Pulau Payar

Never knew there's such beautiful beach so close to home. I've been led to believe that there isn't any well-preserved beaches along the Malacca's Strait anymore. Look what I've been missing all this while. Feels like taking the next flight available, head home, grab my mom and little brother and make our way to Pulau Payar; if only Monopoly money is legit.

I was telling Encik that there's a famous one-of-a-kind activity here on this island, that tourists look forward to: feeding the sharks. And he started shooting questions right away like, "You mean, wild sharks? How big? Which kind? Is it safe?"

And when I prodded that the reason he was asking so many questions is because maybe he is probably a tiny bit afraid? he started accusing me of being obsessed with sharks. Hehe. I know you are just trying to take care of me. Right. ;)

Well, not obsessed. But I'm fascinated by it. It's not that I'm void of any fear towards this creature, I do fear them, as shown by my overdramatic reaction during my encounter with them in Perhentian, but at the same time, I'm captivated by their being that the thought of getting close to them is thrilling. But I'm not crazy about being stuck in a cage with fresh meat and then thrown into the sea full with hungry Great Whites. That level of insanity is beyond me.

To give you a clue of what the shark feeding on Pulay Payar looks like, here's some pictures I found on the net :

"Why can't you be excited about cute fishes like Nemo? Nemo's cool. They're my favourite."

"Nemo's too tiny. I like bigger fish."

"What about parrot fish? We've seen huge parrot fishes in Perhentian. And they are colorful too. You like colors, don't you?"

I can't imagine what he'll say once he sees the pictures above. Oh and another fun fact, I read in one of the travel blogs that people are advised to bury their toes in the sand while feeding the sharks, because they might bite, mistaking the toes for tiny fishes.

One thing for sure, if I see one bigger than me swimming in my direction, I don't care if it's a Blacktip Reef, I'll be running towards the beach, no chance in hell I'm staying in the water.