New Kids On the Beach

Trengganu, as laid back as it should be is seriously not for IT geeks who like to spend hours in wifi-free kopitiams, Gangnam style K-pop fans, youngsters and young-at-heart looking for a night out, 40-something from the Acute Gout club  or even peminat Che Kiah pekasam. The place is so cool and the people is so blessed with laid back attitude to the effect that until today, 83 days from the day I applied for a new telephone line into my new house, my whole family and I are still talking to the wall without any land line. But Trengganu is where I put my heart now. It is a place for people who love tranquility, jam-free journey, unpolluted air, amusing people with the most powerful G-force in the planet, fresh sea produces and not to mention a long stretch of unmolested golden sandy beaches. 

This blissful place full of expressive form of life and nature has  never failed to inspire me and almost seductively transform me from being a scientist into a self-professed poet. The long infatuation with these zen-like life has from time to time drowned me into a nostalgic mode. My right brain tickles. Even an innocent looking female goat sunbathing  in the middle of Jalan Gong Pak Jin aroused my creative mind. 

My four super-heroes however are adapting to their new life. They are city boys. Three were borne in the City of Kay El and one in the City of Durham, a far away land where people eat Fish and Chips. But surprisingly, despite their endless fixation to PS3 and other  techno-gadgets, they share my intimate passion and similar perversion to the sand and the wave from the South China Sea. They are adapting well. The sea becomes a medium to bond the family together. I like it to stay that way. 

Somewhere in my sub-conscious mind  I always feel at home whenever i put my feet on the beach. I am not new to this  domain. It is very familiar to me.  I am not a new kid on the beach.  Ganukite is very synonymous with me. It will always be. But to my young super-heroes this place is an uncharted place offering them some new adventures. I however, have no worry as looking at their enthusiasm and their youthful spirit, I think they are ready to take the challenge. 

 And my significant half. She doesn't need to adjust herself or adapt to anything. She is part of me.   

 Trengganu without beaches is not Trengganu after all. It will be tasteless. Beaches almost without fail are always associated with fun and sunshine. But fun on the beach is as joyful only with calculated risk. With Monsoon season is  hovering and lingering  on the  horizon, still in its stagnant mode, do not estimate the power of the sea. Few fatalities were reported in the past along beaches like this because some didn't realize the hidden danger that lie under the gentle and alluring wave that beats the shore. (Pantai Pak Tuyu)

Friday morning we are on the beach, Saturday morning we are back on the beach, in fact family escapade will continue throughout the evening and some weekdays as well. In short, I can conclude that my four superheroes are also mesmerized and got sedated by Ganukite wonderful beaches....just like their  daddy. (Pantai Tok Jembal)

The four superheroes were warming up  for some beach actions and get ready to submerge themselves with whatever they thought fit into their fancies. (Pantai Pengkalan Maras)

Walking on the beach is like walking on an open field full of hidden treasures. You'll never know what you are going to find or stumble upon. You just have to pay more attention and with some sheer luck you will be rewarded with something totally unexpected. 

Anything that my superheroes found on the beach, anything that is playable will be their love and joy even an ordinary ornate slipper full of living barnacles.   This interesting slipper has some story to tell. Perhaps if we can talk their language, the barnacles will come up with some good epic story that fit into a Bollywood screen.

The slipper, perhaps drifting from one of  the Vietnamese fishing boats just off shore now become the beach volley-slipper. 

Oblivious to the big wave that hit the beach, my third and fourth progenies seemed to enjoy their newly found playground. The long stretch of Ganukite beaches are now becoming their private wonderland. Most of the time,  all by themselves. (Pantai Mengabang Batu Rakit)

A family photo beside a sampan, under the shade of a coconut tree to mark the historic and memorable occasions, which number is uncountable. The new spot is Kuala Baru, a new lepak place for the whole family along Pantai Tok Jembal. This blissful spot  has never registered in my 45-years-old's Ganukite map before which resided in my mind. Now it is a good time to update my mental Ganukite map with the latest version, minus the Nasi dagang of course.

The outing grand finale is always a family round-table meal  with a mouthful array of a-la-carte menu  consisting of nasi kerabu, nasi lemak and nasi dagang. This only makan place on the beachfront of Kuala Baru  is commendable for its reasonable price, scenic location and free air conditioning complimentary of 10-20knots wind from the South China Sea. And not to mention countless gallons of minute salty sea spray which in 20 years will corrode anything that is metalic in nature. I hope my mind and my perversion to the beach won't get corroded by then.