Lankayan Island

Current music: The Lankayan Song! *LOL*
Current condition: A bit tired...muscle ache, but quite fine.
Current mood: Dreamy~

Lankayan Island...
Despite the obvious tan that I obtained,
Despite the cut on my hand from the coral reefs *swt*,
Despite the dizzy boat ride back to Sandakan, (the ride going there was fine, but coming back was rough @_@)

...I miss Lankayan...



And now, I'm back in my world of hectic business, ridiculously lots of assignments, and the like...

Ahh, but I still feel as if I'm floating in the blue sea...

Well I'm glad to say the jetty's ok, (OK!)
Froggie Fort's not far away,
Lankayan Wreck is also there,
And the jawfish lair is very rare...

EDIT: A certain someone asked me to blog about the trip ==
So oklor...

DAY 1 (05/06/08)
I went to Crystal's house at 8 a.m..
Due to transport problems, I followed her and Caleb to the Sandakan Yacht Club.
Once there, we waited for the others to come.
At around 9 am, we boarded the boat to Lankayan. We put on the life jacket.
To be honest, it was my FIRST time riding a boat *swt*

Inside the boat.

I was kinda anxious (who knows if I get seasick or something?)

The beautiful waters of Lankayan...

Anyway, the anxiety faded after some time so I'm quite fine.
When we reached there, we saw the blue blue waters xD and on the jetty - a dog?!
I was told that its name is Fufu - the only dog on the island xD

We were given a short talk and brought to our chalets. I shared a room with Crystal in Chalet 2.
Later, we had lunch and had some activities before going snorkelling at 4 p.m..

The beautiful island that is Lankayan.

Reef Guardian: Put on your life jackets.
Jedd (a.k.a. Anak Boss) : Clip here, clip here and clip here. Done!
Crystal: Is that supposed to be there?
Jedd: Actually, this is supposed to be under your @$.
Cyn: !

(It's not like we had a choice. For the sake of safety we are required to clip that thing over our ---- *like what Jedd said)

Snorkelling was fun. There were really a lot of corals and fish.
We weren't supposed to snorkel around the shallow area (because a lot of corals are there) but me, Crystal and David swam there anyway (we didn't know we weren't allowed at that time lol)

Poor David scratched his knee. Crystal hurt her toe a bit too. And I earned a little scratch on my left palm. Nothing too serious, but I do feel sorry for David when I saw his knee. :(

Anyway, we saw lots and lots of beautiful fish, corals, clams, and the like.
And a funny thing occurred xD

Cyn, Cryst, David : *floats up at the same time*
Cyn: This is fun, but the strap on the life jacket is hurting my -----------
Crystal: *laughs* yeah...it's annoying.
David: Yeah, but what's even worse, I'm a GUY!

Tung, Ms. Lat and Vicki did well too. The round float looked kinda fun to sit on xD
However, my feet cramped several times T_T
Once when I was in the middle of the shallow area with the corals O_o
Once when I climbed on top of the kayak
Once when I climbed up to the jetty T_T
Luckily, they didn't last too long. I stretched them for a few seconds and it was fine.


Sunset.

At night, we watched a video of last time's trip. Jedd had a cute kiddish voice xD and David was funny, especially during the presentation part.

The RG office.

Later that night, we discussed about our "performances". We all decided to group together and make three performances.

Crystal and I went to sleep around 12+, but with all the bing bang going upstairs, we only fell asleep at 1+.
The next day, we found out that it was due to the "mysterious balcony door opening by itself" and the "cockroach coming out from nowhere" incident that must've scared the girls upstairs xD Coz I definitely heard Catherina's screaming.

DAY 2 (06/06/08)
We woke up real early, hoping to catch the sunrise.
We did get the time right, but the sun was blocked by the clouds...:(


That's Fufu and Caleb's hand. Apparently Fufu prefers males =.= And Fufu IS a male <_<

Anyway, we had our morning exercise (which I at first thought was running around the beach or something, but ended up being a few stretching sessions) But they did prevent me from getting cramped this time.


Saw lots of starfish. This one was on the shore. The ones underwater have many colours.

After stretching, we went for snorkelling again. In the morning. O_o
This time, we were divided into groups of 2. We were tasked to observe a fish in the sea, draw it out and write our observations. I grouped with Tung.
Tung was a bit anxious at first, but he did pull through. Well done, Tung! I'm sure you enjoyed the scenery underwater.


