Well I didn't know what to expect and this is my first time going to Malaysia by a car actually. I didn't even know how long the journey was! Jolene's dad drove me from my house to Woodlands then off to Johor we went! The car ride in Johor was about an hour and a half but we stopped for breakfast halfway because all of us skipped breakfast in order to sleep a little longer haha.
Yummy Roti Prata for breakfast! I haven't had one of these for such a long time! Then the journey went on and Jolene and I fell asleep in the car hahaha. We arrived at the jetty and had to wait about an hour for the boat. The jetty was quite a beautiful place actually. It was quiet and peaceful, something you often over look in bustling Singapore.
Really a pretty view(: I wish there were more places like these in Singapore. We had to take a boat to the fishing village and I kind of expected the slow kind of boat but turns out, we would be taking a speed boat! I've nvr been on a speed boat my entire life so I was really, really excited! The boat ride was kind of bumpy but nevertheless, it was so much fun! We were taking photos on the boat and I had to constantly remind myself not to drop my phone into the ocean. In the speedboat, I remember seeing the vast ocean and was wondering where on earth the fishing village was. It was no where in sight! The ride was about 10 mins and it was definitely one that was filled with fun and laughter.
You see that row of tiny houses in wooden platforms? That was where we were headed :D There are 4 such villages at the place where we were at. I remember wondering if I'd get homesick or bored. I mean you literally can't really do anything much other than fish, sleep, eat and take photo(I did all btw hehe) Okay so we arrived at about 12pm and we had lunch. Before I get to that, I'd like to share with you the interior of this village. Basically, all the houses are connected so it's just 1 house with a lot of doors. There were about 20 bunk beds under the roof and that's where everyone slept. In a way, we were all sleeping in the same room. Next to the beds, there was a TV and a few chairs for people to watch a little telly. Honestly, that's the only form of technology you got. Then there are 4 round tables where everyone ate(: I rmb telling Jolene that I felt as if I was part of Ah Boys To Men.
Here's what we had for lunch. The food was actually quite tasty and wasn't as bad as I had expected. After we finished eating, we didn't know what to do with the leftover food. Turns out, we could just dump it into the ocean cause all the fishes eat them and they basically need our leftovers to survive. It was pretty fun watching a whole school of fish swarming at our food.
Okay back to the main point of this post. Fishing! I was wondering how is it possible for people to fish from day to night?! I mean isn't fishing boring??? And how can you do it for so long! I gave it a shot anw and I'm so glad I did. Jolene and Jeremy started baiting and we originally used prawns that her father brought over from Singapore as baits. They started cutting it up into tiny pieces and I was kind of reluctant to help cause I found it a little dirty BUT after awhile, I gave it a shot and it was actually really fun to get down and dirty for one. I mean since I'm there, I might as well make the best of it and learn the skills needed to fish.
I said we originally used prawns as baits but after we caught a few tiny fishes, we used them as baits instead cause according to Jolene's dad, fishes are better baits. Weird right? Fishes eat their own kind... I nvr knew that hahaha. So I'm sure you guys are curious as to where we could fish. We could fish anywhere! The village is practically surrounded by waters and you can go anywhere to fish.
Sea, sea and more blue sea. I'm sure you got the picture by now. The ocean there is so clear and I've nvr seen an ocean with this shade of blue in Singapore. When I look straight out, all I see is the endless ocean and there was no land in sight. I felt like a kampong girl and actually acted like one during my stay there. It really was a stress reliever and I felt so relaxed.
I did say we originally used prawns as baits. We used yellow fishes in the end which is a very common species of fish in the ocean there. Here's how they look like.
Jolene's day patiently taught me how to fish and helped me whenever I hooked onto a rock or coral. In fact, Jolene, Jeremy and I all hooked our rods on to something at a point of time hahaha oops. After awhile, I got the hang of it and finally caught my very first fish on my own!!! I was sooooo happy and felt a sense of accomplishment. Fishing is actually very tiring if you do it for a long time. It requires a lot of arm strength and I felt like I was having a battle of the strongest with the fishes. Not kidding, some of them are like wrestling champions.
Hohoho, my very first fish. Here are some more pictures of fishies being caught
You see the last 2 photos? I actually caught 5 fishes on 1 rod!!!! Personal best hehe.
Did I forget to mention that someone actually caught a shark?! Everyone rushed over and we were all amazed. I mean wow, a shark. Like wow. But these sharks are not the kind that will eat human. In fact, they are afraid of us. Nevertheless, it must have taken a lot of effort to have fished a shark. I mean it took so much effort on my part just to fish a normal fish. Kudos to the guy
We started fishing at about 1 and the 2nd time I checked the clock, it was 4pm! I actually fished for 3h and it only felt like an hour. Time flies by so fast when you're having fun. Fishing is really tiring so Jolene and I decided to take a break because we didn't have the strength to reel in the big fishes. We started doing what we do best, taking photos hehe
There are a lot more but I shall not bore you with our craziness. We gathered up our strength and continued fishing!
