Looking at the pine tree, which was struck by lightning and saw into pieces, Solomon thought of how to make use of the tree trunks. He took a thinner piece of tree trunk and a small piece of honeycomb as his collections.

Although the beach was closed and red flags were put up along the beach, there was still a handful of people swimming in the sea.

I had been to Desaru Beach for a number of times, I insisted that Solomon should not get into the sea as the current was very strong. We were looking for unusual seashells and rocks.

We have to take buffet dinner on the Chinese New Year Eve. Other than about two dishes of vegetables, there were only barbecued meats.

I had been a vegetarian for almost four years, but I had to take meat for tonight and the next two days. I wish that the next time we come, the hotel will take care of us, the vegetarians.

We were stayed in the hotel room on 28 January.

As the hotel rooms were fully booked on 29 January, we had to move to the Family Villa on 29 January. Hence, before taking lunch on 29 January, we checked out the hotel room and checked in to the Villa.

It was very quiet at the beach on Chinese New Year Day, 29 January morning. Solomon and I went for a stroll and Solomon hoped to find some treasures at the beach. He found some strange footprints. It might have come from a kind of animal with a hang-down long tail.

The plant at the top-left picture should not be grown largely around the dwelling area. We were told that it would release "poisonous gas" at night.

Solomon tried to trick the monkeys with a coconut.

There were many monkeys around the hotel as there was a jungle nearby. We were advised not to feed them.

The Grim New Year Day

Solomon and I went to the beach again in the late afternoon on the New Year Day.

There were many people at the beach who were looking at the sea approximate 20 meters from the shore.

A Malay girl told us that usually people came to the beach on Sunday. As this Sunday was also the Chinese New Year Day, the crowd were mainly Malays and Indians.

The wave had swept two swimmers into the sea. One was just rescued and the other one was missing.

A man who was most properly a family member of the missing swimmer, attempted to rescue him. Many people stopped him as the current was too strong to swim in.

Two persons from the Sea Sports Station tried to swim to find the missing swimmer with lifejackets. But failed to do so because of the strong current.

The man who tried to swim to find the missing swimmer jumped into the sea and swam towards where the green flag was when those guarding him were not aware of. Then two persons from the Sea Sports Station riding the Jet Ski towards where the green flag was. They waved hands to ask the man swim back to the beach. After a few minutes, they ride back as they could not find the missing.

About 30 minutes later, a rescue team came. They tried to find out what had happened.

Then an ambulance arrived and took the person who was earlier rescued to the hospital.

The rescue team sent a Jet Ski to the beach. They ridded to the sea to look for the lost swimmer. It was 7 o'clock. It would be dark very soon and the rescue had to stop.

We felt very cold. We were very sad. We went back to the hotel with a sorrow heart.

Notice given to hotel's guests

Warning put up at the beach

That evening, we were still sorrow when we took our dinner.

Although we had beds for three persons in the Villa, but I could not sleep well. I had a nightmare. I woke up at night shouting, "help! help!"

Some of the guests brought their children to swim in the hotel's swimming pool.
After the breakfast on 30 January, we did not go to the beach. We were looking at the sea by the seaside.

We took our lunch before leaving for Singapore.

A Malay grandma Esah Ismail was weaving the songket (Malay Brocade) near the lobby. She is 60 years old. Her family had a souvenir shop in the hotel. We brought some keychains, a piece of sarung (skirt) and a hammock.