We'd finally agreed on a name for our new puppy!

Folks meet KOOKIE!

We hope he would turn out to be a 'smart cookie'!

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My children and I are very fortunate as my other significant half loves to cook and bake; and she does it very well too. Which my waist line can vouch for!

Anyway last night we were in for a treat as she was trying out this new recipe for blueberry cheesecake muffins! Here are some quick snaps of her home-baked masterpiece.

Not one to inflict cruel and unusual punishments on your folks (especially some high movitvated individuals with weighty issues) by just showing you the pics; I am posting her recipe here so that you (or your significant half) can also try this out over the weekend! Enjoy!

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Here are a few of the shots I took of this cute little red frog. For those of you living in high-rise apartment blocks – eat your hearts out! Bet you don't see things like this outside your windows everyday!

Is it really poisonous? I didn’t really want to find out! Would anyone of you happen to know?

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I’m really lousy at comforting people (I'll probably just sit next to and cry with you!) but I cancelled my expedition with Huey; (sorry Huey! But I did make it up to you didn’t I?) so that I could keep Robin occupied while he was in Kuching as I know that his pets are like my children are to me - precious beyond words.

Hey Robin! Here’s a picture I took of one of the stray cats that we like while we were in Bau town near Tasik Biru that time waiting for commando Huey’s return from his solo river trip. Hope this’ll cheer you up just a little bit. Please don't make me sit next to and cry with you!

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Georgette Tan goes down a river in a watercraft slightly wider than her backside and lives to tell the tale.

Francis Ho loves kayaking. This is evident by how the number of kayaks on his private jetty seems to outnumber combined total of humans and dogs in his household. This also accounts for that little jetty. Anytime the water bug bites, he can easily pop a kayak into the river behind his house and go for a quick paddle.

Kayaking was never in my list of things to do before I die, but Francis is contagious. I've not known him for very long but I suddenly found myself thinking, "Hmm, this could be my type of weekend fun." One day, an email with his name landed in my box...

On that particular Sunday, Francis took me and some friends on a kayak trip that will serve as an introduction to the sport. The calm water of Sungai Sarawak Kanan is not too scary for complete novices, and yet by the simple nature of... well, nature, it still created a couple of surprises for the veterans.

Our river route starts at Krokong, but we made a quick stop at the Wind Caves at Bau so Francis could survey the waters. It passed the visual test, and we continued the journey up to Krokong, leaving one of the cars behind so we have a way of collecting the other at the end of our river trip.

Brightly-coloured tandem kayaks were unloaded and carried to the river's edge. Lifejackets were pulled on and adjusted. Keys, phones and wallets were secured in a dry bag. Francis gave us a crash course in paddling and what to do in case we fall overboard. Without further ado, we were off.

The complete novices were paired with veterans, so it was all a matter of learning how to paddle correctly, finding your rhythm and not knocking paddles with your partner too often. It's rather like swimming freestyle; when you find your rhythm, you can make good speed without getting tired too easily. You can also start paying more attention to the scenery.

I first "met" Francis when I stumbled into his blog http://fh2o.blogspot.com. Some exchange of comments led to a meeting, which then led to an invitation that now finds me sitting in a blue kayak with Francis's extremely capable assistant. Azmi is a state representative in the sport. With him onboard, I didn't as much as get my hat wet.

Francis himself discovered kayaking almost by accident. Upon settling down in Kuching with his family after living and working abroad, he set out to find something to do with his free time. What originally piqued his interest was fishing from a kayak, but the fishing part was soon forgotten.

Recently, Francis decided to test the waters and see if people are interested in going on organised kayaking tours. "I put an ad in your paper." he told me. "I was surprised at the number of people who called, but they were even more surprised that there is such a thing in Kuching."

As we drifted on the easy waters of Bau, Francis pointed out the sights. "You've seen photos of these in my blog, yet nothing prepared you for this, right?"

Too right.

