Tuesday morning Tok Irfan took us all to Teluk Batik, my old beach stomping ground, for a picnic. Naturally like all my old stomping grounds it doesn’t look a bit like what it used to when the old crew combed the beach for nothing in particular, swimming among the jellyfish spawn and getting painfully sunburned. No more easy access with the car to the edge of the sand. No more wide grassy area just short of the beach. No more walks through the wilderness to the neighbouring Teluk Rubiah (now a golf course instead of a desolate beach).
Upon holing up, Irfan immediately went for the water with me in tow, although he was reluctant to jump in immediately. But I held his hand and he waded in cautiously, giggling each time the waves hit him. He didn’t complain at all when I took him out where his legs couldn’t touch the sand. After that he pretty much just stayed at the shoreline, playing some sort of game with the crashing surf either jumping over it or fleeing away when it approaches.
Once in a while, Irfan got thirsty
He had no fear of the sea
Though he liked the land more, it seemed
Meanwhile, the custodian of the pickenick basket watches over the food
In the end we had to persuade Irfan to wash himself at the public bath before we went home
