Let’s Borneo!
20 Jul
(The really corny British scuba master would say that when it was time to leave the island and go diving)
I remember a tour guide from Pomona College in California selling the school to me when I was a mere high school junior by explaining the ski and surf day – how in one day you can spend the morning skiing and the afternoon at the beach. I found that pretty amazing, but still decided to go to a college where you can spend the morning skiing and the afternoon freezing your butt off.
Anyways, I was reminded of that ski and surf day in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. We had a mountain summit one day and a ocean plunge the next day. It was like a physics lesson in atmospheric pressure changes. Just last Friday we were huddled together like a group of penguins waiting to catch the sunrise atop Mt. Kinabalu. I was wearing fleece pants, two sweatshirts, a hard shell, a wool hat, and gloves. And I was shivering straight through my core. We had woken up at 2 am from the base camp to hike in the dark. A long line of people did this hajj to the summit, but we got there first, naturally. We thought we were so smart to hike faster until we got to the top and realized we had an hour until the sun would rise. It was cold, but amazing. I did not warm up until we finished Asia’s only and the world’s highest Via Ferrata. The hike down was brutal because my legs were so sore. Needless to say we indulged in massages that night.
Saturday morning, without too much sleep for the weary, we headed out to scuba dive. I eagerly exchanged my hiking boots for my bikini. This is my dream vacation – so much adventure packed in. I just got certified last month and I still don’t have my scuba card, but luckily I was able to assemble the equipment with such confidence that it took the dive master no time to believe that I was a “real diver.” I had less confidence in my own capabilities because I was trained in such a bootleg manner, but it turns out I knew more than I thought. I dove backwards off the boat with the best of them and in no time I was underwater. When I first got certified I didn’t really see the magic of diving. It was strange and exciting, but I was looking at bizarre things and mostly focusing on breathing and balancing. This time was different – I was with friends who had a lot of diving experience. I realized that it doesn’t matter if I can’t identify every fish. “It is like exploring a new planet,” one of my friends said. We swam along together – pointing at things and playing with sea cucumbers. It was like the best underwater tea party you could ever imagine. I was laughing and doing backwards flips and felt pure childlike playfulness. Now I am really starting to fall in love with diving.
We went out clubbing in Kota Kinabalu that night and then spent the next day recovering from it. After all that excitement, a rainy day of movie theaters and massages was quite welcome. What a nice summer vacation treat! Now one month countdown until Laos with sister!…
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