Swimming with manta rays – Komodo Island

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A few weeks ago, I went to the Komodo Islands national park in Indonesia. Did a liveaboard which was a cool and interesting experience. Whilst the area is known for the komodo dragons, the series of islands is also a fabulous snorkeling location. I spent more time island-hopping, snorkeling and on the water than on land.

Managed to tick off a bunch of wildlife and marinelife on my Komodo bingo card.

Sea turtles – tick.

Manta rays – tick

Lots and lots of fish – tick

Komodo dragons – tick.

The unexpected and real highlight of the trip was swimming with manta rays. I feel as though there’s a limited time to experience swimming with them, and I was super lucky.

I went out to Manta point on a one-day island-hopping tour and got one jump in where I could see them swimming along the bottom of the ocean.

When I did the 3D/2N liveaboard, we got to do 4 jumps at Manta point and got to see and swim with them on every single jump.

Here’s a few of my best takes on my GoPro up close and personal with a squadron of manta rays. (Yep, had to google the collective noun for manta rays!). Only downside was jellyfish and sea lice etc, and I did not go unscathed. But totally worth it!

Was super lucky with the timing and conditions – I guess it was manta be!

Singapore wildlife: Oriental pied hornbill bird

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Given how small Singapore is, I’ve been surprised by the wildlife here that appears in urban life.

My Singapore wildlife bingo card of animals I want to see or come across looks something like this:

  1. Otters. DONE
  2. Monitor lizards. DONE
  3. Monkeys. DONE
  4. Boar. DONE
  5. Snake. DONE
  6. Crocodile. Yet to spot one here, but determined to see one (from afar, of course!) during my time here.
  7. Pangolin. Rare. Yet to spot one….but hoping to encounter a pangolin in Singapore or at least somewhere in South East Asia.
  8. Oriental pied hornbill. DONE

So far, I’ve managed to see most of the above in my random wanderings here, often when I least expect to see them.

One of my earlier encounters in Singapore was a really interesting looking bird, one that I had never heard of before. I had only learned about this bird through a work colleague and so whilst I had just learned about them when I moved here, I was able to identify it when I encountered one. They are such an interesting looking bird.

One weekday morning, I unexpectedly came across this bird perched on my apartment balcony. Such a rare sighting especially in a residential urban area.

Check out this Oriental pied hornbill that was on my balcony (at the time I lived on the fourth floor) near my laundry washing stand. It freaked me out to see such a large bird on my balcony, within a condo complex. I was able to catch a fleeting photo before it flew off. But it was super cool to see one so close. (This encounter was back in November 2021)

This is the one and only photo I got of it, although have seen them since in trees from afar. Their bills are so fascinating – it’s a like a doublebeak. Anyway this was a very cool bird spotting from the comfort of my then apartment.

I’ll continue to post more of my wildlife bingo encounters.

Race report: Oceanman Krabi 2024 – jellyfish war

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It’s been a while since I’ve written an ows race report! So here we go.

Since 2021 (post-covid era), I’ve been managing to keep up the tradition of at least one ows race a year. And now that I’m in Singapore, I’m trying to tick off swims throughout South East Asia – SEA swimming if you will 😉

I’ll kickstart my backlog of ows race reports with my first (attempted) ows race for this year, which (spoiler alert) was sadly a DNF. Since moving to Singapore, I’ve been partaking in the Oceanman swim series. This year, wanting to tick off a swim in Thailand I signed up for the 5km ows race Oceanman Krabi. But unfortunately things did not go as planned for this race, before even leaving Singapore!

Oceanman Krabi OWS race on 18 May 2024:

I had booked a daytime flight out of Singapore at 11:55am on the Saturday before the race, due to arrive at Krabi at 12:25pm, leaving enough time to attend the race briefing etc, with the swim to start on the Sunday morning. My departure flight was delayed to 3:45pm instead, and didn’t actually end up departing Singapore until 5:30pm. What a waste of a day, having to spend over 6 hours at Changi airport. Wish I had known earlier that the flight wasn’t going to leave until late in the afternoon, then I could have stayed at home! Le sigh.

Ultimately I didn’t arrive at the race hotel in Krabi until 7pm, leaving me less than 12 hours before I had to swim 5km. I didn’t have a chance to see the beach (and it was dark) or the race course, or even attend the race briefing. By the time I grabbed dinner, and checked in and settled into hotel and get gear ready for the next morning, I did manage to be asleep by 10pm. It had a been a long day of being stuck at the airport and travel to get there.

Fast forward to Sunday morning: I woke up at 5:20am to get ready for a 7am race start.

