Day FOUR: Which really started at first light. The designated wake up time was 4am. Me and James woke at 4.35am. Well, a mad scramble to strike tents, take down clothes lines, pack bags and prepare kayaking equipment ensued and backpacks were placed on the beach to await their "check in" onto the mother boat.
Breakfast was some bomb nasi lemak with damn shiok chicken wings and damn hot chilli. After a short briefing on tow lines and a little more slacking, we bade our last adieu to Tenggol island at 6.30. Kayaked a little out of the sheltered bay and straightaway instructed to hook up with the motorboat to be towed. And we were towed for the next 2 and a half hours or so, apparently cause the currents were against us.
Although towing allowed us good time to slack off, there's also little you can do on board a kayak. Was quite entertained (very feebly) by synchronised paddling, paddle wave, broken telephone (that absolutely failed), and tossing my paddle (which was tied to my kayak) into the water and seeing it bob along side. Not to mention my kind services rendered to waking mel ho up, splashing is super effective (and she can't splash me back tee hee). About an hour to lunch, the tows were released and we paddled for a bit before stopping for lunch.
Which lasted a grand total of two minutes. We realised the waves were suddenly picking up and we found ourselves thrown in choppy waters. It was thus, a mad struggle to kayak towards our port in an attempt to compensate for the super strong currents pushing us starboard. Admittedly, the rocky waters was more interesting and fun compared to calm sea but it also drains the hell out of you when you realise one plus hour of kayaking leaves you with zero displacement. You are lucky not to be swept further starboard.
And it was really demoralising to see all your efforts go to waste. I was really feeling terribly miserable and miserably terrible at that time. Kudos must go to my partner, Kiam pa, for her undying spirit and for that bit of inspiration. We didn't even have time to apply sunblock or eat anything. Finally, Kiwi decided to get us back in tow and life was better. If only a bit.
We still had to paddle when being towed or the motorboat (which was also struggling) wouldn't move forward. Quite a few capsizes and numerous towlines breaking. And breaking towlines don't bode well, it is rat ass scary to have to kayak in that kind of waters with the knowledge that you may just be gone from the tow and drifting in sea. Fortunately, we reach the motorboat in time and the tow lines re-did.
After an agonising next few hours, we finally reached nearer shore. The other motorboat and the doubles behind it beached up at some beach (cause they had sinking kayak) while we went on and on and on. And each time we went on, i was trying to identify the river mouth we departed from but each time we just moved on.
Finally reached a point where many of our towlines started snapping. And Mr Kiwi shouted:"OK, all release tow." At that moment, our towline broke as well. So we were left to kayak in those kind of waters towards a bay "where the water is very calm" and after much wrong giving of directions, we finally found the river mouth and beached up on some sand bar.
And the look of jubilation and euphoria experienced was amazing. Everyone was hugging and jumping and congratulating each other, as if we had survived some shipwreck. Only to be told this wasn't our final destination and we had to kayak across the water body to where the bus was waiting for us. Which was totally wtf but at least we were in calm waters now. Oh noteworthy was the riding of the waves when approaching the sand bar, you basically keep the kayak in the ride orientation and the waves will do their job. And ironically we capsized at the easiest part, our kayak was parallel to the waves and we got thrown out. But to our surprise, the waters was of standing depth and we easily mounted the kayak once again.
Finally reached the muddy bank where the single kayakers were long awaiting and we waited together for the abovementioned batch who beached up on that deserted beach. All was back safely and we took the bus back to Paka river camp.
After dinner, we had campfire. And my group's campfire item was essentially conceptualised by me. During the ardous kayaking journey. Don't ask me how, perhaps thinking of campfire took away some pain of paddling. Anyhow, it involved birds, white cards, superheroes, supervillians and a hell lot of nonsense in between. Group one had their dance choreographed by ruth that was super entertaining. For all the wrong reasons. Willy and his enthu moves, yee sian and his hidden talents, gina and her super off singing and wrong songs. Group two had a item that totally made no sense whatsoever but was suitably lame. Group 3 had their modified chop chilli chop that really freaking funny.
After that we packed up and prepared to turn in for the night. Oh, a little army rations that night ended the night on the right note haha.
On a side note, radio dedications can be super irritating at times. Especially when the dedicating party decides to name almost every living being he/she knows and even more so when the DJ decides to read every "hehe" and "haha" and "that was in caps" that the letter contains. And it is maxed when the content is super irrelevant, like "you will never get XXX" or "so and so will never fall for you! haha and that was in caps, all of it."
seriously, wtf.