The river is banked by massive stones in some places, eroded by centuries of water to form rocky overhangs and crude sculptures of animals emerging from under the jungle. The stone banks are especially prominent in the many curves and bends of the river. In some places, it looked like a dead end until you are actually in the curve. Talk about not knowing what's around the river bend.

And then, there were the trees. Massive trees by the bank - some with buttress roots exposed, some perched on rocky shelves, others literally growing sideways as they struggled to reach the sunlight. One could only cross their fingers and hope the precariously leaning monsters will let you pass without collecting a toll.

Trees on the banks also mean branches and trunks in the river itself. They accumulate at various intervals, keeping things interesting. Together with varying water levels and some slight currents, it created an obstacle course that changes at nature's whim.

At one point, a tree had fallen across the river and the only passage was a gap between the water and the tree trunk. When Azmi first told me we were going under, I thought he was kidding.

Peggy and Michael were the first to take a spill at the one and only bend that could be labelled treacherous.

"We were actually under the kayak." Peggy reported when the two climbed out, wet but otherwise unruffled.

Cool heads are important when faced with the unpredictable, as Azmi reminded me when we first pushed off at Krokong. "Whatever happens, don't panic." he said. Not panicking could mean the difference between life and death. This is also a good thing to remember in day-to-day life.

Going through currents only required some steering, which I left to the professional. The still waters needed more work. Sometimes you can see pebbles lining the bed of the river. Sometimes it's deeper, murkier water where you might glimpse the form of a submerged tree. Sometimes, a drowned tree will gently claw the bottom of your boat as you pass.

There were a couple of times when we had to get out of the boat to haul it off whatever it got stuck on - water too shallow to paddle in or half-submerged trees lying in our way.

We took a break at one of the pebble beaches at the riverbank. Francis offered bananas, nature's energy bar, which has many wonderful qualities like a biodegradable packaging.

"When you're done, you can just throw it away." He flicked the skin into the gurgling waters.

Peggy piped up. "If I throw this in there, will my kayak slip on it and flip over later?"

We pushed off and the river took us to an "island" in the middle of the river. The narrow passage on the right was a mini whitewater course.

We went the tamer left route and waited for the other two to catch up. As Francis and Andrea approached the island, their kayak overturned so abruptly you could almost believe that banana peels were involved.

"I didn't even have time to close my eyes!" Andrea described later. "One moment, I was paddling away. The next moment, I was seeing things underwater."

As we got nearer to the Wind Caves, the mountain range loomed over the jungle to our right. We also started seeing man-made structures like tiny staircases cut into the bank and a pipe siphoning water to a nearby house.

Where there is a river near enough to civilisation, there will be some amounts of garbage. There were plastic bag shreds caught on branches seven or eight feet above us, prompting me to ask Azmi how they got up there.

"Water can get that high after it rains." he answered.

Yikes.

The Krokong-Wind Cave route is about three hours long, but time stood still as we followed the river. Kingfishers and herons flap away ahead of us, waterskeeters shot out of our way and the trees amused themselves by spitting flower buds or tiny fruits into our kayaks. For a few hours, it was nothing but (wo)man and nature.

We heard them before we saw them - picnickers playing in the water at the Wind Cave. Our journey that day was over, but I suspect this won't be the last time I sit in a kayak. After all, I haven't been baptised with a flipover.

More information on kayaking adventures is available at www.kuchingkayak.com

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Is it the bright colours of the kayak contrasting against the lush green vegetation, blue skies and golden sands? Whatever it is, these images brighten the day and transport me away instantly into the great outdoors. I can almost feel the breeze and warmth of the sun; hear the sounds of gentle waves lapping the shores and that of the irrawaddy dolphins blowing out air as they surfaced!

Have a beautiful Sunday!

BTW I took these 2 photos when I was out dolphins watching with Wayne again on a brilliant saturday morning!

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On Thursday morning, I dropped Alan and Megan off at Pangkalang Tebang at the upper reaches of Sg Sarawak Kanan so that they could ‘float’ down all the way to Wind Cave. Due to the lack of rainfall on previous days and the presence of large number of fallen trees, it was not quite the float that they expected! The anticipated 6 hours trip took slightly an hour longer, but they still loved it!

