ok guys i'm back like i promised. i went rushing to xiao'an's house at midnight yesterday to get my Angel II back. damn, the rain chilled my ass off. and i almost lost control of my MTB.
a continuation of where i left off yesterday, things were certainly not making a good first impression on my the moment i set foot on remote Indonesian soil. however, during the free time that was given to us, i made the most of it by trying to find my way around the island close to the residential and dining headquarters by doing a bit of walking (i didn't have the enthusiasm and energy to start running around like jackie so i took a stroll instead). i discovered quite a handful of interesting nooks and crannies, especially the tiny beach just behind the kitchen, the tall-grassy area behind the girls' dorms and the other minor kelong extensions. i popped out the half-dead T7 and, using the ever-mind-boggling macro mode, snapped a few subjects with extreme success.
around this time, the sun was already beginning to set, so we returned to the dining area to sort out the five sets of clothing that were meant as gifts to the villagers back at Pulau Petong. there were ridiculous contributions, including an unbelievable amount of Puma clothing (as donated by the self-proclaimed Puma spokesman dinesh himself), a sadistically-tiny shirt by some anonymous donor (they ain't babies, for God's sake) and quite a huge chunk of shirts that would even be too big for the adults. still shirts, nonetheless, and in fact we even had quite a bit of fun sorting them out and making fun of the outstanding ones.
right after that we visited a tiny mangrove right behind the dorms, past the tall-grass area. i expected to encounter some snakes but we didn't (in fact i didn't see a single one the entire trip). we spent most of the time there listening to mr. balaji explain the mangrove life to us, bit-by-bit, concerning the tree roots, the wildlife and the reasons for why all these fit together. however, it was short-lived and the rain came down in showers within half an hour of the mangrove visit. we were completely drenched and chilled to the bone by the winds and cross-breezes, and so were our belongings.
speaking of belongings, my cell was soaked all the way in. apparently my day-pack couldn't hold the rainwater out long enough and i had to dry it for a few hours. during this duration the keypad, screen and camera did not work, inducing fear that the days of the Angel I had been numbered, but eventually the sun did its job and everything was back to normal.
much of our afternoon activity had been forgone due to this unforseen circumstance, so we ended up wringing ourselves dry and settling down with a cup of WARM ORANGE JUICE in the dining hall. it was a wonderful feeling. dinner was served in a jiffy and the portions were just nice. photo results of the first dinner were wonderful, i managed to use my shaky hands to my advantage.
right after dinner was the intoduction of night fishing. we didn't get to do any hands-on for this one as it was quite an energy-sapping task, so we let the pros handle it themselves. the fishermen of the kelong showed us the art of mass-fishing using a net and a simple gas lamp to attract and reel up the fish. it wasn't a bad catch, probably weighed about 2kgs or so, but to them, it wasn't fishing if the scales weren't tipped at the 50/60s mark. they did pick up a few sotongs (squids) though, which were not bad a catch. the rest of the tiny fishes would be used as live bait for future rod-fishing.
a few more briefings later, it was time for bed. by nightfall, the beds were full of weird flying insects (they didn't seem to cause any harm to humans) and neither were they mosquitoes, but i still did the honours of spraying them so i'd have a proper doze. i slept right next to the washrooms and directly underneath the power sockets (there's a price to pay for everything =D). midnight was lights-out, so i got a proper bath right before that (the water was freezing cold cos there was no heater).
day one didn't seem so bad after all, although the rain kinda spoilt it a bit. i was starting to get used to the place, the weather and the people around. credit to that.
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