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The Bay of Lost Junks
The invisible bay where lost junks come to hide, or so they say . There are trails of what used to be memories or secrets that won’t subside. These shallow waters have depths that don’t leave with the tide. The surface ripples softly like a trembling, naked neck before the first bite.
Oh dear, I hope it’s not my neck they’re intending to puncture with teeth sharp and gleaming (hardly dentures). The bay, they say, vampires live there, and I’m afraid there’s no escaping their wicked, watery lair…
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The Last of the Lost
The currents are against me no matter how hard I may row. The pull of the dead junks are irresistible in their hallow tow. It’s no different from the call of a lost heart, whose centre was found by no stray dart. We wish we didn’t miss, that it was a hit, but too often we are betrayed by our own honest deceit. How the wonders of our dreams fail us, how ambitions crash and prove disastrous.
I am drawn to the last of the lost, and I may already know what this journey shall cost. Hold onto my hopes and hold me also, hand me a rope and do not let go.
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The Mast, The Mast
Strange days and stranger sights. (Or rather, nothing sighted, which is my dire plight.) Unseen hands grab at me and toss me on board, ghost whispers threaten to take me to their unseen lord. Am I to do their bidding, these pirate spirits and sprites? Or do I risk my life if their orders I do recklessly spite?
Will I be fresh to fight or will I be fast in my flight?
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Coconuts Have Feelers Too
Instead of murder or manslaughter, or forcing me to marry the captain’s undead daughter, the winsome wraiths escorted me to the cabin, where a table was laid out lavishly for dining. Were they only ensuring that I fatten and feed to later satiate their demon chieftain’s gluttonous greed? Am I a lamb for the oven, a feast for this unholy coven?
Let’s pray not. (I’d probably taste like rot.)
The first dish they served is a coconut filled with prawns. Red, thick, juicy prawns for which my soul I’d pawn. That’s how famished and hungry I was, and so, inevitably, I went ape-shit over this early course.
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No Crab Jokes, Please
Next up is a platter of steamed flower crabs, pretty in pink and not the least bit drab. Here, I must pause and insist, for any sexually depraved jokes to desist. For yes I know, “crabs” is slang for a venereal disease but surely such low humour one can resist?
Mayhaps not, my good ol’ chap. Tis better than getting clap…
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The Selfish Shellfish
The last treat to pass my grateful lips is a mountain of clams in soupy sips. Ginger slivers, thin and sweet, some sliced chilli for added heat. A simple offering for a simple man, who eats for one as he eats for ten. Who, I ponder, is my generous host, to feed me well but remain absent as a ghost?
Is it not selfish to dine on shellfish alone, and not share in the delectable, delicious moans?
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Seachange
They say you get your sea legs if you spend enough time on the water. All I did was eat a meal that didn’t get me any fatter… instead I lost my pretty fishy tail and gained some feet sans scales!
Metamorphosis. Whose great idea was this?
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The Book of Dreams
I never heard from the voices again, nor those fingers that did not sweat nor stain. Food is always ready in abundance and good weather for miles and for months. Reading paperback novels on the deck and not cleaning up a single speck. Ah! the Good Life for a man without a past — now, don’t we all wonder how long this is gonna last?
These pages they dream of you and me; have I finally attained our fantasy of being truly free?
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Photographs & design by Kenny Mah.
Vịnh Hạ Long, Vietnam.
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Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Part 1: The Communist Merman
Part 2: These Pages They Dream
Part 3: The Streets of Long Goodbyes
Part 4: The Garden of Lanterns of Grave Lament
Loved the prawns in the coconut. So quiant
Is that for real or it must have been surreal ?
profoundly peaceful scenary like quite Nirvana and yes , a 7th Paradise for bsg
love the shot of the Selfish Shellfish ..! aiiyo.. how come looks so perfectly stacked — arranged it yourself is it?!
wah! luxurious meal lah .…
how much you paid?
and what we got was merely homecooked fare .…. but the experience on the boat was
something different.
the halong bay saga continues… where will kenny the merman turn up next? =P
Vampire alert! Actually your pics of the bay have that blu-ish tint to it, kinda makes it looks like an Indochinese Transvylannia. That shellfish looks positively visionary… definitely not for sharing!
ghost servants and undead daughters! how creepy and cool! =)
p.s. can we have some more, please? hehe
i noticed every line rhymed even it’s not in a poem format. intentional?
dude, u need to pay a visit to ur johorean barber, else i’ll be tempted to snip those strands with my surgical cutter
From your twitter which is so unrelated to your post…
We used to talk a lot but we don’t talk much anymore.