They were impressed by the lush and un-spoilt tropical vegetation here and mystified by the ‘suicide frogs’ that kept leaping in front of the kayak!

Alan and Megan are keen canoe marathon racers in South Africa and had won several races. Megan has won a single s race and as a team they had came in second in a marathon race last year. Mind you, these are no ordinary canoe marathon races; you have to run carrying them on land to get from rivers to rivers! One of the races is 3 days long! Now, that's what you call a marathon, Kenny boy! And they had provided me with this link so that I can check it out for more information on South Africa canoeing and races. After their narrow, fragile and unstable fiberglass racing canoes, my wide beam plastic kayak's stability felt as solid as a rock. Alan says that he felt like he could almost dance on them!

Here are some more photographs taken by Alan and Megan to share with us, who by the time you are reading this are probably scaling Mt Kinabalu or diving at Sipadan! An adventurous life - lived! What are we waiting for? Heehee

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It pays to look back sometimes doesn’t it? To ponder and reflect the remains of the day and the course of week of our life. Have we learned anything? Made a difference in someone’s life or touched someone? Have we worked hard? Played hard? Has anything inspired or moved us? Are we living our dreams? Or is it just another repeated day left over from yesterday. I would hope not.

Look at the brilliance of this Friday sunset and do ponder but please don't try this at home! -I mean taking photos of your sideview mirrors in a moving car. Have a great weekend folks! Be Safe!

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And the dolomite hills on both banks of Sg Sarawak Kanan are of a very high quality dolomite as the low quality ones would not be able to survive the forces of the currents and floods over time and still standing majestically.

And our dolomite formations are not only beautiful but are the most special and distinctive that Dr Alan has ever seen! They are truly unique to Kuching as Dr Alan has been to most parts of Africa, Australia, France and the Rockies in the US and has never come across such unique and lovely formations like the ones we have right here! I bet most of us in Kuching are not even aware of this! So we can have bragging rights to and be proud of this fact. Hey! We have something truly world-class here - so don't play, play!

Thank you, Dr Alan Bye, for sharing this with us. I’m so glad that you contacted me and took our kayaking trips with your lovely and beautiful wife Megan.

Once again they are sharing the photographs of the rainforest river trip they took this morning! Enjoy and to those Kuchingnite reading this; you owe it to yourself to see these unique dolomite formations from the waters. Dr Alan highly recommends that you do; and you don't have to travel all the way from South Africa to do so! See; Kuching people so lucky one!

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When I went to Bako Fishing Village to pick Alan and Megan up in the evening, there were HUGE smiles on their faces. Megan said that it was an absolutely perfect day and to Alan the following swells and the incoming tide on the paddle back was the perfect finishing touch to a brilliant day.

Bako National Park was nothing they had ever seen in South Africa and Alan said that they must have explored every nooks and corners of the coastline. As true explorers they even went upstream to some of the smaller tributaries that I had not been to! And to prove that they “had been there and done that”, they are kind enough to share these brilliant photos they took yesterday, which I had compiled, with you folks.

They are so happy with their trip they want to share these with everyone else. Aren't these photos (like Alan and Megan) amazing?

“Please use them for your brochures!”

Nice folks aren’t they?

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Good morning folks!

Meet Alan and Megan from Johannesburg, South Africa, adventure racers on their first visit to Kuching. Alan ‘confessed’ to me that he has been a lurker on my blog for the past 6 months and my photographs and writings about the waters finally convinced him and Megan to visit East Malaysia. (Actually Mulu Caves, Mt Kinabalu and Sipadan were equally enticing! *ahem*)

We met up yesterday afternoon shortly after they arrived to plan their kayaking adventures and I recommended the two best 'must-do' kayaking trips in Kuching – Bako National Park (sea kayaking) and a Rainforest River Kayaking Trip. Alan and Megan are experience kayakers and had taken part in many adventure races in South Africa. So big waves and Class 5 rapids are nothing new to them! Fortunately (or unfortunately?), the seas are calm at this time of the year and our rivers are only Class 3 max.

