Wednesday 17 October 2012

SPLENDID KAYAKING TRIP @ PULAU SIBU

Well, the day finally came when we were leaving off for a week's kayaking trip to Pulau Sibu. I was absolutely thrilled and excited. I was also eager to go to Sibu. Our instructor as it turned out to be was Mr. Chris. Mr. TM was also with us. As we were the last group to leave for Sibu we had heard from the others about their experiences on the island. Pretty soon at eight in the morning we boarded the bus which would take us 214 km to the port town of Tanjung Leman where we were going to catch a speed boat to Sibu. We loaded our stuff into the bus, said goodbye to our parents (some parents were mourning) and set off. I was sitting with Sumant. We were getting bored so Mr. Chris and Mr. TM consoled us by promising that we would get to watch a movie after we crossed the border. After we crossing the border swiftly as promised we were played a movie. The movie turned out to be so boring that we started chatting and singing. Despite that we became so bored that our minds couldn't take it anymore and each minute seemed like a year. There were many humps and bumps on the road. Sometimes it would take a sixty degree climb and sometimes it would descend sixty degrees. This sudden change in elevation almost made my friend puke. Finally we arrived at Tanjung Leman.

Tanjung Leman

But after such a blank ride we had to take our bags off the bus and load it the speed boat. The sun was scorching and it was hot (by hot I meant quite hot). While we were joyfully crossing the South China Sea on the speedboat, water would splash onto my face taking the heat off my face.

The jetty where we were dropped off

When we arrived we ate lunch at went through a whole training course starting from the very basic stuff. We were divided into groups. Soon we were ready so I sat in kayak and set off. mr. Chris gave us a set of tasks to perform. after quite a lot of practice we set off in different directions. Since I was the fastest kayaker I got a chance to go near the mangroves. The water was very shallow and at some parts the rocks would pop out of the water. I hit a rock and at that moment I got freaked out. We had got the better kayaks because the group that left before us had the worse ones. The kayaks had an advantage and an disadvantage. The kayaks were streamlined so we could go faster but since the kayaks were thin they could tilt easily and I certainly wouldn't like to capsize near the mangroves. Soon it was time for dinner. I had a good meal and soon we would set off night kayaking. The tide was so low that we had to tow our kayaks a further seven hundred metres into the deep water. While we were kayaking we saw the coral reef and many sea urchins. I was thrilled and quite excited. Suddenly one of my friends got stuck in a rock. Me and my friend set off to rescue her but my friend also got stuck. I somehow managed to rescue both of them. Then we continued. After an hour or so we came back to land and Mr. Chris told us to be organized for the next day. I came back to my cabin, showered, changed into my pyjamas and soon slept. Because I was tired I fell fast asleep.

This is where we were staying on the first night. Room No. 8

The sun rose the next morning and we started off by doing work which we do everyday such as brushing, e.t.c. We then ate breakfast and set off cleaning our cabins which seemed quite easy. At last we got prepared again for kayaking which would last almost a day. I had had a heavy breakfast so that I wouldn't be lethargic dring kayaking. That's one of of my strategies to keep me pumped up during the day. There was a high tide on when we were setting off. The high tide was so dangerous that it tilted my friend's kayak. I then had to rescue him before settling with the others. The day was quite good. I had a map which told me the height of sea level and another map which told me the path around the island. At first the course was rugged and the water was very shallow where rocks would point out of anywhere. As I was a fast paddler I often led my group. Soon the terrain became more flat and the water level became deeper and deeper. Wait!! The problems aren't over. The rocks became bigger and bigger. The high tide increased and many waves splashed on us. Moreover, the waves was also pushing us towards the rocks. We had to put in more effort into paddling. My friends also snapped many pictures. We had got packed lunch. When it was lunch ime, we opened our boxes and tucked into our meal. After eating lunch we also went into the water and saw that the terrain was quite rocky. We were glad that we had paddled 5 km. After some time we continued on kayaking. We rafted up once and took pictures. We then joined as one whole group and continued on kayaking. I was leading because I was a fast kayaker. Soon we went through many turns and curves and finally I could see our camp site which was probably a kilometre from us. When we were quite near, our instructors told us to stop and capsize. This was quite easy but when the rescuing part comes in things become hard. We finally brought our kayaks to the beach and dumped all our lunch boxes and had a dip in the water. Some got punished for not eating their lunch. We then showered and got changed. My rash vest had dried up and I changed into long pants to prevent the mosquitoes from biting me. We had to carry all the food supplies and the tents and soon we set up the tents. We then were divided into groups. Oh Great!! I had to cook. The meal I was cooking that day was spagetti with vegetable and mushroom sauce. After I had cut the vegetables I set up the burner and started boiling the vegetables and spagetti. The other people were busy setting up the fire. Soon the dish was ready. I served the food to them and everyone was impressed including Mr. TM. I was happy. Soon after everyone had eaten I had to wash the utensils which I do sometimes at home. We then got a chance to eat marshmallows (yum!!). Finally before going to sleep we decided on what to do the next day. Feeling very tired, I slept after that.