Coincidentally, I was thinking the same thing today & I wondered why.
I guess the best way to find out is to give that person a call tomorrow.
get johnny depp to act in this story! weird crazy funny enough rite? =)
I Love the picture of you with the book. The tranquility seems so appealing!
More often than once, we sail upon a chance. the sea opens its arms, rearing both ugliest and dazzling of charms. we refrain a little, for fear of the immortal. but our hearts has surrendered, to the spectral colours the sea has rendered. your spirit is free, it has got to be. but the dreams shall linger, and you’d wish it’s forever.
ur line abt crabs and clap… so funny!
“Mayhaps not, my good ol’ chap. Tis better than getting clap…”
err..wat is clap ah? is it clap clap your hands ah?
i like the big big crabs…wah, so juicy. how cum we no see such beautiful crabs here one?
“Is it not selfish to dine on shellfish alone, and not share in the delectable, delicious moans?”..eat also u want to moan..aiyoh..very notti…very notti…
i’m so glad to stumble upon ur blog from a link. great design and very interesting way of telling stories. will drop back soon!
frankly, i never failed to be amazed by your lyrical stories
how many parts are there? All the inspirations when u are looking at the awesome scenery. heh
halong bay is very beautiful. the boatwomen are a bit aggressive in selling their wares though, don’t you agree?
Beautiful shots, Kenny!
Don’t you wish your days on the junk along Halong Bay last forever?
these pages.…these pics… these words. …yes they do make one dream…
Vampires at sea don’t tan — they age, like ghostly bones, under water coral and the shade of unwary boats. Some say that when mermaids come to rest on the rocks at night, they come too, to listen to them singing under a blood-red harvest moon.
Makes me wish for the sea too, now.
To read a good book on a boat with the seabreeze in ur hair is the greatest experience. I would love a vacation like this too!
Hey, it’s about time for Part III.
what a ghostly, creepy tale of the seas!
ps. there are more parts! oh goody!
The pictures are more blue in ur sea stories but ur yellow city stories are sadder…
hi Kenny! how are you doing?
just wanna drop by to say hi,hope you are well
love the leisure reading part!
The clams look so good, I’d be selfish with the shellfish myself!
Kicking back with a paperback — love that too.
I found the blueish tints very appropriate — rather wistful and calming, actually.
beuatiful junks.
They were the appetisers… At first I wanted to laugh at the lil cocktail parasol… but guess what? It tasted pretty damn good! Yay.
It was… real surreal. LOL
P.S. Nirvana. I wanna blog about that one day. The Seventh Paradise too.
No lah… where got? It came liddat, courtesy of the chef who probably just schlopped the whole lot into the bowl considering we were in a junk and not at a 5-star hotel.
Who d’ya think I am — a food blogger who obssessively rearranges food? LOL
Well, I don’t remember how much I paid but I do recall that every bit of that delicious seafood was freshly caught from the sea that very morning! The ocean’s harvest!
Where will I turn up next? It’s… a mystery. LOL
The shellfish was soupy goodness, I tell ya, homey soupy goodness!
P.S. Dunno about them vampires though… Do vampires get tanned out at sea?
Others may just find them creepy, period. LOL
Soon! Part 3 will see a change of pace, methinks. I’ll know for sure when I get to writing it!
… maybe?
Yeah, rambut udah panjang dong… I’m hitting Singapore this weekend for my long-awaited hair cut!
That’s actually a line from a song. Can’t remember the artiste but I love it. And do call that someone!
Do you have his number? Tee hee.
The book had nothing to do with the sea but there was such a beautiful stream of consciouness running through it I felt like I was in the water, the waters of thought, maybe.
Serene, it was.
