Banggi Island

Dated 11th July 2006 - Evacuated and edited from Come What May

10th July 2006: my 1st time in banggi...first timer riding a home-made boat...first time 2 cross the ocean...but, wallaaaa...happy 2 announce that i'm free from that deadly (LOL) seasickness ;))) suda melapor diri d sk padang banggi, huuuuuuu...a bit of regret lingered around me but have 2 b brave cuz i'm after the money after all... LOL... ROOOOAAARRRRR!!!...i'm really alergic 2 money, u know...LOL!!! but i do pay tithe ba...

lemme tell u bit bout the journey...i took off from bandau (i prefer bandau 4 km) around 8.00 o'clock am & reached kudat by 9.10 am...where i met winnie, my colleague 2 sk padang, & whom told me a little nightmare...supposed there's a ferry at 9 but the ferry was out of service, so we've 2 board a home-made boat! 2 cut a long story short, we embarked 2 banggi @ 1.00 o'clock sharp..hmmm...punctuality! pas 2 masa dlm kapal met guys (tah...seem they are gaining profit fr projects in banggi) yg melalut pasal pugai balabak(!)... terngiang d pikiran, advices fr a sweet online acquaintance about not to wear make-up & just wear the beautiful rag i have...heard the story but listening isn't believing, & i know & always aware that God is by my side...& at this moment realised that sk padang isn't as easy as we've heard..that the distance fr karakit 2 padang isn't 30 minutes or shorter but can exceed 2 1 hour...so dalam 3 jam setengah dalam kapal 2 sa mula imagine bout the school we'll be teaching..on my mind, the school is near the sea (bulila jalan2 p beach kunu! then tpikir pla, silap2 nti kena kacau, nda jadi berangan indah...), that the school has a neat & gracefully designed miniature garden with a trimmed field...tapi angan2ku dispoilkan oleh "sakitnya pantat duduk dlm kapal 3 jam setengah 2!" crammed dr pinggang spi feet bah..mo berengsot pun susa..punyala crowded 2 kapal, maybe ada more than 40 ppl la dlm 2 kapal including children... the weather petang 2 is beautiful so ndala teruk kapal melambung..kira smooth jala... but bloody hell!!! punyala slow 2 kapal moving...i was sitting facing the bengkoka peninsula, npk cam 1 spot of the scenery = ja dlm an hour... i think kalau sa terjun & went for a swim (of course i like swimming), sempat lagi kejar 2 kapal balik...hehehe..i even think, kalu sa swim duluan lg sa spi d banggi...LOL...lain kali bawa sendirila kusyen ni pengalas pantat klu naik kapal la... klu ginila,hiiiii...sanggup sa naik feri although ferry is expensive than naik kapal...ooh ya! remember tu Malay bcrita = ni kawan dia psl TORNADO DI KUDAT tu (pics enclosed in My Photos section), sa dengar nda dengar ja time derang bcerita sb bikin gogor ginawo ja mo dgr 2 suma, sudala sedang low esteem mo sampai Banggi. Bila sa suda nampak tu pics tornado baru tpikir kedahsyatannya..bayangkan kalu dia moved like American tornado tu, habis kena sapu pekan Kudat+Banggi... duiiiii...yoooo....palis2!!! But is it really a tornado?! or juz some rare phenomenon? anybody out there can explain?

finally, we reached banggi almost 4:30 pm..2 pun b4 banggi limpas 1 pulau tah-tia-tau yg igtkan banggi suda mula2, sebab muka sa mcm monster da kali 2 nda sabar2 lg spi sebab sa mcm mo terberak suda, crammed kaki suda...skali spi d jeti, sa heranla napa jeti dia tinggi sangat... rupanya laut sedang surut, skali even closer 2 d jetty the more sakit jiwa me mo turun dr kapal...& rasa saat 2la kapal 2 move the slowest! bila kapal da spi jeti & igtkan adala org kasi turun tangga supaya senang kami naik p jeti..rupanya have 2 climb the jetty yg walaupun tinggi dia takat climb guas biabas...tapi sa pakai baju kurung bah... 2la bsemangat tul p melapor diri ni..isshhh, manala sa tau, sepa suruh talampau optimistic... geography is already past thing ba, bah x islander who cares to mind the nature's clock of pasang surut bo.. so waited till almost evry1 was up onto the jetty b4 my turn - hantam ja masa 2, paduli derang terpukau nampak kakiku yg putih melepak this, paduli nampak santut - theres no turning back of not to climb this one, have 2 climb the obstacle... since ada semangat climb yg tiba2 teruja ni, ringan ja ba badan sa climb, few seconds ja suda spi atas jeti, nah....kannnnn...who says im fat! if im really were, i wouldnt have reach the jetty...LOL.. my sisters keep teasing me getting chubby when in fact my guy friends are admiring it, that's a COMPLIMENT!hahaaaa....;)))

