(Him: Charlie)
Malaysia received the honour of being the first SE Asian
country that welcomes JoCharvel. =P
According to our wish list, Malaysia wasn’t going to be the
first, instead it should have been Burma; however, it just happened that Aug is
Burma’s peak rain season, and we could not say no to the low fare of HK$1,500 for
HK-KL return. So the plan had to be changed!
After some last minute adjustments in trip planning, our first
destination is the tropical paradise – Pulau Perhentian, where I would pursue
my long overdue PADI Open Water. Joanna threatens to ditch me on future dives
as she’s going to get her Advanced certificate.
Anyways, so after a comparatively short delay at the HK
airport by the late storm, Utor, and after nearly 24 hours of flight to flight
to bus to boat, we finally landed on the BEAUTIFUL
Island of Perhentian. It totally didn’t disappoint us – the water is crystal
clear, the sand is fine and smooth, and not overcrowded by tourists!!
In the next 3 days, I went on with my Open Water course, while
Joanna took her Advanced and Deep Dive specialty courses. Having dived a couple
times before, Open Water is like a breeze, but what really impressed me was how
organized PADI put their info together. I began to really appreciate the
significance of taking classes especially for the understanding of potential
risks at depth. By the way, our diving school was Quiver Dive Team on Kecil
Perhentian, and our instructors Alex (mine) and Ed (Jo’s) were super
knowledgeable and cool! Alex and Ed introduced a lot of creators to us, to
which we could only refer to as “fish” or “colourful fish” in the past. For
instance, parrot fish, pipe fish, stone fish, barracuda, puffer fish, etc. The
waters near the island are full of amazing coral reefs and wrecks, which I
would not be able to see if I didn’t have my Open Water!!! Pretty cool I have
to say.
Having been in Malaysia for 5 days now, and having spent
most of time in rural areas (Perhentian Islands and Kota Bharu), I’ve noticed
that Malaysians are really laid back and chill. A prime example is the bus ride
from Kota Bharu to our ferry dock across Perhentian – a very nerve wracking but
hilarious experience.
So when we got off the plane from KL to Kota Bharu, we
needed to get a town called Kuala Besut to take a ferry across to Perhentian.
We knew the last boat would leave at 5pm, and we were told that the bus would
take 1 hour. So we took the bus at 3pm thinking it would give us lots of
buffer. However, little did we know that the journey would take 1 hour for a
normal car, but a bus would take much longer because it goes around different
towns en route to drop off and pick up passengers.
With 25min to 5pm, we were still 20km away from the dock,
and I was really nervous!! As the clock ticked, my heart pounded harder and
harder. At 4:50pm, and Kuala Besut was only a few kilometers away, the bus
driver suddenly took a turn into yet another town. At that moment, I was almost
having a heart attack! I walked over to the bus driver, asked how much longer
before we arrive, and told him we needed to be there at 5pm to take the boat.
He simply waved, and said with that classic chill smile, “10min, no problem!!”
I was really skeptical because we would clearly be late. A couple minutes
later, around 4:54pm, after we went back on the right track, the bus driver
gave me the biggest surprise by suddenly stopping in front of a store and food
vendor. He got off, went to the fridge to find his favourite drink and ordered
some fried fish from the vendor, still with that chill look!!! Gosh, I was
drenched in sweat and practically paralyzed at the point!!! Joanna and I must
look like lunatics as we stared at the bus driver and watched his every move
from getting off to getting back on. “We just lost 3 min and 40 sec!!!” Joanna
vented. At this point, we got all our backpacks by the bus door and were ready
to dash out as soon as we arrive.
Finally, a few minutes later, probably passed 5pm (who had
time to check time?), we slowly rolled into the ferry dock! We breathed a big
relief as we were greeted by a young lady who then sold us the ferry tickets. The
next time we checked our watch was 5:07pm when we sat in the boat still waiting
for it to fill up! At that moment, we realized why the bus driver was so chill
- 5pm was never a set-in-stone schedule, and time is not an essence in this
part of the world!!!
Lesson learned?! We are too tensed up, and we are too used
to punctuality and following “schedules” religiously. How pathetic!! Apparently,
the mentality from our previous big trips was completely washed out by the life
in HK! Time to enjoy the vacation and forget time, at least during the precious
10-day vacation!
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