Hello, I blog!
I share all my sporadic and toilet thoughts in here, because I am random like that.
Three days, two nights at Pulau Sibu
So, I’m finally back – albeit a much darker version of my former self.
We’ve had bright sunshine, sand and sea, as well as loads of strong winds and sea breezes over the past three days at Pulau Sibu. The water was mostly turquoise-green, whereas it was completely clear and blue at one of the smaller islands (Pulau Kukus) that we were brought to.
I’m going to launch into a long grandmother’s story about the trip itself – so feel free to filter out whichever parts you’re more interested in reading. Alternatively, you can let the photos do the talking.
10 simple facts about the Pulau Sibu Trip
1) Five people were stung by jellyfish during snorkeling. (No, I wasn’t one of them – wasn’t snorkeling either because I can’t swim to save my life.)
At the beach near Sea Gypsy Resort.
2) We went to a total of four beaches – scattered around various parts of the island. Three with reasonably clear water, and one with clear blue water which I couldn’t bear to leave. Oh, and one of them beaches wasn’t the usual sandy ones we have – instead, there was smooth marble and limestones in various shapes and forms making up the shoreline.)
3) While all my friends have received plentiful of sandfly bites, I’ve received less than five – all thanks to the extremely effective insecticide brought by a friend. (Although it boggles the mind why THAT friend was the worst hit among all of us when it came to insect bites.)
4) We’ve eaten enough crabs, prawns, sotongs (cuttlefish) and fish to last us a lifetime.
5) All of us agreed unanimously that we hated the toilets at the resort.
There were four toilets/bathrooms that had to be shared among all the rooms on the ground floor – and they were often sandy, smelly, dark, brimming with dirty footprints and mosquitoes.
Plus, there was always some joker who would blatantly refuse to flush the damn toilet. Grr.
6) Four of us are horrendously sunburnt now – and I happen to be one of them. (Around the shoulders and the back of my neck – ooooh, ouch.)
7) I’ve been on enough boat rides to last me a lifetime either – with me tying on my lifejacket as tightly as I can, and clinging on to the side (or any available handlebars) on the boat with my dear life because … I can’t swim, remember?
8) Watching the tides going up and down proved to be an extremely interesting experience.
When we first reached the resort – it was high tide to the point that the disembarking area of the jetty was flooded, so everyone had to walk in the water.
However, at 6 in the morning, the sea had gone all the way out that even the jetty was moored in the middle of nowhere with nothing but sand all around it.
And take note – the jetty was a considerable distance away from the shoreline! (About 200m.)
9) I held a live fish for the first time during fishing – it was wet and slimy, and the scales were falling off all over my hands. Was pretty much amused at how the fish was still its usual silvery grey colour when it was first caught while it loses all its colouring (through the shedding of its scales, perhaps?) once it dies to an extent that it becomes transparent, revealing all its insides.
Our resort’s sign at the jetty.
10) The resort we stayed at was Sibu Coconut Village Resort.
A pretty run-down place with dark and musty rooms, and inconsistent bedsheet colours. Basically, don’t expect any form of cleanliness when you reside here. Also, the power generators went down three times.
Unfortunately, this was already one of the better resorts they have on the island and we didn’t spend that much time within the resort premises anyway.
Girls make better men than … men.
If my friends and I were born male instead of female – I swear we’d make far better men than the existing men around. One phrase to describe today’s men, to sum them all up – chivalry is dead.
M and I reported for our exam invigilation duties and somehow found ourselves holding the glass doors open for one another at a 7-eleven store. (Imagine a glass door with two panels – me holding open one side and M holding the other side, basically staring at each other dumbly, unsure whom should go first.)
It happened again when we had to enter the building via another glass door.
That was when M concluded the whole situation with the title of this post – that girls (ahem, us) make far better men than err yes, men.
