Book Launch: Fulbright Chronicles- American Experience Malaysian Perspective

Members of the Fulbright Alumni Association of Malaysia, Malaysia scholars who have spent time in the US as part of the Fulbright program, thought that it would be interesting and valuable for them to publish a book documenting the experiences of Malaysians during their exchange programs in the US.

The week before I left for Sabah, they held an even at the office of the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange (MACEE) to formally launch the book "Fulbright Chroicles: American Experience, Malaysian Perspective" published by the University of Malaya Press. The book contains 15 chapters from scholars from diverse fields who spent time in all parts of the US. I enjoyed reading about their experiences in the US and thought it was interesting to compare their experiences in the States with my experiences here. I told them that it thought it would be interesting to publish a companion volume in which Americans could discuss their experiences in Malaysia.

The editors- Dr. Suseela Malakolunthu (right) and Dr. Asma Abdullah.


Dr. Jim Coffman, Director of MACEE, reads from the book.


The authors and Dr. Coffman.


Congratulations to FAAM, the editors, and all of the authors! I hope that you will soon be able to retire on your royalties.

Final Thoughts- Semporna Dive Trip

Now that Christmas is over I have a little more time to finish up my thoughts about my recent dive trip to the Semporna region of Sabah in Borneo. In Decenmber, a group of American, Dutch, and Malaysian scientists conducted a survey of the region and concluded that this region contains some of the highest diversity of corals and fishes found anywhere in the world (they identified 844 species of fishes)! While they noted that some of the reefs remained in excellant condition, they noted that many of the reefs were in very poor condition. I hope that the Malaysian and Sabahan governments will pay attention to this report and increase their efforts to conserve this unique ecosystem.

Cool Critters!

The reason that people are willing to travel so far and spend so much money to dive in places like Sipadan is that there are some unbelieveably cool creatures living there. Because I don't take underwater photos, I have "borrowed" a few photos from the internet to show you some of my favorites from this trip.

During my first dive in Sipadan, at Mid-reef, they dropped us on top of a giant clam (maybe 1 meter across). As we were looking at the clam a school of bumphead parrotfish swam past. In the water less than 5 minute and already seeing awesome stuff!

Giant clam


Bumphead Parrotfish


The diving conditions were quite different around Sibuan Island, so we found differt organisms. Here are some of my favorites.

Mandarinfish. These guys are the most colorful creatures on the planet. These mandarinfish were hiding among the spines of long-spined urchin (Diadema). Because they are found in very shallow water, there is still a lot of light which makes the colors dazzling!


Stonefish. Seeing the stonefish was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I always follow close behind the dive guides because most of them have "good eyes" and are able to spot the unusual creatures. I was excited when I found the stone fish and was able to point it out the guide. It was extremely well camaflaged, but it is usually possible to separate a "fish" from a "stone" because stones don't have eyes.


Sea snake. We followed a sea snake hunting among the corals at Sabankat Island.


Blast Fishing

Coral reefs around the world are at risk from a variety of factors. For more info see- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Threats_to_coral_reefs?topic=49513

In some places people collect reef fishes by "blast fishing" (sometimes known as "explosive fishing" or "dynamite fishing"). Fishermen drop some sort of a bomb (often a fertilizer bomb) onto the reef. The explosion stuns the fish which makes them easy to collect. Obviously, these explosions cuase great damage to the reef

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Coral_degradation_through_destructive_fishing_practices?topic=49513

I heard several explosions during my dive trip and one of them, on Sibuan Island, seemed very close to me (the dive guide told me that it was not too close or else it would have been much louder and felt more extreme). As we returned home from diving that day we noticed several fishermans' boats being towed back to the harbour by the Police and our boat captains said he thought that they were being arrested for blast fishing. I hope that we are able to teach the fishermen that blast fishing is not a sustainable way of collecting fish off of the reef and help them to find better ways to fish and make money for their families.

Good Santa, Bad Santa

It is Christmas night in Malaysia which means that people back in the State are just waking up for Christmas morning. I hope that Santa was good to everyone (I guess this is where we separate the "naughty" from the "nice").

Bad Santa

I wrote earlier about the world's worst Santa that I saw at Suria Mall in KLCC while my camera was broken. I was passing by on Christmas eve and Bad Santa was back so now I can provide some proof.

Is this the worst Santa you have ever seen? I hope that his beard didn't set them back too much!


This Santa might be authentic enough to fool this Middle-Eastern man, but I fear that he would scare any western kids.



Good Santa

Today I saw Santa at the Pavillion Mall. Not surprisingly, Pavillion's Santa was very authentic.

Santa arrives under police guard.


I guess that it is good that this lady is not sitting on Santa's lap.



Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas morning in Malaysia. Merry Christmas everyone. I miss all of my family and friends! I hope that everyone is having great holiday season!

Santa, his helpers, and the Malaysian tiger were spreading Christmas cheer in the mall yesterday.


I hate to rub it in to all of you suffering through cold northern climate, but it looks like another gorgeous 90 degree day for me in KL!

You Never Know What You MIght See!

