BonVivant

Ate goat 2 days in a row here on Samothraki island (where goat, always free-range, is the island's speciality, not seafood). "Young goat in the oven" is a popular meal here but today I had goat chops for the first time. Tender, juicy and succulent just like young lamb. The goats from Islamic butchers at home are small and bony! Gonna eat it every day till I leave the island (in 4 days time)!

Saw it all the time in southern Argentina. (That's a hint for those who don't know what it's used for.)

After coffee and steamed buns we had a look at the central market. It's big enough for a small town, not many fruit stalls, though. And unfortunately for me, peak fruit season starts in August. Everyone had the same stuff (dragon fruit, papaya, watermelons, avocados, pineapples, Thai and Sabah-grown mangoes etc). Some fruits in Sabah are ready earlier than on other islands. Dragon fruit on Canarian and Japan's southern islands are available from mid October. Only 2 smooth thin skin varieties grown in Sabah. Larger and more elongated. That's all the fruit stalls. I chatted with a young dragon fruit vendor who informed me about Sabahan fruits and their seasons, and how to know which are imported ones. Sellers of anything are usually happy to talk with you about stuff they sell, providing information (and soon enough, ask about your travels, sometimes also personal questions). Always helpful and kind, that's the nature of Sabahans. This is what makes Bornean food taste good... And this super pungent paste is in a bunch of dishes, even fruit salads. To like Malay/Bornean/Indonesian food you need to appreciate shrimp paste. Honey in bottles. Not sure if they dilute the honey, it's quite liquid-y. I've tried it. No cover and raised stalls outside, but you probably pay less to occupy a spot. About $4,50 Rain water is saved in this big container. Some places to eat where the plastic chairs are. That's where we ate breakfast, facing the market. Plain brown rice in a leaf parcel Breadfruit and crispy anchovies I asked for more tamarind sambal. One of my favourite sambals. Chayote shoots and mango salad. Never had the same mango salad. It's different every time as everyone has their own recipes. The parcel of rice before opening In the afternoon we hired someone with own car to take us to Poring "hot spring" (and back). Not there for the hot spring but to look round and do the canopy walk. The hot spring was developed by the Japanese during the war. It moves a lot but seems totally safe. June is not yet high season, we had the canopy walk to ourselves for some time. Otherwise it would not be fun with all the people and time waiting round till your turn, especially in this heat and humidity. Coffee and coconut when I got back from the hot spring. Then to this restaurant just to eat their roti telur (flatbread with egg inside). Looks like we picked a good one, all the Muslim customers ate this same thing. It was so good, no wonder. Crispy, fluffy, soft. Never had roti telur this good again the rest of the trip. Dough balls ready to be stretched (impossibly thinly). Now moving on to the third Muslim restaurant, across the street from roti telur. Noodle soup with chicken. Noodle soup with tendons. Nice that I could choose, by pointing at what's on the tray behind the glass display case. There are always other offal bits. Bitter gourd salad. I ate the chilli on top of the bitter gourd. But there were 4 more underneath... Last beers at the friendly Chinese restaurant. "Snek" and more beer to take back to the room. Earlier this morning before visiting the central market. Always a fun adventure checking out the supermarket. Maggi sauce (top row) is produced in China. So far the only Chinese Maggi sauce to be found in Sabah. (At home I can obtain Maggi sauce produced in 3 different countries.) I checked every supermarket for fish sauce. Not common to see more than 2 brands or 2 types. They are either on the very top shelf or the very bottom, or hidden. Probably not an important ingredient in the cuisine.

