Happy birthday to my Little Wing! More dives in the future, I hope! 🙂
Hani Mohsin (1965-2006)
Hani Mohsin Hanafi, 41, passed away of a heart attack at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, early this morning. He is remembered by most Malaysians as an actor, and most of all, as the second host of ASTRO’s Roda Impian.
He was my senior by one year at my alma mater, the Malay College. He was active in dramas while still in college, and in 1982, was my platoon commander in the Pasukan Kadet Bersatu Malaysia (I was promoted to replace him the very next year).
In 1996, when Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi wanted to conceptualise his then-soon-to-be-launched TV station, he handpicked several MCKK Old Boys who were involved in arts/dramas/plays/movies/advertisements to help him out, so yours truly was included, because I was involved in stunts for movies, and also for my refusal to watch malay movies produced post-70s. The rest were Azizul Callahan, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Hishamuddin Rais and several others. For a week we were hosted at the Damai Beach Resort in Kuching. We came up with a tentative name for the station: ENTV. This became NTV7 later.
At one point, we were all watching local malay dramas and Effendi saw my point. He then asked if we knew any old boy who is actively involved in drama production. The name Hani Mohsin came up. So we called Mohsin (as he is known to us), and he was with us the next morning. I won’t get into how he lost Jacquelina to Effendi. However, when he was still married to her, he was looking for a house in Bukit Antarabangsa, where I lived for a while when I was single again. So he asked me to help him out. Even after Jacquelina left him, he continued to live there to the end.
I bumped into him on several occassions, mainly at the Malaysian Film Festival, Anugerah Seri Angkasa, and several other functions. I last bumped into him was last year at the Esso station in Desa Pandan, exchanged short notes, and hoped we’d meet again for teh tarik or something.
That never happened. And now he is gone.
So remember to always keep in touch with friends you have made along the way, and especially with your family members. Life is short. You will never know what you may miss.
Rest well, Mohsin. Al-Fathihah.
THE CIRCUS IS ON!!!
Yes, the circus is on. TV3 will be showing a LIVE TELECAST of the wedding of Siti Nurhaliza and Datuk K.
I suppose current affairs has no important things to mention anymore. The Israeli incursion of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip is not as important. The makcik who washes dishes for a living pleading for financial help for her leukemia-ridden child is not as important anymore.
How many, out of 26,681,203 Malaysian citizens (as at 9.48pm 24th July 2006), are Siti’s fans? How many of that are fans of Datuk K?
Well, I guess sensational news wins. Busybody wins. Minding other people’s business wins. That is the Malaysian culture.
Remind me to switch to ONLY ASTRO come 21st August 2006, please.
Back from the Wreck
I’m back…and am already suffering withdrawal symptoms. Bored, lethargic, sleepy etc. I wish I’m diving somewhere. 39 days of waiting and only 12 dives over 3 days. Not fair at all. Anyway, I’m thankful to be back, missed my children.
Basically, the trip was a wonderful trip (what dive trip isn’t if it ends well?). Thursday we went off to Tanjung Gemuk in Pahang via Senawang, Kuala Pilah, Muadzam Shah, Leban Chondong, and Kuala Rompin. We departed the jetty at Tanjung Gemuk at 2.30am. Our first destination was the Varella Wreck (a.k.a Gyoshin Maru), did two dives that I enjoyed immensely. Then we went to the Kuantan Wreck (a.k.a Nichi Asu Maru). Current was exceptionally strong. Nothing I have faced before. Well, maybe 10% more than that stupid dive at Soyak Wreck back in Feb 06. After several failed attempts, including the capsize of the tender, we managed to go down to the wreck. But currents were too strong for us to do anything. We managed to explore some 5% of the wreck before Holemaster decided it was too strong. So we aborted. At the line while doing our safety stop, we were literally like Superman except we had both hands on the line hanging on to dear life. We were afraid too, for friends like Massive Headwound, Atok, and Pian who went down while we were on our way up, because as they came up, it as dark, stormy, with bolts of lightning lighting up the pitch-black sky. Anyway, everyone made it on board after an elaborate rescue mission. The sad news was we lost the tender to the sea a couple of hours later.
The next day we did one dawn dive at Chebeh, off Tioman, before making it towards Tiger Reef for another dive. We thought of doing Batu Malang after, but the southern winds picked up causing the LOB and a few other LOBs and speedboats moored there to roll. So we moved to Kador Bay for the next dive. We attempted to do a night dive at Chebeh, but very strong currents made any diving there almost impossible. How did we know the current was strong below? Well, Holemaster and I were down there at 13 meters. So we went to Kador Bay again for the night dive before mooring above Roger Wreck at Salang.
We did Roger Wreck at 1.30am. A lively wreck during the day, it looked so spooky at night. But I enjoyed that dive, taking photos as usual. At 3.00am, I went to bed after a nice shower. The LOB moored off Paya for a while before making towards Pulau Jahat, off the south-western corner of Tioman. One morning dive there, and another dive at Tokong Bahara, which is an anemone garden like Hin Son at Koh Lipe.