Why? Because we hold the doors open for each other (girls will most definitely appreciate that), offer to carry stuff for each other (again, another characteristic appreciated by girls) and the last quality that M swears I possess – that I swear like a bullet train. (Hehehehehe.)
In fact, it wasn’t just M and myself who would make good men.
A few days later …
Stef and I found ourselves stranded at the library after a sudden downpour. We had to part in different directions. but I offered to walk her to the bus stop since I had the good ol’ umbrella ella ella with me … or so I thought. (Okay, still about Brenda the MAN here but continue to read on!)
Realized later that my umbrella was nowhere in my bag (oops) – which means that I can’t walk Stef to the bus stop, which also means that both of us were back to square one – still trapped at the library. So much for being chivalrous. :(
Had to sit around and wait for the rain to stop in the end.
Later, Stef offered to walk me to my destination – which was a considerable distance away. I agreed after a slight tussle. (Because it means troubling her, but she insisted she was fine with it.) So, she walked me to my destination. (See? Chivalrous Stef!)
And in return, I walked her to the nearest bus stop at my destination.
Basically, we were walking each other to and fro. (Which I thought was rather hilarious.)
Will be away for the next two and a half days or so. Will be at Pulau Sibu, Malaysia with several crazy people from early morning tomorrow, trekking (yay!), soaking up the sun (yay!), watching them snorkel and participate in water sports (because I can’t swim) and capturing photographs like mad (sunrise/sunsets there are supposed to be spectacular).
So … until then! (:
The Crumpler is the best bag ever!
And honestly, it definitely is.
I’ve been a loyal user of Crumpler bags since mid-2005, and am still going strong. I own three of them now, and I use them iteratively. (As in, when I feel like Barney, I’d use the purple one. When I feel plain, I’d use the black one. As for the brown one, I use it the most since it’s my favourite out of the three bags.)
Then, my younger cousin David decided to get himself one. And of course, I’m in full support of it – Crumpler rocks, remember?
So, off we went to Crumpler‘s main outlet at Paragon, Orchard.
I stood aside as he tried bag after bag, giving comments and tips here and there as to which bag is better. I personally do not recommend the Western Lawn style as they rely entirely on velcro – which means that you risk having your bag fall open every now and then once the velcro starts wearing out. Instead, go for those that have the black buckle in addition to the velcro … like the Barney Rustle Blanket or the Soupansalad styles.
Trying on bag after bag after bag after bag after … you get the idea.
David finally chose the third design in the photo above – called The Considerable Embarassment for reasons totally beyond me. Not a bad choice – with two snap buckles plus velcro, and more compartments within for storage than I can count on both my hands combined together.
He was pretty excited about getting his Crumpler, and immediately after his mum made payment for it, he was already diving back to the shelves and asking her for another one. Hahahahahaha.
I can name so many reasons why I love Crumpler so much (and may even brainwash everyone out there), and just to name a few;
1) They come in very versatile, plain yet classy designs which means that you can match a Crumpler with almost any other colour.
2) They are extremely hardy. (My first Crumpler had tolerated so much abuse and is still standing strong.)
3) They come with so many compartments which means you will have no problems organizing your stuff. (Especially if you’re a packrat like moi!)
4) They (even the smallest bags) can withstand the weight of my laptop!
5) They are very comfortable. (I’ve carried my Crumpler on several hiking/biking trips and it never gave me much problems – unless you’re carrying a brickload of stuff, of course.)
I can name a lot more but let me just stop here, lest someone thinks that I’m a spokesperson for Crumpler or something and starts to doubt the credibility of my words.
Let me end it all with a last photo – my cousin proudly carrying his new Crumpler (which is in that brown cloth bag he’s holding) and err … me standing beside him. (Wasn’t carrying my Crumpler bag that day, unfortunately.)
Don’t let the height fool you. I’m older. Much, much older. :(
Oh, one more reason to love Crumpler – they are environmentally friendly. They sell their bags in reusable cloth bags! (Nay to plastic bags!)
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