Leaving Kota Belud today. So hard to find beer in Sabah. 7-11 is the only shop where one can buy any alcohol, and only alcohol available is about 4 brands of (industrial) beer. We drank Tiger and Guinness in the evening. 7-11 does have 2 other industrial beer but they are worse. One last look at the most "famous" mountain in Sabah. Sabah is still primitive, it's a lot like our early backpacking days all over again. No real bus station, not many people know what time the vans or buses leave, staggering inefficiency, bad roads, old buses/vans, reckless driving, terrible traffic on narrow interstate road (the only one that connects the towns). We made it to a small town in the mountains, where most tourists would only stop for a meal or toilet break and be on their way again to the next big town 4 hours away. Our lodging here was even more basic than the previous one, which was already basic. It took twice as long to get here due to bad traffic. First meal and coffee at 4pm at a Muslim restaurant round the corner from the lodging. Mango salad Nasi goreng ayam penyet (fried rice with chicken Schnitzel) Roti telur (flatbread with egg) We went looking for a 7-11 but found none. Then the partner spotted stacks of beer inside a Chinese restaurant/cafe. The signs look like they have been there since the 80's. We had 2 big ice cold Tiger straight away. Owner was very friendly and polite. Spoke perfect English, too. We brought some more beer to take back to the "hotel", across the street. And some fishy snack on the way back to the "hotel". That was our first few hours in small, insignificant Ranau. People stared at us, some made spontaneous small talk. We have now been to 2 towns, that according to the guide book, not worth stopping for anything. It's these not worthy places where we tend to experience to real Sabah (or insert any town/country)! So thanks for staying away!

I rarely go on holidays in the summer. If I go away it's for a week, not a whole month. This time I came home to the middle of new season of Matjes. Half way through making Matjes tartare when I realised I had no more capers and some other things. Eggs, pickles and soured cream. Made gravlax for one in my household who doesn't eat Matjes. On left are air-dried Mettwurst (a type of sausage) and liver slices. And Butter From The Sea (new Matjes). A type of sourdough rye bread. Chewy, very dense and firm. Took us a long time to eat this bread. Another meal: Hong Kong-style chewy flat noodles with prawn roe. Dashi-poached okra with red miso sauce. Roasted pork shoulder ("char siu"), Chinese shop, made on the premises.

It's painful to be back in hell! The first meal was just sourdough bread with various cheeses and home-made peanut butter and chocolate spread. The meals after that were just some random things we have missed. Don't remember seeing mushrooms and kimchi in Borneo. They love spicy and some fermented foods there but no kimchi at all. (Trout roe and bonito flakes bottom half) We missed oily fish, dairy and pumpernickel. And even if I could buy oysters in Borneo I wouldn't (but would look at them longingly). Too much of a risk.

Back home now but our rugsacks were not with us on the plane. Will be delivered to my address soon. Singapore Airlines sent us to KL first, then to Singapore, from there the long flight to Europe. The connection KL-SIN was super tight they failed to transfer our bags on the next flight. Had to fill out a form after landing and a customs clearance form online yesterday. Felt very strange to walk out of the airport without our rucksacs. This is the second time it has happened to me. First time was from Santiago to Chiloe island, Chile in 2011. My small 5kg bag was delivered to my guest house the following day. Other people's carry-on bags are usually twice as big. Anyway, just happy to be getting my bag back soon. ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Sunday market in Kota Belud is the region's biggest. People from all over the surrounding areas come here to sell fruits and produce from own gardens or (someone else's bigger garden), stuff foraged in the woods and fields. (Dried) seafood, cooked food, snacks, household goods and probably everything under the sun. There's a separate livestock section but we didn't go. During high season (July-August), coaches drop off tourists from the capital and take them back after a few hours or so. The guest house is only a few minutes on foot from the market so we took our time to browse. Most vendors sat on the ground. Check out the big leaves. These wild mangoes are still unripe. The skin is hard. Flesh is starch white and very sour. At this stage they can only be eaten as pickles. (Sticky) rice in (yam?) leaves These are popular all over Sabah, I saw maybe half a dozen stalls at this market. Did try a bite of this snack when visiting the cultural village a few days earlier. It's spongy inside. How the batter is measured A hole is made using a long bamboo stick. Then the disc is lifted with the stick still in it and hung on the rim of the wok to drain. Betel nuts Interesting vegetables Tiny aubergines Tiny harvest from own garden. The smallest tomatoes I've seen, the size of marbles. One of the most popular mango varieties grown in peninsular Malaysia, and Sabah also grows its own. You know it's not imported from Thailand/Philippines/Vietnam etc when the fruit is not uniform, often bruised, and definitely not pretty looking. Blacktip shark. Commonly found in tropical waters, but their status is apparently "vulnerable". Yes, the market is big and sprawling. We inspected every row and every stall. There are food stalls inside this big Sunday market. They have a building to house all the food stalls in a specific area (where we ate breakfast). Soups were from different stalls. Sticky rice with sambal ikan billis (anchovies chilli paste). Wrapped in banana leaf and warmed over charcoal. A simple nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaf. Moved on to 2 stalls away where I spotted this chocolate steamed bun. It was good. We got another one and 2 more coffee. Never saw another chocolate steamed bun like this again the whole trip. Got my last coconut at the central market and said goodbye to the 2 stallholders with whom I spoke with every day. Mother of the lovely young woman who was on duty at the stall. She insisted we took a selfie together (we did and I am not a phone user, a hater of selfie/non user of social media platform). The moment she looked at me and said let's make a photo of us 3 together. Bought a cheap knife to eat the mangoes. Then later I watched someone eat a mango without any knife like a boss. Last chance to eat local noodle soup in Kota Belud. This was lunch some time later. This "dry" noodle dish is also popular in Kota Belud. --------------- Now back at the riverside village deep in rural northern Sabah for another river cruise, but with a different tour op. They always give you this kind of fried snacks when you arrive. I gave my plate to the partner, again. Dinner after to river tour. I barely touched mine, ate mostly fruit. It rained again during the cruise. When I saw the jetty I thought oh no, the cruise was about to end. But then it suddenly stopped raining and my boat slowed down then got a bit closer to the trees. The tour guide tried to point at the direction where we could see proboscis monkeys. We looked and finally spotted them. A bunch of them in the trees busy eating. These leaves are their favourite food. The more I looked the more monkeys I saw. These monkeys are sociable and live in groups. They eat early in the morning and during golden hour. The reason river cruises only go at these times of day. It was quite some distance away but I did manage to make some usable shots of these peculiar monkeys. They are in the top 5 wildlife attractions in Malaysian Borneo. Proboscis monkeys are endemic to Borneo and mostly found in mangrove forests. That's why river tours are so popular in Sabah. This is a female. Males have huge noses. Huge. This was our first taste of Sabah's wildlife. It got better after this tour, because we had more tours to come. So, I saw this earlier in a shop. Haha, the world couldn't be more wrong about us. No desire to dignify absurd assumptions with a reaction. (Source: I'm 200% introverted)

