It was on the 4th of May, a Sunday. My wife had asked me to go out for a stroll, get some exercise, and all those unpalatable things for a fat, lazy guy. I had refused.
Later, feeling a bit bad about turning her down - after all, sometimes it's not really the walk, and how much exercise you get, but rather, the time you spend together, that matters - I offered that we go visit the beach near Kampung Pulau Betong that we had been hearing so much about.
***
So, at around 5 in the afternoon (or is it considered evening already?) we packed some ice and a few canned drinks in a cooler bucket, and headed for the beach. Hoping to find the beach, that is.
A friend had told us it is very easy to get there. "Go south from here. The first major T-junction on your right, take it. At the next junction, turn left and go all the way."
Well, different people have different ideas about what "going all the way" means.
Besides, we decided to take a different route, the Kampung Jalan Baru route, since we were coming from Pantai Acheh. "No point taking the detour through the Balik Pulau town centre." I said confidently. Or, pretending to say confidently.
***
Well, as I had feared, different people have different ideas about "going all the way". My idea was, as soon as you begin to see the sign of the last trace of civilization fading before your eyes, turn tail and head home. For my wife, it meant "to boldly go where no one has gone before".
This picture above was taken a little way after we saw what appeared to be the last trace of civilization (to be precise, Kampung Pulau Betong, a fishing village built on what appears to be a swamp area).
"That must be Pulau Betong. OK. We've seen it. Let turn around and go home." I said hopefully. But obviously, I had not known my wife well enough.
She said, "Drive on. Let's go to the end of this road."
***
I must point out that, after that, the road became a trail. Tarred, no doubt. But still just a trail. And there are a couple of very dangerous turns, around which you must provide ample signs (horns blaring, high headlights flaring, no less) that you are coming around the corners, lest someone else from the other direction runs headlong into you.
***
At the end of the trail, we came to a National Service Training Centre.
"Where's the beach?"
Right then we noticed some people going down and coming up what appeared to be a flight of cement steps by the roadside, just beside the training centre.
So, we found a spot by the roadside to park our car (not sure if that was illegal parking, but you can't see any legal parking lot anywhere nearby, that's for sure), and went down those steps.
Half way down those steps, we saw the following sight on our right:
The sun was just setting. Reflected on the waves and filtered through the branches, it was a magnificent sight.
***
The beach, well, some people call it Pantai Pasir Panjang (or "Long Beach"; but not to be mistaken with that on Pulau Redang), and it was indeed LONG. We walked for about 100 meters, and there still appeared to be and endless stretch of it right before our eyes:
At that point, we turned to look behind us, and below is what we saw.
It is indeed a long stretch of powdery sand. Very powdery. Your every step will make very deep impression on the sand. Or maybe it was just me, and my 115kg heft.
The sea water and the beach was generally clean, except for a stretch some 300 meters from our starting point, where there appeared to be some flotsam and jetsam on the sea near the beach. That particular stretch did not seem very inviting.
***
Anyway, I wasn't trying to say that it was not a nice beach. After all, it was relatively clean, and not many people (even Penangites I'm sure) know about it, let alone frequent it. Visit this site I found on the internet with some better pictures taken by a certain Y-Choong. I think he visited the fishing village and its surrounding area, while my pictures are from the beach beside the training centre which is several kilometers away from the village.
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