Where stars sparkle on the sand

The sand sparkled at night.

Blue twinkles.

I scooped up a fistful. Flickers shimmered behind the grains.

They were bioluminescent seed shrimps.

These "blue tears" were shed along the shore of Malaysia's Big Mermaid Island, or Pulau Mantanai Besar.

The isle has limited capacity and offers buffets with local dishes and wooden cottages.

Speedboats splash to snorkeling spots featuring fish, turtles and coral.

The world was peaceful when I sank my face into the sea.

Fish blurred into swarms of stripes and dots. Cute clownfish. I found Nemo.

The next day, my friends and I screamed as one after another we fell into the sea as our towboat hit high gear. We'd headed to Manukan and Sapi islands for water sports like banana-boating.

Mount Kinabalu also offers fantastic views from over 4,000 meters.

Legend claims "Kinabalu" refers to "Chinese widow" in the local tribal language.

A Chinese prince's boat sank. He married a local woman.

Homesickness coerced him to visit his parents. They didn't allow him to return.

His wife waited for him atop the mountain, day in and out. She fossilized into a stone facing the South China Sea.

Squirrels skit among tropical-mountain forest canopies that would give many humans altitude sickness.

Walkways through the top of the forest teeter at about 40 meters.

I saw the corpse flower, which uses its rotting stench to lure flies as prey.

It's rare to see the full blossom. It blooms fully for a week after 18 months.

But the world is truly turned on its head at Rumah Terbalik, or the Upside Down House, near the mountainside.

A car is parked upside down in the garage. Flowers grow down from flowerpots set on ceilings.

It's an average house - aside from that the best view comes from pushing your head into the ceiling that acts as the floor.

The last day was a speedboat ride to the Weston Wetland to see proboscis monkeys. Knowing crocodiles lurked in the water made my anxieties swim.

That night, forest fireflies reminded me of the beach's blue tears.

xulin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 03/02/2016 page08)