*
No you didnt. Yes i did. No you didnt...
Breakfast was some bomb nasi lemak with damn shiok chicken wings and damn hot chilli. After a short briefing on tow lines and a little more slacking, we bade our last adieu to Tenggol island at 6.30. Kayaked a little out of the sheltered bay and straightaway instructed to hook up with the motorboat to be towed. And we were towed for the next 2 and a half hours or so, apparently cause the currents were against us.
Although towing allowed us good time to slack off, there's also little you can do on board a kayak. Was quite entertained (very feebly) by synchronised paddling, paddle wave, broken telephone (that absolutely failed), and tossing my paddle (which was tied to my kayak) into the water and seeing it bob along side. Not to mention my kind services rendered to waking mel ho up, splashing is super effective (and she can't splash me back tee hee). About an hour to lunch, the tows were released and we paddled for a bit before stopping for lunch.
Which lasted a grand total of two minutes. We realised the waves were suddenly picking up and we found ourselves thrown in choppy waters. It was thus, a mad struggle to kayak towards our port in an attempt to compensate for the super strong currents pushing us starboard. Admittedly, the rocky waters was more interesting and fun compared to calm sea but it also drains the hell out of you when you realise one plus hour of kayaking leaves you with zero displacement. You are lucky not to be swept further starboard.
And it was really demoralising to see all your efforts go to waste. I was really feeling terribly miserable and miserably terrible at that time. Kudos must go to my partner, Kiam pa, for her undying spirit and for that bit of inspiration. We didn't even have time to apply sunblock or eat anything. Finally, Kiwi decided to get us back in tow and life was better. If only a bit.
We still had to paddle when being towed or the motorboat (which was also struggling) wouldn't move forward. Quite a few capsizes and numerous towlines breaking. And breaking towlines don't bode well, it is rat ass scary to have to kayak in that kind of waters with the knowledge that you may just be gone from the tow and drifting in sea. Fortunately, we reach the motorboat in time and the tow lines re-did.
After an agonising next few hours, we finally reached nearer shore. The other motorboat and the doubles behind it beached up at some beach (cause they had sinking kayak) while we went on and on and on. And each time we went on, i was trying to identify the river mouth we departed from but each time we just moved on.
Finally reached a point where many of our towlines started snapping. And Mr Kiwi shouted:"OK, all release tow." At that moment, our towline broke as well. So we were left to kayak in those kind of waters towards a bay "where the water is very calm" and after much wrong giving of directions, we finally found the river mouth and beached up on some sand bar.
And the look of jubilation and euphoria experienced was amazing. Everyone was hugging and jumping and congratulating each other, as if we had survived some shipwreck. Only to be told this wasn't our final destination and we had to kayak across the water body to where the bus was waiting for us. Which was totally wtf but at least we were in calm waters now. Oh noteworthy was the riding of the waves when approaching the sand bar, you basically keep the kayak in the ride orientation and the waves will do their job. And ironically we capsized at the easiest part, our kayak was parallel to the waves and we got thrown out. But to our surprise, the waters was of standing depth and we easily mounted the kayak once again.
Finally reached the muddy bank where the single kayakers were long awaiting and we waited together for the abovementioned batch who beached up on that deserted beach. All was back safely and we took the bus back to Paka river camp.
After dinner, we had campfire. And my group's campfire item was essentially conceptualised by me. During the ardous kayaking journey. Don't ask me how, perhaps thinking of campfire took away some pain of paddling. Anyhow, it involved birds, white cards, superheroes, supervillians and a hell lot of nonsense in between. Group one had their dance choreographed by ruth that was super entertaining. For all the wrong reasons. Willy and his enthu moves, yee sian and his hidden talents, gina and her super off singing and wrong songs. Group two had a item that totally made no sense whatsoever but was suitably lame. Group 3 had their modified chop chilli chop that really freaking funny.
After that we packed up and prepared to turn in for the night. Oh, a little army rations that night ended the night on the right note haha.
*
On a side note, radio dedications can be super irritating at times. Especially when the dedicating party decides to name almost every living being he/she knows and even more so when the DJ decides to read every "hehe" and "haha" and "that was in caps" that the letter contains. And it is maxed when the content is super irrelevant, like "you will never get XXX" or "so and so will never fall for you! haha and that was in caps, all of it."
seriously, wtf.
*
No you didnt. Yes i did. No you didnt...posted by gg | 12:29 PM
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