The swim started off ok, with the water temp being a little too warm for my liking, around 32 degrees celcius by my guesstimate. About a km from the shore, the swim then became a jellyfish soup. I literally saw hundreds, if not thousands of jellyfish. You had to actively try and dodge them. The amount of jellyfish was insane. I ended up getting stung soooo severely at around the 2km mark. With no rescue boat nearby, another stung swimmer and I made the decision to swim to one of the course boats we could see around a half km away, so we slowly swum up to it, in a lot of pain. Before we reached that boat, we got picked up on by one of the smaller boats instead and got taken to the bigger medical boat instead.

There were a few of us on the medical boat, where we got doused in vinegar. My face and arm in particular were stinging, on fire and red. I was in a lot of pain. Eventually they took us off the medical boat into another smaller boat which took us to the beach/shore so we could officially DNF. The stinging pain was real!

Back on land, my skin was very red and stinging!

My face and skin were red, everything hurt, and the constant stinging felt like I was fire, with no signs of fading. I grabbed my stuff and went back to my hotel room so I could stand under the shower, and get clean and the salt and vinegar combo off my skin. Post-shower, and over the next 12 hours, the jellyfish effect kicked in. Skin got red and patchy, and the lacerations started to come through. The stinging wouldn’t subside and continued until the next day. It was super uncomfortable and not fun.

Post-shower, my arm was feeling hot and battered, and continued to feel hot and throbby.

Opposite the hotel, there was thankfully a small pharmacy where I showed them my stings and they gave me some pills and cream to help with the burning pain and stinging. Vinegar, ice and meds were my best friends.

Over the course of the next 2 weeks, my jellyfish stings became itchy, inflamed, with dark lacerations to my arms and my cheek. I applied various creams to help soothe the itchiness, and to help with the skin repair. The lacerations have since faded, but geez, this was not a fun experience. I’ve swum in races before with jellyfish, but never in my entire swimming life had I been stung so bad as this. Incidentally, I got stung by a jellyfish on my lip (that wasn’t fun!) on a previous holiday (non-swim race related) in Phuket, so not my first time being stung in Thailand.

Warning: jellyfish sting photos ahead. Some of these photos were taken at various points up to 3 weeks after being stung. The stings went through phases: initial red patchy splotchiness, then the lacerations come though, then the lacerations appear as lines of lumps and got itchy and inflamed, then they appear as brown scars and lines which eventually fade. The scars and discloration for the most part have disappeared after weeks of applying creams to help soothe them and help with the fading. I was predominantly stung on my left underam, down the arm, and side chest area, left cheek/jaw, and slightly on my right arm (but nowhere near as bad as the left underarm). It was like I had hugged a soccer ball-sized jellyfish midswim under the water on my left side, hence my left arm and cheek being the main affected areas.

Post-race, many swimmers complained about the amount of jellyfish. Race organisers acknowledged that given the amount of jellyfish, this race for 2025 has been scheduled for March (instead of May when this took place).

What looked like an idyllic race venue, was marred by what lurked beneath the waters. This is a risk of open water swimming, but also unfortunate when Mother Nature prevails.

The following day after the race, I went for a stroll along the beach and the beachshore was littered with jellyfish, so not surprising I had gotten stung. The race really shouldn’t have been held in such conditions.

I was bummed about DNFing this race, only completing about 2.5km of the 5km course before pulling out.

My quest to complete an ows race in Thailand remains unfulfilled. Nonetheless I recently did a 5km ows race in Vietnam which was jellyfish-free, so swim race for this year is accomplished.

An Oceanman swim in Thailand still remains on the bucketlist for next year….maybe Phuket might be a better (jellyfish) option.

High tea + Beer at the world’s highest urban microbrewery

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Otherwise known as high tea at Level 33.

It’s been a few years since I’ve posted some high tea reviews, and I have a backlog of them!

One of my more recent favourites, and one of the most tastiest ones I’ve done, particularly in Singapore so far was the high tea beer set at Level 33 which I did back in April this year.

There were no teas on offer, nor, much to my dismay, were there scones either, but there was a beer flight (which I thought was cool) and lots of tasty dude food. The set focused more on savoury rather than the sweets, which I much prefer, washed down with some beers. This is probably one of the more gent-friendly (less girly) high tea offerings out there. Nonetheless, our party of four ladies had a great afternoon out, in a mid-week public holiday. The views over Marina Bay were a bonus.

Level 33 (name of the venue) is, you guessed it, located on level 33. It is self-proclaimed as the world’s highest urban microbrewery, and I’ll take them at their word for it. I had dined here before previously, but this was my first time to do the high tea set, which was only offered at the time on weekday afternoons, so needed to find a public holiday on a weekday to tick this one off the list.

Level 33 is, you guessed it, on level 33 and is self-claimed as the world’s highest urban microbrewery.

