An Impromptu Evening at the Beach

I was just telling Rachel that one of these days we should explore the Port Dickson (PD) beach area, so that we could bring our friends there. Most Mat Sallehs (white people?) like to go to the seaside while Asians prefer being indoors. I don't think I have ever brought my friends to PD before... because for one, I'm not a beach person and another reason is, well, I'm Asian.. hehe. Frankly, I prefer cool places such as Cameron Highlands or Genting Highlands.

Yesterday, we (my sisters and I) planned to go to the MPH sales in PJ. It wasn't a confirmed decision, so just before church, I asked Esther if she was going to PJ. She said she didn't think so.

My heart dropped a little but I slowly developed a plan B. Rachel and I were suppose to exercise in Lake Gardens that evening (if we didn't go to MPH), and I was thinking.. why don't we walk at the beach? We would still be exercising right? :)

I let my thoughts known to Rachel after church and she seemed willing to go along with my plans. I was also thinking of bringing Sze-En and Brian because I wanted them to experience what my parents and Brian's grandparents did for us when we were young. I remembered Aunt Chris' nasi lemak and my mom's sandwiches and what fun we had playing in the sand, splashing sea water at each other, trying to float but laughed too much because the waves tickled our chins.... and all those precious memories.

But when we called them, they sounded reluctant, but I guessed in their minds, going to the beach was better than being at home because they eventually agreed to my crazy plans. It was the start of the school holidays and they had a whole week to do other things and so they reluctantly agreed to go.

Then I told Minch what I had planned and asked her and Matt to bring Wayne (their 2-year-old nephew) and join us for this impromptu trip. She said okay and had a better idea. Matt's mom was a member of a club in PD and they will bring her along so that we could use the facilities there.

After lunch, I went to my mom's house to look for a mat and some spades and pails. I found the mat easily but not the spades and pails. I asked Tusi if she knew where they were but she was just as blur as I was. I could understand this because we have not been to the beach for a very long time. I told her that a few of us would be going, and I knew from the look of her face that she wanted to go too. So I asked my mom if she could follow us. My mom gave her permission and when I told Tusi that she could join us... joy was written on her face. She was so happy. Esther came along too because Sze-En wanted her to be there.

My mom found a couple of garden spades and some pails for us to bring to the beach.

So the 10 of us went in 2 cars. During the car ride, Esther warned Sze-En and Brian of the danger of being swept away by the sea and told them that they could go no further once the sea water reaches their hips.

We arrived at the clubhouse at about 5pm. We had to bypass the swimming pool before we reach the beach. Brian and Sze-En looked longingly at the pool. They were so used to swimming in the pool. I quickly hurried them to the beach.

The tide was low and we had to walk quite a distance to reach the sea. I told the children that they have to go out to the sea before playing with the sand. My idea was to let them experience playing in the sea water.
They were cautious at first.. not wanting to get too wet. I had to ask them to PLAY or do something. (They were walking so carefully like as though I was punishing them). Soon they were splashing water at each other.

Tusi was also having fun. She started jumping when the waves came towards her. I asked the children to do the same. But they got bored after a while. I tried to make them dip their heads in the water but they didn't want to.

They played for a while, then all of the sudden, Brian yelled. He stepped on something sharp. I quickly carried him to where the others were and we checked his foot. It wasn't bleeding and so we coaxed him to get into the water again. He was so reluctant, and wanted to go swim in the swimming pool. (I think this was Sze-En's idea). I wasn't ready to give up (I mean, it's more fun to be on the beach then swimming in the pool, right?) and so I asked Brian to wear his slippers. He agreed... phew.....

Brain was so sporting and he allowed us to bury him in the sand. Two-year-old Wayne came to check on us and was horrified that we were burying someone alive. He tried to remove the sand from Brian and got scolding instead.

The ice-cream man came and all of us had a treat from (Aunt) Rachel who paid the bill.

We went for a walk on the beach and at one point, I made Brian and Sze-En sit on the seabed. This they did reluctantly too, but once they sat down, they liked it.

I tried to teach them how to float but they were too tickled by the waves. (Photos with Rach). Matt thought I was trying to baptized them!!!

Brian spotted a mini "child-made" pool and I guessed it was on his mind the whole time we walked back to our mat, because once we reached our spot, he quickly began digging a hole. Rachel saw what he wanted to do and helped him.

Tusi helped too, and Sze-En just watched them dig. Obviously, she thought this was hard work and didn't want to stress herself out unnecessarily.

When the hole was big enough, everyone scooped water from the sea to fill the hole. It looked as though they were racing. Wayne came just in time to join in the fun.

Fortunately, the tide was coming in and the distance to the sea was shorter. I guessed each of them ran back and forth more than 10 times (good exercise eh? See what I meant when I told Rachel that we could exercise on the beach?). I took the pictures, but once Rachel called it quits, I took over her place.

We could only fill half because the water kept disappearing into the sand.

Guessed whose feet are these? Even Wayne's foot was in.

Brian had this idea, that if he were to dig a channel from the hole to the shore, it may help to fill up his pool. So once again, everyone (except me) pitched in to help Brian.

Earlier on, my dad told my sister to tell Tusi to swim back to Indonesia. (Sumatera which is part of Indonesia lies on the other end of the ocean). Tusi was with us long enough to know that my dad was just joking with her. So, once she wanted to go deeper into the sea, and she asked me to take a picture of her. I didn't take just 1 picture. I think I took more than 10 pictures of her. Suddenly she yelled to us.... "Bye-bye Aunty, Saya balik ke Indon" (bye-bye Aunty, I'm going back to Indonesia) and waved goodbye to us. We all laughed with her at her silly joke.

The tide was coming in. It was about 7.10pm.

A family swimming out in the open sea.

Dark cloud were looming at one side while the sun was shinning on the other.

We told the kids to have a dip in the sea to wash the sand off their bodies. They were so reluctant to do so and quickly made their bodies even more sandy by lying on the sand, trying to get as much sand to stick on their bodies. They even tried making "sand" angels too.

After much prompting, they went to the sea and wash off the sand.

Another round of washing before having a proper shower in the bathroom.

The pool which I didn't allow them to swim in earlier on. Oh, come on, don't you think that it's better to be on the beach rather than playing in the swimming pool?

2 hours of sun, sand and seawater. Thank God I had a small tube of sun block cream in my bag and bought another one because there were so many of us. We made sure all of us were covered with the cream before venturing into the sea. Otherwise we would all look like lobsters when we returned home.

During the car ride back home, Sze-En was so hungry that she didn't talk much. Once she reached home she filled herself with rice and noodles bought by my mom. All of us were hungry too and we ate till our stomachs were satisfied.

So, the next impromptu trip will be... hehe... I don't know, it's gonna be impromptu, so I really don't know when and where. :)

- I took more than 350 pictures while I was at the beach. Can't imagine I did that. :)