The Pearl of the Orient

Sorry guys, so long since my last post hehehe(no internet at new house)... And this post isn't that fresh either(saved twice to complete this one). Just wanna elaborate abit more about what i've shared here.

It all started with my uncle from The Pearl of the Orient who bought a yacht. Floating on the sea with about 5m in length, it sure was spacious (i reckon it could take up to 8 ppl and was equipped with a 50/75 hp boat engine. And so my beloved uncle decided to sail all the way to Port Klang to fetch us but no, it didn't materialize for that Lil' Angel had a big petite for oil. Sailing from The Pearl to Port Klang would would be enough to fund us air tickets for the whole family lol! (AirAsia wasn't there at that time). And so instead of waiting hopelessly at the port, we've decided to jump-in and drive our way to meet the 'newborn' precious.

As one might not know, The Pearl of the Orient is a place surrounded by saltwater and the next best thing to own, next to a motorcycle of course, is a boat! I mean, when you steer one of those babes out to the open sea, you will inevitably sense a strong mixed aura of both jealousy and envy coming from the shore, emitted by those kaki pancing who sit on nothing but a big rock.

And so we've had trips out to conquer the open sea. Like usual, gonna check the tide table for a suitable time, wake up at 5am, tapau food, buy squid from wet market as bait, set sail before the tide's too low. We've had many fond memories throughout our many trips; seen the most beautiful scene(i was manning the yacht on our way back to the jetty, we're accompanied by a school of pink dolphins coupled with a background of a sunsetting orange sun, partly reflected by a rare calm sea condition, like, there was not a single wave except for the wave created by the boat), caught fish and sea creatures of diff kinds and sizes. All was like a fairy tale. But not that day...

And so on one fateful day, 6-7 unsuspecting souls set sail to an open sea, like what they used to do in any other day, about a few miles offshore, we officially sat on a deep blue sea after passing by a group of fisherman's boats and a luxury white yacht with tinted glass, (we normally sail to a nearby rocky island for some groupers but decided against it as we thought barracudas might give us a new kind of excitement, and thus headed to deep sea).

It was quite pleasant a journey, as the waves are larger, water darker in colour, tho there's a feeling that there must be some creatures looking up at our boat from underneath, creepy if you care to imagine. After awhile as we've settled down, we're suddenly surrounded by thick mist,(as tho The Black Pearl from Pirates of the Carribean is about to appear) and the shores were nowhere to be found, only some very faint figure of dark blue hills remain loyal to the eye, but there's no idea whether those hills belong to The Pearl of the Orient, or to Susilo Bambang(president of Indo) yeah i know, sounded like too dramatic... but heck, says who it can't happen in real life??! And so we've decided to head back to shore and bully some groupers. The next thing we know, situation turned from bad to worse; droplets are felt all over us, and so all of us tried to squeeze into the shaded area of the boat, which is only half the size of the boat, some were left out shelterless. No shite, currents were building up and waves were getting choppy and visibility was poor. Deep shite, fuel was running low(due to us maneuvering our way out of the mist earlier). At that time dad asked me to hold my bible out amidst heavy rain n keep praying(yes, he'd insist ME bringing MY bible out to sea everytime we set sail coz mine's the smallest of all lol), man my bible's been with me thru thick n thin and, harsh weather condition, thus the mui choi look. While my uncle who steered the boat frantically looking for signs with 2 to 3 of us, the rest seated tightly to keep their essential belongings as dry as possible, and stay warm. The boat kept rocking from side to side. At one time one would be forgiven to say' "it's a doomsday for us".

And then there's hope- that same white yacht with tinted glass!!! And so we went close to it and waited out for the weather to die off before we would be able to see the shore and hunt for land. As we reached the jetty, we're soaking wet and cold. But it was nothing compared to what happened just now when we were beaten mercilessly by strong raining wind. Back to home, i spent time hair-drying myself and my bible, flipping from page to page, thinking, "Thank god..."

I wasn't as traumatized as my dad in this incident but i must admit that there was a very real threat to all of us but i'm more of being satisfied and grateful that this particular trip has brought me adventure money can't buy and most of all, a sense of respect to mother nature...

ps: It sank a year before Tsunami, glad it happened early enough...