Recap - Clean The World - Batu Ferringhi Beach Penang, Malaysia

[OmerAli]

I am really excited to write this Recap because undoubtedly this was my personally favorite meetup. I am also very excited to share the highlights because of three reasons:

1. @KashifMisidia bhai was here in Penang for his short, but activity packed tour
2. It was my first International Meetup with a fellow Local Guide representing our country
3. Finally, it was about time to practically get my hands dirty (I knew it with Kashif bhai, it had to be a Full day activity)

I am going to keep it very short and simple (unlike my other posts) and will try my best to summarize our actions and the events for this meetup. I will also be using the word bhai throughout this post. In my culture and in URDU/HINDI language, bhai is the word used for elder brothers and specially the ones you respect a lot.

Event Details:

Date: 03 March 2019

Location: Batu Ferringhi Beach, Penang, Malaysia

Aim: Clean The Beach (to our capacity) and of-course TO RAISE AWARENESS

Participants: Kashif bhai and myself

Highlights:

With meetup planned to start at 12:00 PM (03 March 2019), Kashif bhai and I decided an early morning start, which meant an hour drive from Penang Mainland to Penang Sentral Station and then again, pleasure of sharing the ferry ride with Kashif bhai that took us to Penang Island.

We took a bus (Yep, Penang has excellent Rapid Bus service) to get Batu Ferringhi Beach (which is a very famous one here in Malaysia).

I was so relieved that we reached in time for the meetup (as I could see Kashif bhai checking on his phone over and over again while giving me not-so-Okay looks).

At the Beach, we decided to wait for the other participants (Yes,we did for almost an hour) and then decided to start the activity.

Our goals were simple, we wanted to interact with people and raise awareness for this cause. So, we laid out two very different actions:

1. Kashif bhai had an endless supply of bin bags (and of-course we planned to take rounds filling them up)
2. I wanted to engage with as many people possible just to enforce this idea of public service and to do the right thing for mother earth

As soon as we set-up our Clean The World banner (that Kashif bhai brought all the way from Pakistan), people started taking us seriously and we started getting a number of questions from the people enjoying their day on that lush beach.

Though around sunset, we were absolutely tired, but we were really amazed that we actually happened to clean one small part of the beach. The picture below sums it up

Don’t worry, I am not going to bombard you with 100s of pictures(Do you know about the 1000 photo limit on LocalGuidesConnect? If not, better check these posts here & here), for that ,I have set-up a Google Photo Album here.

Instead, I am going to post a short (well not short really) un-cut, un-edited video(a 360 one, so don’t forget to rotate around to see the beautiful beach) where we had a chance to chat with couple of people during our activity, we had their views, their willingness to replicate the same project and towards the end Kashif bhai’s words to summarize the day.

We are really proud that we managed to get it done and somehow we could spread the message and thankfully got an amazing feedback throughout the day.

A Local Guide’s job is never over and we always find something that links to other cause we care about and some other action that leads to our next travel episode. That’s exactly what happened with us on our way back, when Kashif bhai spotted few Accessibility Friendly places and started adding them up on Google Maps ?

Thank you Clean The World team for starting this noble cause, thank you once again for giving us a reason to do something for this beautiful planet.

A big massive thanks to Kashif bhai for making it happen

Love & Peace

-Omer

P.S. (If you plan a meetup with Kashif bhai, make sure your back-pack is full of snacks and water supply ? )

[SP31]

Excellent recap, bro @OmerAli - great work by you all to work all the way til what seemed like sunset cleaning the beach and bringing awareness about LG and the cause. So cool that @KashifMisidia bhai even was able to add some accessibility info as well!

[OmerAli]

Hey , so good to hear from you brother @SP31

I am so glad that we did it and @KashifMisidia bhai is amazing, I wonder how he manages to stretch it to whole day .

It was great taking a final stroll around sunset and watching people waving at us knowing that we have done something

[MahabubMunna]

Local guides mean you are a bird . you can fly and work anywhere no boundary or restriction . best of luck brothers @OmerAli @KashifMisidia

[OmerAli]

wow, nice words @MahabubMunna

Really appreciate that brother

[KashifMisidia]

@OmerAli Bhai, that was the best day of not only my trip but my life too. Because in that #cleantheworld walk we learn alot, we feel many things , we talked with many people who were curious that

why the two people from with the logo of Pakistan local guides are cleaning the beach in Malaysia, and what they want to convey the message to us ?

