps and a separate ‘pro queue’ so everyone gets fair time on (or under) the water.

9) Loud surround-sound and a nice balanced party vs chill playlist.

10) Sunloungers and a gorgeous deck to spectate when it all gets too tiring!

How to get there:
Visit: http://www.cable-ski.com/

Price: $108 SGD for everything. Includes two way ferry, rental gear, buffet lunch, transfer bus and 7 hours of wakeboarding time. Unfortunately not a magic wand when your muscles ache so much even typing this is hard the next day!