Sat next to a young man in the mini van on my way to his home town Kota Belud whom I asked many questions about the town, durians, its food and whatnot. He said to try the town's favourite noodle soup ("Mi Sup"). So the next morning I set out to look for Mi Sup. It was not hard to find the soup, and when I found this food centre it seemed everyone was eating it. We tried from different stalls. It's OK to sit down at one stall (you must order something here first) and also order something else from different stalls. The broth is different, obviously every stall has its own recipe. Chewy, fine (wheat?) noodles, chicken broth, topped with shredded chicken (or in small chunks with bones). I walked through the market every day to find fruits or whatever. This is what makes the food in Malaysia taste good... Shrimp paste. In the old days they used something very simple to shred coconut or to obtain the milk manually. Now it's electric. The elderly man wanted me to make his photo. Thank you, mister! Malaysia is deep-frying paradise. Seems almost anything can be deep-fried here. A coconut a day. The coconut and the dried fish vendors share the same stall. He speaks English just fine, the young woman who runs the dried fish stall is very highly proficient, her mother as well. The reason we stopped by their stalls every day, besides buying a coconut, was to ask/talk about typical topics such as travelling in Sabah, food, customs, transport etc. When someone is happy to provide insightful information I take this opportunity to learn. The stallholders could answer all our questions, were super friendly and helpful. This small, insignificant town most tourists wouldn't even consider staying the night has most friendly and welcoming locals. We are glad we gave it a chance. We love to drink coconut water and in Borneo it's so common and easy to find. The price varies so you must ask first. Anywhere between 2-7 ($0,42-$1,50 ringgits. Fish flavoured crackers Do I lick the pods? Garlic-flavoured whole peanuts in their pods. Durian flavoured fruit concentrate I like green mango salad and by now I have noticed only Malay/Muslim/tribal eateries have it. And they always have aubergines in a red sauce Hard boiled egg in sambal Chicken We had the first river tour this afternoon. Unfortunately it didn't go well at all. Started out good, though. This is the real Sabah. Very rural, wild, life is simple, oil palm plantations dominate the landscape, people, have little in terms of luxury, but are ready to smile at each other and strangers. As a tourist you simply don't have access to many places, especially deeply rural, wild or rugged areas. You must join a tour and fill out a form disclosing all the details. Sabah is the poorest Malaysian state but (one of) the most expensive to travel in because of the tours. On top of that, some tours' prices are higher if you are a foreigner. But in general, when shopping, if there's no price on something and you are a foreigner you will probably pay more than locals, but not always, to make it clear. I'm glad it's not as bad as some other countries, though. I really hate dual-pricing/OK-to-rip-off-the-tourists system in certain countries. I tend to shun them. Just 1 lousy photo of a macaque a few minutes into the boat ride then it started raining. The rain picked up the pace so fast and hard we were all soaked like swimming with clothes on (the boat had a roof but open on all sides, the wind blew the big fat rain horizontally through the boat, from front to back!). Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Nature owns you nothing. It was dry again later and we could jump back in the boat to see fireflies. So many, floating like snow in the dark. The food included in the price of the tour: sweets and buffet dinner. I didn't touch the sweets and had only a little taste of dinner. This mountain is on the flag of Sabah. Also appears not once but twice on the state's coat of arms. Seen from my room every morning. There's a swallow nest under the roof (top right corner). The chicks were so loud much of the day. Indeed!

