Walking in Obedience...

I think it's high time to talk about this. Remember about the sudden trip to Kuala Sepetang? You see, what I have in mind was something very different. I thought we were gonna stay in a chalet that overlooks the mud banks. Wherever it was that we're gonna stay, I have envisioned that we're gonna end up living in a big, comfortable place staring into sunrise from the east and enjoying the sunset view in the west. Do you know that I have an excellent imagination? But one must never misinterpret between God's voice and pure imagination, that will be very dangerous.

In the beginning of the year, I heard God asking me to do something unbelievable. I did it but I am one who also question God and His reasons behind everything. I got my answers 4 months later. It was not a pleasant surprise. I got catapulted out of my comfort zone and ended up weeping for someone whom I barely know. And that someone most probably never acknowledge me as a friend, but just someone unimportant. I was in an emotional and mental and spiritual mess for a few weeks. I was angry with everyone and everything and I snapped at the person whom I have to intercede for in prayers. 

A few weeks later, during sermon, pastor said something that slammed me right in the middle of my stomach. It was a strange saying which sounded like this if I'm not mistaken,"Christians are the only person who would shoot their own wounded." Yes, I have to agree to that although most people couldn't understand it. I 'shot' the wounded that God has sent me to intercede in prayer... I have known since the beginning that I have to intercede but I shot at him through and through, at every chance that I have because I couldn't handle the situation. I wasn't ready to hear the reason why I was needed there. 

Familiar with God's words.... Pray without ceasing... I think I never truly understand that verse because every time I asked for something, He would bless me with something better than what I asked for, almost immediately. And there were so many times that I just have a desire for something, and without even going to my Father in heaven for it, the stuff I wanted just walked right into me. Right then and there I know, He knows the desire of my heart whether I go to Him or not. So, I do take things for granted at times. But this time round it's different. It's interceding for others... a person who will never be your friend even when you want to be a true friend... and I prayed with my tears, not knowing what else to do. I was so lost that I felt like I have fallen into a deep hole and the only way to climb back up is to claw my way out with my fingernails. I was down in the dumps and I wanted to just get out of this place. I was crawling for a way out and I felt like a trapped animal. 

Then out of the blue, the cousin called and asked me to go for a short trip. I agreed and instead of going alone with her, I bundled up the whole car with my whole large family. One moment, I felt like I wanted to be alone but on the other hand, it felt so wrong to do that. I wanted to be with the people I love and who loves me unconditionally. The place which we were suppose to stay in made my heart sank all the way down to my feet. It was just a concrete building with no view of whatsoever. And the worst part was there's not even a window in our room. Instead of splitting my large family to share a room with my cousy, all six of us slept together in one room. We're really good in bunking together, no problem with that. Now, I thought it was just gonna be a short trip to get away from everything... I was mistaken....

God was there, in the building itself. Our highlight of the trip was not the fireflies watch or the fantastic seafood in the village or visiting the charcoal factory. We were put there to pray for the owner of the building and a man who has great wealth with the cockle farming and charcoal factory and all the money in the world. There was one thing that he does not have, a good health. He has so many illnesses that he may just collapse anytime and leave everything behind. He has been praying to all sort of gods in the world but he has never experience our mighty God. It was time for him to acknowledge who Jesus is. 

After spending hours talking, he's really comfortable sharing everything with us, his life, his ups and downs. By now I already know that I have the gift of the gap. I have the ability to talk to practically anyone, of all ages, and talk as if we've known each other for years. To cut the story short, he accepted our offer to pray for him and it's just marvelous to feel God's presence right there and then. He felt it, too so powerful that it could move a big and mighty man to tears. From then on, I never doubt God when He says go... I just need to go and ask questions on the way... or later... somehow or other, He will reveal everything along the way... and when the time is right according to Him. 

#5 Snorkel: Long Beach, Perhentian Kecil

That's the Long Beach... really long, ain't it?

We bumped our way to Redang Island on the quite calm sea. Not choppy but the wind was blowing so hard anything would fly off into the sea. It was for another hour before we get to our destination. Or it felt like an hour. This was the best trip ever as I wasn't bothered with the time at all. 

Oh, come here fishy.. fishy...

There were so many islands that we have no idea where we were. I salute to those who captain a ship for knowing which way to take. I would be so lost in the middle of nowhere, with no signboard and while I have the perfect ability to read a map, I have no knowledge of reading a compass in hand. 

Mua... with corals and rocks...

There were lots of fish in Long Beach. Corals were not as pretty as the ones in Coral Bay. We were not suppose to chase after marine life but I went chasing after a baby shark. We tried to snap some photos in the sea. I do lots to snap and uploaded already. Other than that, there wasn't much to see... it's just corals in different arrangements. It's like going to a different playground in a different housing estate, with higher population of fishes. 

