Coi Nudibranch - © Bernard Loke

Chromodoris Dianae Nudibranch - © Bernard Loke

A Nudibranch - © Bernard Loke

A Nudibranch - © Bernard Loke

A Nudibranch - © Bernard Loke

A Nudibranch - © Bernard Loke

We did exactly that; with the mandarin fishes.

One of the highlights of the trip to Manado was to see the mandarin fish mating. I never seen mandarin fishes mate since I started diving, so you can see that I’m overly excited over this.

Before the dive, the group of us were joking that we were intruding the privacy of the fishes by watching them mate. And worse still, most of us went with our cameras; some were taking photos, some were shooting videos!

Those who did not have a camera, went with torch lights!

Initially we were supposed to do the mandarin fish mating dive (the only purpose of the dive was to see them mate) in Lembeh Straits. We planned for 3 day dives and 1 sunset dive for the mandarin fish. But when we surfaced at the end of our third dive, we were already running out of time. We didn’t have enough surface interval time for the mandarin fish dive. Almost everyone was doing 70 minutes per dive on average.

Our dive guide, Melky told us that we can also do the mandarin fish dive back in the house reef in Manado the next day. But, it wouldn’t be that fun.

There are only about 5-6 mandarin fishes in Manado compared to those in Lembeh Straits. Apparently, there’s a whole big bunch of them in Lembeh and it would be like watching a mass mandarin fish orgy.

But, at least that’s better than nothing. We have 1 diving day left, so we have to do our mandarin fish dive in Manado. Otherwise, I’ll need to wait for the next trip there.

So, Manado it is; the Laras Casse House Reef.

To see the mandarin fishes mate, we needed to be on time. Otherwise we’ll miss the spectacle and wait for the next day, or worse still the next trip. The sun sets at about 5.15pm and everyone needs to be in the water by then.

5 minutes to swim to the dead coral rubble where the mandarin fishes stay. Another 5 minutes for the dive guide to position us at our best position around the dead corals so that we can have the best view of the fishes mating. The depth was around 9.8m.

The surroundings were getting very dark once we were all in our position. We waited…and waited.

After a few minutes passed, we still did not spot any mandarin fish getting out of the dead corals. No torch were lit up, otherwise they will shy away.

And suddenly there was this big male swimming out of the corals followed by a few smaller females. I think they were just flirting around and waiting for the right partner to mate. The bigger males will always try to fend off the smaller males and it seems like the females too, prefer the bigger males.

Each time the torch was shined towards them, they immediately went back into the corals.

So we waited. All torch were switched off. We could still see but it’s quite dim. We waited for them to mate before shining the light at them. Slowly, they emerged from the corals, side by side with female resting on the male’s pectoral fin. This time, even with our torch shined directly at them, they still mate as though no one was watching. I guess it’s getting late already and they need to get today’s job done!

After a while…it went BOOOMMM!

Everyone was screaming. But with the regulator in the mouth, all I heard was Hmmm..Ummmm…Hhhuummm!

The mating was successful and the eggs were release. It was be seen in the video towards the end.

This video was shot by one of the divers in our group, Ah Boon. I was positioned at the worst position possible and all I saw was the backside of the fishes. And to make things worse, my mask fogged!

All thanks to the excitement to watch them mate that I forgot to wash the mask earlier.

Orang Utan Crab On A Soft Coral - © Bernard Loke

This little crab is about 3cm in size and very active. It kept jumping around and often fell off the soft coral making is a quite hard to photograph. With every 2-3 shots, I need to pick it up from the sand and place it back onto the coral again.

Nevertheless, it was really good photographing this little crab as it’s really unique; because it looks like a orangutan!

I saw it during my first dive in Manado  but I did not manage to have a good photograph of it because there were too many divers with the camera. Luckily enough, it appeared again on my last dive of the trip. Otherwise, it’ll need to wait until my next trip.

A Pair of Young Harlequin Shrimps - © Bernard Loke

We found these two harlequin shrimps while diving at the Laras Casse House Reef in Manado. They were so active moving around that the dive guide spent several minutes arranging them side by side for the camera.

Halimeda Ghost Pipefish - © Bernard Loke

Look properly and see whether you can spot it’s eyes.

I came across this unique species of ghost pipefish on 3 dives throughout my entire trip to Manado.

At first, I was pretty clueless the when the dive guide pointed this leaf to me. It was right beside the green Halimeda algae and I thought to myself,

Why are you pointing a leaf to me?

Then, he moved one particular leaf away from the rest and only then did I know it was a fish. It was about 5cm in length and the head pointing downwards. I didn’t know it was called a Halimeda Ghose Pipefish until we did our creature identification after the dive.

Hippocampus Severnsi - © Bernard Loke

Say hello to my new tiny little friend, Hippocampus Severnsi, or commonly called Severn’s Pygmy Seahorse.

I first met him while diving at 16m depth in Tanjung Mandolang in Manado.

It was hiding at one of the sea fans and my dive guide was pointing it to me with his fingers but I can’t see it. So I went nearer and nearer and I thought, where the heck is this little pygmy?

