I have always wanted to try freediving, especially after I started scuba diving. I thought this diving discipline is really cool, as you can just go and enjoy the underwater world without having to worry much about equipments. But I keep putting it off trying out freediving…as you know, I was quite afraid of unknown. I’m not exactly comfortable in the water at depth without my scuba equipments on. What’s worst is that in freediving, it will challenge your physical endurance as it involves alot of breath holding.
The thoughts of not being able to breathe at depth was frightening, but I have recently started mermaiding, which is also a form of freediving, albeit a more freestyle and artful one at a shallower depth of 5 meters at most. While mermaiding, my feet are bounded together with a monofin that’s all wrapped up in a mermaid tail skin. I have to hold my breath while mermaiding as well, but of course, unlike freediving, mermaids don’t really challenge themselves to hold breath as long as they can, and when they feel like they can’t hold their breath, they’ll just come up for air. After a few months of mermaiding, swimming and diving without my scuba equipments on doesn’t seems so scary or traumatic anymore, and I decided that perhaps, it’s high time that I go and try freediving as well.
I was contemplating on which dive centre and which instructor I should go with, as to me, it’s really important to have an instructor that you are comfortable with and able to trust your life with, considering the nature of the sport.
And then, by chance or luck, Scuba Dobedo Divers organizes a freediving tryout session with Instructor Swen Becht. And I thought, this is just perfect. I’ve always been comfortable with Scuba Dobedo Divers and it’s crews. Even my first scuba fun dive after my certification was with them and they’re nothing but a bunch of professional people who not only put divers’ safety as a priority, but treats people with genuine warmth as well. A plus point that encourage me to sign up for the tryout is that I’ve seen Instructor Swen Becht in action with his students prior to the tryout announcement during my weekly lake dive clean up session at Bandar Saujana Putra Lake, and I was somewhat impressed on how he teaches and takes care of his students.
So yea, I signed up for the tryout. Here’s a picture of me with Instructor Swen and Bryan. They were the one who took care of us during the tryout.
I’ve already have half a mind to follow this through to the end, if I were to be honest with you. But of course, after all the nightmares of not knowing my instructor better during my Open Water Diver certification 3 years back, there’s still nagging doubts and I would like to get to know my future freediving instructor better before I made any commitments, and the tryout session was the perfect opportunity for me to do so.
So here’s yours truly, at the freediving tryout session organized by Scuba Dobedo Divers at Kelab Golf Negara Subang’s pool.
Yours truly and her mermaid buddy Kelly. Kelly has been kind enough to come to the tryout with me and keep me company. I am so grateful that she came with me the other day.
Pretty ladies who were there during tryout session as well.
Getting my fins on before the session starts. To be honest, I got a little nervous cuz I wasn’t really sure what to expect.
Happy excited faces during the tryout.
Class in session. We were split into two groups for the session. We were quickly briefed on what we should do, what we shouldn’t do and some short introduction on the freediving discipline that’s available. We were told that during the tryout, we would be doing a little duck dive and a dynamic swim of 25m underwater and static apnea. For those who are not familiar with the term, static apnea is where you hold your breath as long as you can without moving.
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Freediving tryout with Scuba Dobedo Divers
And here’s a video of us in action during the tryout.
So how did I do? Was I happy? Did I think freediving was fun and it’s something I would like to pursue further? Well, I was practically sold. I didn’t change my mind after the session and I really wanted to go on with the full course. I was so happy as well because I finally managed a 25m dynamic swim during that session. I never did hit a 25m underwater swim in one breath before. And oh here’s sharing my first static apnea record:
Static- 1 min 20 sec
Static- 1 min 30 sec
Static- 1 min 38 sec
I wouldn’t wanna gloat but hey, I think I deserve a little pat on the back for this. I thought I wouldn’t be able to hold my breath pass 30 seconds.
And of course, apart from the personal achievement, I was also very happy that I got to spend time with my buddies from Scuba Dobedo Divers as well. Here’s Farah and Yin Chao. They’re Scuba Dobedo Divers in- house scuba instructors. They’re both my dive buddies.