So this morning before I go to the office, I dropped them off at Bako Fishing Village and tomorrow I would take them to the upper reaches of a remote river where I dropped ‘commando kayaker’ Huey on Sunday. They are leaving for Kota Kinabalu early Friday morning.

This means that they would be spending more time on Kuching waters than on land! How about that! I like this couple!

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Ever since my first encounter with the Irrawaddy Dolphins, I'd been looking up on the internet for facts about them, and I came across the WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society which established in 1987 is the world's most active charity dedicated to the conservation and welfare of all whales, dolphins and porpoises (also known as cetaceans). The following information, including the photograph above, on the Irrawaddy Dolphins is from their website. At least now I have a better idea of how this dolphin actually looks like out of the water - fat and flobby and kinda remind me of certain famous blogger people I know! But cute, adorable and nice nonetheless!

Common Name:
Irrawaddy dolphin

Latin Name:
Orcaella brevirostris

Other Names:
Snubfin dolphin

Primary Classification:
Odontocete (Toothed whale, dolphin or porpoise)

Sub Classification:
Delphinidae

Description:
The Irrawaddy dolphin has a rounded head with no beak, and a flexible neck. They can vary in colour from dark and light blue- grey, to pale blue. It is grouped as an oceanic dolphin, although some dolphins may live in the freshwater of rivers all their life (such as the Ganges in India). This species of dolphin has a small triangular shaped dorsal fin with a rounded tip, below the centre of the back , and is a slow swimmer - usually moving in small groups. Irrawaddy dolphins are very similar to the shape of the Beluga (toothed whale), and to the shape of the Finless Porpoise with its blunt round head, so they are sometimes difficult to tell apart. They can have up to 40 teeth on their upper jaw, and 36 teeth on the lower jaw.

Field ID:
Streamlined body, Round melon, Flexible neck, No prominent beak, Single blowhole, Long, broad, spatulate flippers, Blue-grey skin colour, Normally in small groups, Shy and retiring by nature

Length (metres):
Adult Irrawaddy dolphins can grow between 2.1 and 2.6 metres long. New-born are about 1m in length.

Weight:
A fully grown Irrawaddy dolphin can weigh between 90 and 150 kg. Birth weight is about 12kg or so.

Diet:
Fish, crustaceans and squid

Behaviour:
The Irrawaddy dolphins usually swim in groups of six, or less. They rarely show themselves above the surface of the water, but sometimes may make low horizontal leaps. They may also do something called 'spyhopping', which is the name given to the activity of poking their heads out of the water - perhaps to have a good look around! They have also been seen to spit out water from their mouths whilst spy-hopping! The Irrawaddy dolphin species do not ride the waters infront of the bows of boats, but they do have a special relationship with fisherman on the Irrawaddy and Mekong rivers, by driving fish into their nets.

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Yesterday morning an old friend of mine from Brunei, Paul Yong, called me from out of the blue and would like to catch up with me before he flies off to China on a 2 weeks tour with some church group in Kuching, early next morning. So we met up in a typical old Kuching coffee shop where Paul, a retired businessman, is having breakfast with some of the Chinese Catholic Church members.

Paul has always had a keen eye and when we sat down he commented that Kuching people are creative and resourceful; pointing at the legs of the coffee tables. I then noticed that the base was made from an ordinary old-fashion metal wash basin while the leg was made from a metal pipe! For stability and sturdiness, the bowl was filled up with cement and two cross angles are welded to the top of pipe for the marble top to sit (glued) on. A cheap, simple, effective and durable coffee table with character! See; coffee shop owners can also be creative!

Bet you don't see original and creative stuff like this at your local Coffee Bean or Starbucks outlets!

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While I was busy over the Easter break with Huey and Robin with all sorts of activities ranging from buying one ringgit DVDs (no kidding! just ask the birdy), having roti’s curry and paddling with dolphins; guess who is having a lazy, quiet and relaxing time at home?

