Mimbi Mimbi Mu

'Hello' I greeted a passing old lady.

'Hello, Andy is dead!' She replied.

'I've just been diving with Andy?' I pointed to the dive centre.

'No, from Germany, two weeks ago I think...'

'Oh, how sad'

I smiled and kept walking to the shops, not knowing who Andy was or indeed why this topic had even surfaced...

I've spent most of my time doing a couple of dives a day, seeing all sorts of interesting things in much a much more challenging environment than in Thailand. I've explored a tugboat at a depth of about 16 metres aboslutely teeming with life that has claimed the vessel as their own. On the same dive we visited some underwater hot springs, where hot sulphuric volcanic gas excapes from the sandy bottom and unfortunate boiled crabs litter the sea floor.

I almost ended my diving permanently whilst drift diving in a current when I was using the rocky bottom to slow myself. I grabbed a rock a few inches away from an unexploded bomb from the Second World War still equipped with its triggering device and most definately not defused...

One evening I went fishing with Mandy from the UK and Assim from the mainland. It was extremely serene bobbing in the sunset whilst the boatman smoked local 'Aceh Tobacco'. 'Wobbly and Wavey - Good Combination' he explained. We saw a turtle flapping about on the surface eating his dinner and as it got dark the phosphorescing plankton illuminated the line as it disappeared into the depths whilst the perfect night sky lay above us, unspoilt by any unnatural lights.

I was the only one who managed to catch any fish. The first I didn't know I had even caught, the second, the skipper had already predicted what colour it was as I was reeling it in. A small yellow wrasse that went to the skipper for his tea as per an old tradition or charter or something...

I have to credit the photos to Mandy since I was too busy trying to hook a monster.
When we returned ashore the local lads played guitar. La Bamba with the famous alternative lyrics 'You look like an Orangutan from Bukit Lawang' was the popular choice.

Since I had only managed to get a 30 day visa on arrival I headed to the local immigration office to get some information about extending. After a heated argument with the head honcho he was adamant that I could not extend and extremely uncaring about what I should do. I left rather annoyed and whilst searching for coconuts on an abandoned beach was approached by a local man, Yusop, who took me back to his house for some better coconuts and fresh fruit from his trees.

Later that day the immigration officer found me on the street and apologised saying that yes, there were new rules now in place and that I could extend. I was the first person who had enquired about the new laws and knew more than they did.

I popped along to the prophesied 'kilometre zero'. It is indeed the Northern most point of Indonesia accessible by road. I dicked about taking silly photos of myself and annoying the local monkey populous.

After I had finished my set number of dives I headed down to another beach to meet with Roel from Holland on his Africa Twin. He was doing his Dive Master Training with Lumba Lumba dive school and camping to keep the costs down. Since I had spent the day doing nothing I was pretty restless and started to make arrangements to head south as quickly as possible to extend my visa as late as possible.

I spent the day before my planned departure at Lumba Lumba meditating on the epic solo journey ahead. I had already purchased camping supplies and was mentally preparing myself. After 5 minutes in their newly washed hammock - It turns out that it's blue after washing, I had an epiphany. 'F*ck it' I exclaimed, 'I'll do my Dive Master Training'.

So I'll be here for another month at least, living in my tent to keep the costs down, doing what I enjoy, learning. I'll have to do a first aid course and a rescue diver course then will end up teaching and guiding other divers whilst I complete my training. At the end of the course I will become a professional with the letters DM after my name - I like adding letters to my name!

If there's one thing that I've learnt on the trip, it's that I love learning. That PhD opportunity back in the UK is still tempting... one day maybe.

And 'Mimbi Mimbi Mu?' is some of the little Bahasa Indonesia I have learnt, it means 'Your Dreams', 'Mimbi Mimbi Pu' means 'My Dreams'. I think it sounds like a character from a book by T.S. Elliot. It may even be a character from the Moomins...