Bioluminescent Bay

Bioluminescent Bay is:

"Hidden along the Caribbean coast is one of the most spectacular Bioluminescent Bays in the world. The mysterious blue-green light is created by micro-organisms which thrive in an environment uniquely suited to their needs. A trip into the bay on a balmy night is a magical experience. Fish flash by in dark water, and a swim is like floating through stardust. Wave your hand through the water you trigger so many of them that your hand lights up with a thousand tiny stars"

Why does it glow?

"This unique bay contains up to 720,000 single-celled bioluminescent dinoflagellates per gallon of water. These half-plant, half-animal organisms emit a flash of bluish light when agitated at night. The high concentration of these creatures (Pyrodimium bahamense) can create enough light to read a book from. "

I heard that there are about seven Bioluminescent bays in the world while three of them are in Puerto Rico. Thanks to our client/friend for bringing us to the bay in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

There were almost 30 persons of us. 2 person shared a kayak. Yes, we kayaked to the bay! It was pretty exciting. Imagine 15 kayaks took off from the beach in the dark! We left at 8.30pm. At the beginning, we crashed into each other and screamed at each other as we lost our control to the kayak. We wanted to turn left but ended with right and vice versa. After getting more comfortable with the kayak, we were then on our way to the biobay in a line. We passed through a long and thin channel. It was extremely dark! We followed the small blinking green light hung at the back of the person on the kayak right in front of us. Sometimes the channel has sharp turns, then quite many of us banged the mangrove bushes but they don't hurt you and you can easily get back on track.

After quite a distance, we saw something difference, noticed little sparkles as we dipped , it was no longer as dark as before, felt the water shining.

After getting out of the channel, led us to the lagoon. We stopped there and played around. The paddles left a swirl of glow behind at each stroke. We also used our hands to make the water sparkled. I thought I was in a dream, that was really amazing experience!

After time out, we got back through the channel, by that time, we were quite skillful in kayaking. We kayaked fast back. It was too dark that I couldn't take picture and we avoided spoilting cameras with water. The above pictures were taken from google search for illustration only. :)

The Mystery of The Caribbean III: Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is another special tropical island. It is a commonwealth of United State which means a self-governing territory.

To my surprise, most Puerto Ricans do not know English so we had serious trouble communicating with the locals. They speak spanish and they look like spanish or south American. Although their skin are not as fair as the white people, their ladies are pretty and men are handsome!

Staying in apartment giving me chance to understand more about Puerto Ricans. They are very friendly. The neighbors greeted us in Spanish when we met in the elevator. I didn't really know what were they saying, I just could give them a smile or saying "hola".

The size of Puerto Rico is about 3 times bigger than Barbados. Unlike Barbados, it does not only have beaches but you can find forests, historical towns, shopping centres and the amazing bioluminescent bays.

The most impressive attraction should be the bioluminescent bays which are rarely found in other parts of the earth. I shall write it separately in another post.

For Malaysian shopaholics, you could find cheaper branded stuffs in the factory outlets. After long time being "jailed" in Barbados, my colleagues could finally spend their money there by buying hand bags, shoes, T-shirts and etc. However, the prices are higher than US mainland.

For nature lovers. In this small island, it has both rain forest and dry forest. My first time to see dry forest with growing cactus.

For those who keen in historical buildings, old San Juan is a must to visit where you can see the trails of spanish and US colonial. Their two famous forts are the world herritage site.

If Barbados gave me a "kampung" and peaceful feeling, then Puerto Rico gave me a "penang" feeling in term of the urbanization progress and a warm feeling because of their people. Really like this place. Good bye to Puerto Rico!

The Mystery of The Caribbean II - Barbados

"What dos?", "Barbados?", "Where is it?", "Never heard before", "South America ar? so dangerous". These were what people's response when I told them I was going to Barbados.

It is a special island country, the size is even smaller than Singapore with tropical weather. The people there are almost all black and their body size are huge. They speak good English as Barbados was a colony to Britain.