We departed for Tanjung Gemuk at 2.30pm and arrived there around 6.00pm.
It was a good trip and I would like to do this trip again….and soon.
Yes, I’m Back
Much to the disappointment of some. Well, be prepared to be disappointed further.
I love this site: Radical Hop.
Thanks to Jonathan A Goosey for the E-mail.
When you read it, what company does it remind you of?
Off I Go…
Well, today’s the day. I’m just waiting for Massive Headwound‘s flight confirmation so I’ll know what time to go to KLIA. Hopefully we can get to Tanjung Gemuk before midnight.
My bags are all packed, except for the toiletries and medicines. I really can’t wait to get underwater again.
I hope when I come back, I can do a three-day field report and post it here. I also hope to do lots of stills and videos. I need to replenish my image and video banks. At least there will be more things to show during the Malaysia Diving Community first anniversary.
I am also hoping very much to be able to photography AND videograph a Whale Shark. The last and only time I had seen one was in Kota Kinabalu (off-shore, not in some soup bowl) back in 2000. I didn’t have a camera then. I have promised myself to fast for a week for every Whale Shark I get to photograph and videograph. If people didn’t hunt them for their fins, I should be at my optimum weight now.
So, adios, and I shall be back online hopefully on Monday (if I’m not too tired to write).
May Tomorrow Be A Perfect Day
Boy, I feel real tired, yet happy. I was in Melaka earlier today to have a look at a potential LOB. To my disappointment, it doesn’t fit the criteria of one..what more it runs on petrol (wrong choice of engines). However, I feel happy because I now have a good wreck in the Strait of Malacca to dive on. I shall organise a trip when the east coast season’s off. So now it is back to the Sekinchan potential LOB if my final attempt in Johor fails too.
I need to have an LOB. My cash reserves are down to critical level so I have to quickly identify one and write-up a paper and present to the old man. Hopefully, the old man will buy the idea and agree to finance me with a interest-free no-payback loan for the operations. After all, he was the one who suggested I do something that I have passion for. That’s diving then. But to open just another dive shop will kill me for sure as there is no way I can make safe and comfortable financial margins. And since the LOB craze seems to be catching on, I would say it is the way to go.
Talking about LOB, tomorrow is the big day. By this time tomorrow (2347 hours Malaysian time) I should already be on the MV Wavebreaker, and hopefully Massive Headwound will be able to catch a flight from Kota Bharu to KL. Day after tomorrow, I shall be back in familiar surroundings.
As for August, I have been invited to join the Coral Society’s dive program. My sister, whose identity you can find out in my previous posting (Hey, I’m 40 – Part Deux), will also be there. She hopes for me to join that program. So I may make that trip. Then she will have a week’s break, and wants to go somewhere before she gets busy again. So I have suggested an LOB trip. She has agreed, and hopefully the weekend after that, we’ll be diving again. She is upset she is not able to join me on tomorrow’s trip as she has just returned from London and need to do some work, attend some press interviews etc. She’s upset mostly because it is going to be mainly wreck dives from an LOB. Real wrecks…not those sunken fishing boats.
So, there you go…hopefully I get to get the financing for the LOB of my choice.
If you don’t want to read my previous posting to find out who my sister is, her picture is below:
Funky Cold Medina
I went up to this girl
she said “Hi, my name is Sheena”
I thought she’d be good to go with a little funk cold medina,
she said “I’d like a drink”, I said “ok, I’ll go get it”
and then a couple of sips, she cold licked her lips and I knew that she was
with it
so I took her to my crib
and everything went well as planned
but when she got undressed it was big old mess
Sheena was a man
so I threw him out
I don’t fool around with no Oscar Meyer weiner
you must be sure that the girl is pure for the funky cold medina
(Tone Loc)
I Can Smell The Sea
54 hours from now, I shall be making my way to Tanjung Gemuk in Kuala Rompin, Pahang. Some 13 hours later, my friends and I should be diving the Nichi Asu Maru wreck in the South China Sea. Six hours after that, we should be diving the Gyoshin Maru wreck, and 18 hours after that, the outer reefs of Tioman Island.
It has been an extremely long time for me between dives…not even a pool dive was done since my trip to Tioman early last month, and it is about time I get back underwater. The polluted air above ground is getting to me already.
I need my dose of compressed air.
Happy Johoreans…NOT!
I was going through the comments made by Johoreans on Dato’ Shahrir Samad’s Blog on the cancellation of the crooked bridge project. I can see that the Johoreans are not entirely happy the project’s been scrapped.
Although there are only three comments (as on my last visit), I am sure had many others knew of the existence of this blog, there would be many more similar comments.
Pak Lah is going to have a tough time appeasing the Johoreans. And the UMNO/BN supporters will have a tough time keeping a straight face come the next general elections.
SeaDemon Says 
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