Life Is Something Like That

Yesterday evening, my dad and I went fishing again at the river behind our house. We started quite late in the evening. Not that we didn't want to start earlier, but it had been raining since afternoon, and as soon as it turned to a drizzle, we went out. This time, we used live prawns only, no worms. Nothing disgusting. Haha. 

The river was flowing down, though a while ago, in the afternoon, it was a full tide. Influence from the full moon? The day before, the moon looked quite full, big and bright. On another note, I just learned from Google's search page, that there would be a lunar eclipse on the 15th of June. I'm not sure though which timezone it refers to. 

Anyway, we didn't manage to get a fish. There was a dog at the river bank behind one of the houses there, which kept barking when it saw us. No good, it might scare the fish away. But we did saw glimpses of the fish in the river. The fish made ripples on the surface of the water, in addition to those from the rain. Occasionally, the fish flipped about the surface, showing it's silver body in a swish for a split second. I felt a jerk once on my bait, but that's all for the day. I had to mention though, that there were some rubbish in the river. Plastics, especially. They must have come from the residence along the riverbank. Ain't there a better place for the rubbish to go? 

Apart from the rubbish, the place looked like a mini National Geographic scene of a swamp river. The overhanging tree on the bank stretching over the river, the drizzling rain, the ripples on the water, the birds swooping low over the surface. It was nice, cold and windy too. As the night crawled nearer, mosquitoes began to come out to feast, and the rain was slowly increasing its intensity, so we headed back home.

Would you have thought that there's a go-kart circuit in Manjung? Haha, there actually is. I'm not sure when they began their operation, but I only came to know it this year. True enough, the place seems quite "secluded" and there's only a big signboard at the front to tell you it's a karting circuit. However, it's by the highway, and most of the people who sped by probably wouldn't notice. So, we knew of it's existence by word of mouth.

We went to the Manjung Karting circuit, except for my mom, just for a try-out. No other customer was there, just us. Probably because it was a weekday. Great, the whole circuit was ours. It's a rather simple circuit, you can actually see the whole track in a glance - it's not even as big as a football field. Well, you wouldn't expect it to be like those in Genting or Sepang anyway. RM10 for 5 minutes, RM20 for 10 minutes. My sis said you could go for a steamboat for RM20. Haha.

Everything was ready, so off we go. The engine's chugging quite loudly, and we were wearing a heavy helmet, so it was kinda hard to hear others. The whole kart also vibrates from the engine. Once on the track though, you wouldn't notice it much. When you look at another kart in front of you (and you're in a kart too), it was kind of funny and cute. Imagine, my dad in a mini car, speeding away. And my sis with a grin on her face, on the other side of the track. I just wished I could get hold of my camera then. The curve was kind of sharp though, and the steering wheel was a little hard, but it was fine. In fact, the steering wheel could only turn 60 degrees max to either side. With a full-sized car, the curve might be like a U-turn every 5 seconds, but for a smaller go-kart, it was more "manageable". Haha.

Well, my dad was like driving past us all quickly - probably his driving experience. Haha. As for me, I took my time. I could speed all the way and overtake, but the width of the track wasn't very big. Plus, the guy in charge warned of reckless behaviour. There was actually two times when I came close behind one of my sis' car where she suddenly slowed down. And I was so near, I stepped on the brakes as well as let go of the accelerator. Guess what happened? My kart's engine shut down. And I was left waiting for the guy to come over to help start the engine again. It was funny. And it happened two times! Haha. And you bet, 5 minutes passed pretty quickly.

It has been so many years since I came back to Johor. The last was during a university trip to NUS. But I guess that wouldn't count since we just stopped by. And this time, we're really back! Haha. The journey there took about seven to eight hours. After all the travelling previously (especially from home to campus, which also took as long), somehow, this journey didn't seem to be that long, as it would before. Just roads, rest areas and, we reached our destination.

We went to my grandmother's house. The big Pineapple statue at the junction leading into the housing area still stood proudly there. Can you guess where this is? Haha. By the time we reached, it was already quite late at night. After dinner, and some chatting with my uncle, we went off to sleep.