A Day at the Beach

Dear Reader,

As the title above suggests, I recently spent a day at the beach. It was on the 9th, a Monday. The prophet Muhammad's birthday, I believe. Therefore, it was a public holiday, and nobody had any classes to attend. And so, we decided to go to the beach!



I am fortunate enough to live relatively close to Sarawak's coastline. There's a slew of beach resorts in Santubong, about half an hour's drive from my house. But, since they're all resorts, we can't just waltz into the place and use their beach. We would have to check in to a room or something first. So, we went to a place called Pasir Pandak, which is a bit farther away than Santubong, but totally free. Pasir Pandak, translated literally, means something like 'Short Sand'...'pasir' meaning 'sand' in Malay and 'pandak' meaning 'short' in Iban, one of the many native languages of Sarawak.



Anyway, me, my older sister Rebekah (a.k.a. Bekah), Bekah's boyfriend Emmanuel, Daniella (a.k.a. Dani), Julia, and my [other] cousin Tracy (a.k.a. Urei) all piled into the Pajero and headed for the beach. It was a bit crowded, even using the Pajero, because the four of us--me, Dani, Urei and Julia--had to fit in the middle seat, which was originally designed for just three people. We had to do this because the back seat was fully occupied with all the stuff we brought along, you know, 'just in case'.



Let me see, we brought a portable barbeque set, specially purchased for the occasion just the day before. We brought food; chicken and hotdogs for bbq-ing, rice to go with the chicken and hotdogs, some left over chicken curry Julia had cooked that morning, and a lot of junk food to snack on during the drive. We brought water; four big mineral bottles of it, if I'm not mistaken, and two more bottles of soft drinks. We brought a mat to sit on, so that we wouldn't have to get all sandy; we actually took the mat from our living room floor. We each brought a change of clothes, towels, and toiletries; shampoo, soap, etc. Do you have any idea how yucky your hair gets after a soak in salt water?



But, salt water aside, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and fun day. And, my dear reader, since pictures speak a thousand words, I should probably stop talking [typing?] now and let the pictures I took speak for themselves.

The aforementioned portable bbq set.

Clockwise from the dude: Emmanuel, Bekah, Urei, Dani, Julia. They're sitting on the missing mat. The white Kancil behind them is just some stranger's car. I'm taking the picture.

Awww, someone brought their dog to the beach...

My flip-flops (red and black) and Julia's sandals. I have no idea who the guy was...just some random beach-goer.

From left: Julia in a cowboy hat, Urei, me, Bekah, Emmanuel. That's our Pajero behind us. Dani's taking the photo.

A very candid moment.

The spot we picked was really nice and shady, because of all the conveniently located trees.

I was focusing on the plant, but I took another photo of the unsuspecting Random Beach-Goer...

If you look closely, you can see all of us walking towards the water. Except Dani, she's the one taking the picture. Julia's the closest, then Urei. I'm the tiny figure with the cap and ponytail. Emmanuel and Bekah are next to me. Bekah's wearing a football jersey.

I thought the dark, green leaves against the blue sky looked nice.

Well, that's that. I've finally found something eventful to post about. I hope you enjoyed it, even if you don't exist, my dear and faithful reader. So, until we meet again. TTFN!






Yours,



Figgy the Beach Bum