Morning on South China Sea...

I woke up with a jolt. Our boat was rocking rather badly. The thunder was roaring in the sky and lightning seemed to brighten the sky every few minutes. We huddled closer to each other, praying hard that the our boat would not sink, neither would it hit any rocks. A comic book once wrote that when lightning strikes, one should look into the lightning and give a big smile as God is using His big camera with a huge flash to snap our photos. That was a bit crazy because we were thinking about ourselves getting charred from the lightning-strike. As if the demons down under the sea were hoping that we would sink, suddenly the lightning struck our luxury boat and split the boat into two. And we went down into the sea, with our arms clung together like an octopus. 

Our food supply

Where does that music come from? Are we dead? On the way to heaven? Oh, wait... my alarm clock. Can't smash that alarm clock... it's my smartphone. Time to get up. Breakfast... on our own expense. We brought food along. We have cup noodles that could last us for the entire year trip. 

Good morning from the South China Sea

Hot water... where to get hot water? There's no electric jug to boil water... oh, shucks... I have to run down to the kitchen at the lounge area to get water. Okay, I can do that. No big deal... but the walk up was horrible. I spilled some boiling hot water on my hand because I was walking too fast. So I slowed down but the arms ached like I had a 3kg dumb bell tied to my arms. Our chalet was so far up, far from people walking up and down, that's the goodness, but it's way too far. One small jug wasn't enough, need another one to make Milo. Okay, go get some more... and thanks to my couzy who prepared the breakfast. 

The breakfast prepare r

The other two were waiting to be served. Yes, that's the way it should be... people who served and people waiting to be served. That made our group very well balanced. You can't have everyone serving nobody at the same time. And you can't have all of us waiting to be served when there's no one there to serve us.

Who else?

I'm a very simple person. It's a holiday... I can survive without food breakfast. We've changed into our attire, waiting to conquer the sea. Sounds like we're pirates...

The End of Our First Day...

God's landscape

By the time we went back to our chalet, I was more than satisfied. I was thanking God for bringing us here together.

All of us~!

It has been a really great time even with the long hours of traveling but the walk to our chalet room was way too long. It was high up in the hill. After we walked up, we had to walk down to the lounge area for food.

Me in a romantically dark background...

Dinner was at our own expense. The place was really romantic but since I'm not a romantic person, I couldn't be bothered much about the ambiance. If you enjoy looking at the sea while having your meal, then you might like it but it's really dark. I'm not sure why must romantic be in darkness, although it's not completely dark but I knew I had to squint my eyes to see what I was eating. 

Us~!

After dinner, my cousy and I had a wonderful time walking along the beach. We were actually searching for a new place for dinner for the next day. Hah... we were more worried about having good food than anything else. We were walking along the sandy beach and mind you, I don't like sand in my flip flops. We took some photos together... and we chatted. But I couldn't remember what we talked about. We laughed more than we talked... that's pretty obvious.

Our romantic night walk along the beach...

It's my second time tugging myself into dreamland before 10:30 p.m. for this trip. That's pretty early but I think I sailed straight into dreamland with no dreams at all. The next thing I knew, my alarm was waking me up... that's a real fitful sleep. Looking forward for day two... 

#4 Snorkel: A 'Horn' Shell and Nicer Corals...

Where are we going next? Going back to the chalet? I wouldn't mind because I've been satisfied with the red and purple corals. But I can never have enough of snorkeling. Let's go to the next location... it's just in one of the corners of Perhentian Besar... I think it should be as I hardly have any memory of such a place in my head. I just know that there's a nice big shell there.

Not much to see...

Let me go down first. Now, I'm going to be the first to go down instead of sitting there and playing the game 'You go first, I follow'. I shall take the lead. Okay... there's nothing here. It's way too deep to sea. Hmph... should we venture further?

About to run out of 'battery'... no more energy...

In a totally different world...

Let's go... oohhh... the corals are so different. A totally different world compared to the previous in Coral Bay no doubt the one in Coral Bay was more beautiful. It's like going to a different city like Coral Bay can be equated as going to Tanjung Bungah while the place here can be equated as Sungai Batu. You get what I mean? Oh, well just Google for Tanjung Bungah and Sungai Batu. They are two worlds apart with different lifestyle and everything.

Hey~! Don't step on the corals... or was that just a rock?

You again~!!!