The sea, the sea, it beckons to both you and me. Some wish for forever, but nothing truly lingers… Nothing but the smile on your face, the dreams that trespass into our space, the hearts and the darts and Cupid’s sweet farts…
Once upon a chance, we had our private dance… We did our Devil’s Tango… and swore never to let go…
wah, this is like seeing two poets reciting poems man, nic says the upper part den kenny finish the lower part
Hehe, I was wondering if anyone caught that line… Good job, Kris!
It’s by Hello Stranger.
Will do.
That’s right! It’s called “We Used to Talk” and I love that song… Glad you made that call, also.
Of course, we need to moan while we eat… moans of pleasure from the tasting of really good food ma… Isn’t that what I meant?
P.S. Clap clap your hands? Well, maybe not the hands but some other bodily appendage, hahaha…
Thanks, and welcome back in advance! Hehe.
I have no idea how many parts there will be, maybe four? Cos when the stories from the sea ends, the stories from the city will begin, surely…
I’m just hoping I finish them before my trip to the UK at the end of this month. Expect a two-week hiatus on LFB coming soon!
Oh, it’s a way to make a living and it’s fun to see how they entice the tourists to sample their goods, no?
Oh I most certainly do… Just relaxing on the deck, feeling the breeze in my hair… But then, where would I get my teh tarik and Ramlee burgers?
hahaha you haven even finish your current tale, den there’s another new chapter waiting for you to explore! nice.
two weeks of UK? awesomeness! not going to other nearby Europe countries? : p
Nope, just the UK. I’m looking at revisiting London and Edinburgh, and hitting Stratford-upon-Avon, Broadway, Bath and Lake District for the first time. More than enough for one trip, I reckon!
Plus, I’ve explored quite a bit of Europe when I lived on the continent in ’01 — ’02. Though, to be fair, there are still a lot more to discover… Maybe for future vacations?
And does one dream of good dreams, my friend?
Ah, but the time for the sea is all but an end. Expect Tales from the City on the morrow, my crescent-shaped concertina-playing chanteuse…
Good point. Sun and sea is great but Malaysian street food is even better! LOL
Yeah, have you ever found yourself in an exotic locale and suddenly just craving for roti canai or nasi lemak? LOL
Heck, even I need another vacation like this badly!
Hehe, we used to do this more often in the past on our blogs (in the comments section, I mean). I also had another reader who used to leave comments only in verse form, I wonder what happened to him/her? Hmm…
ey, not all food bloggers do that hor…
usually we take it as it is… :-p
like balas pantun kind?
Hehe, fair enough. Though, you have to admit, more than a few do do that, no?
Something liddat, yes. Been a long time since we have had a balas pantun thread though. You keen on starting one with me?
Okay, okay already… gimme some time… Will update today, promise!
yes.. almost everytime i travel, i crave for nasi lemak. how to migrate? sigh!
I guess the only other place one could migrate to would be Singapore?
ok lah, the most i do is to turn the plate until i like the angle. haha…
yes, a few do do that. (i like the double do). haha…
Wouldn’t a double do be a dodo?
The ghostliest, creepiest.
Just one more to come!
Blue sea, Yellow city? Hmm… Maybe. I wonder what the last part will look like?
I suppose so. We all have to earn a living and it can be convenient to get some of those things they sell in the middle of the bay!
in HANOI! hahah, should have guessed! :p
Hehe, especially when you are taken by the beauty of the bay and decide to throw an impromptu picnic!
Yeah, I did foreshadow it in some my comments in earlier posts. No demerit points for you though — I know it’s a challenge wading through the swamp of replies for some of those posts. Even for me!
I’m doing great, Su Lee! Been ages since you dropped by! Hope and your family are doing great in Canada!
i know! is been ages…but hey i still stop by once in a while to say hi.…
just been caught up with the little one, work..and oh facebook
P
Well, the little one is incredibly cute and has wonderful, doting parents too!
Simply the life, hor? Wish I could stay that way forever…
The clams were very good indeed, served in a soup of their very own nutritious juices. And calming is indeed what it was — my most relaxing vacation in a very long time.
They are certainly in a league of their own (no pun intended). Hehe.