Cruise: parasailing and a coconut tree.
I went for a 4 day cruise from sunday afternoon to wednesday afternoon with my mom, her 2 friends, my grandma, hui and big S.On the cruise, we passed time singing ktv, visiting the jacuzzi, suntanning, watching world cup and visiting the disco. It may sound rather fun, but the truth is that it wasn't that great.
I guess company matters a lot. On this cruise, for some reason, there were a lot of tourist, especially from India. They must be on some tour package. I was hardly jumping for joy, but I kept at my drink and dance at the disco even when there probably were only 3 chinese, including me and big s among 25 other indians in the disco. But seriously cannot enjoy myself further when the DJ starts blasting Indian music over and over again to cater to the crowd. What can I say? Totally outnumbered. Feel invaded. so yeah, I enjoyed my drinks, did some dancing, but seriously it was't the most enjoyable of moments. I think next time must go with a hoard of people, like 10 people from hall, and then we will be the majority and we will dance ourselves crazy, or just entertain ourselves like crazy, and not be affected by the crowd. 10 being the majority, because hardly anyone really uses the ktv or disco or game facilities, cos the regulars would rather gamble in the casino, which I don't do.
Fortunately and Unfortunately, more of the time was spent on eating, either at the international buffet or having some 3 or 4 course western meal. I must have put on another kilo on the cruise.
The highlight of the cruise would most definitely be the stopovers at Phuket, where we chose to spend it on Patong Beach and at Langkawi, where we chose to explore Cabana Beach.
Initially, I was attracted to Patong Beach for the shopping prospects and for hair braiding. But in the end, we spent most of our time on the beach instead enjoying the scenery and taking lots of silly photos. Wasn't in the mood to shop there, partially cos the attitudes of the shop owners there are really bad. They are really very arrogant, as compared to the shop owners I encountered in Bali when I was 12 and even worse than the supposedly notorious shop owners in Hongkong. Dissed.. Who said they improved after the tsunami? Can you imagine how they acted before then? Just say no lah.. Say what.. you think this is china? no I don't think it is china, but I think your prices can be equivalant to those in china.
so now we come to the highlight of my trip which is to Cabana Beach, Pantai Cenang. The beach is no where as nice as the Patong beach. However, a day of banana boat riding, parasailing and jet skiing was just super super fun!!! And I think I had a very unique experience. 2,000 people on board star cruise, and I think I was the only one who parasailed into a coconut tree this holiday.
B4 we started parasailing, we were still bargaining over the price of the whole package. The guy also told me that the coast is very crowded, later sail into coconut tree, so we will land in the shallow waters instead. is it ok? Then I still complain say aww.. so sad, thought one of the challenges was to try and aim for a targeted area to land and see how close you were to doing it. HAHAHA.. oh well.. shit! There was only me, big S and hui, and I was the first to give it a try.
later on, you just start running ok?
ok
run, don't jump
ok
when I say pull, you must pull the ropes with the red stringn
ok
when I say let go, you just release immediately.
ok
sounds simple.
as if... once they released me, my feet start to leave the ground. I pictured something like a runway, where one must run some distance, but nooo.. I rise into the clear blue sky smoothly. Yiipppeee!! You feel great, you just glide into the air, and then you are up there, looking down at the teeny weeny things below you. And you yell a bit.. wooo hoooO! and kick your legs around. And then.. hmm.. okay.. there's nothing left to do. you actually felt a little lonely up there even though it's a really short time. You just quietly appreciate the scenery around you and the feeling of being air- borne.
okay, so its time for me to land, and I hear the guy yell pull, or so I think.. is it pull? hmm.. okay, I hear something again, maybe it is, better pull.. so i yank! and then he says let go, so i let go, and then waaaahhhh! shit shit shit... woah...
My parachute snags the tree, I get caught, and end up hanging from coconut tree.
