Fishing Trips
I guess we can’t come along then. My older sister, Hanh, and I decided to explore on our own. We didn’t tell anyone and sneaked away. We climbed the rocks by the beach. From the distance, we saw a man in uniform fishing. He was sitting on a huge flat rock down the beach far away from our campsite. As we got closer there was a treacherous trench two to three feet wide between us and that flat rock. For a 10-year old, that was a huge gap. We couldn’t see the other side from up close. Curiosity got the best of us.
“We have to cross,” I shouted over the roaring waves crashing below. Several knobby rocks stuck out on the side of the trench. We used the knobby rocks to place our hands and feet for leverage while crossing. There was only room for one foot at a time. Raging waves were smashing against the rocks furiously underneath our feet. Barefoot and fearless, my sister and I crossed the trench. Beyond the flat rock was a beautiful and breathtaking ocean view. The sun was slowly setting. It was a great place to sit and have great picnics. This location became our hideaway.
The uniform man was an official from mainland in Malaysia. He came to fish occasionally. We found out that this was a great place to fish for swordfish. Sometimes, we would come and watch him fish for hours.
From time to time, our cousins would bring home fresh fish for dinner. They don’t have fishing poles so they were very creative. They tied a worm with a hook to a stick. Swam to the nearest school of fish and put the bait right in front of the fish’s line of sight. They actually caught a few. I guess their method worked.
Hanh and I built our own fishing pole out of bamboo sticks with a string attached. We put something at the end of the string as bate. I don’t think it was a worm. It was too wiggly and slippery. I didn’t want to kill it. We sat and waited and waited for a fish to latch on. No luck. Hanh and I later showed our cousins and siblings our hide way so they can come and fish too.
There were so many fun and fond memories of our 6 months on the island of Malaysia. We were out of touch with the world, the current events, and the everyday hassle. It was like a 6-month vacation with our parents.
