Excitedly, we drove off from the city of George Town through the picturesque fishing village near Tanjung Tokong in Penang, waiting to catch a glimpse of the sea.
At last, we sighted the blue waters, sparkling in the sunlight. We looked out for a clean and shady spot to spend the day as we cruised along. It was a joy to see the graceful coconut palms swaying in the breeze. We saw, too, fishermen's little houses on stilts scattered along the share.
Finally, we parked our car at a shady spot under some coconut palms. The white, sandy beach was full of tiny crabs scurrying about. My sister and I could not resist catching them. The shells we picked were also interesting. Some were shaped like conical hats, others like fans and there were some spiral-shaped ones tinted with grey and brown hues. One large, grey shell with a long, narrow slit produced the sound of sea waves as I held it to my ear. The pieces of driftwood brought in at high tide by the waves were of artistic shapes. These we collected for flower-arrangement.
After a while, we swam in the sea which was cool and pleasant. I saw sailing boats in the distance and fishermen busy with their catch. Then we sat on the beach and ate sandwiches, cookies, peanuts and fruit followed by iced drinks.
The sun was now fiercely hot, and we felt tired and sleepy as we lay on the sandy beach. My brother took snaps of us playing in the sea and climbing up high rocks. After our lunch of curry and rice, we swam again till the late afternoon before we changed for our journey home. It was an enjoyable day by the sea as it was a welcome change from our usual busy and monotonous routine in the