I’ve been diving for the last 4 days (12 dives) in a row and it’s suggested to not fly within 24 hours of your last day, so I decided to essentially spend a day posting this damn video online (from the best dive of my life.)

But this gives me some time to do some important reflecting on the contrast between Thailand and Malaya as well as the two different dive shops that I used in Borneo.  First I’d like to address the difference between Thailand and Malaysia.

I think that the reason people seem nicer in Malaysia is because they are not riddled with tourists.  They are happy to see the few tourists because they know it means more money.  The places in Thailand that I went to this time around get bombarded with so many tourists, that they are more annoyed than grateful (a lot like Hawaii).  The people of Malaysia largely speak English more proficiently than the people of Thailand.  Rightfully so, there are less tourists in Malaysia because there are less obvious tourist attractions.  People will smoke indoors in Malaysia and not think twice about it (not the same in Thailand).  People will dress their kids for bed (in their pajamas) and still take them out to a late dinner.  This is an ingenious idea when you think about it, get those kids into a feed comma and then just plop them into bed

The people of Thailand will help you out, but not like the people of Malaysia.  They wont go very far out of their way.  Despite what people may say, Thailand is getting more expensive and Malaysia is not actually as expensive as it’s reputation.  The buses in Thailand are ok, but the buses in Malaysia are the best I’ve ever been on (both of which are leaps and bounds better than the Australian Grey Hounds).

I walk down the streets of Semporna (the same on all of the other white folks avoid like the plague) and I feel like it is just another Thai village.  The only difference is that the women wear shalls and there is a mosque instead of a temple.  People smile back at me when I flash them one (unlike all through Australia)  and no one ever gives me any trouble (except the kids who say “give me money !”) which remind me of my brother at that age (a lot of work, but good at heart).

Maybe its because I am a guy, but I keep hearing stories of the towns people treating the women poorly.  All I can comment on is how warm they are to me.  People learn your names here which is astonishing since it is such a weakness for me.  They see people come and go all the time, but somehow learn their names.

On the dive shop front, there were two that I used.  Scuba Junkie and Sipadan Scuba.  There are some very interesting differences in the way they run their operations.  Scuba Junkie is run by a few really cool Scottish guys.  They have a bit of a cult following similar to Apple computer.  Everyone (minus the boat driver) is western in the organization and young for that matter.  It’s a hip place to be and they have everything from a hostel to a bar all on the same two corners of a street.  They are a one stop shop.  In the water, they are very by the book in safety and rules of not touching anything in the water.  I get the sense that they have had some problems with the local military of the island (Sipadan) because they seem like they are holding their breaths when they sign into the island.  Their divers are experienced (plenty) but can’t compete with the local divers who work for the competition and have been diving (this spot) for 11-15 years.

Sipadan Scuba, on the other hand, is not very by the book.  They are friends with the military on the island of Sipadan, and they are much further from the book as far as being uptight about safety.  They have an unbeatable ability to find more things under water than the westerners (just like my Thai dive master when diving with whale sharks and manta rays), but they don’t have the cult following.  The business is owned by a 50 year old German man (as opposed to the 30 year old Scottish guys who own Scuba Junkie).

I had the opportunity to dive with both companies for two days and the friends that I made (both staff and tourist) were much more genuine at Sipadan Scuba.  The owners of Scuba Junkie are wonderful, but their staff error more on the side of high school cool kid.  Not that they are bad, they are just a lower temperature when you come from Sipadan Scuba.  The patrons and staff are older at Sipadan scuba and the equipment is newer.

You can imagine how awkward/funny it gets when you dive and know everyone in the group next to you (underwater).  Then when you surface, the boat next to you all shouts your name and waves.  It really cuts the tension (or increases it ?) between the two competing companies.

(one hour later)

Yuck, on the Video front, the audio that my dive master threw on top of the footage has been lost now.  Somehow, just mute it on youtube and put your favorite music on (that’s actually a blessing in disguise.  in addition, I am splitting up the video into several segments (I might get the opportunity to make the whole thing shorter and more fun to watch )

Fingers crossed!

(one hour later)

Ok, even better, this baby is going to get cut down to the best clips easily.  Found a software.  Play your own music though (I do have limmitations on this herpes infested public computer.)

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.