I'm 96% fine again. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Had our last breakfast at 2 different places on the same street. Big steamed bun and buttermilk bun All the steamed buns filled with pork are the same. Braised pork, 1/4 boiled egg and 1 shiitake. On the way to where we had to catch a van to the next destination... Not a Vietnamese restaurant but they have "Phở" and coffee. If you must vandalise, at least make it funny. (It's a character from a horror film) We made it to Kota Belud, a small town half way to far north of Borneo. The presence of Chinese-Malays is drastically less than in the capital. We asked the (Malay) driver to drop us off at a Malay restaurant for lunch. It was full of Malays and employees were also Malays, but the food looked Chinese. It's a local restaurant and the food freshly cooked. Chicken is king. We had no iron-rich food since we got to Sabah (I'm anaemic). Tofu Stir-fried lettuce After lunch we checked out the market. Noticed straight away dried fish/seafood stalls were more numerous than in the capital, and vendors were mostly non Chinese-Malays. Betel leaves. There are stalls that sell only betel stuff. Some elderly people chew it. Some dried fish come with sambal I enjoyed eating this vegetable many times in Taiwan and am delighted to see it again at markets in Sabah. Ginger flowers Glutinous rice yeast balls hung on nylon strings It's not fish sauce. I asked. It's local honey. The fish section is small. The first thing I noticed was the fishmongers. Nearly all were women here whereas it's usually men elsewhere. Did not linger long, the smell was strong. There are so many swallow nests inside that the solution is to hang big plastic sheet above the stalls. After done checking out every row I went back to my favourite stall: It's huge. Lots of water. I drank and drank. Took a while to finish drinking all the water. I said I wanted to eat the flesh but had no spoon, "I'll make you a spoon". The "spoon" (a sharp piece of green otter shell) actually worked. But when a coconut has a lot of water there is very little meat. This one had no meat. You can see the inside of the coconut, the thicker the meat (endosperm) the whiter the interior. There's nothing here. Apparently we were the town's latest attraction. Many people stared at us everywhere. Some grown people and children said "hello hello". When I bought something or asked about something and if they could speak any English at all they had questions for me. This small rural town doesn't see a lot of tourists. They only come for the big regional weekly Sunday market by the coach load (package tours) and go right back to the capital after browsing the market. Sunset in rural Kota Belud seen from one of my room's windows.

Thanks, KenT. I have a couple of hours tomorrow before leaving town. Will try to find Zyrtec at a pharmacy if things don't improve fast enough. The worst is probably over but it took a lot out of me. 6 hours have passed and I'm still in bed with pain. Thankfully I can breathe almost normally now. Had to forgo dinner tonight. Throat constriction, hoarseness, painful. I've been reading about jackfruit allergy. I have a huge chance of it happening to me. Jeez.

