Sunday, August 14, 2005

What's with the scary fish?

Today was beach day. I walked to the ferry terminal and jumped on a "speed" boat to go to Palau Manukan- one of five islands just off the coast of Kota Kinabalu that are all part of a national park. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. And, now that I think about it, I think I prefer Singapore's man-made beach (complete with Hawaiian sand). The sand had tons of sharp shells and pieces of coral so it was hard to walk and not at all enjoyable. And there were a few too many Chinese tourists for my liking. I did find secluded places, though- it just took a bit of walking. And I tried snorkelling. I think I had mentioned my concerns, and it turns out I am not very good at snorkelling: I lack courage. Those fish were freaking me out! There were a couple that took one look at me, paused and then started swimming right at me. Now, they were probably only about 2 inches long, but everything looks bigger in goggles, and I had just visited an aquarium full of violent fish. So I reacted the way I do when I see a big bug: a gasp and jump back. You can imagine this is quite bad when you're swimming and wearing a snorkel! People probably thought I was insane. So that really didn't last very long at all. I had a nice lunch on a small wooden patio. The resturant had three resident orange cats who took turns sitting contentedly in the sun, chasing bugs and trying to mooch food. I found them very entertaining. Anyway, it was an interesting day, but I'm looking forward to a resort pool more (and I'm getting very sick of sunscreen!)

Posted by Kathleen @ 6:23 PM