Having had some good experiences with Two Fish Divers in the last trip, I decided to go with them again. A couple of email exchanges and the trip was fixed. Before I know it, I was back in that familiar port of Bitung and hopped onto the little boat that ferried me across the straits to the resort. The place had since changed abit, most noticeably the new restaurant/dining area, refurbished office areas plus some tidy landscaping. Nothing too posh nor fanciful about it, but that’s the way I like it, feels like home.

The underwater landscape of Lembeh straits is a little like Hongkong. Rustic, compact and you need a good local guide to seek out the “delicacies” you are looking for. The guides are unbelievably good at finding these well camouflaged creatures in the murky waters, at times, no bigger than a centimeter in length. We often joked that they must’ve had an aquarium somewhere and they’ll put the creatures in their pockets before the dives.

On the first day, I decided I should take the Nitrox course, so I could stay a little longer underwater without going into decompression when there’s a need to. It was a relatively straightforward 1 day course that was conducted by Helen, the resident dive instructor. This was also a good preparation for the coming dive in Malapascua in Philippines, where we might be staying a little longer and deeper to wait for the Thresher sharks.

The best part about traveling alone is you tend to mix with the other travelers instead of keeping to your own group. During my stay, people come and go, some heading to Bunaken, many others returning to Lembeh after spending a few days in Bunaken. Don’t get me wrong, Bunaken is beautiful, but once you get hooked on muck diving in Lembeh, it’s really hard to turn back. These guys completed my trip. We had fun discussing our diving experiences, photography down to which team is going to win the World Cup. The lovely staffs from the resort were extremely friendly too. Felt like I’ve never left home.

Here are some images from the trip:)

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The original buns from the stall that made them. On the buns are the words “平安”, which sort of means “peace and safety” in chinese. The buns are quite big and has white lotus fillings in them. The main competition tower has about 9000 buns on it. Many more are found on the traditional towers which are of 13m high, but are not used for the competition because the towers were not as sturdy.

Lion dance kicked start the bun-snatching competition. The lion dance is performed on top of a pole (the red pole) and consist of only a sole lion dancer, while the “tail” is held up by another member using a pole. The competition begins on the stroke of midnight.

Right after the lion dance, the fire crackers went off to the rousing applause of the crowd.

The male contestents clearing the top buns, while one of the 3 female contestents followed behind. The winner of the men’s event was three time champion local from Cheung Chau.

Cheung Chau from the top of the hill. The island looks a little like a bone shape. On the right side of the “bone” in this picture is the harbour for the fishing boats.

While waiting for the ferry. It’s about 30mins ride on a fast craft and 55mins on a slower boat. You can take the ferry from the “outlying islands pier’.

The typical low clouds, lighted up by the bright city lights greeted us when we disembarked from the ferry.