How come I never think of things like that? Hmmm I suppose I must wait for age to catch up and start behaving accordingly! Heehee! ;)

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Guess what? We saw irrawaddy dolphins again today!

I’d been dolphins infatuated and this morning I took a group of friends (including Huey and Robin from Spore & Joe and Dan from Kuching) for dolphins watching again! That’s twice in a span of 5 days and the amazing thing was that we spotted them within five minutes of getting on the water!

I was so excited this time that I forgot to take photos and by the time I realised it; I only managed to take one shot and just as suddenly the dolphins appeared, they disappeared just as quickly!

We managed to spot about 3 to 4 small pods of them. It was a short 15 minutes encounter but one that would last a lifetime in the memories of all us.

Here are some quick snaps of our dolphins watching kayaking trip this Saturday morning!

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We had not gotten far when dark clouds loomed in the horizon but that did not discourage Huey as he has not come this far and not paddle! And so we paddled on in the rain. We reached Sungai Kuap and decided to ‘chill-out’ by sitting out in the middle of the wide river in the pouring rain and chatted! With the rain and the breeze, it soon became truly chilling and we decided to paddle back!

So did we have fun paddling in the rain on an Easter Good Friday? Take a look at the photos and decide for yourselves! Here’s wishing all you folks a Happy Easter Good Friday!

BTW, I love the last pic that Huey took of me with the camera held just above the water's surface. Oh! And yes the paddle this afternoon did took my mind off dolphins for a while! *wink*

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To say I’m enthralled with them would be an understatement as nothing had really captured my heart and attention to such an extent; well not since the last time I fell in love! No, I’m (wisely) not going to go there in this blog!

Anyway, I had even started to think of the kind of kayaks, digital cameras with long zooms & image stabilisers, waterproof binoculars, etc to buy to allow me to better take advantage of my future encounters with them! I was even thinking of going to go to the fish markets to buy fishes to feed them! Basically I’m going crazy just thinking about them!

Somebody please whack me with a paddle (or more kindly, just pinch me!) as I still cannot get over the fact that we actually saw these elusive creatures in their natural habitat. I would guess that less than 1 percent of the population of Kuching had even heard of much less seen them! And to actually see them in such close proximity from a kayak?? Now that's simply unbelievable! I'm still on a natural high 2 days after the fact; but can you really blame me!

Anyway just ignore me and look at the photos of the spectacular skies I took on the way home from work just now; irregardless of whether they look like dolphins or otherwise! To me the dolphins are just as amazing; if not even more so!

Happy Easter Holidays tomorrow for us lucky Sarawakians and Sabahans. Here’s my Easter wishes that you folks may get to see Irrawaddy Dolphins in the wild like we ‘oarsome four’ did.

Can I go back to my daydreaming and fantasies now?

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A while back this ‘angmoh’ stranger emailed me about crocodiles as he had been on the same rivers that I had kayaked and wanted to compare notes on our experiences with these reptiles. Then he sprang a surprise on me by asking whether I would want to try kayaking with dolphins instead of the crocs! I nearly fell out of my chair as this is like asking if I want to go on a date with Angelina Jolie or Jessica Alba! Would I! And so we met up to talk further and to get to each other a little bit better; and we agreed to do it on a public holiday if the weather is fine. Turned out that Wayne, a long time expatriate here, is passionate about the Irrawaddy Dolphins and had been an avid 'dolphin watcher' since his first sighting of them in a river estuary in Kuching. He has also recently had an article published in the "Malaysian Naturalist Magazine" (Vol. 59/3 2006) of the Malaysian Nature Society. I also told Wayne that I’ll be bringing along one or two friends.

So I invited skeptical Kenny along ("there are freaking dolphins in Kuching? C’mon!!") and Joe, who unfortunately couldn’t make it due to ‘visa’ problems! (Go kick yourself Joe!) As luck would have it for Peggy (from the Bronx) from WCS; she called me the evening before just then when we have a vacancy for one more person.