The menu:

I appreciated that there were two tiers dedicated to savoury food! All of which was tasty. This is my kind of afternoon tea – more savoury, less sweet.

Mini sliders, fish, prawns, spring rolls, breads and other savoury delights.

A beer flight to wash it all down.

Loved the napkin (above) detail!

Sadly no scones, which would have officially made this the best high tea offering ever, but there was pavlova! I liked that these were the only 2 sweets as part of the set (and thankfully, not a macaroon in sight!)

I highly rate this afternoon tea – points for the beer flight, savoury morsels and views.

Otter alert

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Something I did not know prior to moving to Singapore was the local wildlife – otters in particular. Imagine my surprise the first time I had my wild otter encounter! So exciting.

Who knew there were so many otters here?! My first year or so in Singapore, particularly in the pandemic and during the lockdown days, I spent a lot of time doing walks to familiarise myself with the neighbourhood etc. One of my regular walks close to home was along the Singapore river.

One of my early encounters back in 2021, was a romp of otters along the Singapore river, where they romped across the pedestrian walkpath and were also frolicking in a nearby condo water feature!

Locals gathering round to spot the other locals.

River walk at dusk.

Spotting otters is my Singapore obsession. Coming across them always makes my day. It’s always a treat to spot otters.

Greetings from the little red dot

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Greetings from Singapore!

It’s been about 3 years since I last posted here, but here goes my attempt to revive my blog a little bit. We’ll see how long this lasts, but I am keen to post a bit more regularly. So much has happened over the last 3 years, including lots of travel, swimming, hiking, food and adventures.

So during the Covid pandemic back in 2021, I left Japan and moved to Singapore (job relocation). After 3 weeks of mandatory hotel quarantine in Singapore, I was released into the tiny island state known as the Little Red Dot or the Lion City.

The CBD and bayfront area is a view I will never tire of. Am a bit rusty on using this blog interface and embedding photos etc, but here are some of the iconic city sights including the Merlion and the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) complex.

The Merlion

Marina Bay Sands

CBD over Marina Bay:

Stay posted for more posts from Singapore and travels around South East Asia. Lots to catch up on!

2021: Sayonara and new beginnings

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So after over 15 years living in Japan, and having visited every prefecture, I have left Japan. The end of an era!

Having departed Japan, I am currently serving a hotel quarantine and have not ventured into the outside world nor seen a real life person (video calls dont count) in a week. I certainly dont recommend moving countries during a global pandemic, but alas here I am.

Stay tuned.

Strings Intercontintental – summer afternoon tea

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Here’s a write-up of an afternoon tea I did 18 months ago – I am only now trying to catch up on a backlog of afternoon teas which I’ve yet to post about. My blogging hiatus has been for a number of reasons but mostly it comes down to lack of time. Other priorities have take over which eat into blogging time – mostly work and swim training. Over the last couple of years I really ramped up my swim mileage training for marathon swims and channel swims etc. This meant most of my time when not at work was spent swimming. Any free time was taken up with sleep, bludging (ie Netflix – which I cancelled last year), and catching up with friends etc and trying to maintain a social life. Anyway, here is my attempt to try and get back on the blogging horse.

The afternoon tea scene in Tokyo has really exploded the last couple of years. So many places now offer it – hotels, restaurants and cafes. It used to be limited to just a few select hotels. But now hotels are offering seasonal teas so they are getting more varied and fancier, and with the changing menus with each season and sometimes monthly (!) – they now how to get customers to keep coming back.

So let’s rewind back to the summer of 2016 – the Strings Intercontinental hotel in Shinagawa was a hotel that I had not yet been to for afternoon tea so I jumped on the chance when they released a summer afternoon tea. Their offering was a summer kakigori (“shaved ice”) afternoon tea in a tiered round bowl vase.

The afternoon tea wasn’t overly special. It was light on the savoury bites and too heavy on the desserts. There were just a couple of h’ordeauvres (ie a sandwich and olives).

The rest were all sweets and only ok at that. Given the seaons, it focused on fruits and citrus flavours. The desserts tier included: a passionfruit macaroon, a passionfruit chocolate bonbon, a lime tart, and few other sweet treats.

As for the scones – a coconut one, and an acai one – both of which were new flavours of scones for me and not the standard fare. They were also very typical Japanese ones ie hard and dry. Very unlike Australian scones which are super soft, light, fluffy and buttery. No country does scones like Australia, I tell you.

I liked the servingware though. I’m always drawn to how different venues serve their afternoon tea and the presentation. This one come in an interesting tiered spherical bowl.

Each layer/tier of the bowl was unstacked and held food.

