Day 1 - A Holiday Not

A long time ago during one of them college days my buddy, David had this brilliant idea - "Let's go for scuba diving after college ends. It'll be fun and easy. Just do what the dive instructor says". It SOUNDED good.
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And now, 15th July...

Four of the most difficult non-academic related days of my life are over. This post is a recount of them one-by-one, beginning with the first...

Woke up at 4, reached the airport at 6. I was about to take a flight aboard AirAsia for the first time. The Low-Cost-Carrier-Terminal (LCCT) is for better-or-worse, an airport in a warehouse. One look around and you've seen the whole building. Though I must say, it is twice as bustling as the main KLIA terminal, and most important of all, it is CLEAN and WELL-MAINTAINED. Bluntly, I was IMPRESSED. By 7.40, the flight was on its way, just like the ticket said. No delay. EFFICIENT.

The airplane ticket itself was a steal - only RM1. But as for the flight itself, whilst it got me there in one piece, there were moments when I felt that my life wasn't worth it just for the RM1. And occasionally, the good captain would treat you to a motion-master experience. After a scream from Wai Hang, a few prayers, and 55 minutes later, we touched down at the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in Kota Bharu - 'The Islamic City' (according to the billboards).

At the Kota Bharu airport, these few words came to mind for the second time of the day, - CLEAN, WELL-MAINTAINED, EFFICIENT. Add those up and you get - IMPRESSED. You know, if Kelantan under PAS can do it, somehow I feel we just might make Vision 2020. And for one thing, unlike KL folk, the people there (all Malay, for those curious to know) were very friendly. They greeted us with smiles which passed off as genuine, and their local Malay lingo was delicious on the ears. It sounded very much like a slurred version of KL Malay, just like how the Scots heavily accent English.

From the airport, we took a long van journey to Kuala Besut, which was just past the Kelantanese border in Terengganu. At Kuala Besut, I expected a ferry to take us to Perhentian, but all we got was a tiny motor boat .... which was fun mind you! The driver drove really fast, and it felt like we were riding a galloping horse. Painful on the butt sometimes, but FUN.

If you've been to places like Pangkor or Redang, you'll notice a stark contrast with Perhentian. It's really small, and it feels really private,as though only your group and maybe four or five others are the only ones there. Never that over-crowded beach feeling you get elsewhere. For the moment it is the perfect seaside retreat, which accomplishes that getaway from civilisation feeling.

Flora Bay Resort is the name of our would-be home for the next four days, and scuba diving is its main attraction. This trip would be David's fourth time there, whilst for the rest of us it was our first. Everything was good until i realized our room toilet had NO hot water. Uh-oh. This place really is small. But wait, the chalet next door has a solar heating unit on its roof...

Nevermind that. Scuba's awaiting! Our first lesson was.....watch videos. HUH? Hence a boring three hour video. Managed to catch some shut eye here. But what's disappointing is when we were told we wouldn't be diving that day. They gave us an Open Water Diving textbook which was thicker than your Form 5 Sejarah. The homework of the day was finish the first 3 out of 5 chapters. This was cause we were to sit for an exam by the end of the four days. UH-OH. What had i signed up for??? I didn't even bring a pencil! David (who brought not only his pencil box but also his scientific calculator to an island of such) simply said,"I warned you all about it..."

Huh.