And everyone starts running towards me. 2 malay guys from the watersports shop start climbing the coconut tree, one is an older guy called eusoff and a younger chap. Other guys working around the beach come to help too.. or to watch.. I don't know.. Then the other tourists start coming over too. And I keep laughing, as I am embarassed more than scared. What else can I do? I am attracting a lot of attention. I smile for my sister's camera. She and Big S are enjoying themselves taking photographs of me and the crowd. Some other angmoh girl aims her camera at me. What can I do? I pose and smile for her lorh...
Anyway, if I didn't laugh and started crying instead, I think the guys from the watersports shop would have been scared to death. I think they were more scared than I was cos if anything happens to a customer, I think they would have been in trouble. So yeah.. I don't want to upset everyone. But as I was hanging just by the strings connected to the parachute and smiling, the thought that the parachute would suddenly tear or the parachute would slid from the tree crossed my mind. Then I looked down. it's quite a long way up. Aye.. not good, I feel the impulse to grab the young chap's hand to save myself, get connected to something, only then being held onto by only some rope, but he is climbing higher to carry out my rescue operation. In the end, I went to hug the coconut tree.
they seem to know exactly what to do, they tie some ropes here, hook 1 or 2 clips here, remove 1 or 2 clips there. I was like what can I help. tell me what to do tell me what to do. I hung on to the coconut tree for a while to get my weight off the parachute so that yusoff could unhook it from me. then they got me hooked on their constructed pulley system, released me from the parachute to get me lowered to the ground. whew!!So i thought wah.. must be every now and then something like this happens and they are used to it. But no.... the uncle, eusoff who saved me says it is the first time it happened in the 6 years he's worked there. Fantastic... I am a klutz. and it doesn't help that I watched Bridget Jones 2 the day before, I imagine Bridget parachuting into the pig's sty with her butt showing on national tv. wonderful..the guys at the shop are worrying that I am injured, while I am just embarassed at the whole commotion i caused. The parachute was still stuck in the tree and one of the guys had to climb all the way up and hack away at the coconut trees to untangle it later on. Arghhhhhhh! Then cannot use already, must bring back and patch.Shit.
Are you ok?
I'm ok. You ok?
I guess company matters a lot. On this cruise, for some reason, there were a lot of tourist, especially from India. They must be on some tour package. I was hardly jumping for joy, but I kept at my drink and dance at the disco even when there probably were only 3 chinese, including me and big s among 25 other indians in the disco. But seriously cannot enjoy myself further when the DJ starts blasting Indian music over and over again to cater to the crowd. What can I say? Totally outnumbered. Feel invaded. so yeah, I enjoyed my drinks, did some dancing, but seriously it was't the most enjoyable of moments. I think next time must go with a hoard of people, like 10 people from hall, and then we will be the majority and we will dance ourselves crazy, or just entertain ourselves like crazy, and not be affected by the crowd. 10 being the majority, because hardly anyone really uses the ktv or disco or game facilities, cos the regulars would rather gamble in the casino, which I don't do.
Fortunately and Unfortunately, more of the time was spent on eating, either at the international buffet or having some 3 or 4 course western meal. I must have put on another kilo on the cruise.
The highlight of the cruise would most definitely be the stopovers at Phuket, where we chose to spend it on Patong Beach and at Langkawi, where we chose to explore Cabana Beach.
Initially, I was attracted to Patong Beach for the shopping prospects and for hair braiding. But in the end, we spent most of our time on the beach instead enjoying the scenery and taking lots of silly photos. Wasn't in the mood to shop there, partially cos the attitudes of the shop owners there are really bad. They are really very arrogant, as compared to the shop owners I encountered in Bali when I was 12 and even worse than the supposedly notorious shop owners in Hongkong. Dissed.. Who said they improved after the tsunami? Can you imagine how they acted before then? Just say no lah.. Say what.. you think this is china? no I don't think it is china, but I think your prices can be equivalant to those in china.
so now we come to the highlight of my trip which is to Cabana Beach, Pantai Cenang. The beach is no where as nice as the Patong beach. However, a day of banana boat riding, parasailing and jet skiing was just super super fun!!! And I think I had a very unique experience. 2,000 people on board star cruise, and I think I was the only one who parasailed into a coconut tree this holiday.