This is my Laoshi (mentor), Tom Chan. People generally knows him as a scuba instructor or a PADI Course Director in Scuba Dobedo Divers, but he doesn’t teach me scuba diving. Instead, he teaches me Chinese martial arts, which is Qigong, Taichi and Taichi weapons. I got to know him by fate during lockdown as well.
Two years back I spent alot of time with some of these buddies online during lockdown, especially with my Laoshi . I was practically still sane because of them. Without them I would probably have gone cuckoo cuz of being locked up at home for so long. And here’s us spending some time offline together.
There is a saying that says; ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’. But that saying is not applicable in real life situation at all, as sometimes, no one wants to accompany you at the beginning, so you will have to go alone on your own, or you’ll never go anywhere at all. This is especially true for me, as there are many things I want to do, and yet, most of the time, whenever I asked my friends to join me or to accompany me, they would refuse as the things that I would like to do is usually not their cup of tea. But you know something? Don’t worry about being alone. The right people will always appear along your journey as you start walking further.
She was the only person from the blogging world who actually bothered to check on my mental health throughout the lockdown period through video calls. She was also there for me last year when I was feeling awfully sick and being miserable on my own. If I were to die last year, she would probably be one of the first person to know that I’m dead. That’s how often she checked on me. I have to say that last year was pretty much traumatic for me in many ways, and I’m still trying to heal, but I am blessed to have people who helped me along the way. Of all the wrong things that I might have unwittingly did, I must have done something right somewhere to deserve them in my life. 
Anyway, enough lamenting about my sorry state of mental health. What I really want to share with all of you here is my outing to BBQ Lamb Kemensah with Syafiera; where we treated ourselves to some sumptuous pre-Ramadan iftar buffet. 
We were practically spoiled for choices when we were there. 
The buffet mainly highlights authentic Malay traditional dishes. Among the must try dishes are; rendang ayam, ayam masak merah, sup kambing, ikan masak tiga rasa, daging salai masak lemak cili padi, kari kepala ikan, sambal sotong and many more. A big forewarning, though. These are authentic, which means they’re not catered to be diluted in flavours. They are strongly flavoured, and yes, very spicy. Those who loves combustion of flavours on their palate will definitely find these an enjoyable treat. White rice and fragrantly flavoured rice is available for you to pair them with. 
Freshly picked ulams to go with your hot dishes can be spotted at the buffet table as well. 
Assorted traditional Malay sambal and dippings is also available. 
Pasta and salad counter feature is smaller than the traditional Malay dishes spread, but they’re not to be overlooked. The pasta selection is to die for, especially their carbonara spaghetti, and I’d recommend you to at least have a grab at some of their salad of the day. They’re wonderfully refreshing. Not to be missed is also their creamy mushroom soup. The mushroom soup is thick and rich with chunks of mushroom pulps. 
BBQ Lamb Kemensah is well known for their western food selection; mainly BBQ items, so yes, there’s action counter for BBQ during the buffet as well. 
Available for your enjoyment would be all their star items on their normal days meny, which is smoked chicken, smoked tenderloin, smoked lamb shoulder and of course, their smoke duck and some seafood. I’m a huge fan of their BBQ dishes, so I tried a bit of everything. My favourite would be their smoked lamb shoulder and smoked duck. If you’re ever there for the Ramadan buffet, try not to give their smoked duck a miss. They’re absolutely mouthwatering. 
Here are some of the food that I’ve tried the other day. They’re so delicious that I wished I had a lot of space in my stomach, but alas, I overindulged on the meat and had no space for desserts by the end of the meal. I know, it’s so silly, but I seriously can’t help myself as their meaty BBQ items was so good that I can’t help myself but to have them one plate after another. 
Their dessert and beverage stall offers ais kacang and cold laichi kang. Fresh tropical fruits can also be found at this stall. I didn’t manage to try the ais kacang, so I can’t speak for that, but I did tried the lai chi kang and it’s perfect to cool off with, especially after all the hot and spicy food that we had during the buffet. Here are some info on the BBQ Lamb Kemensah Iftar 2023 Buffet if you’re interested to break your fast with during the upcoming Ramadan:
