Last weekend, we went to Desaru – a beach in Johor state, Malaysia. We being Varun, Tara, Vishy, Abi and I. We had planned to stay overnight, but somehow all hotels in this fairly unknown beach were booked. Optimistically, we decided to leave from home at 7am in the morning and try to find a room in Desaru since we refused to believe that all rooms could be taken.
Abi and I had slept late the previous night. So when the alarm rang at 6am, there was no chance that I would get up. Abi being an early-bird made himself busy finding books to read during the trip, getting our passports ready and packing some clothes in a small little bag and eating breakfast. Periodically he would call out to me to get up. To get him off my back, I asked him to check if others had woken up, fully confident that everyone would have slept in. Apparently not, because 5 mins later he shouted for me to wake up with an edge in his voice indicating rising temper. I quickly began getting ready for the trip and putting a few clothes of mine in the bag. Soon I realized that I was putting in a lot of stuff in the bag but it just didn’t seem to get full. On closer inspection, I realized that Abi kept removing clothes as I added them in since he felt we didn’t need as many for a short weekend trip. We were in the middle of a heated argument when Tara called to say that they were on way to pick us up. So we just quickly filled the bag with whatever we could find and rushed down.
Abi appointed himself as navigator of the trip and prided himself on his sense of direction and brilliance in geography. To his credit, he had written down detailed directions (like "Take a left immediately after KFC and keep going straight") on a sheet of paper to ensure we wouldn’t get lost. Vishy had just finished reading Harry Potter the previous night and like a true Harry Potter fan he had a few unresolved questions in his mind. He wanted to discuss these unresolved issues with me since I had also read it. As we began to discuss it, Varun and Abi got irritated since they planned to read the book and we were breaking the suspense for them. Once Varun turned around to shut us up and the car swerved dangerously. Fearing our lives, we agreed not to discuss it anymore. Suddenly, I heard someone whispering to me. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was Vishy trying to be very secretive about the Harry Potter discussion. In a car with 5 people, whispering is bound to draw more attention than a normal conversation. Anyway, we only stopped the discussion when Vishy had asked all his questions, didn’t get satisfactory answers on some and decided to read the book again.
We were travelling on a narrow road and there were a few really slow-moving trucks in front of us. Varun got fairly frustrated with the slow pace at which we were crawling and overtook the trucks even though there was traffic coming at us from the other side. Tara, who was sleeping so far got fairly worked up at this and said “I will complain to Papa if you don’t drive carefully”. Varun (and all of us) were taken aback at Tara’s frenzy given that she seemed peacefully asleep just minutes ago. In any case, the outburst worked like a charm and Varun became the safest driver on the face of earth ever.
We reached Desaru without further incident and decided to hit the beach before trying to find a room. In any case the beach looked fairly empty, so we would get rooms easily. The weather was brilliant – cloudy with a gentle breeze. The water was a dull blue and the sky was a dirty gray. Vishy jumped into the water wearing track pants with 6 pockets (this becomes important later on). We had just reached the beach when high tide was beginning. We sat down at the edge of the water for about an hour with successive wave drenching us more than the previous. It had begun to drizzle now and soon we were the only people left on the beach. When the rain became heavier, we got up to leave. Vishy couldn’t get up since every pocket was filled with atleast a kilo of sand. Clutching his pockets, he ran into the privacy of the sea water to get rid of the sand while we had a good laugh.
As always, immediately after coming out of the seawater, we began to feel tired and dirty and needed a shower. The boys went to find a room, but couldn’t since Desaru was celebrating "family day" that weekend with 2000 families from all over Malaysia participating in the celebrations. I must say that these 2000 families were doing a very good job of hiding themselves since we couldn’t spot anyone for miles. We reconciled to the fact that it would have to be a day trip and we would have to find alternate arrangements to shower and change. After a long and painful search, we found a public loo where we paid 50 cents to shower and had the option to buy a soap and shampoo as well. The washroom's lights were turned off, but as soon as we paid up, miraculously the lights turned on. It might have been better to keep it dark since the light served to magnify the dirt and grime in the washroom. I entered to see small cubicles with built-in cement tubs containing stale water. There was no shower, not even a bucket or a mug. Just a rubber pipe connected to a tap. I was most upset. There seemed no way out of this. Just as I was reconciling myself to this reality, I heard voices from the other side of the cubicles. I walked around to the other side to find a row of showers. I had started rejoicing when noticed that none of them had a door. Flimsy curtains covered roughly half the entrance. After a hugely disgusting experience, we managed to freshen up. As I was coming out of the washroom, a strange Indian man walked in and my shock was mirrored on his face also. He gathered his wits sooner than I could and asked in a shaky voice "Ladeej toilet?” I nodded and he quickly ran out. There were 2 people at the entrance of the loo, but since this man hadn’t paid up for their special services (shower, shampoo, soap et al) they chose not to enlighten him that the men's washroom was on the other side.
We managed to find food quite easily and had a long lunch. It was now about 3pm in the afternoon and the rain finally stopped. So we decided to lie down on the beach and read for a while before leaving for Singapore. Abi read all of one word before he fell asleep. Vishy didn’t attempt to read at all, just lied still. Varun and Tara fought a losing battle with sleep and succumbed to it after a few minutes. I diligently read the depressing book I had got. Vishy periodically woke up from sleep to announce "I can’t sleep straight. I need to spread myself out, but Abi is taking up all the space". I felt like a school teacher trying to tell him that he had to make do with the space he had. After an hour we decided it was time to leave.
On our way back, Tara decided her cold had subsided enough for her to drive us back to Singapore. We reached Johor without any incident. We stopped at a petrol pump in Johor to fill the tank and suddenly felt like we didn’t want to go through the Woodlands checkpoint, we wanted to go to Tuas. Abi tried to rationalise it by saying immigration was quicker at Tuas. We asked the way to Tuas and drove in search of it for half an hour. At one point, we thought that we found the right way and Abi was quick to take credit for it. After a short celebration, we found ourselves driving down the same road that we had previously, heading towards Woodlands. Abi had failed at his job as a navigator and tried to salvage some pride by convincing us that both checkpoints were equally efficient and we should just head to Woodlands.
Vishy had just bought a new phone with a powerful camera, so he whiled away time by clicking pictures of himself. His eyes were closed in all pictures and he ruefully muttered "I wish I was photogenic". Abi quickly jumped up and said "I know how Filipinos manage to look good in pictures and I can teach you". Abi's technique was a 3-step process. (1) Tilt your head towards the camera as if you are going to get into it (2) Smile showing all (or as many as possible) your teeth (3) Slightly open the mouth to indicate extra happiness. This apparently also serves to open the eyes wider and make you look cheerful. One thing must be said about Vishy, he is a diligent student. He practised it a few times and then mastered the art. He strongly believes in this technique and is willing to teach anyone/everyone who is interested. He also has a pre-post photo to show that it works. In the spirit of being honest, I also tried the technique to find out what all the fuss is about. I have a couple of horrendous looking photos to show for my efforts. Hence it does not work for all. If you are still interested, Vishy is most certainly willing to teach.
We reached Singapore at 8:30pm, ate a quick dinner and crashed ! These day trips are really tiring..what say T?
Abi and I had slept late the previous night. So when the alarm rang at 6am, there was no chance that I would get up. Abi being an early-bird made himself busy finding books to read during the trip, getting our passports ready and packing some clothes in a small little bag and eating breakfast. Periodically he would call out to me to get up. To get him off my back, I asked him to check if others had woken up, fully confident that everyone would have slept in. Apparently not, because 5 mins later he shouted for me to wake up with an edge in his voice indicating rising temper. I quickly began getting ready for the trip and putting a few clothes of mine in the bag. Soon I realized that I was putting in a lot of stuff in the bag but it just didn’t seem to get full. On closer inspection, I realized that Abi kept removing clothes as I added them in since he felt we didn’t need as many for a short weekend trip. We were in the middle of a heated argument when Tara called to say that they were on way to pick us up. So we just quickly filled the bag with whatever we could find and rushed down.
Abi appointed himself as navigator of the trip and prided himself on his sense of direction and brilliance in geography. To his credit, he had written down detailed directions (like "Take a left immediately after KFC and keep going straight") on a sheet of paper to ensure we wouldn’t get lost. Vishy had just finished reading Harry Potter the previous night and like a true Harry Potter fan he had a few unresolved questions in his mind. He wanted to discuss these unresolved issues with me since I had also read it. As we began to discuss it, Varun and Abi got irritated since they planned to read the book and we were breaking the suspense for them. Once Varun turned around to shut us up and the car swerved dangerously. Fearing our lives, we agreed not to discuss it anymore. Suddenly, I heard someone whispering to me. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was Vishy trying to be very secretive about the Harry Potter discussion. In a car with 5 people, whispering is bound to draw more attention than a normal conversation. Anyway, we only stopped the discussion when Vishy had asked all his questions, didn’t get satisfactory answers on some and decided to read the book again.
We were travelling on a narrow road and there were a few really slow-moving trucks in front of us. Varun got fairly frustrated with the slow pace at which we were crawling and overtook the trucks even though there was traffic coming at us from the other side. Tara, who was sleeping so far got fairly worked up at this and said “I will complain to Papa if you don’t drive carefully”. Varun (and all of us) were taken aback at Tara’s frenzy given that she seemed peacefully asleep just minutes ago. In any case, the outburst worked like a charm and Varun became the safest driver on the face of earth ever.
We reached Desaru without further incident and decided to hit the beach before trying to find a room. In any case the beach looked fairly empty, so we would get rooms easily. The weather was brilliant – cloudy with a gentle breeze. The water was a dull blue and the sky was a dirty gray. Vishy jumped into the water wearing track pants with 6 pockets (this becomes important later on). We had just reached the beach when high tide was beginning. We sat down at the edge of the water for about an hour with successive wave drenching us more than the previous. It had begun to drizzle now and soon we were the only people left on the beach. When the rain became heavier, we got up to leave. Vishy couldn’t get up since every pocket was filled with atleast a kilo of sand. Clutching his pockets, he ran into the privacy of the sea water to get rid of the sand while we had a good laugh.
As always, immediately after coming out of the seawater, we began to feel tired and dirty and needed a shower. The boys went to find a room, but couldn’t since Desaru was celebrating "family day" that weekend with 2000 families from all over Malaysia participating in the celebrations. I must say that these 2000 families were doing a very good job of hiding themselves since we couldn’t spot anyone for miles. We reconciled to the fact that it would have to be a day trip and we would have to find alternate arrangements to shower and change. After a long and painful search, we found a public loo where we paid 50 cents to shower and had the option to buy a soap and shampoo as well. The washroom's lights were turned off, but as soon as we paid up, miraculously the lights turned on. It might have been better to keep it dark since the light served to magnify the dirt and grime in the washroom. I entered to see small cubicles with built-in cement tubs containing stale water. There was no shower, not even a bucket or a mug. Just a rubber pipe connected to a tap. I was most upset. There seemed no way out of this. Just as I was reconciling myself to this reality, I heard voices from the other side of the cubicles. I walked around to the other side to find a row of showers. I had started rejoicing when noticed that none of them had a door. Flimsy curtains covered roughly half the entrance. After a hugely disgusting experience, we managed to freshen up. As I was coming out of the washroom, a strange Indian man walked in and my shock was mirrored on his face also. He gathered his wits sooner than I could and asked in a shaky voice "Ladeej toilet?” I nodded and he quickly ran out. There were 2 people at the entrance of the loo, but since this man hadn’t paid up for their special services (shower, shampoo, soap et al) they chose not to enlighten him that the men's washroom was on the other side.