And there it was, less than 1cm in size.

Upper Level Deck at Berlin Haupbahnhof - © Bernard Loke

Berlin Haupbahnhof, or Berlin Central Station is the largest station in Europe. It was opened on 26 May 2009, just weeks before the World Cup Finals were held in Germany. Currently, it serves the InterCityExpress, InterCity, RegionalExpress, RegionalBahn and S-Bahn trains (almost all types of train you can find in Germany).

Sunset At Huntington Beach Pier - © Bernard Loke

A beautiful sunset view of Huntington Beach Pier located in Orange County, Southern California. Huntington Beach is one of the many beaches in California overlooking the Pacific ocean and also known as Surf City USA.

Artworks and paintings are definitely not my cup of tea. Even seeing the famed Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre did not excite me.

So I decided to give it a miss as there are other attractions in Berlin that I have to fit into my short 3 days trip there.

But the more I Googled, the more interesting the East Side Gallery seems to be.

In fact, it’s actually an open air gallery, with around 100 paintings by artists all over the world on the 1.3km stretch on the Berlin Wall.

Now, that’s something really, really interesting – Open air gallery and the Berlin Wall.

Along the 1.3km stretch of paintings on the wall, about 80% of them are badly damaged by erosion, graffiti, and vandalism.

The remaining 20% was recently restored since year 2000. And I got to know that there will be full restoration of almost all the paintings from 2008 onwards when enough funds are raised.

The First of Many Paintings - © Bernard Loke

One of My Fav Paintings - © Bernard Loke

My God Help Me, This Deadly Love to Survive - © Bernard Loke

Charlie Checkpoint - © Bernard Loke

Welcome to Berlin - © Bernard Loke

Proof That I Was Here! - © Bernard Loke

The Holocaust - © Bernard Loke

CV of The Berlin Wall - © Bernard Loke

As you can see from the above photos, most of the paintings are no long in their original state. Some of the graffiti even looked better than the original painting itself. However, I just found out that most of the paintings are restored by November 2009 and they looked really great now.

It got even more complicated with the L-1 blanket visa that I’m applying. It’s not the usual B-1/B-2 which most people apply for either tourism or business trips.

L-1 is intended for a intra company transferee. Basically it means I can work in the U.S., legally.

For the L-1 visa, I needed a lot of supporting documents from my company in the U.S. It’s not just an invitation letter. In fact, there’s no invitation letter needed.

Before my U.S. counterparts could provide me with these supporting documents, I need to pass 2 checks.

Drug Check

They need me to be free from all kind of drugs. And the procedure is that I go to the nearest Verifications Inc. collection center which is located  in Singapore to have my urine taken and then it will be Fedex-ed to U.S. for lab testing.

To me, it doesn’t really make sense (time and money wise) to go all the way to Singapore for a day or two to have my urine taken, and then have it sent to U.S. So, we agreed that I’ll do this drug test once I’m in the U.S.

Background Check

This check was also handled by Verifications Inc. They gave me a long list of questionnaires asking about my personal background, professional background, family’s background and criminal background. Apparently, every employee  in the U.S (at least for my company) needs to pass this check, otherwise they won’t be employed.

But wait. I’m not seeking for employment there. I’m just there for a short term assignment for less than a year. But still, the checks need to be done.

Once Verifications Inc. have cleared me with any previous wrong doings against their extensive worldwide database, my company will then start the visa application process for me.

L-1 Visa Application Process

For L-1 visa, my company in the U.S. needs to file a petition U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). It is actually a document showing that both the U.S. company and the foreign parent, subsidiary, affiliate or branch meet the qualifying factors set forth in the law and regulations.

This document is called the Form I-129.

And once this petition is approved, the USCIS will provide a Notice of Action, Form I-797.

I would be using this as the basis of my L1 visa application when I go to the U.S embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

I waited 10 days for these documents to be processed in the U.S. and then Fedex-ed to me.

Inside, there were 3 copies the Form I-129 which consists of :

• company’s annual report
• company’s background articles
• financial statements
• a letter detailing my specialized knowledge needed in the U.S.
• my qualifications

And that’s not all.

I still need to obtain a letter from the local HR, specifying how long I’ve worked in this company. The first requirement for L1 visa application is that I must have worked with this company for at least 12 months.

Then, I need a letter signed by by manager specifying how much I earn every month.

Also, I need a copy of my original degree.

With all the documents above done, then it’s time to pay the RM532 visa application fees. This can be done in any Allianz bank branch.

Once the payment was done, then only I can schedule my interview. It was quick though. The earliest available time is the day after tomorrow, which is a good thing.

But, before appearing for the interview, there are even more documents need to be prepared.

• DS-156 – an online visa application form
• DS-157 – another detailed visa application form

That’s not all, yet.

There’s an online interview scheduling form to fill up. Once done, I’ll have my interview application letter. And only with this letter I would be able to enter the embassy.

I know it’s pretty complicated. The most complicated visa application process I’ve ever done.