It was a bright sunny day with calm seas when we set off from the muddy beach with Wayne and me on my new double kayak – the Perception Surge; and Kenny and Peggy on single kayaks. Wayne suggested that we paddle out towards the bay where the local fishermen were and asked them if they had spotted any dolphins about. We did and one of them told us that they were – out at sea.

Not wanting to venture that far out, we thought we’ll go and check out the cows we spotted on the beach on the other side of the river. Well if no dolphins, we’ll settle for cows then! Just as we were setting out for the beach, we heard excited cries from eagle-eye Peggy that she saw something out there. I looked at where she pointed and I saw the dolphins in the distance! Wayne was equally excited and said that it was a school pod of maybe 2 or 3 as we paddled towards them with him warning me not cut into their path; not that I could paddle as fast as a dolphin! The dolphins were headed back down the river from the seas. As we got nearer we stopped paddling so as not to disturb them. The sight and sounds (when they break the water surface for air) is something that has to be experienced and it’s indescribable! To say that Wayne and I were excited would be an understatement as we spotted schools pods of dolphins not just in front but suddenly from our sides and right behind us too! They seemed to be 'popping' up from everywhere from out of the blue! Wayne was almost besides himself with joy and delight and I was one ecstatic kayaker as these grey gentle mammals swam all around us! I gently ‘spinned’ the kayak 360 degrees to take in this most amazing sight!

Since he has a telephoto lens, I left it for Wayne to take the photographs while I paddled and maneuvered the kayak to get the best vantage shots for him. Hence I did not have that many good shots of the dolphins. We trust that Wayne’s shots will turn out well.

I could also see that Kenny was in a good position to take some good shots; so go over to his site for his inimitable take on our kayaking adventure this morning (when and if he gets round to it I suppose; did I mention that he had a 'challenging' time? heehee)!

The amazing experience of seeing and hearing 2.1 meters long mammals in the wild is just unbelievable! Am I thrilled to bits today? You can bet your little sunburnt tootsies that I am!

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I’ll be taking it out on the waters soon to try it out but Ying-Yang has already beaten me to it – on land!

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On Sunday morning we went to check on Amber’s 8 remaining male puppies which she has given birth to not nearly a month back.

We waited eagerly and when they were brought out on a cardboard box and laid on the floor, they all scrambled out when one of the sides of the box gave way! Their jostling and scrambling about brought squeals of delight from KH20 and my other half. There’s nothing cuter than the sight of fat stumbling puppies especially when there were eight of them! See them for yourself!

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I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw these clouds that Guan (the other half of the indefatigable inflatable kayaker duo of Guan and Law!) sent me; I thought they must have been digitally manipulated! But they are not and are for real. They actually have a name - Mammatus Clouds; and are pouch-like cloud structures and a rare example of clouds in sinking air. Though they may sometimes appear very ominous in appearance, mammatus clouds are harmless and do not mean that a tornado is about to form; a commonly held misconception. In fact, mammatus are usually seen after the worst of a thunderstorm has passed.

This is what wikipedia has to say about them; which are reproduced here for your easy reading.

Amazing aren’t they? Have any of your folks actually seen one?

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We were going to try the ‘best iced lemonade drink’ in town at the Song Kheng Hai Hawker Center after a hot curry lunch when I spotted this antique motor vehicle right next to where I parked my car. It must be really old as it has wood trimmings on the doors! This is a car not a boat! So is this the oldest car in Kuching?

Believe it or not; but my friends who were with me swore that this car is still in running order as they had seen it parked at different places! Well at least it can move. Luckily I didn’t bet with them! This would make it the oldest and still running car in Kuching! This is a real classic and warrants a blog! So have you seen a car older than this in your city or home town?

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Now go get your “kick”!

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"You can only go so far on Bullshit".

"Huh?"

"What does that mean daddy? That crappy car runs on bullshit? I don't understand!" pointing to the yellow sticker on the car infront.