After an hr and a half, it was time for dinner! The people managing this fishing village follows a specific timetable which tells them us what time our meals are served. Dinner was at 5.30pm. Pretty early but we were all famished by then because of the amount of energy we used up. Every time it was time for a meal, everyone will start saying ''Time to makan'' which means time to eat. It really felt cosy and we were all like a family gathering around the table and passing the dishes around. After we were done, we fed our leftovers to the fishes again and went back to fish.
I honestly never would have thought that I could fish for so long and still look forward to continue. I practically rushed through dinner so that I can continue fishing. Trust me, fishing is a lot more fun than it seems. I mean it seems boring cause you normally think of an old man, sitting on a chair for hours just for that few fishes. However, at the fishing village, the minute you throw your bait down, you'd get nibbles in secs!! It's just up to you whether you want to catch the small fishes or wait for a bigger nibble to catch a big one but even then, it would only take about 30 secs to catch a big one. I guess it's only cause there are not a lot of fishes in Singapore.
With regards to the amount of fishes caught, it varies according to the time. I have no idea why but there are more fishes in the morning/ early afternoon than there are during the late afternoon/ evening. So we moved to the inner fishing place where all the tiny fishes were in order to catch more fish. We did have to have a quality control and throw back the fishes that were too small.
Not sure why but all the fishes moved to this area so we fished here the whole night. Speaking of night, different types of fishes appears during the different timings. In daylight, there are rabbits fishes, yellow fishes and basically, all the small ones. At night, you could fish for squids and I'm not sure what fish it is but there are a lot of big fishes about 23". These big fishes comes out because they're hunting for the smaller fished to eat. This is probably why all the tiny fishes disappeared. They went into hiding. You need a special bait to fish for all these big fishes though so you need to come prepared.
We tried to fish for a squid but we failed haha. At least we tried! A kind man actually gave us his squid so yay!
After a whole day of fishing, we went to bathe. I need to tell you guys about the toilets hahaha. The toilet bowl was basically a hole in the ground and you could see the ocean below you. Let's just say when something drops down, you see fishes rushing towards it. No explanation needed. The place where you'd bathe is in the same room as the toilet bowl. There's a little platform where you can place your clothes but honestly, I was so worried my clothes would fall into the hole and into the ocean... That would be so embarrassing but I'm so glad that didn't happen hahaha!
We slept pretty late that night cause Jolene and I went out to have a heart to heart talk. We brought chairs out and faced the ocean. What are the chances that you'd be with your best friend at such a place with such an incredible view where you're surrounded by oceans? We shared some interesting things about ourselves and we talked mostly about guys. I don't mean the kind where girls basically talk about who's hot and who's not but I mean about our insecurities and worries. It was really nice to open up to someone and know someone would always be there for you(:
Well on to the next day! We got up at about 8am and had breakfast. For this day, we focused on taking photos more than fishing. I mean we did fish but we took photos first to capture the amazing time we had. We also had a horrible sun burn and our muscles were aching so we didn't have a lot of strength to fish.
This basically wraps up my post. It's been a wonderful 2D1N stay at Ah You. I'd like to thank Jolene's family for warmly inviting me to join them on their trip. I took a step out of my comfort zone and did smth I thought I would nvr do. I finally can prove to myself and others that I'm not a pampered kid but I actually really enjoyed my stay. I'd love to go back again be it with my family or with my friends. The condition of the toilets may not be ideal but it was enough for me and everyone there. I know that we are often caught up in the hustle and bustle of the city but do take time out to appreciate the nature around us. To be honest, I never thought this kind of places exist. They may be in the middle of the ocean and a little inconvenient to get to but once you're there, it opens your eyes up to so many things. I know I did.
For those of you who are interested, this place is actually at Malaysia, Johor at a place called Sibu. At Sibu, there are 4 such villages. All of them look about the same but the one I went to was called Ah You. Do consider a trip to one of these places if you have the time. If you don't, do take time out to look around you and step out of your comfort zone. You can plan activities in Singapore such as hiking or going for a camp. It might sound tiring and you'd probably would rather stay at home but come on, you can do that every single day. Taking a day off to achieve smth you'd nvr thought you would make you a better person(:
PS. None of the photos were edited because I wanted to show you guys exactly how it looked like.
''Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new."
Brian Tracy
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