B4 we started parasailing, we were still bargaining over the price of the whole package. The guy also told me that the coast is very crowded, later sail into coconut tree, so we will land in the shallow waters instead. is it ok? Then I still complain say aww.. so sad, thought one of the challenges was to try and aim for a targeted area to land and see how close you were to doing it. HAHAHA.. oh well.. shit! There was only me, big S and hui, and I was the first to give it a try.
later on, you just start running ok?
ok
run, don't jump
ok
when I say pull, you must pull the ropes with the red stringn
ok
when I say let go, you just release immediately.
ok
sounds simple.
as if... once they released me, my feet start to leave the ground. I pictured something like a runway, where one must run some distance, but nooo.. I rise into the clear blue sky smoothly. Yiipppeee!! You feel great, you just glide into the air, and then you are up there, looking down at the teeny weeny things below you. And you yell a bit.. wooo hoooO! and kick your legs around. And then.. hmm.. okay.. there's nothing left to do. you actually felt a little lonely up there even though it's a really short time. You just quietly appreciate the scenery around you and the feeling of being air- borne.
okay, so its time for me to land, and I hear the guy yell pull, or so I think.. is it pull? hmm.. okay, I hear something again, maybe it is, better pull.. so i yank! and then he says let go, so i let go, and then waaaahhhh! shit shit shit... woah...
My parachute snags the tree, I get caught, and end up hanging from coconut tree.
And everyone starts running towards me. 2 malay guys from the watersports shop start climbing the coconut tree, one is an older guy called eusoff and a younger chap. Other guys working around the beach come to help too.. or to watch.. I don't know.. Then the other tourists start coming over too. And I keep laughing, as I am embarassed more than scared. What else can I do? I am attracting a lot of attention. I smile for my sister's camera. She and Big S are enjoying themselves taking photographs of me and the crowd. Some other angmoh girl aims her camera at me. What can I do? I pose and smile for her lorh...
Anyway, if I didn't laugh and started crying instead, I think the guys from the watersports shop would have been scared to death. I think they were more scared than I was cos if anything happens to a customer, I think they would have been in trouble. So yeah.. I don't want to upset everyone. But as I was hanging just by the strings connected to the parachute and smiling, the thought that the parachute would suddenly tear or the parachute would slid from the tree crossed my mind. Then I looked down. it's quite a long way up. Aye.. not good, I feel the impulse to grab the young chap's hand to save myself, get connected to something, only then being held onto by only some rope, but he is climbing higher to carry out my rescue operation. In the end, I went to hug the coconut tree.
they seem to know exactly what to do, they tie some ropes here, hook 1 or 2 clips here, remove 1 or 2 clips there. I was like what can I help. tell me what to do tell me what to do. I hung on to the coconut tree for a while to get my weight off the parachute so that yusoff could unhook it from me. then they got me hooked on their constructed pulley system, released me from the parachute to get me lowered to the ground. whew!!So i thought wah.. must be every now and then something like this happens and they are used to it. But no.... the uncle, eusoff who saved me says it is the first time it happened in the 6 years he's worked there. Fantastic... I am a klutz. and it doesn't help that I watched Bridget Jones 2 the day before, I imagine Bridget parachuting into the pig's sty with her butt showing on national tv. wonderful..the guys at the shop are worrying that I am injured, while I am just embarassed at the whole commotion i caused. The parachute was still stuck in the tree and one of the guys had to climb all the way up and hack away at the coconut trees to untangle it later on. Arghhhhhhh! Then cannot use already, must bring back and patch.Shit.
Are you ok?
I'm ok. You ok?
I'm ok. You ok?
Yeah I'm ok.
good! if you Ok, I ok. if you not ok, I not ok.
