Walk on the Beach, 30th Of September

The weekend before I was due to come offshore, AK asked me if I wanted to go to the beach. Lethargic at first and enjoying the comforts of my bed and air conditioning, I was a little reluctant.

So understandably, after I managed to drag myself out of bed, it was a little late in the evening when we got there - the Miri beach named, if memory serves, Hawaii Beach (why, I have absolutely no clue).

And I totally regret that we did not leave the house earlier.

Now, Miri's Hawaii Beach is nothing to shout about, no Phuket or Perhentian. It's no Sabah either. The water quality is dubious, and swimming is usually not recommended, thanks to the nearby offshore platforms and worse, the timber factories upriver.

But it is not all that bad.

When we got there, the waves were rocking and rolling, the wind was blowing salty mist into our faces (made me wonder how my folks offshore were doing - it would be twice as bad offshore).

The beach was surprisingly clean. We saw families clearing the last of their picnics, and met with children putting finishing touches to their sandcastles.

We played with the tiniest little hermit crabs and tried to coax some photos out of them, but found them to be shy little fellas :)

Think this one here is the best we got.


Tiny little things they are.


We did not realise that the sunset was almost upon us, but managed, just in time, to capture it before the sun exited and we were, literally, left in the dark.


Portrait of me in the sand, by AK.

When it got too dark to see clearly (and it did get that dark pretty fast), we had a simple little dinner in town, at a place we had never been to, just to be (a little) adventurous. The food was nothing to shout about, but we did have the best time, just the two of us.

It was one of those times where we were just immersed in the moment, not talking about tomorrow or yesterday. The sun is setting. The children are playing. The wind is blowing. Notice the present tenses? Notice how wonderful it sounds? (to me anyway)

Even now, writing from offshore, I remember almost every detail of that evening because we were in the moment. I'll be the first to admit, we had been living life a bit too hecticly, both of us totally caught up with our work. We still are, but it's nice to take a few pauses now and then.

It may be a sign of getting older, or maybe my Carpe Diem tendencies are not of a high enough standard, but the below realisation has just come to me.

I don't need no exotic vacation or rockin' nightclub to make my weekend worthwhile. (Come to think of it, a vacation to Bangkok or even Sabah sounds good..hmmm...) The walk on the beach (ahem, Hawaii Beach, Miri) made me pretty darn happy.