This might be of interest to Lubbock divers. In order to find water deep enough for the Advanced Open Water scuba course we travel about three hours away to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Santa Rosa is home to the "Blue Hole" that is either beloved or hated by local divers.

Last night I was having dinner with some fellow divers and some of the dive guides at the cafe across the street. I noticed that an Asian guy who walked into the cafe was wearing a Santa Rosa t-shirt! When I asked him is he had ever been to Santa Rosa, he looked at me like I was crazy and told me that he bought the t-shirt when he was in Australia. I didn't know that Santa Rosa was so world famous!

Sea Gypsies

"Sea gypsy" is a term that refers to several groups of peoples living near the sea in various parts of South East Asia. I have run across sea gypsies before in Indonesia. The main group of sea gypsies in Sabah are the Bajau who originated in the Philipines. Many Bajau have spread south to Malaysia during the last 50 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Gypsies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajau

Sea Gypsies of Sibuan Island

One of the best parts of spending a little time on Sibuan Island between dives was that I got to spend some time wandering around the small sea gypsy village located there. What a beautiful place to live, but what a primitive life style! The goal of the Malaysian government is for Malaysia to be a "high income nation" by 2020. They still have a long way to go on Sibuan!!









The man in the blue shirt is "digging out" his dugout canoe.




Because we were there during the middle of the day, most of the sensible adults were either out fishing or were resting in the shade of their homes. One interesting thing was that some of the women appeared to have white or green paint on their faces. You can almost see that in this photo.


Kids of Sibuan

Although Sibuan Island is the classic tropical paradise and I enjoyed seeing the local village, a visit to Sibuan was pretty depressing. We were met on the beach by q bunch of local kids who apparently knew only three words of English- Hello, money. and ringgit (the Malaysian currency). Every kid on the island came up to all of us, held out their hands, and said "hello, money". Eventually, I had to show them that I had no money by showing them what was in the empty pockets of my bathing suit. I worry about the apparently bleak future facing these kids.

"Hello, money"


"Money, money, ringitt, money"


The kids all liked seeing their photos on my digital camera. They also liked taking photos of me. Here is a picture with all of us.


Water Villages

Some people, who I assume are Bajau, live in houses built on stilts in the middle of the bay.

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Note added February 24, 2011. I just ran across some more information about the Bajau Laut http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau. I have scheduled another visit to south east Sabah next during the end of March. I look forward to learning more about these interesting people.

Sibuan Island

Today was my last day of diving for this trip (boo!). My first two dive of the day were at Sibuan Island, about a 40 minute boat ride from Semporna. I was the only diver today with the dive guide, Jim from Spain, and a Divemaste candidate. Noone had a camera today so of course we saw some cool things such as pipe fish, mandarin fish, a stonefish, a sea snake, nubibanchs, lots of coral, and a stange eel-fish thing hiding out in a soft coral that no one has been able to indentify yet.

We spent our surface interval and lunch break on this beautiful island.

Diving at Sipadan

I have finished my fourth day of diving on Sipadan Island. The dives have consistently been very good. There is a great diversity of corals and fishes. In fact, a recent survey suggests that the Seporna area might have the greatest fish diversity in the world (844 species were found here) and one of the highest diversity of corals. I hope that this report stimulates the Malaysian and Sabah government to do a good job conserving this amazing resource.

Sipadan is best known for large animals such as sea turtles, sharks, and baracudas. Today on the second dive everything came together for one of those dives I will remember for a lifetime.

One of my fellow divers, Bianca from Australia, rented a camera from the dive shop today and she took some nice photos. I will just post a few to give you an idea about some of the amazing things that I have seen.

Green Sea Turtles

We saw lots of green sea turtles on every dive at Sipadan. You could see them swimming, feeding, or sleeping in little caves in the wall.





White-tipped Reef SharksWe also saw white-tips on every dive at Sipadan. Usually, we saw them swimming either above or below us along the wall, but sometimes we saw them resting on the sand.




School of Baracudas

Sipadan is also well known for this large group of baracudas. Often these fish are found at a dive site known as Baracuda Point. I dove on this site four times and was lucky enough to see the school twice. We were even luckier that there were no currents when we saw the school because when the water is calm they circle in this large cylinder shaped school. When we saw it the second time the school extended from 50 feet to the surface. When there is a current, all of the baracudas orient by facing into the current.

Christmas at Pavillion Mall, KL

I have been hoping to finish posting my Christmas decoration posts before Christmas so here goes. The Pavillion Mall in KL has the most extravagent Christmas decorations that I have ever seen. Last Wednesday night when I was walking past the mall entrance they turned on a snow machine so snow fell at the Mall entrance. I wonder if they turned on a snow machine at the Mall of America in Mineapolis this winter?

Pavillion's decorations are so extravagent and extensive that it is hard to do them justice with my quality of photos. Anyway, here goes.

Outside






Just inside the main entrance.


The main display.






Reindeer pullling Santa's sleigh.


I guess these guys are anatomically correct.


If you like poinsettias....




I never thought of leaving ribs out for Santa. I bet he would have liked that.