June was great! I left India and have been wearing shorts every single day just to spite that country. Anyhow!
During the month of June I made great new friends in Malaysia, ate my favorite foreign dish–roti canai–visited my college friend Whitney in Singapore, had my older brother Timothy fly out to meet me as we ate through all the Singaporean hawker stalls, and then went back to Malaysia to visit friends, eat, and get SCUBA certified on the northern islands! Diving has been a dream of mine for a while and something I’d been looking forward to my entire trip, so I was quite thrilled to be in a lovely landscape and have my brother along with me.
Since most of my time the past few weeks has been spent in the water diving with various fish, I thought you might be interested in seeing just a bit of what I’ve been able to see underwater. Yes, I’ve seen all these fish (and many, many more) listed below with my very own eyes—no joke! I didn’t take these photos, but Google did, and I think you’ll be able to marvel at the beauty of these creatures while learning a bit about life in the sea.
Blue-Spotted Stingray
Body around 28″ in length; up to 4ft. long from head to tail
Yellow-grey coloring with bright blue spots and long, blue tail with white underside
Can be found hiding under rocks or large coral patchesgroups; lives alone or in small
Is unable to rid himself of the negative image brought on by his cousin’s great-great uncle, the late Sting, who was most notorious for killing wildlife legend Steve Irwin. Suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder when at parties and introducing himself
Christmas Tree Worms
1-3 inches in length; usually grows in clusters
Colors range from solid blues and yellows to pink, black, and white striped
Will react to changes in water pressure or irritation by withdrawing into its small lair
Sick of telling people it’s Jewish
{photo removed due to either copyright, species, or gender infringement}
Batfish, Goatfish, Butterflyfish, Lionfish, etc.
6-20 inches in length
Colors vary from intense yellows and blues to whites and blacks. Many striped
Blame Noah and his ark for running out of original names for his children of the ocean
*Note: That is not I in the photo. I did not grow a bald head since I left the states.
3-5.5ft. in length
Colors range from brown-and-grey-striped to black-spotted
Often stays hidden in dark crevices or under coral, but occasionally catches sunlight while resting directly atop rock pinnacles; looks like the giant fish from “Big Fish”
Perhaps ingested too much milk and hormone-injected meat as a child, thus resulting in its current overgrown state; intends to try Jenny Craig, as Weight Watchers is much to clicky for him
Bannerfish
Body 5-8 inches in length; head banner 8-14 inches in length
White, black, and yellow striped bodies with a white flag
Still try to cover up the fact that they use L.A. Looks brand hair gel to get their fauxhawks looking great. The other fish know
White/Clear Trevally
Little data exists on species
So clear-colored and hard to see that few accurate sightings have been made
A recent sighting in Malaysia revealed a fish, confusing lack of color for another attractive sub-species, thought Kathryn Cooper was its new mate; the sighting was confirmed when embarrassment in the form of blushing showed up as pink dots on camera sensors from both fish and human species. Neither has been seen since
Titan Triggerfish
12-24 inches in length
Black body with unique colored stripes, spots, and additional markings; clown lips.
If you get near it, it will bite you. It will attack your feet or hands, or, if you use your fins to get him away, he’ll clamp down and take a bite out of your fin. He’ll chase you around for 20-30 minutes. But don’t get him wrong; just because he is violent at work doesn’t necessarily mean that he supports domestic violence.
Wrasse
2-14 inches in length
Pink squiggles and stripes on top of green, blue, white, orange, or yellow mottled skin
Wants to be noticed for her personality for once, not her stunningly gorgeous looks, lusciously smooth skin, and ideal tail-to-jaw ratio. The shoe collection is just for fun; she can donate the extra Choos and Blahniks at any time, especially if she meets a guy who’s worth it. And as long as you treat her like a princess, she’ll be loyal to you. When she’s in a good mood, what’s not to love?
Blue-Ringed Angelfish
7-14 inches in length
Depending on species, may have yellow, blue, black, white, and other colored stripes on blue, orange, yellow, or white bodies; tail may be a different color from body
Snout-nosed mouth on some species
Mates for life, so if you see just one, rest assured that those plastic rings from your old 6-pack Pepsi cans you bought in the 90s killed its mate. Way to go, man. Or should I say MURDERER?!
Oh, and here are some photos from time spent around Singapore and Malaysia: Biking Pulau Ubin, Singapore, underwater photography in Perhentian Kecil, Malaysia, and more. Next up? Yup, food photos only.
Anyhow, Timothy has headed home after 2 weeks of intense eating, and I’ve spent some interesting time in Malaysia and now Thailand, diving more and soon heading up into the mountains for some intense secluded village time in the middle of who knows where, northern Thailand. When will I go, where will I stay, and what will I eat? All I know is that a whole lot of rice is about to make an appearance, so I won’t be a happy girl very shortly. Stay tuned!
With love but no cheese,
Li’l Coopy
antitouristtraveler.com 
(All) You are having WAY too much fun, I need to send you a few mood ruining quotes soon.
(1) NICE!
(2) my boat. how did it end up there ?
(2) It’s yours? Did you do a gig over here and accidentally left it?
(7) i can’t wait to see your shots!
(7) They came out rather poor. I was not only a beginner, but the strobes kept falling, I wasn’t weighted properly, I wasn’t used to the casing at all (different modes for adjusting everything), and there were dangerous jellyfish all around me…no good.
(7) oh sad! that sounds frustrating. at least it sounds like it was a good learning experience anyway, and you weren’t hurt by the jellyfish!
(7) Very true. There’s a lot to learn and a lot of money I’ll never have. And several people got badly stung that day, so I’m lucky!