A Day In A Fishing Village

Just 45 minutes away from the ever growing small town of Sungai Petani, Kedah, lies a world out of this world. A world that is fast depleting in its Chinese root as well as economic social standing in its primal source of economy - the fishing industry. A fish farm is located far in the middle of the ocean, right in the heart of this tiny fishing village called Tanjong Dawai, a small town which made up of mostly fishermen and their families, a small main street, one famous Chinese seafood restaurant and an Archaeological Museum called Lembah Bujang. This was my second trip to the fish farm. My first visit was more than five years ago, while I was still pregnant with Ryan back then! I have always loved the notion of a long wooden jetty, stretches right into the horizon of an open sea. I don't know why. It just seems to mesmerize me, as if inviting me to run along and just jump right into the ocean and simply swim away. We arrived at the small wooden jetty early in the morning and we were immediately greeted by Uncle Huat, his wife and son. We hopped onto their boat and what greeted us were the captivating fresh air, the open ocean, the crushing waves on the boat and fishing boats and fish factories along the coastline. Of course, last but not least, the glorious rising sun on this beautiful Saturday morning and its sparkling reflections in the water. We were there to actually reccee the place for it will be the location where we would base our feature film in, if it does come true. Once we reached the fish farm, everything there seems to take on a whole new different meaning and perspectives. One could almost feel the constant wind blowing in the air, the squeaking sound of the wooden fish farm whenever the waves come in, and a wide open horizon of sea water, more water and other fish farms nearby. All these melt into one single word that simply spells serenity, away from the hustle bustle of the usual KL life. A place where one could simply take a nap and not having to think of anything else. But of course, it is not the case for Uncle Huat and his family, who basically runs the fish farm here. Their work include checking the fishing net for holes, checking the fish, when the fish food comes, they need to clean them, sort them, grind them into smaller chunks and later on feed them to the fishes here. It is truly hard labour and time consuming kind of work. We took a lunch break back in the main town and took more pictures of the fishing village itself. Later, we went back to the fish farm in the afternoon and that was when most bulk of the work was done. Looking at them, it made me somehow realize that life is truly an amazing one. What we do can be as diverse as rearing fish and making films, but at the end of the day, all we strive to achieve is ultimately the same - to put meals on the table. We had the most heartiest and freshest (of course, most delicious) seafood dinner we have ever had for a very long time. Suddenly, writing this in my blog or any other scripts and writings that I have to do seem less "heavy" after this inspiring trip. Nature and human existence truly have their way of delivering their intended dose of booster when I needed it the most. Definitely a trip worth revisiting again and again...