1/28/12 at 6:00 am…
“Ring!!! RING!!!”… The alarm clock’s ringing started getting louder and louder as I got up to turn it off. It was 6 am in the morning and we were going on a beach trip to Batu Ferringhi.
The plan was to leave shortly after Fajr prayer. However, we were delayed by some pre-departure tasks like cooking the beef tapa for our trip’s lunch and packing the food. We left the house at around 8 am.
Walking to the bus stop for the buses that take you to the East from where we live takes about 10-15 minutes. Alhamdulillah, shortly after we arrived, the bus came. The usual waiting time is about 30 minutes to an hour. We were headed for the terminal near the Komtar Tower. It was early in the morning, there wasn’t so much bustling yet in this busy city of Penang. A perfect time to go sight-seeing while riding the bus. You see people jogging, opening stores, and people eating in keddais after their morning strolls.
We arrived at terminal right when the bus to Batu Ferringhi, 102, was entering the terminal. Buses here in Malaysia are coded by numbers to determine which bus passes by which area. The ride to Batu Ferringhi was a long one, and it was good that we got seats in the nearly empty morning bus.
I don’t know the exact time when we arrived at Batu Ferringhi, all I remember was that I was really excited to see the beach again. And the thought of swimming in a beach! *smiles*
We set up our spot just next to the big rocks where the stretch of sand ends. Everything to the right were big rocks covering the sand.
Ajran and I went rock climbing till we reached the end of the stretch of rocks. Then we prepared ourselves for swimming inside the tent we brought along.
The part where we swam was an open sea, or at least we think it was. There weren’t any islets on the horizon and the beach just got unusually deeper and deeper a few meters from the shore.
Two old men were fishing by the rocks nearby. Inah saw one of them catch a fish as long as my hand, about 7 inches.
For 30 minutes or so we swam. Amah swam to the deep part and made us swim to him then to Inah who was meters away in the less deep part of the sea.
The last time we came to Batu Ferringhi, we didn’t even know how to swim! All we knew was float on our backs. We weren’t able to go to the deep parts because of this disadvantage.
Later on, I felt my tummy rumble. I only ate a few slices of bread and drank hot chocolate drink before we left the house. The food; beef tapa, khubs, butterscotch bread, seaweed snack, and nuts were so temptingly spread out by the tent. I cooked the tapa before we left the house and have been wishing to eat some ever since.
I went back into the water after eating some slices of the butterscotch bread then everyone got out to eat lunch. About the time? I don’t know. I was completely oblivious of the time until we left the beach.
Amah and Inah went to rinse off at the public bathroom nearby. They didn’t swim anymore after that.
All the while, Zakiran and I were exploring the rocks by the beach, climbing here and there looking for crabs on stones covered with barnacles.
We went for another dip in the water after that. We tried standing firm while big waves hit us. Some we tried to jump on.
By the time Amah and Inah came back, we were in the middle of catching small fishes known as ’bigaung’ in tausug. Zakiran and I caught 2. We set them all free before we left since we couldn’t take care of them at home and they might die while on the journey going home.
After some walking by the shoreline and rock climbing, the three of us finally rinsed ourselves. When we were done, Amah and Inah brought us to rest in a nearby keddai and treated us a big buko each!
We rode a bus to the Jetty and from there, rode a bus home. We’ve seen so many exciting things on our way home. Suraus, Masjids, temples, soy sauce factories, and so much more!
We arrived home at around 6 pm. Every one was tired and weary. It was a long and exciting day.
Wassalam,
Haleema