Had to go back to the central market to buy a few things and when I was done thought I'd take a quick walk through the fruit section one more time. The partner spotted the "jackfruit" (cempedak) hidden behind a pile of pineapples. The daughter of the stallholder spoke English just fine and helped me with slicing, explaining, giving info about fruits in Sabah and their seasons etc. I ate some of the fruit on the spot and we chatted for a long time. The "jackfruit" itself had little smell on the outside, but once cut open you could begin to smell it. It's a very sweet smell. It became stronger as I ate. I guess chewing the flesh help release more aroma. Very, very sweet. With an unmistakable fermented taste but then again, sweet. The flesh is soft, almost like durian. Not "pungent" and the smell is not comparable to durian, which is intensely aromatic. I would say the smell is quite strong but not on the same level of durian! Absolutely not. However, after eating a few lumps (the insides are just like jackfruit but less of those stringy trips) my throat and eyes started to feel itchy. My throat hurt more and more with every passing second. The pain quickly spread down my chest. Some difficulty with breathing made me stop eating at once. I put the rest in a bag and took it with me. We went to eat lunch and then I decided to find out if the allergic reaction would return. It did and even more intense. I gave the bag to an employee at the lunch place. She said she liked this fruit. Well, now I'm back in my room waiting for the symptoms to subside. I have multiple (potentially serious) allergies and looks like my days of adventurous fruit eating are coming to an end soon. Last year in Mexico it was another fruit that made my mouth bleed and now this. Can't risk it any more. It's a nice fruit, but unfortunately, I won't be able to eat it again. :(

I love eating the infamous durian. Smells incredible to me. In Thailand, back in 2000, I stored the leftovers in a plastic package and then in a plastic bag and put it in the mini fridge in my hotel room. Was blown away when I opened the fridge the following morning. Imagine the visual effect in a movie when something explodes and a person is blown away due to the impact. Back then there was no sign stating certain fruits being banned. Mangosteen leave stains that are impossible to clean. Then there's a problem with ant infestation. The "jackfruit" one is actually Cempedak (Artocarpus integer), in the jackfruit family. Looks very similar but a lot smaller than jackfruit, and the shape is longer rather than rounder. Apparently it has no English name so they use the term "jackfruit". The smell is very pungent, comparable to durian. I found it yesterday by sheer luck. Going back later today to eat it on the spot and find out for myself.

The fish market is behind the central market. Being next to the water makes it easier to unload fish from returning fishing boats. Small speed boats are like water taxis. People who live on nearby islands or stilt/water villages use them. My new favourite seaweed. Comes in big "clusters" looking exactly like green coral. Now that I've been to markets in every place on the trip so far and they all have both this and the caviar seaweed. Beautiful seaweed. It's quite heavy for its size. Has a large capacity for storing (sea) water. When I was done making this photo I removed one big cluster from the basket and asked the young fishmonger how much to pay. He could speak very little English and I zero Malay... He was able to tell me the entire basket would cost me 5 ringgits ($1.06). I couldn't possibly eat all of it. I pressed a 1 ringgit ($0,21) note into his hand (I really wanted to eat a little bit of this seaweed raw later). He staunchly refused and pressed the money back into my hand. He said it was OK, and that I have come from so far away. He let me keep a small amount of this beautiful seaweed. This is just one of the many of my encounters with friendly and kind locals on this trip. At the end of the day when I was looking at the photos again I thought maybe I should have bought the whole basket and gave the rest to the market eatery where I enjoyed my small lunch of seaweed and mango salad. Tiny caviar seaweed seems always sold in portions on a plate. Flatfish are so big and fat. I never see them so big at home. A huge fish head for the curry. Fish head curry is very popular. Smaller ones for smaller portions of fish head curry There are at least 3 different species of shark in this photo. I see a small hammerhead. A few stalls had sharks. Not sure if catches and species of anything are strictly controlled here. If you are the easily squimish or Green Peace type of person then stay far away from fish/meat markets in some developing countries. Many types of crustacean, especially lobsters. First time seeing these scallops. Brown and smooth shells with no ridges. On the way out I tried to make one last photo thinking the 3 men would not notice. When I looked at the photo much later and guess what, they all saw what I did. They even posed for me. Some market/street vendors actually asked me to take their photos. Who am I to say no to that?! ----------- A few last photos taken in the capital. My hotel is about 50m/yd on the same street. Bought water from this shop every day. Check out the name and fruit. All the hotels never miss a chance to remind you specific fruits and foods that are verboten. Signs are clearly visible from the moment you approach the check-in counter, wait for the lift and enter it, and in your room as well. "American breakfast" in Sabah usually looks like this: Crispy fish skin snacks. My favourite is still salted egg (everything). Sabah used to known as British North Borneo and Jesselton was its capital. After WW2 it was reduced to rubble. This small clock tower was the only structure that remained. KenT, yes the biggest market in town. Food stalls are located on the level above where I ate the best salads of mango and seaweed at this simple eatery. I have been eating mango salad whenever I see it but it's not exactly the same. Every vendor has their own recipes.