The differentiator of this afternoon tea, was the kakigori (shaved ice dessert) – a popular Japanese different in summer.

A different experience for afternoon tea – but the quality and taste factor of the food wasn’t quite there.

Nevertheless, another Tokyo venue ticked off the list:

How do you measure a year: 2018 – My TOP 18 achievements, life lessons, and other pot pourri.

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“Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes – how do you measure,
measure a year?”

2018 – My TOP 18 achievements, life lessons, and other pot pourri.

1. I ran a full marathon. That’s right, all 42.195km of it. Tokyo Marathon – check.

2. I swam a fricking channel with a team (both swimmers and crew) of amazing people. It took us 18.5 hours to swim 42km from Honshu to Hokkaido (ie the Tsugaru channel). In 18-21 degree water. That’s teamwork, grit and insanity right there.

3. I took up hiking. Hiking for me is therapeutic and cathartic. I hiked lots this year. (It’s cheaper than therapy).

4. I like to try and visit one new country a year. This year I went to Belgium – the home of waffles, fries, beer and chocolate – a gastronomad’s paradise. No regrets at all going to Belgium, although the waistline begs to differ.

5. I swam over 300km in total this year. A lot. But not quite enough at the same time.

6. Tiger Balm patches are the bomb.

7. KT Tape is magic duct tape for the body.

8. Growth (success) and comfort cannot co-exist. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable (this means running with blisters, swimming in 17 degree water, taking cold baths, working overtime, making sacrifices, saving money etc etc).

9. I did a solo trek of the Kumano Kodo trail. One of my most memorable experiences this year. Hiking is good for the soul.

10. I changed jobs this year. Every time I change jobs, I try not to think of it as “work” but rather “you’re getting paid to learn every day”. This is a mindset which has helped me get through working life in Tokyo.

11. I scored a reservation at Narisawa – a 3 star Michelin restaurant in Tokyo. Life goals. Great food. Great company.

12. Discovered the joy and simplicity of savoury porridge. Now I can eat porridge for breakfast AND dinner. Cook your oatmeal in a simple broth, add bacon, mushrooms etc. Voila! Savoury porridge. Game changer for the lazy cook.

13. In 2018, I went to the dentist. Last time I visited a dentist was 6 years ago (gasp!). Don’t judge me. Also don’t hate me. I have good teeth. Never had a cavity, filling or braces in my life.

14. You should back up your laptop/computer. You never know when it might die. (Don’t learn this the hard way).

15. Sleep is awesome. It’s also underrated.

16. Elastic pants/shorts are your friend.

17. Everyone should own a thermos and a reuseable drink bottle. This year I made a conscious decision to drastically reduce PET bottle and single use plastic usage. Say no to straws. And refuse plastic bags where possible.

18. You’re stronger than you think. Keep on keeping on.

2018 – you were EPIC. Thanks everyone for sharing in the journey.

I don’t expect 2019 to be as eventful and epic as this year was, but one can always hope. (Challenge accepted).

—
These lyrics from the musical “Rent” are appropriate.
Song: Seasons of Love

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets,
In midnights, in cups of coffee?
In inches, in miles,
In laughter, in strife?

In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes,
How do you measure a year in the life?

How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love.
Seasons of love,
Seasons of love.

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty five thousand journeys to plan,
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes,
How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?

In truth that she learned,
Or in times that he cried?
In the bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died?

It’s time now, to sing out,
Though the story never ends.
Let’s celebrate, remember a year,
In the life of friends.

Remember the love, (Oh you got to, you got to remember the love)
Remember the love, (You know that love is a gift from up above)
Remember the love, (Share love, give love, spread love)
Measure in love, (Measure, measure your life in love)
Seasons of love,
Seasons of love (Measure your life, measure your life in love).

Tsugaru Channel swim: the EPIC video

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It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post. I shall just say that 2018 has been an EPIC year for me. And hopefully I’ll get around to writing about some various highlight at some point before the year end.

But for the past 8 months of the year, I was swimming. A lot. I achieved a bucketlist item of swimming Tsugaru Channel (that body of water between Honshu and Hokkaido) and one of the Oceans Seven swims. I swam it as part of an international 3-person relay with two friends (also expats in Tokyo). And for the record, I’ve been trying to do this swim for the past 2-3 years and was never chosen for a slot. But at the end of 2017, I was finally notified of a last-minute slot for 2018 (I think due to someone else cancelling).

It was quite the journey in terms of training and build-up and the actual swim itself. Will eventually write an epic swim report, but for now, I will leave you with the EPIC video documenting our channel swim which we did on 19-20 July 2018. The film was shot and edited by my amazingly talented friend (and crew support on the swim) Matt.

For your viewing pleasure: (and yes, we really did this!)