   Seeing a gigantic peaceful turtle has the ability of making me want to be a vegan. Until of course, I come across TGI Friday's all you can eat steak buffet.
I went for a weekend getaway with some friends at Perhentian Island. Beautiful place. Reminds you that nature can offer you simple pleasures in life, while charging you 8 bucks for a glass of orange juice. I have a simple formula when it comes to travelling. It's 20% location and 80% company. Somewhere between the laughs, seasick-barf, overpriced souvenirs and frantically trying to find a good angle for underwater photoshoots (answer: there isn't any) it felt sort of surreal and dreamy. Like all good things always are. I was free-diving around and saw turtles, sharks, a dugong which turned out to actually be a friend, and a whole landscape of underwater forests. Later in the evening we walked by the beach and had dinner on the sandy galore of lights and music and water crashing the shores. Then we sat around by the water and did nothing. Boy oh boy I forgot how wonderful it is to do nothing sometimes. There is a village, a whole community living on the island. The kids go to school by the beach. Adults owned boats instead of cars. They don't have shopping malls, or bowling alleys or posh restaurants. Yet I can totally see that by the time I'm forty and subscribing Xanax (let's hope not!) the kids in school are playing at sea with the fishes and playing kites at the beach. Suddenly the city life doesn't sound so great anymore. Pulau Perhentian is great. Sometimes amazing nature and relaxing therapy is really just at your backyard. Note: Thank you Zul and Abdullah for perfecting my skin-diving skills! I almost look like I'm not choking from the water pressure nowadays. It makes the photos a LOT better! Another note: For more photo stalking, go here. |