Ah...Ok
I ended up a small rope burn on my arm from the rescue operation and some scrapes on my leg from hugging on to the coconut tree. the uncle got a nastier abrasion on his arm. I am very very guilty.
After the whole episode, we went for jet skiing, which was equally as fun. Feel great going so far out in the sea. The jet ski can travel damn fast, though the ride gets really bumpy. Later on, they arranged for Big S and hui to have their turn at parasailing at another shop, which was very smooth sailing. They did it in a bigger open space and because the wind was good, they didn't even have to pull or let go, just kind of floated down. I got a lot of people saying to me..."oooh.. so you are the one in the coconut tree." yes yes..
After that, we had lunch at the little hut nearby, and went off. Think we were awfully tired from the activities, so we decided to sit and suntan and we ended up all falling asleep till my mother called at 5pm. We were supposed to be back on board at 5.30pm. Panicked for an instant, cos we weren't sure if we could get a cab back. But in the end, we got the eusoff from the watersports club to send us back to the cruise. But of cos, we had to pay him some money, but its a lot better than being stranded on langkawi.
Okay, so next time if one is in langkawi, you can try going to cabana beach and to cavana watersports shop. Then U say, the girl who got stuck in the coconut tree ask me to come say hi. Can cheaper not? hahaha...
Later on at night, I was still thInking of the incident, then I felt very glad to have escaped unhurt. Thought of the massive force that lifted me into the air. Then considered the possibility that I knocked body first into the coconut tree instead of the parachute being caught first. Hmmm..HMMMM...
But then, parasailing is still a great experience. I cannot say anything bad about it. I was a very very rare case. Just make sure they are doing it in a bigger area, with no coconut trees.
Yeah I'm ok.
good! if you Ok, I ok. if you not ok, I not ok.
Ah...Ok
I ended up a small rope burn on my arm from the rescue operation and some scrapes on my leg from hugging on to the coconut tree. the uncle got a nastier abrasion on his arm. I am very very guilty.
After the whole episode, we went for jet skiing, which was equally as fun. Feel great going so far out in the sea. The jet ski can travel damn fast, though the ride gets really bumpy. Later on, they arranged for Big S and hui to have their turn at parasailing at another shop, which was very smooth sailing. They did it in a bigger open space and because the wind was good, they didn't even have to pull or let go, just kind of floated down. I got a lot of people saying to me..."oooh.. so you are the one in the coconut tree." yes yes..
After that, we had lunch at the little hut nearby, and went off. Think we were awfully tired from the activities, so we decided to sit and suntan and we ended up all falling asleep till my mother called at 5pm. We were supposed to be back on board at 5.30pm. Panicked for an instant, cos we weren't sure if we could get a cab back. But in the end, we got the eusoff from the watersports club to send us back to the cruise. But of cos, we had to pay him some money, but its a lot better than being stranded on langkawi.
Okay, so next time if one is in langkawi, you can try going to cabana beach and to cavana watersports shop. Then U say, the girl who got stuck in the coconut tree ask me to come say hi. Can cheaper not? hahaha...
Later on at night, I was still thInking of the incident, then I felt very glad to have escaped unhurt. Thought of the massive force that lifted me into the air. Then considered the possibility that I knocked body first into the coconut tree instead of the parachute being caught first. Hmmm..HMMMM...
But then, parasailing is still a great experience. I cannot say anything bad about it. I was a very very rare case. Just make sure they are doing it in a bigger area, with no coconut trees.
Some photos:
-1: bananaboating at Cabana beach,2-7: Patong Beach, 8: Arrival at Phuket, 9: Star Cruise Lobby
1: jetskiing, 2-6: getting stuck,7-9: parasailing
1-3: in our cabin, 4: super star virgo,5: dinner,6:hui parasailing, 7:Big S Parasailing, 8-9: on Cabana Beach
The coconut tree
posted by akira at 1:43 PM
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