The Call of the Beach...

I have always loved the beach. Been raised in a small town on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, the beach has been my playground ever since I could remember. Maybe I was just five or six years old at that time but I could remember vividly of the happening during those times. Kuantan my hometown is situated beside a river mouth and not far away is the sea. The nearest is at Tanjong Api a beach across Tanjong Lumpur. The beach at Tanjong Lumpur are dotted with fisherman huts so it is actually not a beach at all, thus not a good place to go for a walk or to take a dip. Anyway been growing up and always at the beach wherever the opportunity arises, the beach has became part of my growing up culture. I love the smell of the sea and enjoy the saltiness of the seawater.

So been in Malacca over the weekend and staying at our Condo which is just about 50 meters away from the beach it was just like coming home to my hometown. The only difference is that the beach here does not have that golden sand like on the east coast. Here the sand is gray and not as clean as that of the east coast. This is because here the sea is full of ships that ply the Straits of Malacca, thus all sorts of debris and other throwaways over times has drifted over to the shores. One reason I kept going to Malacca and live there from time to time is actually because of the sea and the open space out front of the apartment that one could see beyond the sea toward the horizon. The horizon has never ceased to fascinate me for the scene never remains the same at any moments in times, it sort of like a moving postcard. Such a mystical sight to watch and wonder as the sun faded away.

That Saturday evening my spouse and I decided to take a walk along the beach in front of our resort complex. At the beach we decide to split for a while since our interests at that moment in time was different. She went for a slow walk along the beach while I decided to play around with my camera as I walk along the sandy beach. That evening the waves was forceful and it kept bashing the beach, creating roar as it bashed the seafront. I saw kids play and running along as the waves come and go. Like me when I was at their age I know that they are really having fun. As I walk along I saw debris that has been washed onto the beach as the wave strike the shore. All kinds of debris were laying there, coconuts, driftwood, bottles and plastics litter the sandy beach. It would be there for a while and eventually would get back into the sea or collected by souvenir hunters or just be cleanup by the cleaner come morning. I saw the damages that the sea has done to the embankment as it washes up with force where the trees has been uprooted. It is always like this on the seafront; at some places the trees are uprooted whereas at other places young plants are left to grow. Fascinating of how nature take care of it selves. Wasting no time I took aims of those objects and sharing it here for all to see and understand that the beach is never the same at any time of the day.

As usual young lovers are drawn by the sea and that evening I saw many such couple sitting and enjoying their brief period perhaps saying passionate words to each other and then I saw someone had written words of love on the sand and left it there for others to see and soon the next wave would erased it away for good. I did not want it to go to waste and took a snap of that letter in the sand and sharing it here for all to see where lovers were trying to immortalize their dream on that sand; now for a fact that like a dream it would fade away. The sun was beginning to set and that evening the glow was just like yellow not the usual amber orange. It actually lightens up the beach allowing long shadow of the objects lying on the beach. Indeed a good subject to capture. It is not always one get the opportunity to get such a shadow with an object in an open area like the beach. The above images show the shadow of the objects that I took that evening.

As I walk I continue to see the beach been sort of vandalized with debris, uprooted trees with it roots jutting out. There are others that are man made such as footprints, castles built by kids and writing on the sand. I then notice some marking or imprint on the sand that is rather unfamiliar. I took a closer look and saw that it is the impression of the footprint of a horseshoe. Then it dawn on me that earlier I did saw some youth riding horses on the soft sandy beach, thus the mark left behind. On the left is the imprint that I snapped up and not sure whether it is the right or the left hoof. Let's leave it to the expert tracker to determine it.

By evening the whole beach would be one hell of a mess but not to worry the waves would take care of it. It would organize itself. Anyone who had ever been to the beach at an early hours of the morning would know that one would be delighted to see a clean beach looking so peaceful and innocent comes the next morning. I have seen these scenes many times and enjoying it. Whatever damage or disturbance that our species did to the beach the previous day would be erased by the waves during the night and the next day without failed we would get to see a brand new beach again. And that ritual would continue to happen day in and day out. Well folks that have been the ways and it would continue to be so for millions of years from now. The beach is a place for us to enjoy the peace and tranquility of space that is special, a one of a kind on this blue planet of ours. And as for me it is part of me and I love the beach. Have a nice day.

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