Hello dear readers,

I guess it needs no mention that my name is Fizzy! And yes – it seems that a majority of the time that exclamation mark which follows my name is a common occurrence whenever friends call upon me.

I feel a bit odd trying to write an ‘About Me’ page on a blog that will most likely only gather readers who already know me well – friends and family trying to keep tabs and follow me on my adventures and whereabouts in this nomadic life of mine. They’re the reason why I’ve created this website, as many (okay I’m bragging… not many at all, more like… 6? lol) have requested to know more about what I’ve been up to, and the places and things I have seen. No matter how far away I find myself geographically distanced from people I know and love dearly, I’ve never felt lonely due to awareness that they’re always out there thinking about me, with their constant care and support of me in my ventures. I dedicate everything within this site to them.

Plus it lessens my need to write about the same things via many individual emails and messages 😉

As for the few of you ‘strangers’ who may have happened to stumble upon my meagre writings (Hello and welcome! You don’t know how excitedly I am jumping about right now thinking there could be one random stranger out there even mildly interested in this site! So yay you’re special!), here’s a bit of my life story so far:

I’m an easy-going, super-friendly, dreamy and generally happy 34-year-old Malaysian whose passions include travel, books, music, and being in/around/surrounded by/close to natural bodies of water. The ocean being my ultimate favourite! My heart pretty much pumps salt water into my arteries. I don’t know if the water thing relates to the fact that I was born on the 10th of March which makes me a Piscean aka the ‘water baby’, but that’s where I’m at my calmest and happiest. That, or the library.

I’m not one of your full-time travelers who go exploring the world for years and years in one go – majority of my traveling is done in bits and pieces throughout my life, starting since I was a little girl when my parents would take the family on short trips locally and overseas for our holidays. I guess I owe it to my parents, who are avid travelers themselves, for my constant itch to see new places and meet new people. I get real fidgety and restless if I don’t get to go explore somewhere new – it doesn’t always have to be far off exotic places all the time. Even if it’s a short weekend or day-trip getaway somewhere close by, as long as it takes me someplace interesting and I’ve never been to, I’m happy!

I used to work with a big multi-national oil & gas company for 6 whole years, before deciding to take the plunge and resign from the corporate world in October 2010. It wasn’t that I hated it (I actually loved working there), but I felt that I’d learnt and gained what I wanted from it and needed to try something new. I’ve always never been sure if the life of the young professional was for me, despite the ‘comforts’ that it brings i.e. the big paychecks, a career ladder to climb, global recognition, and your typical city lifestyle. Because of this, I’ve dabbled my hands at a multitude of different things, mainly allowing myself to choose and do work I enjoy doing and which will let me learn new things – running my own small businesses (I have experience setting up my own independent artist merchandising company after leaving university, and later operated my own book cafe for 2 years); worked as a part-time barista at Starbucks; and in 2011 I trained up to become a professional Scuba Diver and worked first with Turtle Bay Divers, a scuba diving centre situated on the beautiful Perhentian Island in Malaysia. The island only opens for part of the year, as between November to March they are engulfed in monsoon. So on the off-season of 2011/12 I travelled to New Zealand and worked with the city-based Dive Wellington (formerly known as Splash Gordon) on the south coast of Wellington for 6 months. My attempt at trying to experience some cold-water diving! In March 2012 I returned back to Perhentian Islands to resume my work with Turtle Bay Divers. At the end of the season I took a couple of months off work for some family-time, and a bit more traveling before starting work with Sipadan Scuba, a dive center located in the town of Semporna, Sabah that dives the waters of the world-famous Sipadan Island.

In 2013, I migrated once again and planted myself in Dibba – a tiny Omani fishing town 2 hours’ drive outside of Dubai, on the Northern peninsula of Musandam. I was offered a job with Nomad Ocean Adventures, and I thought it was was a great opportunity for me to get myself out there and experience some diving in the Middle East. I loved every minute of it! The diving there is great, the people I worked with are wonderful, and the culture and environment different enough to give me the excitement and exposure I always have a crave for. I spent a full year working there, before returning to Malaysia and working with Turtle Bay Divers again for two seasons (2014, and 2015). I did some freelancing work here and there during the off-seasons of those years.

As of today at the point of updating this page (26th December 2016), I’ve plonked myself in yet another new country. I currently work as a full-time dive instructor with Compass Charters & Ocean Adventures, a company based in Dili, Timor-Leste. I moved out here in June and so far my plan for now is stick around here for a bit more still, ‘cuz I love it here! The diving and marine life are hands down amongst the best in the world, and the waters are filled with cetaceans galore, so this place has got me good ;). I intend to make the most out of being in this unique, still-unspoiled part of the world, and hopefully get to do more traveling to places that can be easily reached from here too. And, of course, do as much diving as possible!

That’s about it, really! I do hope you enjoy my blog, or at least some parts of it. I love sharing my experiences so if you pick up a tip or two from it, I find that very fulfilling to have been able to pass on something useful to others. And vice versa, I am more than happy to receive any advice or experience that you might have to share with me.

Feel free to leave a comment or two whenever you feel like it, or send me an email – it would be great for me too to know who’s out there reading 🙂 Thanks for dropping by!

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”
~St. Augustine

Cheers,
Fizzy

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