Omer Bhai, On 2nd of March I believe we moved many stones, lots of people catch the message of our mentor and friend @ErmesT indirectly by us. That why it’s important to control plastic wastage specially on beaches and oceans.

The video which we made, it can explain many things, what people want to do, what people think about plastic pollution, and people are serious about that issue. But still need to move stone. And I believe that we did it.

Thank you for a great recap post, I m honestly admitting that I couldn’t write a brief and complete recap like yours. Great job omer Bhai.

Shukriya

[YasumiKikuchi]

Hello @OmerAli
You’re doing a lot of fun cleaning, which will lead to the motivation of many!

[ErmesT]

Hey @OmerAli

It seems that the #LocalGuidesCleanTheWorlld I gave you on October 2018 inspired you.

You and @KashifMisidia did a great, huge, and so important activity. It is very interesting to see how the people on the beach reacted, while watching you collecting waste and plastic.

Really well done.

Let me introduce the last Italian friend that reached our Project: @biancainviaggio

@DavidTito , I need your attention about this great meet-up. You gave to look at the video too

[OmerAli]

@KashifMisidia bhai

Thank you so much, it was your energy and spirit that pulled me through.

I cannot wait to read your Re-caps because you have a lot to share, 4 countries and many cities in 10 days, I know its going to be amazing

[OmerAli]

Absolutely @ErmesT

The Clean The World during CL18 was infact my first such participation.At first I was very skeptical about the whole concept but towards the end I can say I completely understood what we wanted to achieve.

When @KashifMisidia bhai told me about his plans to Thailand and Sri Lanka, I got excited to convince him to visit Malaysia as well. So obliged that he actually changed his itinerary and added Malaysia to his tour

I am proud that I did it and I am going to carry on doing the same once I get back to Pakistan

[OmerAli]

Thanks a lot @YasumiKikuchi -San

I am mostly like 35 years old kid but, this was different, it was fun, real and natural and loved every bit of it.

If I rewind back just about 6 months, I was the one who couldn’t even face the camera (barely made my CL18 application video). Hands down, I learnt a lot during CL18, something triggered and it was all about knowing yourself, being yourself and doing the right thing.

[AIMAN_SAEED]

So happy to see you guys finally met @OmerAli @KashifMisidia
This recap is so beautifully written and I totally loved the idea of the video. @KashifMisidia bhai such a great way to spend your vacations doing something tremendous. Keep it up.

You guys are such an inspiration for others out there. Thanks to local guides community for making us bond so well together.

[OmerAli]

Thanks for the kind words @AIMAN_SAEED

I absolutely enjoyed @KashifMisidia bhai’s presence and energy. We were both shy to share the video honestly, thanks to you for always being our first friendly critic and the reason this video surfaced here

[AlsmieA]

Awesome. Great LG guys. Both of you are superhero.

[OmerAli]

Thanks @AlsmieA

really appreciate that

[KarenVChin]

You Local Guides Clean the World powerhouses @OmerAli & @KashifMisidia ! How many hours were you guys picking up beach trash? I bet you two were an interesting sight to see with your matching black Pakistan Local Guides tshirts. = )

All kidding aside, knowing Omer, you evangelize the importance of “Clean the World” and educating whomever you came across about the evils of plastics. While with an endless supply of black trash bags, Kashif bhai was a “cleaning machine.” I know you have brought big smiles to @ErmesT just thinking the power of you two attacking Batu Ferringhi Beach.

Great job Guys!

Cheers,

Karen

[br14n]

Hi @OmerAli
I’ve shared your post on Local Guides Clean The World, check this out.

[OmerAli]

Wow.

That’s so cool.

Thanks a lot @br14n

[OmerAli]

Thanks @KarenVChin

It was so much fun. It feel awesome to do what we did while representing Pakistan on a foreign land.

Most of the people were like “why would anyone go for holidays to a beautiful country and do this” and that’s when we had our “education part aired every single time”.

We spent almost 6 hours on the beach ( I can tell you the next day we were like zombies, unable to walk )

But, it had to be done and so happy that we poured our best out .

[Esty]

Hai @OmerAli

Salam kenal …salam dari Indonesia

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