Snorkeling

In life, try (almost) everything!

All my years of living, I have heard many friends who enjoyed snorkeling in the seas. They would describe how wonderful it is and how beautiful the fishes looked in the clear waters. Now, somehow, no matter how attractive they shared their experiences, it didn't move me a bit to want to try it. I know how to swim, and mostly, in the swimming pool. At sea, I just don't have the confidence to swim for more than an hour. And so, in my mind, snorkeling would probably be one of those activities I would not miss in life. There are more interesting things to do than IT!





One fine day, just a month ago, my husband came home and announced that we are going to Pulau Perhentian, off the Kelantan coast, for a four-day snorkeling trip! He also said, he had signed me on. This is a staff trip and there will be 14 of us going. OMG!How am I going to tell him I am not interested? Yes, I want to go to the East Coast, especially Kelantan, where I have not visited before. I thought, let's wait and see, until I get there!





The day soon arrived. We took an hour's plane ride to Kota Bahru, another hour on a van to the coast, and a half-hour speed boat ride eastwards towards the South China Sea to Pulau Perhentian. Up till then, it was thrilling. When we got off the speedboat, we had to get a bit wet as there was no jetty to welcome us. The hotel..... it was just a single storey bungalow which has no windows; it's all airy fairy type.





Our living quarters? Oh, they are single chalets that can take four persons, but we fit in two persons per chalet. That was good. Inside, it's just one room with a bathroom attached. there's an air-conditioner (good!), hotwater for bathing (very good!), and a double bed with colourful bedsheets (OK only for me.) After settling down, we met Ahloong, our guide. He was pretty tanned for a Chinese, and spoke English and Malay. he convinced us to go snorkeling in the bright daylight because, as he explained, that's when we can see the colours of the fish clearly. We shot many questions at him as most of us were first timers at snorkeling. I guess I became more brave when I realised there were non-swimmers in our midst and when they showed such enthusiasm, my fears slowly were released! Moreover, we were going snorkeling with our life-jackets on! Whew! My last flake of fear dropped with a klang!



Lunch was served and we excitedly got ready for our first lesson in snorkeling. Ahloong took us to Tiga Luang, a very sandy and safe spot, for us to learn breathing with our snorkels. Yes, we had to restrain breathing the normal way (through our noses) and start breathing using our mouths! We soon mastered that, and Richard (my husband) taught, if we made fish nosies, we naturally breathe using our mouths. That was good because if we lost sight of Richard, we can hear him making fish noises somewhere, and we will find him!

Having graduated from Tiga Luang, we were immediately taken to Rurtle Point, Nemo Point and Shark Point. Each spot had different kind of fishes. Guess what, I didn't realised I had overcome my life-long fear of snorkeling. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I forgot we were swimming under a very hot afternoon sun!


The next day, straight after breakfast, we went for a whole day of snorkeling. Everyone was eager to see the different types of fish Ahloong said we could find. The best spot was at marine Park. The waters were deep and we saw a great variety of fish. The best part was, we brought bread to feed the fish. It was quite a sensation to have fish crowding all over you, trying to grab bread from your fingers. Have you been bitten by fish before? I have, and it's a wonderful feeling!

Above is a photo of the CBC Snorkeling Team. Don't we look professional? Obviosly, after you have tried snorkeling, you'd be sharing your experience with your friends back home. One such friend from New York has signed up with us! Yes, we're going again. If you want to go, just let me know!


See you soon!

P.S. I was away for 2 weeks. Sorry for not posting. Will write more soon.

The Travel Bug Grows

No sooner we settled in Kuala Lumpur, we had to travel back to Penang because my grandmother lived there. She missed us and dad promised we would go back to see her whenever we can.

Dad owned a black Morris Minor which had this license plate - P645. The 'P' stands for the state the car was registered, and that was Penang. The number 645 indicated the number of vehicle Penang registered. Now, in those days, not many people owned cars or motorbikes. When we look at our old photo albums, we see all four of us daughters posing infront of the Morris, holding our skirts wide and looking pretty. I don't think any girls today would dare to pose this way!

Going on the 200 mile journey needed much preparation. With no highway cafes, frequent stops had to be made at little towns along the way. With little bladders, that could mean at least five to six stops. My mother would prepare sandwiches for us. I remember, she would boil like a dozen eggs for us and she would bring a little bottle of soy sauce because we wouldn't eat the eggs if we didn't have a few drops of soy sauce on them!

Imagine four girls at the back of the car, fighting over who gets the bottle of soy sauce first while keeping the peeled egg shells on tissue paper that were set on our laps? Often, mom would raise her voice to control these brats at the back of the car and there would be a momentary silence. No sooner, we were back again at each other.

Dad, on the other hand, while driving, would keep us alert to the geography of our trip. He would quiz us as to which is the next town coming up, give us mental arithmatic (which he loved to do 'to sharpen your minds' he would say) and got us to sing songs. And so, you can see, we seldom got bored. Whatever we wanted to know, we would ask dad. he seemed to know everything! How proud we were of dad.

When we got tired during the trip, we would just nod off where we were seated. We were not allowed to fret as mom would not tolerate any nonsense. If any of us felt like throwing out, we were to give an immediate signal for dad to stop the car. In those days, it was quite alright to just throw out under a bush. Mom will get us a cup of water to rinse our mouths, and then, we will be on our way. As I said, there should be no fuss. Everyone was happy.

So, our frequent travels to the north and back actually trained us to be good travellers. As we travelled, the travel bug grew and soon, dad would take us southwards. More of this next time.

My First Post

Hello, welcome to my Wonderful World blog. As you already guessed, I would like to talk about my travels and share experiences with you.

To start of, I caught the travel bug when I was just about three years old. My parents decided to move from one little town up north, called Penang, to a city called Kuala Lumpur. That journey was about 200 miles and for a little girl, it took a whole day to travel. back then, there were no highways but windy roads. It was exciting as I bounced about at the back of the car with three other sister of mine. Behind us was a lorry carrying our belongings. That's when I learnt a phrase - "Slow and steady wins the race."

Now, my parents must be very patient folks because I can still recall the four of us kept repeating the phrase in different ways and expressions. Today, if my kids did that, I think it would drive me up the wall!

By the time we arrived at Kuala Lumpur, the sun had set. The four of us were settled in the new home we moved into while our parents had the task of arranging the furniture and bags that have been unloaded. I do not recall what happened next but I do know, a new phase of my life has started in a very new city - awesome but frightening.