learning – Where Is Amber?

We took an overnight bus ride from Langkawi to the Perhentian Islands on the east coast of Malaysia. It was a double decker bus and we were seated directly above the driver (possibly the most dangerous place to sit?) but at least it had the best view.

After a bumpy boat ride we arrived at the island. Its off-season but a few tourists wandered the white sand beaches. It’s pretty relaxed, there’s only a few things to do: eat, sleep, party, snorkel, and scuba.

While I was here I decided to take my PADI, a 3-day scuba diving course. It’s one of the cheapest places in the world to get it!

Scuba diving is more of a mental challenge than a physical one. As long as you remember a few fundamentals you can avoid problems:

Keep breathing, slowly and calmly
Adjust your BCD – Buoyancy Control Device
Stay with your buddy
Keep checking your tank, and make sure you don’t run out of air!
Ascend and descend slowly, and equalize often (clearing your ears)

Its a different world underwater. There’s no verbal communication; sign language is the only way to communicate with your fellow divers. Gliding around the coral in this silent world is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

I saw a moray eel (like Ursula’s sidekick from the Little Mermaid!) and a sea turtle, and lots of beautiful and colorful fish, but sadly no whale sharks! Oh well, next time. I’m also excited to try scuba in California, who wants to go with me?

Beach

Yummy food there

Learning to scuba in Perhentian Islands

The light filters through the branches of the plum tree, each leaf outlined in a brilliant yellow from the just risen sun. We are reaching up, stretching to pluck the abundant purple plums above us.

In about an hour, we’ll all join together for our first meal of the day; muesli, homemade yogurt, and fresh fruit salad, made with fruit we picked earlier in the week.

I’m on an organic stone fruit orchard in Australia, volunteering with five other travelers from around the world. After breakfast, we gather in a shed for our next job. We laugh and tell stories around a table as we carefully slice fruit for the solar drier. Once our four hours of volunteering are over, we convene with the farmers and share a big communal lunch.

The rest of the day we have free to explore – we can borrow bikes, go for a walk around the neighboring orchards, relax and read books, or talk and play games with our new friends. At dinnertime we reconvene for a group meal, which we take turns each night cooking. Tonight, the Japanese travelers are trying their hand at a quiche, and I overhear them asking the older couple from Switzerland for advice about how to make the perfect crust.

Every day, I am learning new, practical skills for free. More importantly, though, I’m meeting like-minded travelers intent on learning from each other and giving back to the world. We are WWOOFers – Willing Workers on Organic Farms.

To read the full article, check out http://wondergressive.com/2013/09/23/wwoofing-seeing-world-one-farm-time/