Finally, internet speed is "decent" enough again (but very slow again in the evening when everyone is back in their hotel rooms). Have moved on to a few more places after leaving the capital where internet was painfully slow so I did not bother doing much online. And then I went to some place in the middle of the jungle without internet but that's behind me now, just today. Keep in mind that Sabah is still largely primitive. Even immediately outside the main touristy centre it's just like any developing country, really. As soon as you enter the expressway towards the countryside you see the real/authentic Sabah. So, wanna know if you like a person long-term? Just let them use slow internet! (Before internet it used to be "travel".) The capital's central market is pretty lively. There are many (interesting) things I've never seen before. They are normal ingredients in Malay/Sabahan cuisine. Sour green mangoes for various salads. Almost bought the big reddish mangoes but after checking out other stalls and talking with some vendors I learn those were imported from Thailand. I went back to buying small yellow mangoes from people's gardens here in Sabah. They even modify pineapples now. The crown won't grow so big. Besides bananas, which are always "in season", it seems watermelons and papayas are peaking. Sabah-grown avocados. Forgot to ask which variety. I have bought one (seen here in the photo is mine) and eaten it on the spot to test. Too bad it was watery and very mild. Must be the low fat variety, whatever it's called. When it comes to avocados I like "butter from the forest". Still eating it regularly because I need the good fat. Candlenuts Tofu stalls also sell tempeh Beautiful rolls of banana leaves. Sabah is a coffe producer. These days Tenom is the biggest growing area. That's where I hope to visit someday but for the agricultural park. Lots of chillies, also some dried ones. Huge cinnamon bark, probably 1 metre/40" long each. Tiny calamansi Pretty sure it's galangal. At home I get just a small piece for the same price, meanwhile here you get a whole kilo. Big jicama. I like eating young/small ones with chilli salt. We can thank Mexico for this refreshing root. Huge root vegetable Not a big tomato-eating island. So far I've seen these 2 types. This stall had the nicest looking tomatoes. They are usually bruised and not so good looking. A vegetable Pandan Probably a herb Beautiful fresh turmeric leaves (without the root). The herb on far left looks like parsley but tastes like celery. I'm thankful green onions (ruin everything they touch) are not prevalent here. Unlike in some countries where it's the zenith of the cuisine.

Food we ate today. Pineapple bun Various steamed buns Pork noodle soup Beef tendon soup https://images2.imgbox.com/93/91/fevaRrOC_o.jpg After seeing seaweed at the central (fish) market I wanted to eat it for lunch. Same "caviar" seaweed on Okinawan islands but here it's much smaller, tiny even. It was at a Malay/Muslim food eatery at the central market. I was asked 3 times if I wanted rice with these. It's unimaginable to eat a meal without rice. Another type of seaweed, looking a lot like coral. In its original state the seaweed is bright green, once acidity and other bits have been added it loses its green colour. I tasted calamansi lime juice, chillies and bits of tiny dried fish. Some shreds of green mango as well. Very nice. Green mango salad with salt, chillies and tiny dried fish bits. I love green mango salads. The dried fish make it even more delicious. At a Hainanese chicken rice specialist later. They also have duck and roast pork Sambal belacan kangkung is always always on the menu, other vegetables are often finished first so you still have to order kangkung. We wanted to order salted egg bitter gourd but again, only deep-fried. They wouldn't do stir-fry version. However, another dish with fish it's possible to have it stir-fried. Most eateries have this kind of wooden stools. Not very comfortable to sit on. The advantage is they take up less space under the tables when not in use. Always nice to drink coconut water and coffee any time. It's a beer hell and beer is not easy to find, let alone on tap. Industrial swill on tap will do. ============= PS: KenT, I've done my research prior to the trip but I have asked a few Sabahans for you just to make sure. The monsoon is at its worst in Nov and Dec, still raining in Jan. Maybe you had better go snorkelling/diving in Thailand or another region where there's no monsoon in Dec/Jan.