That's why Papa decided that we should spend the night on the beach, except that I wasn't keen with the idea of camping on the beach. I need a proper toilet, I need a place to lie down when I'm tired because I luuuurve to laze around. And being the other romantic head in our marriage, Papa found just the right place for us, or so he thought.
This place was in the old part of Cherating. The atmosphere in this part of Cherating was one of the 60s and it has definitely seen better days. Shops there still bear hippy influence. So anyway, Papa drove and we were on the lookout for the place which turned out to be at the far end of the stretch - because the last part, next to it, was a graveyard, which I didn't realise until after we paid the rent :-)
On our way there Papa called the owner/operator and he informed that he's in KL and that we should be able to meet with one Mr Bob. The place was right in front of the beach. Yay! There were many chalets - kampung style of course! Since there were six of us, Mr Bob (a big burly man in his 60s with rugged hair in beach shorts and soiled t-shirt - I guess he's a product of the old Cherating) gave us a chalet with 2 rooms and 2 toilets - the only one available for our family size. Papa paid the rent and we went to the chalet. Meen needed to use the toilet badly (all the more reason for a proper chalet - I was right here, hahaha) and we shot straight to the toilet.
The chalet (all chalets) were built on stilts and the toilets were lower that the main house. There were stairs from the main house/room down to the toilets. Since Meen was in front of me, I quickly led her down the stairs and upon reaching the bottom (we're in the toilet now), a baby monitor lizard jumped out of the water closet and did a backflip and back into the toilet bowl! And Meen cancelled her nature's call. It got stunted somewhere. Hahaha...
So, we tried to ask for another chalet. Mr. Bob took us and showed another chalet (much smaller with only 1 room and 1 toilet) which was the last one in the row. While waiting for him to call a technician (aircond problem!) I looked around and only then realised that it's next to the graveyard! Oh boy! I decided a baby monitor lizard was a better bet than the graveyard. Hahaha... Besides the chalets didn't look lived-in or been occupied for quite some times. It smelled dusty and damp. So, back to the first chalet and hopefully the baby monitor lizard was more scared than us. Thankfully Mr. Bob didn't get angry. By this time, Meen already answered nature's call in the second chalet while waiting for Mr Bob. It was truly a kampung experience - true to its name. Hahaha... And we're still cautious everytime using both toilets.
There wasn't much to do there at night but luckily the inn operator built this shelter and it was right in front of our chalet. There was an old television set but Papa decided that the telly could wait. It's time for family bonding. There's an old ping pong table and enough set for us. So we spent the night playing ping pong which I was sure much to the annoyance of other chalet occupants because the sound of bouncing ping pong ball was quite loud.
Everybody tried their hands at this game. I'd say the shelter with the ping pong game helped saved our otherwise boring night. The night breeze didn't have any cooling effect. It was hot actually.
Meen would always paired up with someone in the family and she's happy just to be a partner, regardless of the lack of chance at hitting the ping pong ball. Since we didn't not want to bother other occupants, we stopped playing at 2am. Hahaha... so much for congeniality!
The surrounding area was dimly lit AND there were lots of mosquitoes that feasted on us that night.
Very early the next day, we headed to the beach. We bought some crisps and other munchies the night before on our way back from dinner. The beach was desolated and so it's our place that day. I didn't know why other chalet occupants did not enjoy their day at the beach though. But it was fun for us and I love the time spent together.
Being in the water for a few minutes and munching away. Back to the water for a few minutes and back again for more munching. That's her routine.
The water was shallow and the breeze was pleasant. So it's a nice day for swimming and I wasn't afraid to let Meen enjoy the water.
We didn't bring any mat but luckily there's this bench made out of coconut tree trunks.
Their sizes don't reflect their respective ages and they became children again that day.
Taking in as much sun as possible
Enjoying each other's company - mainly because there were jellyfish in the water.
Really enjoying herself in her own world.
Idling themselves away.
While the others were enjoying the sea, these two clearly knew what they wanted.
This was at the rear balcony overlooking another proprietor's chalets.
One of the toilets that always got flooded whenever we showered.
The shelter during the day.
Last chance trying out her hands at ping pong before we left the place.
With my BFFs and one more. Tareeq decided to sleep in the car that night.
On the balcony of the chalet.
I like Meen's expression! Always her cheeky self.
After we left the chalet, we headed to the turtle sanctuary, about 2km away.
Watching the hatchlings swimming in the small pond.
I'm not really sure whether I want to go back to the place in the near future but the experience was invaluable. The baby monitor lizard was indeed another out of this world 'attraction'. Hahaha... We did go back to the beach, a few times right until May of this year. We'll definitely go to the beach again and again and again.
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