Perhentianing
The day started out nicely: a short run along the beach as the sun rose, then continuing into the jungle along a path whacked out from the vegetation. At one point in the not-too-distant past, it’d been a paver stone walkway, and probably quite nice. Neglect, time and the inexorable creep of life has pretty much destroyed it. I wonder how long ago it was put down? Five years?
I went a bit around the bend of the island then turned around to make it a nice 5K. That was the beginning of the trail fun discovering different parts of the island.
It’s a pretty and pretty minimalist place. We’re on Long Beach, located on the east side of the island, and it’s by far the largest concentration of people. There are probably six or seven hotel/hostels, the same number of diving operations and a bunch of (relative to the mainland) pricey restaurants. Other than that, there are only a few additional resorts scattered about on the south end of the island. North? Nada. Some beaches, and jungle trails connecting them. There are no cars. The only vehicles I’ve seen are a few small Kubota tractors used to haul people and things up and down Long Beach. Everything else moves on foot or by boat. No dogs, and only a few cats, too.
By my estimation, there are about a couple thousand people here this weekend. It’s the first big weekend of the season, since there was a national holiday on Friday. I hope most are heading back to the mainland today (Sunday). That’ll make tonight and Monday much quieter. Also maybe the ferry ride back won’t be as crowded. We’re planning to take the last boat out, since we had an evening flight booked.
Yeah, about that. Our flight’s departure time was changed. That’s not generally a big deal. A few minutes on either side of what I booked and expect doesn’t even register. However.
I received an email at some point yesterday that the flight originally scheduled to depart at 1820 had its time changed to 2215. Four freaking hours later! That took me by surprise. But, apparently Firefly does that semi-often. How handy to change a flight’s departure time by four hours. I hope nobody has a connection they’re planning to make. For us, it just means getting back to Subang at midnight, rather than a more reasonable hour. For me? No biggie. Nic has to work in the morning, so she’s more impacted.
It was lovely walking the trails between the beaches. Not a lot of the thousand people on the island venture off the beach — other than by boat, so we had the trails to ourselves for the most part. I think we surprised a few people who’d taken a water taxi to a beach by stumbling out of the greenery.
The water was almost too warm to be refreshing after the sweaty hike, but I managed anyway. I also managed to sunburn my balding head. I suppose I doffed my cap for too long while bobbing in the water.
It would have been nice to have a beach alone, but t’was not to be. The closest was the last one we visited: upon arrival, there was only one other person. But within twenty minutes, three boats had arrived and people began setting up for a wedding. Ugh.
Today is going to be a bit slower paced and more covered. I need to let the burn receed to a peel. Not sure about running either. It’s still dark, so I have time to decide.
Enjoy the photos.
Be kind and take care of yourselves. If you can, care for someone else, too.
Slang, out.