The country is not very urbanized. It is more like a tourist spot, a bit like Bali. The crime rate is low. The politics is stable. Peope are civilised. Their GDP is even more than Malaysia. Their currency's value is also higher than us.

The most attractive part is their beaches. White sand and clear water. Their houses have cute design.

The most impressive thing is their good driving attitude. Even there is no pedestrian crossing over the road, when the drivers see you waiting to cross the road, they would just stop and let you go. My Malaysia friend complaint during his driving as he had to suddenly break the car because of the car ahead giving way to pedestrian, funny...

The barbadians (Barbados residents) seem lead a relax life as they close their shops on Sunday. They have a few shopping centres but they are very very small. You hardly see tall buildings in the country as well. The tallest might be 6 storey. This is not a place for you to shop as the prices are very expensive.

For a visit, I personally wont travel half an earth to come here just for beaches or sunbathing. I do believe Malaysia has good beaches but I haven't been most of Malaysian beaches. This is embarassing. My friend told me that East Malaysia has many good scenery spots but the government doesn't promote it much. However, if you are from Europe or Americas, this is a good destination for visit especially you want to run away from cold season.

The mystery of the Caribbean I: the pirates

Still many friends didn't know the geography position of caribbean sea. It is at the right of central americas (not central US). The part of sea in between North America and South America. You may know "Caribbean" by the movie "Pirates of the caribbean". There were pirates in hundrends years ago. Is there any pirates nowadays? I think it is not common in caribbean. We often heard piracy in Somalia or Indonesia, but rarely from Caribbean. During the visit to Barbados and Puerto Rico, I found a lot of souvenirs and T-shirts with Pirates image or skeletons. The image above is an entrance to an aquarium. Felt like a ghost house when I entered the "cave". The horrible "pirates " were around me and it was so dark. In the aquarium water,

you can see the fish swim around pirates' died bodies and their ships.

第一次单独旅行

从来没想过会在国外独自旅行。其实我只是在转机时顺道在伦敦呆两天。单独旅行享受的是绝对的自由，我不需要迁就别人要去哪里，或是费时间讨论以达成共识，我要去哪儿，就去哪儿。哈哈，这是我孤僻的一面。再来，我知道自己的体力惊人，可以走很多路，自己走就不用等同伴休息了。哈哈。（在伦敦从早上9点多走到晚上10点多，没有停在餐厅用餐，只是做在公共椅子吃零食）
旅行时，我喜欢观赏人家的独特建筑，独特风景及体验异国风情。因此是不会去购物， 一来马币价值小，二来没有时间。这也是独自旅行的好处，不必陪友人逛购物中心。
自己安排行程，到达目的地时，挺有成就感的。
不过呢，虽然自由，但也有点闷，而且没人帮我和景物拍照。然后呢，看到情侣在旅游圣地拍拖，就更遗憾无法跟我的阿伦分享这样漂亮的风景，也只能拍下照片带回去给他看咯。哈哈！

The value of money

Since my name is related to money, lets start my first blog with the idea on money.
People who know me well would know that I am very careful on spending. How do you spend your money is depends on how do you value your money. How do you value your money is depends on your personal background, economy situation, your family, your friends' influence and the education you receive all the while.
I am the person who always think about future. After knowing what the life I want in the future and what are the risks I may face in the future, I will plan my money. Like some financial planners say "If you do not care your money, your money wont care of you".
However, we cannot only live in the future, we must also enjoy our present life as I do not know whether I am able to wait until tommorow to enjoy my wealth. As such, I need to bear in mind that when saving money, I am buying a sense of security and I understand that I might not be able to fully enjoy it. When I spending, I know that if I do not spend, the money is meaningless to me.
Therefore, try to get a balance. Anyway, I feel guilty if I spent too much when I think of people who are starving and my parents who are frugal because they think about their children. I am not living alone in this world, how much I gain is the result of other people and my money is not only belong to me, so I must be thoughtful on every single cent I spend.