Reading between the lines, my heart just sank thinking of the wonderful days with one of my loveliest best friends, Baby Windu Mustika, who currently resides in Dubai.My mind drifted back to the bubbly Indonesian lass that was always there when I needed some girly cheering.

At the same time, I thought of the penguin feet, Fenny Theresia who never knew the word shame. I could still hear her screams, “VUT must be win” across the football field. Over the years her English improved and with a twang of an Oz accent. In fact, Fen and I were laughing over coffee just simply but reminiscing the moments in college, this time last year in Bali.

Then there was Radzman who was the cool dude in college who had everything figured out. Man, who was my other partner in crime, was the one who brought Halmi and I together, 9 years ago. Thanks, Man!

My mind then focused on Izmir who currently resides in Sacramento, the ladies man with a smooth charmer and the neighbour who just be just there when you need help on fun!. Not forgetting the Malaysian version of Chandler of FRIENDS, Ayie who currently reside in London, another jester of mine. Also Azmah, the lovely petite girl who was continuously quenching her eyes cutely in college and yes girl will meet you up before you fly off to Perth.

And to the rest of you all around the world namely Eva in Leceister, Ganesh in Dublin, Nora, Roza and Ween in Melbourne, Mark Rotella in Waterbury,CT and Farah Merican in London, please keep in touch. I am dying to hear some news from you.

Realising how far my mind had drifted, I just smiled to think time has flown. We are no more the childish teenagers who felt the world owed us a favour. We are now full-fledge grown ups that have thousand and one things running through our minds. Challenging as it may seem but it is all inevitable. I believe we all should stay foolish yet stay hungry so we eventually connect the dots in our lives

“Once upon a time, in the heavenly kingdom of Kayangan there lived two princesses, Santubong and Sejinjang who were in fact inseparable sisters. Santubong and Sejinjang were very beautiful and were much sought after by handsome suitors from all over the earth including the Crown Prince, who fell in love with both of them and announced his attention to wed both sisters. However, both princesses refused to be joint wives resulted, them banished to earth and turned into to mountains, which is known today as Mount Santubong and Mount Sejinjang. Because of this infamous legend, Mount Santubong became of one the most visited places and more tourists came year after year.” I listened carefully to Bob, our informative chirpy tour guide who brought us from the Sarawak Cultural Village, the Orang Utan Sanctuary and finally to Santubong.
The minute I stepped foot on Damai Beach , I knew this is exactly where I wanted to be. The majestic Mt Santubong starts off as a tiny anthill in the distance and rapidly dominates the skyline, which is magnificent to my eyes. Being by the foot of the mountains feeling the oceanic breeze massaging my face is just perfect. It feels good to leave my worries and stressful regime back home for now. I am on holiday, I kept reminding myself. There is nothing to rush except enjoying every single minute of luxurious time I have compared to back home. I am always bogged down with endless projects and this week will be different. I want to be free and relaxed so dressed in my beach wear, I marched happily down to the shoreline with my beach bag filled with a towel, shades and a book in hand.
Wow, the sky is so magnificent. From my beatle shades, the cloudy patterns and the sunshine just enhanced the sky and I found art just looming as if the horizon was the canvas of God's creation. I looked around and saw the Europeans just enjoying the view as much as I was, or you could say even more – lazily sun tanning with their favourite books in their hands just never wanting for the moment to have to end.
But the day was slowly ending as dusk was about to set in and at quarter before 6.Something that does not happen everyday in Peninsular Malaysia. But, come to think of it is so much better than having the sun go down at 9.00 pm on the Australian hot summer days.
A few hours after, it was time for dinner. The food was amazingly delicious, coming from two people who practically went across the country to the hilly long Iban houses duringt the day.Exageration, you might say, but it felt hell of lot like it! The mouth-watering Laksa Sarawak, the juicy fresh grilled fish with Sarawakian sambal belacan was excellent combination. However, the slow service was not as good as the food. I felt the service was a little too slow in my standards so we left a comment on our disappointment of the service so the next time we revisit Santubong, the service level would improved, hopefully.
Nevertheless, my disappointment on dinner vanished as I discovered the gym the next day. It was a mini bungalow covered with long clear glass. From the inside, I could see the greeneries, the oceans of the South China Sea and the magnificent view of the mountains. I was actually inspired to make my workout better than back home. Though the gym had basic equipments, it was remarkably cozy with the shady plants all around. I enjoyed my workout so much I was pumping the irons and pushing up my cardio to the next level twice a day. I even had a gym buddy, who shared my views as much .Later on, I felt reenergised, as the true meaning of the word!
Feeling reenergised was not enough for my other half. He thought I deserved some pampering so he suggested a beach massage will electrify the senses of the body. And yes, he was darn right about it. As we walked towards a spacious pergola hut, we noticed the massage deck was nicely arranged with flower petals, massage oil and scented candles. It was arranged by partners in crime masseuse, Esther & Tuya, who were bubbly as ever. What we didn’t realised was they had magical hands that people came all the way from Maldives and Germany just to experience their pampering massages. We felt very pleased with their work complementing with the rhythmic ocean washing the sandy beach just made us totally hypnotised by the calmness of the air.
Before we knew it, our 1-hour beach massage ended, Halmi and I agreed that, it felt as if heavy pounds of stress, worries and negative vibes were extracted from our system. Whoaa!! It was better than the Bali spa we had before. I remembered Awin mentioning a good massage comes from a good masseuse. But for me, it was the sweetness of santubong that made our massage, our stay and our first cultured visit to Kuching an experience of a lifetime.