Date: 10th Aug 07
Time: 7 am
Venue: Hotboys kelong
DAY 1
A group of us, 8 adults with 2 children, set off to the Hotboys Kelong located after Kota Tinggi but before Mersing.
We set off about 7 am from the pick up point - Sebestian's house. Hopped onto a 12-seater coatch, we have no problems for the clearance at both checkpoints. From there, it was a 2 hour sleeping trip to Tanjung Lenman Jetty before the transfer to the boat with other groups heading same destination.
From the info on the website, it was a 25 minutes boat ride and the kelong is situated in the middle of Sibu Sea.
Though a bit rough on the journey, we have fun. The breeze is good, and the sun not too hot. Is just a endless horizon. And finally we reached the kelong around 11.25.
Expected no nice lobby nor nice rooms, we see groups of people whom are there the day before packing to leave.
Changed into causual t-shirts and shorts, we took an orientation round the kelong, the fishing platform just around the kelong, a Karaoke corner with very simple (a bit torn) sofa set and the computerised karaoke set.
Centre of the kelong is a tv for general viewing. There is also about a block of 20 lockers for safe-keeping our important items.
Double-deck bunk beds on 3 sides of the kelong. Sometimes wonder did they actually changed the bedsheets when the former guests leave their beds.
Next our very concern - the toilets. A row of about 7 rooms, each has a barrel for the bathing water, a squatting toilet bowl in th centre. From the hole, you can see fishes swmming underneath in the sea. Oh my god! How to do our business? Just imagine... Outisde all these rooms are barrels and barrels of bathing water which is free flow.
There is left one corner of the kelong for the kitchen where the food is being prepared and the enquires counter to register whatever you need on board.
Around noon time, the bell rings for lunch. We took a whole table as the group makes up the nice number for 1. Our first meal of the 5 that was provided, we have a fish cooked with sauce, steamed prawns, fried chicken and vegetable and a simple ABC soup. Though not as fresh we expected, the food tasted good.
After lunch, our Big Man - Raymond Poh, got into work and started plans for the day. He 'chopped' 2 majong sets and 2 karaoke hours for the night, get a locker for our stuff, get the fishing rods for the main activity.
With the rods, the men including my young boy Ajit, started fishing together with our tweety Joey. The bunch of beauties - me, Jane, Yuvarani, Chris took on a dreaming tour but got shaken up cause our loud speaker caught a big fish. Ajit, being his first time at fishing, caught 6 fishes. Well done boy!
In the initenary, we have an acitivity of island hopping. Tot we might be going for a few islands but actually just one. The boat left around 3 pm and we hopped onto the island about 10 mins later. We walked along a stretched of wooded planks hanging from the simple jetty to the beach.
At the beach, the children enjoyed the sand and water. Some of them were floating along with the waves, there are other groups playing beach volleyball our cousin, Joey, trying to catch flashes of her big face and beautiful sourroundings onto her newly bought camera.
Having spent about 1 and half hours at the beach, we walked back to the jetty and catch the 5 o'clock boat back to kelong and do some cleaning and wash ups.
6 pm Meal # 2 - Dinner
2 steamed fishes, tou-fu, vegetable, fried stongs and of course soup.
After a short rest, we start off our night activity. The kids played the majong their own style. The adults took on the singing corner and start to share our voices with the crowd cos' it an open area. The elderly couple (Raymond's parents) took the lead with their evergreen and favourite songs. I hopped in and out and co-sing a couple of my familiar songs. Back to my bunk corner, I just started my Suduko puzzles or join a short while at the tv viewing.
We have a group of people having BBQ outside the windy platform with the nice food under our nostrils. Another group is celebrating birhtday at another corner of the kelong.
The singing session was extended an extra hour to 11 pm. In between around 10.30 there comes our third meal - simple supper as mentioned. Fried mee and kuay teow with green bean soup feels the cooling night with warmth.
After supper and karaoke, the 1st majong session started with the make up of the elders, Chris, their daughter and our Ms Chan.
The children dispersed from the table and went to do their night catching hoping to se if any fishes hopped onto their fishing hooks.
We - Raymond and his wife Jane (my younger sis), myself and Chu Bee (Sebastian) took over the majong table and started to earn some pocket money.
After 2 rounds - East and South Winds, we put a stop to the game about 2.30 am as Ray is too tired. I am lucky to wrap up the night winning about RM 50.
Sweet dream Jenny...
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