The next day as it turned out to be would be a pretty nice day. I woke up in the morning, brought my tent down and packed it. I was quite happy and was eager. We then had to make breakfast which was bread with nutella with cereal. Wow!! Triple power breakfast. We then packed our supplies into the kayaks and set off. That day was the same as the day before. There was high tide but the course we were going to go through that day was completely different. Our first course was rock hopping. We went in between several different rocks. One was so narrow that we had to go in very slowly. Finally the waves became so fierce that I got smashed up against a rock and my whole kayak was flooded with water. It was slowly sinking. I paddled to a safe area where the water was deep and there were no rocks and I immediately jumped off my kayak and performed the rescue mission. Soon the water drained out and I sat back in. We soon joined back again as one whole group and in the middle of our journey ate apples. Everything was going well when one of my friends capsized and I had to rescue him. The rescue took too long. By the time others had proceeded to the front leaving me with my friend. As soon as I rescued him I left for the others paddling very fast to catch up. By the time I caught up, we had reached the place where we would be stopping in for lunch. I was tired so to to refuel myself I ate lunch. Then same as yesterday, we had a dip in the sea. After having a dip Mr. Chris brought us to the other side of the island through branches and many leaves for an educational walk where we discussed about pollution. After lunch we set off to our next campsite which was pretty near. On the way there was a high tide which cause my friend to get stuck on a rock. I went through the same rock. As I passed over it, I could hear screeching noises. But after that we safely landed on the beach. Soon we had to carry all the tents and food supplies to the camp site which was quite hard. Then I got changed into long pants to prevent me from being bitten by sand flies. First of all, we set up the tents near the beach. Then the job I had got that day was to set up the fire which was quite easy because there was lots of wood. The fire was soon ready and burning. As I was free I would sometimes play with the others or I would sing songs. Well, when night fell the food was ready which was vegetable curry rice. The others found the food too spicy. I felt the food was good so I had 5 servings. Like the day before we ate marshmallows. I was so tired that I could barely move my body. I soon fell asleep in the tent.


The birds chirping, the sun partially in the sky when I woke up. First thing I did was that I took a photo of the beautiful sunrise. Then I settled putting down my tent and finally eating breakfast. We had crossed a massive milestone. Although we weren't professional kayakers we had kayaked twenty-five kilometres. We also only had to cover a km to go back to Twin Beach Resort. We were quite proud of what we had achieved. So we carried the tents and the food supplies back into the kayaks and decided  to collect rubbish before we left Tanjong Busong which was the part of the island we stayed in.

Tanjong Busong

We then decided to have a race to the jetty which was approximately two kilometres away from us. I paddled quite fast putting most of the weight on the back and moving like a speed boat following the laws of physics. Guess what? I won. Then we rafted us together so that Mr. Chris could jump through all the kayaks. We then had to wash all the kayaks, carry them to the dock, get the sand off our tents and many more things like that. When we were done doing all the work it was lunch time so we ate noodles. Then we settled back into our cabins, the ones we stayed in on the first day. We then decided to go snorkeling which as turned out to be was quite fun. I had some problems breathing in but soon I learnt quickly how to snorkel.

Snorkeling was quite fun 


In the evening when the snorkeling had finished we went to a nearby village called Kampong Duku where we bought snacks. While going there we also saw the highway which was less than two metres long. We also got to know that the village was powered by solar power. We spent quite a while before we left, ate dinner which was a barbecue. As I was veg, I couldn't eat anything non-veg. Then I organized myself before sleeping.


Kampong Duku with the highway of Sibu on the right side
Well, what do I have to say when my journey ends here. Well, nothing of much interest happened the next day. I wish I could come back to Sibu again. My journey pretty much ends here. Well, I am done. GOOD-BYE SIBU!!

2 comments:

  1. An amazing post, it certainly seems that you have a great memory, still remembering what happened in Sibu. I liked how you retold all the events, but i thought you should of wrote your perspective on Sibu.

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  2. It was really good. It had a lot of detail and told us everything we did. Your pictures were really good.

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