Cherating Holiday

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My whole family went for a short holiday over the last few days to Cherating, which is a famous beach off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, facing the South China Sea. It is a sleepy village with nothing but miles of coastline and beach resorts. It was a much deserved break for the family, away from the city.

We decided to drive there in two cars. My brother-in-law led the way in an MPV and I drove the rest of my family in our sedan. The drive there was most uneventful except towards the end. We did not know where the resort was and it was not marked very clearly either. So, when we saw it, my bro-in-law stopped and I was forced to brake suddenly as well. In the end, I rear-ended him but without any damage to either car, which was good.

We checked into our own little chalet which had it’s own little jacuzzi pool. So, everyone spent a lot of time in the pool, including my niece and nephews in their floats. We only went to the beach in the evenings when the sun was not so bright, to enjoy some fresh air and fine sand. As I was the designated photographer, I ended up going around taking photos and staying away from the sea water.

In the evenings, we ended up playing board games after dinner. It was fun and brought back many memories of games that my sister and I had played when we were younger. As usual, she still beat me squarely at Monopoly while I still trounced her at word games. It is nice to reminisce on old times when you’re both already approaching mid-life.

The last night, I decided to sacrifice some of my sleep in order to catch the sunrise the next morning. I got up at 5.30am and went down to the beach alone, with my camera and tripod in tow. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy as there was a thunderstorm out at sea the night before. I could actually see the lightning sparks from the beach. So, instead of the sunbeams that you typically see, I caught the red dawn behind the clouds.

On the last day, we made a short trip to the turtle sanctuary located on the said beach. There, we got to see little baby hatchlings that were to be released into the sea shortly. The people at the sanctuary told us that there were many visits by turtles over the last few nights and many eggs were lain. They would then collect the eggs and incubate them in their facility before releasing the hatchlings.

I’ve included some photographs in my album. I will probably send most of the family photos for printing. It will give me a chance to try out the quality of our digital prints as well as to compare prices. I would imagine spending quite a small fortune on photography in the future. I have just found a place that can sell me a 40mm f2.8 prime lens for RM 1050 (opening price).