We managed to find food quite easily and had a long lunch. It was now about 3pm in the afternoon and the rain finally stopped. So we decided to lie down on the beach and read for a while before leaving for Singapore. Abi read all of one word before he fell asleep. Vishy didn’t attempt to read at all, just lied still. Varun and Tara fought a losing battle with sleep and succumbed to it after a few minutes. I diligently read the depressing book I had got. Vishy periodically woke up from sleep to announce "I can’t sleep straight. I need to spread myself out, but Abi is taking up all the space". I felt like a school teacher trying to tell him that he had to make do with the space he had. After an hour we decided it was time to leave.
On our way back, Tara decided her cold had subsided enough for her to drive us back to Singapore. We reached Johor without any incident. We stopped at a petrol pump in Johor to fill the tank and suddenly felt like we didn’t want to go through the Woodlands checkpoint, we wanted to go to Tuas. Abi tried to rationalise it by saying immigration was quicker at Tuas. We asked the way to Tuas and drove in search of it for half an hour. At one point, we thought that we found the right way and Abi was quick to take credit for it. After a short celebration, we found ourselves driving down the same road that we had previously, heading towards Woodlands. Abi had failed at his job as a navigator and tried to salvage some pride by convincing us that both checkpoints were equally efficient and we should just head to Woodlands.
Vishy had just bought a new phone with a powerful camera, so he whiled away time by clicking pictures of himself. His eyes were closed in all pictures and he ruefully muttered "I wish I was photogenic". Abi quickly jumped up and said "I know how Filipinos manage to look good in pictures and I can teach you". Abi's technique was a 3-step process. (1) Tilt your head towards the camera as if you are going to get into it (2) Smile showing all (or as many as possible) your teeth (3) Slightly open the mouth to indicate extra happiness. This apparently also serves to open the eyes wider and make you look cheerful. One thing must be said about Vishy, he is a diligent student. He practised it a few times and then mastered the art. He strongly believes in this technique and is willing to teach anyone/everyone who is interested. He also has a pre-post photo to show that it works. In the spirit of being honest, I also tried the technique to find out what all the fuss is about. I have a couple of horrendous looking photos to show for my efforts. Hence it does not work for all. If you are still interested, Vishy is most certainly willing to teach.
We reached Singapore at 8:30pm, ate a quick dinner and crashed ! These day trips are really tiring..what say T?
9 comments:
Desaru sounds like a cool place - sorta close by and fun... good trip and looks like vishy stands to receive the bakra of the trip award. One correction - K man is the best navigator, not 'coz his sense of direction is any great, but 'coz rest of all are totally anti-compass types. Next trip shall be planned soon...
This post actually deserves a "nice post" comment, but given that certain "deals" have not been honoured in the recent past, I have restricted this comment to pure facts! :-)
Nice blog, makes me curious though in understanding the connection between your trips and these weird adventures :-))
Is it you apu?? lol!
very well written...makes the "Photo clicking" experience sound funnier than it actually was :-)
cool...so vishy's research comments have also been incorporated....am sure u chose not to embarass ur hubby by writing about his super cool super man costume :P
P.S: and i never never said i'll complain to my dad :)
You RocK :-)
T: Looking fwd to another roadtrip yaar...just realized ki i couldnt blog about our 1000km in a day trip bcos u stole my thunder :p
Swetha: What can I do if these things happen around me and I make it sound a bit dramatic? :)
Abi: :)
Tara: i missed writing about Abi's red cape...genuinely forgot ! Though i must say is was funny enough to deserve a separate post. U did say that you'll complain to papa...we have many witnesses :)
archan: Thanks :)
hehhehe - good one :)
good post ya..
Desaru is a cool place
we are planning to drive down sometime this month to Msia..havent decided where or wat yet though
Desaru is nice place but how to get tourist visa for malaysia
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