I really enjoy paddling my feet on the water looking around but the neck was about to give way. And my index finger was going numb clicking on the camera and it was quite difficult to swim holding on to the camera. Thank God it was tied to the wrist and the whole casing can actually float on the surface of the water itself. Less fish here but was greeted by the black and yellow stripes.

Blow your horn~!!!

It's very very much alive with tenant staying inside. I was trying to get my cousy who was laughing so hard to snap a proper photo. It was so difficult so this was the best the rest of the photos appeared to be in complete blurness.

Did somebody leave their brain under the sea? Please claim your big fat brain...

I have had a great time snorkeling in four different locations in 4 hours? I have had no sense of time as it was a leisure activity and none of us was wearing watches. Not bothered with time on a holiday.

I'm happy :D

#3 Snorkel: Coral Bay...

Coral Bay...

Whee~! Where are we now? Coral Bay... We've passed by this place when we were on the way to our Coral View Island Resort. So what's down there? Anything special?

The wave...

Excuse me. Let me go down first. I was kinda desperate already. If I still don't see any colour on the corals, I'm gonna take the speedboat all the way back to Penang Island and park the boat at Straits Quay... *hmph*... Ugh... the wave... that's pretty choppy... Let's see what's down there...

This colour also?

This can't be it? Same fish... same colour of corals... Fishy... have you been following us all over? I no like you already... same old black and white stripe or yellow stripes. Swim away~!

Swim away~!

Swim along the coast. There must be something really good waiting for us. God... I wanna see coloured corals... please please... It's a real far journey not to go to waste... When one is desperate, one will never feel tired. And then God also never cheat any of His children in anything, be it big or small. You might think that I'm crazy to go all the way to the East Coast just because I fall in love with snorkeling. But if you know me well, when I want to do something, I really wanna do it, come what may. 

It's PURPLE~!

I would have shed tears in the sea. It's purple in colour. I like it very much... and I marveled at God's creation. It's so perfect. It's so beautiful even when I don't know the actual name to it. Did God really drop such difficult names into the heads of the marine biologists when they started naming all the aquatic organisms that they see?

They're RED~!

Ohhh... ohh.... that's really really wonderful.... red... all shades of red... My Lord, the awesome creator has a really big playground down here for the fish. I have no more words to describe how beautiful they are. It has really make my day. We swam quite far away along the coast. 

Small fishy...

Can you see that small fish with neon blue on its body. I think they sell it in the aquarium. I've seen that before. I don't need an aquarium in the house, I'm very happy looking at this huge aquarium with no boundaries. Seeing the fish swimming happily and dashing about among the corals, it makes keeping a fish in an aquarium a cruel act as the fish will not have enough space to move about.

What's that?

I've definitely seen that thing before.... but I have no idea what that is. My knowledge of the underwater creatures is zero. I don't know from where I can study. I want to look for the names of the fish that I've captured but I don't even know what to type for the search entry. So, for now let's hope that someone will give me a huge book filled with pictures, names, descriptions and details for all the sea creatures in the world. You know what to get me for Christmas... hehhehehe

#2 Snorkel: Sea Turtle and Stingray...

After the first snorkeling place, our agent took us back to the jetty. I thought it was the end of the first day. If it was I would have jumped into the sea and do nothing there as a sign of protest. At that jetty was a chalet, the Perhentian Island Resort but the beach didn't look appealing to me. Then the guide said that we're going to look at a sea turtle. 

That lazy sea turtle

I thought the sea turtle was gonna flap it's wings flippers and swim as fast as it could because we humans were coming by the drove just to see the lazy sea turtle. It wasn't going anywhere and it was so busy eating some invisible food stuff. There was something growing on the shell at the shoulder over there. The sea turtle stays there and if you are to go there now, it's still going to be there coz on the third day, during our free time, Juju and I swam all the way from our side to the other side just to say 'Hi' to the old turtle. 

There was nothing else at the beach in front of the Perhentian Island Resort except for this. No corals at all. Visibility was almost zero at some parts. Lots of sand that can go into the wet suit. There's even rubbish in the sea, must be thrown by some brainless people. So, we were just circling the place but ended up looking at the sea turtle only. Then other boats came as well sending more people looking at the sea turtle.

Can you see that? It's a stingray...

I was blessed to see a stingray that zoomed so fast. I managed to capture it as well... *well done to me* And that's all... hey... we're not going back yet. Mr. Ong said we have another place to go to. Okay... please bring me somewhere with colourful corals. Thank you... 

#1 Snorkel: Somewhere in Perhentian Kecil...