After snorkelling, we had our bath and then went to the Reef Guardians' office to discuss our fish. We drew pictures of the fish and wrote details of them according to the fish guide books.
I couldn't find my fish in the book (though i was pretty sure that was the fish I observed) so I decided to name my fish "Cynthiafish" Scientific name: Cynthia. xD
Celes named hers Jajafish xD. Crystal accidentally added an extra stripe to her fish that only has 3 stripes originally.

After that we presented our fish, starting form the oldest.
Jason went ahead and talked about Trigger Fish.
Next was Vicki, then David.
Tung talked about Coral Beauty, and I talked about Cynthiafish xD.
Next up was Catherina with her humorous presentation about Electric Eels.

Catherina: It was looking at me with those eyes...like... "Don't mess with me" like that...
Salha: But you only saw it for two seconds!
Cyn: Haha...electrocuted by its eyes...

Then Crystal talked about hers before Jaja, Ade, and Mickey. Lastly, Caleb talked about his fish.
Meanwhile, Jedd was comfortably sleeping on the couch xD

Then, we played some games.
We were to "eat" at least 15 pieces of food in order to survive till the next season, and at least 20 to be able to reproduce (swt...so if we undereat we become infertile?)

Anyway, Vicki was amazing O_o...she got 30+ scores for nearly every season.
And I, as I seldom use chopsticks, struggle to survive (and reproduce xD)
At least I managed to live at the end of the 6th Season. lol

But really, it was a really interesting game. Very creative, I should say.
It somehow made me understand how the marine life felt... (not that I've seen them cry before, and not that I'd know if they did anyway, but you get the idea)
Certainly a good reason why conservation is important.

Later in the evening, we had a Sandcastle making competition.
And here I thought Sandcastle making was not too hard.
Wrong.
If you've seen other people do it, or in the TV, it's EASIER SEEN THAN DONE.
After that, we were to explain about our "creation".
In the end, the Marine Maestros (Cath, David, Vicki and Caleb) won. Congrats, guys!

Everyone had wonderful souvenirs. We brought back nice water tumblers and T-shirts, courtesy of Mr. Ken.

At night, we held our little "ceremony".
Crystal was the MC, so she began with a short greeting.
Tung took over and told us about our experiences in Lankayan.

Tung: It's a paradise! And the food, it's marvelous, wonderful, delicious! It's like a heaven!
(or something like that)
*LOL*

Then, we had our performances. We started off with our song... "I believe I can swim..." xD
Then, we danced the "Macarena". We pulled the RGs and staff in the dance too. The dance was quite silly but enjoyable nonetheless.
Afterwards, we had a game of "Goreng Pisang" against the Reef Guardians.
Amazingly, they beat us - THREE TIMES xD *blushes*
Well, I have to admit, they are pretty good at the game *applauds*


The awesome Ms. Salha.


Not to forget Jason, the guy who got buried in the sand.

The Reef Guardians and staff also had a performance for us. They sang the Lankayan Song.
They went for a second time, but this time they invited us to join in.
The song was a fun and pleasant one xD Nice~


The wonderful Reef Guardians and other staff singing the Lankayan Song.

Later, we presented a gift to Mr. Ken Chung to thank him for all he has done. Mr. Ken gave some wonderfully touching words.
After that, Jason stayed with us and had a few games of chess with Jedd. Meanwhile, the others watched and chatted, I asked for some paper and drew pictures of us in Lankayan and gave them to Jason xD

Cathz: Where am I in the picture? I have dimples, you know.
Cyn: Fine...if you want me to add dimples then make a glass of Milo for me.
Cathz: Ok. Can't believe I have to do this just for a set of dimples...

Cyn: Oh no! I left Tung from the picture *lol*
Ms. Lat: How could you??
Tung: Probably because I didn't do anything for her...
Cyn: *looks at him* (I was actually interpreting what he was saying, but he probably thought I was glaring at him xD)
Tung: *smiles sheepishly*

DAY 3 (07/06/08)
Nothing much happening on that day, because we had to leave at 7 in the morning (that's the only boat that leaves form Lankayan)
Everybody rushed to have breakfast.

Later, at the jetty, we had a group photo, said our goodbyes, shook hands to Ms. Salha and Mr. Jason.
We boarded the boat and wore our life jackets. I noticed the strap that goes below the ------- again...

Cyn: David, remember this? *holds up the strap*
David: *laughs*

We then went back to Sandakan. The ride was rough, compared to the one before (when we went to Lankayan). It actually made me dizzy =.=

When we reached Sandakan, then first thing I noticed is the colour of the water.
Instead of a clear blue, it is now a sickly green =.= with rubbish added.

Oh well...it's good to be home anyway...

I guess that's it... it was really tiring but worth it. :)

LOVE LANKAYAN!

Later~!