26th April, 2022 at about 5.35am , my eyes were wide opened. No matter how I turned and tried to explain to my brain that it is way too early to wake up; I could not get back to my slumber. So, I did the best next thing – shift my ass here and there while trying not to wake Santokh up from his sleep and me trying to get to a dream of my own. I tried very hard for about30 minutes and after exhausting all possible avenues, I decided to wake up and do a morning walk on the beach. As I opened the room door, a gush of cool breeze glided past my face while the gorgeous little rustling of coolness caressing my face. The sun had just peeked out from the east as if it was playing hide and seek with the clouds. Its beckoning orange colored rays soon filed across the horizon of the sea. What a beautiful sight indeed! I decided to walk on the beach barefooted and do my devotion for the day. I did not notice that it was so beautiful that I had gone to the extreme right side end of the beach where eventually I was met with a great pile of rocks and boulders at the seaside. I tried looking for edible limpets, shellfish and blue crabs. No luck this time. However, I had a great walk and a great devotion! I then decided to walk back to the other end of the beach. Now, that’s different. A middle-aged European couple was swimming in the sea and they were intimate. There was another Chinese couple of mixed parentage on the far right side. They were playing with their dog! They were playing “fetch” with the dog. As for the European couple, maybe, just maybe, they thought that no one would be crazy enough to walk on that beach that early in the morning. However, respectfully, they further refrained themselves, disengaged from their poetic embrace and went on to do their good couple stuff. Here I was on the beach imagining telling the white guy, “ Stop sowing your wild royal oats in the sea, for crying out loud! We are trying to eat good fish, ok? Don’t pollute the damn fish, will ya?“.
Anyway, I managed to walk to the other end of the beach and it was a good walk. The sun’s rays finally consumed the sky and brightness of the day shone through. By this time, I’ve met a local angler who was trying to get some fish with beach fishing. I stopped by and had a small chat with him like what’s the size of the hook, what bait, how he is hooking it and other stuff. Incidentally, I said that fella, Amran to move to the left side a little bit and away from the European couple as they could have disturbed the early fishes at the site. He agreed and after a few casts to the further left he started battling a fish. I decided not to stay as my friends and I had a full program today in Kuah town. Upon arrival at our room, Santokh was up while Ragu was still doing his floor exercise flips and rolls. Like I said earlier, he ain’t an early morning person but we had to tell him that we have important mission to fulfil the dreams of our wives and children with the right loot consisting of Corelle set, chocolates, cooking pan, perfume and enamel pots! Chocolates were high on the list indeed.
Somehow, Santokh and I managed to cajole Ragu off the bed , made coffee/tea for each other and ate our tidbits of bread, cakes and breakfast fair before heading out towards Kuah town. We decided to stop by at a nearby shop for some souvenir hunting but with no luck, we decided to move on to get some breakfast before going on our conquest to satisfy the family needs! Stomach filled and coffee junkies fulfilled, we went on a shopping spree at Ram’s . Video calls and calls were frantically made to ensure that the right chocolates, enamel pots, pan and Corelle bowls were bought. Satisfied with our loot of love for our families, we decided to drive to Pantai Cenang to have our lunch and a look around at that place. Man, Pantai Cenang is really a little run down and buildings are just too compact. I must say that Santokh was right in saying that this beach area is dead in the mornings and afternoons. It will only come alive in the evening and night time especially among the local tourists and handful of foreign tourists. Too compact and too old were my thoughts when I reached Pantai Cenang. The unbearable hot sun made it even more torturous to walk around. Santokh recommended that we take lunch at a place he had visited the last time he visited there. It was unanimously agreed by all of us. It was called Happy Happy Restaurant. Gin and tonic were the order of the day together with some fine Chinese dishes. No pig was sacrificed nor killed during the eating of lunch as this was a halal restaurant. The food was good, surprisingly. Before having lunch, we went shopping for chocolates at some outlet in Pantai Cenang. It seemed , according to Santokh, this shop sells a particular type of chocolates which were good. If it is good enough for Santokh, it certainly is good enough for me and Ragu. We bought what was recommended. It turned out to be good recommendations from Santokh. So, don’t judge a Punjabi by his turban, judge him by his stomach!! Hahahahahaha…………..a good round belly signals good beer and good food la!
After lunch, we decided to take a drive to Tanjung Rhu beach to re-lived the times we camped there. Definitely there we some really nice memories there especially the taking of crabs from the nets and the many mishaps later on. With or without the mishaps, it was truly a nice time out there indeed. Again, the sun’s ray was a real bitch as it was blistering hot out there at the beach. The site is still beautiful as ever but it’s really hot. We decided to get back early to rest as we had a dinner appointment with Naga and his family that evening. All of us decided to rest and relax before going to Naga’s home in Bukit Indah. Once, we were ready for dinner, the three of us looked sharp and good.
We arrived at Naga’s home at about 7.00pm. There to greet us was Naga’s wife, Selvi and their daughter, Usha. What a lovely welcoming party! We introduced ourselves to Selvi and Usha and after the formalities were done, we had dinner. Dinner was a real good spread of Indian food namely chili fried prawns, chicken curry, French beans Indian style, rendang chicken, special curried squid and some special Indian parboiled rice which was soft and succulent. Yes! The rice was magnificently soft and lovely with some saffron and turmeric twist. It was good. The chicken rendang was awesome. The food was really really good. It was a sumptuous meal indeed. I could never thank Selvi and Usha enough for continuing to serve us spoonful of food time after time. I was truly stuffed at my end by the time I finished my meal. To top off that wonderful meal, Selvi, Naga’s wife made us Bru coffee and it was heavenly indeed. I did not know what the concoction is all about but it works and it is damn good! I just wanna extend my heartiest thanks to Naga, his wife, Selvi and daughter, Usha for putting up with our gluttony that night. The food and the hospitality were enormous and really good. I am truly appreciative of their fine gesture of goodness. Though Mdm Selvi is quiet and shy, but she has done really good in translating her culinary fare to the highest level of goodness. We profusely thanked her for meal and we are so lucky , actually.
For our nightcap, Naga brought us to the Yacht Club for some drinks together with Subra. It was indeed cozy and the breeze by the pier was good. It was a classic moment of a night out for the boys. This was our last night before we leave the island and go back to our respective homes. We wanted to enjoy our time together as we do not know when we would be able to gather together to get a night out of drinks. It started to drizzle and soon, we had t say goodbye to one another as we would have to get up early to get ready to board the ferry. We said our goodbyes rather sadly as parting is such a sorrow , actually. We take heart that someday, somewhere and some time we would be able to meet someday.
That night a fierce thunderstorm and strong winds hi our resort as we got back home. We were drenched wet from the rain and the strong winds brought the big pelting rains onto the wooden door of our rooms. As usual, we attacked our last few Budweiser before calling it up for the day. It had been an eventful day and the strong thunderstorm wasn’t what we expected. By the time I finished my Budweiser , I was already too tired and slumped on the bed planning for some exotic dream somewhere. I wasn’t sure what happened that night but the three of us just slept through and snored loudly as it had been a long day indeed. It was a much cherished day indeed…………..
No comments:
Post a Comment