We got our keys to the chalet which was way up in the hill... nutcase~! It was a huff and a puff walking up and then we quickly changed into our wetsuits but we got one major problem... there was only 1 bathroom and there were the 5 of us... *damn*

The whole world was waiting for us at the jetty. And the walk to jetty was one llooonnnngggg way to go.... another bummer~! I don't know where were we heading to but it must be somewhere near Perhentian Kecil. When speed boat stopped and Mr. Ong asked us to get down. No one wanted to go down. My brain wasn't working because after going to Pulau Payar, I have in my head, a pontoon, a nice shelter not somewhere out in the open. It's really open as it's the South China Sea. I started to have my hubby's way of thinking... what if I got washed away, I couldn't fight the current... what if something happen to one of us, who's gonna rescue us.... what if... what if... what the heck, I came all the way here, so got my gears up and went down... 

???????

Why same kinda fish and same colour of corals like in Pulau Payar? Where are the beautiful corals? I don't want to see this...  Juju, what happen? According to Juju, who was here 15 years ago, the corals are not as beautiful anymore. Aiyo... I was kinda upset... no more energy to go on... my battery about to go flat...

Searching for beautiful corals...

Swim... swim... swim... surely there must be some beautiful corals down there... or some beautiful fish totally different from the ones in Pulau Payar... I don't want to see those yellow stripes and polka dots already la...

Can see anything nice down there?

Don't have also... *huhuhuhuhu* How can this be? Can we go some other place?

Can you see that huge oyster?

I've never seen such huge live oyster before. Of course I have seen an empty shell before but a live one... sorry we weren't allow to snap a photo of the huge oyster... but it was really huge... our guide put it back after that. So, that was the only good memory I have of  our first snorkeling place.

Goodbye to the non-so-beautiful place

Are We There Yet?!?!??!?!?!

If you've traveled with a child before, you will hear that 'Are We There Yet?' like an unbreakable playing tape recorder. After 4 hours of car ride, my nephew started to ask that question. It was a question any normal people will ask and then it became louder and louder. After some time, we're all asking 'ARE WE THERE YET?' I've been driving for so many hours and I only see wooden houses, trees and more trees on one straight road. If the nephew wasn't around, I would be the loudest asking that question while driving. And then it was like consoling ourselves, we're reaching already... we're reaching already...

ARE WE THERE YET?????

And then the speed boat ride began. It took such a long time to reach... and here we go... 'ARE WE THEY YET?' I'm thinking of jet ski then I can ride it on my own across the pounding waves. Yamaha's Waverunner is one of the best to slice through the waves. Awesome... you just don't know how awesome it was until you've been on it when the sea is choppy and rough. The schedule printed stated that it would be an hour's speed boat ride to Perhentian Island... *faint*

We're the famous Judith, Judith & Judith and there's my nephew...

So, what do we do for an hour? To kill time, you can chat away but with the sound of the twin engines and the waves plus the strong wind, your saliva will threaten to splatter on your friends' face. So, it's not wise to talk so much. It's better to snap photos even when the camera was about to fly off from your grip. We're best taking photos. And yeah, please remove that holiday-looking hat. It's gonna end up polluting the sea surface and maybe the shark will wear if for a shark's nite out.

With Mr. Ong, our agent...

Well, if you think you're speaking to an uneducated beach boy then you ought to be shot dead and be thrown into the South China Sea for making such poor assumption. Mr. Ong was a retired secondary school principal in Penang. So why did he opt for early retirement and end up getting himself charred skin and looking dehydrated? He looked like salted fish to me. Oh, well... simple deduction... this has less paperwork but more printed paper with our King's face printed on it in his pocket. This is lucrative business... 

Moving away from the mainland...

Come on, boat... faster... faster... We're so far from the mainland already... quick... get us there... It's my first time on the South China Sea. The white clouds are beautiful. Everything at that point of time was beautiful... too bad the camera couldn't capture everything. That's why sometimes you have to experience it yourself instead of reading it from somewhere or listening to what others' have to say. Experience is the best teacher. 

ARE WE THERE YET???!!!!!

Are we gonna stay there? No rite??? It's so secluded and lonely... it's just the whole blob of chalets and nothing else... I won't be able to survive there for even an hour... *sigh* ARE WE THERE YET???

That's Perhentian Kecil...

From afar, you could easily recognize the roof of a school. That's a really big school in a small island. Our Perhentian Besar should be just opposite... *yes yes yes yes* We're gonna reach soon....

ARE WE HERE ALREADY?

No~! Ours would be on the other side of the island... *almost fainted* ARE WE THERE YET??? Why so long??

Ta da~! We're HERE~!!!!

Baby fish...

Look at those small fries... gosh... the water was as clear as crystal... quick quick Hurry up~! Get our chalet keys and we're going down... but probably not here... we're going somewhere else...