I laughed as I had not expected it to be interpreted that way; and I then went on to explain that it meant that you cannot expect to get get ahead and along in life if you think you can get by with just false/fake promises and premises when one has nothing of value to offer. Same with her homework as she cannot expect to bluff her way through her exams if she has not learned her subjects. "Oh!" She said and I gently chided her that a Kenari is not a 'crappy car' even though she may have big dreams of the kind of car she wants to drive in future.

Isn't it funny that 'obvious' meanings are not that 'obvious' and that it's really sad for people who really think that they can get far on bullshit alone. But then again, I may be dead wrong and may had given the wrong advice to my daughter, looking at so many some of our crappy politicians! Oops!

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Wilson, a fellow blogger and keen photographer had been at the right place at the right time and had taken some amazing shots (see the top 2 photographs on the left) which I wished I'd been there to capture as well!

Good as some of those 'killer' shots were and with comments from some of his 'supporters' that he's gonna be as good as 'unka' if not better or something to that effect; brought on a chuckle as I knew from bitter experience that 'Rome is not built in one day'. Certain skills take time to develop. Lucky shots don't make a good photographer; consistently good shots do.

Anyway knowing what a good nature guy Wilson is, I'm going to take 2 of my favourite photos of his and do with them what I would have done (with mine) to 'improve' it so to speak; simply by doing some cropping as 'less is more'.

This is done in the spirit of sharing and learning and I'm just imparting some of what I'd learned over the years; and I'm not showing off by showing up Wilson here! He knows that. These are great shots taken by him but given an extra 'edge'.

This is one of the favourite things that I liked about digital photography as the cropping option is an invaluable and easily available tool (in Photoshop or other image manupulation software) to correct/achieve the composition that may be less than ideal/perfect in the first place.

See for yourself or perhaps I should have left Wilson's photos well enough alone! What do you think folks?

Oh and by the way I'm absolutely sure that Wilsonis well on his way to being better than unka but not just yet! Plus I'm also still learning and improving as I go along the way. Glad that I can be a 'benchmark' for comparision and hopefully an inspiration as well. Hehe!

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But I still needed help with getting the kayaks down from the car and so I asked my kids if anyone of them would give me a hand (with monetary incentive of course); and my daughter KH2o promptly volunteered. So that's one for the girls. The boys would rather stay home glued to their online 'Maple Story', 'Gunz' or whatever.

We arrived earlier than the scheduled 2.30pm and shortly after; Livian, Dian and Doe showed up with Livian explaining that the two kids couldn't wait to try their hand at kayaking. After some short instructions on how to hold and use the paddle; Doe got in with me while Dian got into the same boat as mum. And KH2o was on a single on her own. Dian was 'splashingly' eager to get going and their kayak was soon way ahead of us. Doe was relaxed and smiling as the brisk breeze churned up some small choppy waves on the water. There were a few jet skiers on the water as well creating some further wakes; but Doe maintained her poise and balance.

Doe was a natural and I was pleasantly surprised that she was using the paddle blades in a sculling motion to control the direction of the boat when I stopped paddling. Mind you; that was an advanced paddling stroke! This is the first time I'd seen a beginner did that. When I pulled up to Livian; she explained that Doe was a ‘natural athlete’; she sure was a natural kayaker!

Soon the 2 hour paddle was up and we parted ways.

Later I sent an SMS to Livian : “I trust that the kids enjoyed their kayaking experience. It was wonderful of you to take them”.

Livan SMS me back her reply: “Doe said she will do it again, Dian said no more!”.

Does that answer your question now folks?

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Features:

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It was on a Thursday so I couldn’t take them out but Azmi, our kayaking guide took good care of them. I'm featuring them as they are our very first sakai angmoh tourist customers!

Thanks to Richard of Singgahsana Lodge for sending these two danish dudes over.

So did they enjoy the kayaking trip? I’ll let you decide from the few photos that Azmi took of the trip! And in Mikkel's own words it was "MEGET TODT!" That's 'very good' in Danish!

30th March 2006

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