Kelong Ah

It was Stupid Genius' birthday last friday and he organized a kelong trip at Sibu Island, Malaysia. We were supposed to meet at JE at 630am to board the transport, which will then pick up the rest of the people from Kranji MRT at 645am (hmm... 15 minutes from JE to Kranji, not quite possible IMO...).

S and I arrived at JE at around 630 but no one was there. So we sms SG, and it turned out that he has just woke up and will instead meet us at Kranji. Then Alex arrived, luckily he came in and ask, else we wouldn't have known him (this is the first time we met). The bus departed from JE at around 655am. The driver was unsure of how to go to Kranji from here, and worse, his english wasn't that good. Lucikly Alex knows malay and was able to direct him to our destination.

It was already 720am when we reached Kranji. One by one the people came, Wanda, Bel, =.= & FT (who arrived at 630am at Kranji), SG and DT (who thought that the trip was on the next day). But we were still unable to set off even when all the people had arrived as SG forgot to bring his passport. He then asked his father to deliver it to him.

SG's dad delivers his pp

After an hour wait at the custom, a 2-hour plus journey and another half an hour of ferry ride, we finally reached our destination, Hot Boys Kelong.

Had our lunch when we reached and every meal we had like 3 dish 1 soup (三菜一汤). Settled down at our bed after lunch. The bunk beds were lined up in rows to save space.

Started playing mahjong for 1/4 round in which I break even. After that was island hopping. We were brought to Sibu Island Twin Beach Resort. It was quite a long walk before we can reach the shore.

The place looked quite deserted leh, doesn't looked like a resort at all. And the beach was dirtied with little... :s...

S and I stayed on shore while the rest gone into the waters. I thought there would be some shops here at the resort, but there were none. Had to asked from a local before we were able to get some drinks and tidbits, which was being transported from a nearby kampong.

Back to the kelong and it was more mahjong session before dinner. This time I won about $22. While 4 of us played, =.= and FT tried their hands at fishing.

Soon it was dinner time, again there were like 3 dishes and 1 soup. After dinner was mahjong again. Bel and Wanda sang at the KTV while we were playing. Had wanted to go sing also, but someone had booked the timeslot from 10pm ~ 12MN. No choice then, just laze around after taking a shower.

There is a BBQ later in the night for supper, thanks to SG who footed the bill... :D. I was almost about to doze off (or maybe already), before SG came to tell me it was ready. There were quite a lot of food, i.e. crabs, prawn, sotong, chicken wing etc... The prawn and chicken wing were quite nice, while the crab was a bit difficult to eat.

SG brought some wine here and so we drank. And one of the kelong operators also joined us. Apparently, he remembered SG and his friends who was here about a year ago. That time they were also on a "drinking spree"... :P. It was good that he joined in, cos we got some cans of free coke to mix with the wine. And he even dared Wanda to finish up the (water) bottle of Chivas that SG brought, which she did eventually and got herself a free lifetime "membership" to the kelong.

After drinking a few cup of the wine, I fell asleep soon after the BBQ session ended. But I was awaken at about 5am+. Apparently the guy sleeping behind me was snoring VERY loudly. But heck, I continue to sleep nonetheless as I was too tired.

The next morning, after having breakfast, which was chicken porridge, I watched SG, DT and Wanda fishing. It was quite bored as nothing was caught. When everyone woke up, we played mahjong once again. But this time, it was =.= who suggested playing. My luck was pretty good during this trip, and I won $13 this time round... :D. After the mahjong session, it was lunch, then managed to sing a couple of songs at the KTV before we were hauled off the kelong back to Tanjong Leman Jetty, and this marks the end of our kelong trip.

And finally, forgot to say on the day:"Happy Birthday, SG"... :P