so, we continue w the journey, we are not in sk padang yet, we've arrived @karakit aka banggi town.. so we need 2 find a transport 2 sk padang, after paying RM5 for the kapal, winnie asked the local there which led us 2 a man known as "haji" who conducts transportation business 2 maliyu with his toyota hilux..as ladies we've given privilege to sit inside the "inner chamber" ;p while waiting 4 the vehicle to take off, i managed 2 take glimpses of the surrounding..theres a hospital uphill, police station, mosque, a row of restaurants, a small resort: i can see they built a house on top of a tree (err.., is it an "asam jawa" tree?), phone booth, bus stop..2 rows of groceries...

this is after the boat ride story.. which is the 2nd phase of my travel. on d way 2 sk padang, u passed smk banggi, sk batu layar & sk limbuak darat, is it all or did i miss any? i forgot. it took another hour 2 reach sk padang, now we knew that, sk padang is actually situated in a village called maliyu & that padang is the name of another village somewhere around maliyu. and that the village is indeed at the seaside, i can hear the rustling of the waves. upon arriving i was really exhausted, i could nearly fainted even for a smile, i lost mood 2 talk, all i wanna do was 2 lie down..but alas! since nobody there knew bout our arrival so theres x proper place such as a place called house...all we found was a store..hehehe...adakah ruma guru derang kasi jadi stor tayar..so that nite, we slept @ one of the teacher's house..

but, wanna know what came 2 me as surprises upon reaching SK PADANG, BANGGI?!!! zeng..zeng...zengggg!!! first, i thought we came 2 a wrong place cuz the school compound was terrible! with its field with long grasses enough 2 supply hundred buffaloes for 10 years!!! ;} there are even several cows grazing, no fence, no beautiful miniature garden! there are only 2 rows of school building, ada terkopak2 lg tu dinding building dia, 2 semi-detached teacher's housing (ada 4 housesla altogether) aduhaiiiii....x wonderla we've warned to consume drugs to prevent dengue & untut, camana la nyamuk x conquer klu berserabut camtu...i thought it was a graveyard pun ada ;p cheh! sampai hati bagi kami info tula sekolah plg cantik d banggi, sot! koiman-iman nopo sa, sempat winnie ty sa, mo go onka? ikutkan sa mmg sa x mo tp, MONEY RULES...(actually i need 2 settle my university loan so that's y i'm in dire need 4 money to repay 'em la...plus...ble kawin suda, LOL!!!) pas tu time ni derang bilang peralihan ke musim angin barat so...PANASSSSSS.... tomod2 O!!!... mcm kena masuk dlm karung ja... i used to complain how hot & dry bandau is, lg teruk d maliu, banggi...gorong ja dekat laut tp angin sepoi2 pun x.. sudala x karan (tp masa tu i saw the solar board outside, waiting 2 be installed & operated, bilang derang this week mo kana install), clean water supply problem (juz hoping its raining all the time, klu x, harap perigi ja...dulu zaman kurus kering adala alasan x tenaga mo angkat baldi, skg zaman chubby but mengancam ni... (says my guy friends) alasan dia lumbogon+malas pla la...;p teda cellular phone signal lg (kunu klu d beach ada line dr polipin tp x dpt call, klu btl line polipin mesti auto roaming kan, ka derang yg x tau kod 2 dial d number..) hehehe ;p sala tukang komplen NO.1...

the next morning (11th July 2006), we woke up around 4 o'clock dawn to catch up the 5 o'clock "haji's hilux"..excited mo balik ni...sebab we've not done our medical check up yet...mao hantar tu borang p PPG lg, mo angkat barang keperluan lg...& kali ni kami ikut kapal jam 7 lebih (ferry's still O:O:S)...pagi laut suda pasang so paras air laut tinggi dia hampir sama paras with the jetty: punyala jauh beza paras pasang vs surut ni! kali ni, d sea was a bit rough & kami yg bukan islander ni.. mestila kecut perut juga ba..tapi makin melambung tu kapal ke kiri-kanan-atas-bawah, makin pula sa rasa mo tidurrr.. memang sa nokodop pun hehehe ;p mcm kana "rock-a-bye-baby" ja ;p

~rock-a-bye baby..., in the tree top, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock, when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all....~

kali ni juga, kuat angin so sejuknyaaaaa...although I wore long sleeved tshirt. lain kali have 2 bring sweaterla this... & kapal kali ni a bit faster than the yesterday's tapi bising sampai mo pekak sa...sampai kudat jam 9 lebih, still bosuk-bosukon ni dek bunyi 2 kapal..;{}