I am a very adventurous person by nature. I make it a point to do something that feeds my inner adrenaline junkie every time I’m on vacation. The last one was a week ago – I went cliff diving in Ton Sai off Phi Phi Islands.
The cleverly crafted piece of text that piqued my interest:
Cliff jumping is fairly new to Tonsai Bay. There are cliffs from 6 to 16m that are ideal for cliff jumping due to the depth of water below. Organized tours can be found at Ton Sai, but please be informed that this is not a particularly regulated activity and can cause injury to people including ear ruptures, and muscle / back injuries.
(Source: Wikitravel)
Unregulated? Potential for injury? BRING IT ON!
Well, I kinda messed up my second cliff dive coz I had to climb out into a tree branch. The foliage made it hard for me to see and I’m a little wary about heights (which is part of the fun!). I landed in a very peculiar position and have chest pains to this very day.
It hurts when I laugh or cough or inhale too deeply.
A gem from Wikipedia:
Hitting the water flat from 10 m brings the diver to rest in about 1 ft. The extreme deceleration causes severe bruising both internal and external, strains to connective tissue securing the organs and possible minor hemorrhage to lungs and other tissue. Very painful and distressing, but not life-threatening.
I went to see the doctor since I jumped from twice that height but my ribs are all intact. Just some minor bruising of internal organs and stuff like that.
I wanted to go for the 30 feet jump but our guide didn’t let me. I suspect he wasn’t confident about climbing up as well since the rocks are RAZOR SHARP. I probably won’t be sitting here writing this if I messed up that dive or if there’s rocks underneath (it’s a very unregulated sport).
God forbid that happen since I am not exactly very good with savings as well so the hospital bills will kill me if the jump didn’t. I basically live from paycheck to paycheck. I spend a lot on unnecessary stuff and poor planning makes me particularly susceptible to paying more than I need to:
Exhibit A
I shouldn’t have drove to the KL Sentral car park while going on vacation
Exhibit B
Parking tickets are always a problem with me
There are Exhibits C-Z (so much that I fear I may have to start with renaming it Exhibit A1) which just illustrates the poor choices I make.
Like losing RM 35,000 in a casino. That is one of the more epic ones.
The thing is, I used to save before the 35k loss. How do you think I even had RM 50,000 to lose within one week? (first instance was Auckland)
I just can’t save after that due to my spending habits so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and get back on my feet.
I’ll start being careful with my money and as an important aside to that, being more careful with my life. I’m starting to feel very insecure with my lack of savings should anything happen.
I always catch a lot of flak from my friends due to my lifestyle and I figured it was high time to take back at least some personal responsibility. A quick Google search turned up a host of results from various financial institutions but one in particular stood out. The Great Eastern’s CHAT calculator got me thinking about financial planning and protection due to the scenarios given. It really gave me pause. I’ve never thought of insurance as a priority in my life since I’m kinda blasé about personal safety.
My rear bumper has been hanging since a month and I have to periodically shove it back. I’m really afraid that it’ll just fly off while I’m driving on the highway one day and hit a car behind. It’s not exactly something you can drive away from considering your rear bumper has your license plate on it. 
It really is rather dangerous both to myself and others. Some of you would be familiar with my colorful and rich history but it’s not something I recommend for other people. There are consequences. I wish I had started saving earlier so I wouldn’t be in this predicament right now – I can’t even fix my bumper due to lack of funds.
A lot of people live vicariously through me and that’s fine, but there are a lot of takeouts (or life lessons) you can learn from my mistakes. I know hindsight is 20/20 but I wish I had taken a closer look at Great Eastern’s range of insurance plans earlier on in my life…as a safety net.
The protection, medical and retirement calculators would be useful for me while the education calculator would be good for my children. Yes, contrary to popular belief I really want to settle down, have kids, watch them grow and send them for a nice education.
CHAT is a financial analysis tool that uses different scenarios to enlighten people like you and me on the importance of insurance. To be honest, my self-reflection only came after this as there is so many unexpected things that can happen in your life.
BTW, if you’re quick, you’ll get to watch a movie on them coz they’re giving away 1,000 movie ticket vouchers. 🙂
