I
told my sister at the beginning of the year that we should go on a trip in
July, our birthday month, just the two of us. What with COVID-19 and her
family, it ended up being a family trip. We were dithering between Janda Baik,
Pengkalan Balak and Port Dickson, and the first option was struck off pretty
quickly. And while there are plenty of affordable chalets around Pengkalan
Balak, it proved hard to find one that suited our needs in terms of location,
comfort and appeal (we were put off by those nightmarish cheap-looking bedlinen
and curtains which seem to be the preferred choice of many chalet/homestay
operators). Finally, we settled on Port Dickson. I quickly found four Airbnb
with superhost ratings and presented them to my sister and finally we agreed on
one of them.
We
set off on Friday afternoon, 24 July 2020. My nieces came to fetch dad and
myself and we left at 14:45. The drive was supposed to take 90 minutes but
there was a bad crawl just before exiting the toll plaza so in the end, we
arrived at our Airbnb apartment at Laguna Condo Resort. After settling in, we
rested. Later in the afternoon, my nieces and I decided to take a walk by the
beach. We could see the sea from our apartment but because of the SOP, we
couldn’t use the gate near to our block and had to walk out to the main road
before turning left into a road that led to Pantai Purnama. The girls waded
into the sea while I walked along the beach. There’s a lovely elevated path
along the beach and I walked along it before turning back. The beach was fairly
deserted then. We then walked back to the apartment but I told the girls to go
ahead while I walked on. I was making my way back when my nephew drove by and I
got into their car.
We
stayed in that evening. My brother-in-law ordered some food delivered by Grab
and my sister cooked rice and fried an omelette. Then we watched some horror
movies chosen by my nieces.
On
Saturday morning, we drove to the beach. My sister and I then went on a walk up
to Thistle Port Dickson before turning back (the elevated paved path stretched
only a few hundred metres). My brother-in-law then picked us up and we went
back to the apartment for breakfast.
We
left before 11:00 and drove to Pengkalan Balak. We had early lunch at AsamPedas Zink and my sister also bought some food to go that we could have for
dinner. After that, we drove to the beach. Funny that I never really associated
Melaka with beaches even though I know it has a coastline (and the Straits of
Malacca was named after the state after all!). We sat for about 40 minutes
before driving back.
My
sister and I went to the beach again that evening and there were a lot of
people at the beach, some just about to leave, some setting up barbecues, a few
in the sea, and others sitting on the beach. We stayed until sunset (there was
even a full rainbow which disappeared shortly after I sighted it) before
returning to the apartment. We stayed in again and this time, we had fresh
crabs as one of the dishes. Yummy!!! Even dad forgot he was supposed to be
watching his diet (what else is new!). Our evening was marred by the racket
from the unit above us which started from 15:00 (and lasted until well past
03:00 early the next morning). I even informed the guard at the gate but he
said he could not do anything as they were, in his words, ‘homestay guests’. I
even informed our Airbnb host who had her brother drive down to check up and
request the noisy party to turn down their volume – all to no avail. They kept
on dragging the furniture around, laughing, talking ever so loudly, listening
to the music, repeat. This is one of the things I hate about my fellow
Malaysians: they can be so bloody thoughtless and inconsiderate of others. They
want to enjoy nature as much as everyone else but think nothing of littering
and causing inconvenience to others. They want to have a good time and think
nothing about disturbing others. Seriously, how hard is it for us to learn from
our travels, from observing how others live and taking the good lessons,
learning from and not repeating the bad lessons, and generally being considerate
thoughtful citizens?
On
Sunday morning, we went to the beach again as my niece wanted to bathe in the
sea. Sister and I went for a walk up to Thistle Port Dickson again. We got
back, bathed, had breakfast and finished packing. There was some problem with
the lift in that you need to call for it from the ground floor so someone had
to go down, call for the lift and go up to your respective floor before the
others could get down in the same lift. Before leaving, as usual, we cleared up
and cleaned up the apartment and left it as we found it. It didn’t take much
effort and a small gesture of appreciation to the host for allowing us to stay
there. Sure we didn’t stay for free but it doesn’t cost to be civilised guests
either. I guess it’s just drummed into us by our parents. We’re never going to
be those who trash their hotel rooms, vandalise public or private property,
make off with things that don’t belong to us. And I’m sure most of us were not
raised to cause public disturbance, create havoc, destroy and vandalise
properties. Just because we pay to stay somewhere doesn’t mean we have to leave
our hotel/homestay units like a car crash.
My
nephew drove us back this time. There was a crawl one km before we entered the
highway. It turned out there were two young cows on the road running between
the lanes. After a while, some motorcyclists drove slowly by them as if guiding
them to stay in the emergency lane in the left. The young cows had somehow
escaped from somewhere. The poor beasts must be bewildered and at a loss as to
what to do. It was good that this time, the motorists were civilised enough to
respect them and not mow them down. But it was also somewhat funny and so unlikely
that you couldn’t make it up. What? Two cows on a highway? Heh. It did cross my
mind if they were escapees from the qurban ritual due to take place a few days
later but they looked young enough to me to be identified as qurban candidates.
We
reached Ampang before 13:00 and stopped to have lunch before going back. Alhamdulillah,
for the rezeki and time that Allah granted us to enable us to have this little
getaway and here’s hoping there’ll be many more to come, insyaAllah. Three trips
in July alone for me, Alhamdulilah.
