Actually I should start from Day 0, the day we got onto the coach. It's from Konsortium Bas Ekspres. Very cool-looking coach. There's even a Personal Entertainment System for each passenger. It comprises of a HDD player similar to the one I have at home, where movies and music are stored inside a HDD. I managed to finish a korean horror movie "9:56", plus scan through all the English songs. All were oldies, but some were really good, like those from Bananarama, those classis retro hits often played at Zouk on Mambo nights. Anyway the coach took us to the 2nd link. And it was the first time I used the new gates. We simply had to scan our passports manually, then the gate will open up, then we walk forward where we had to have our thumbprint scanned, and finished! So convenient! Truly impressed by the technology the Singapore government has employed. So we continued our journey to Trengganu...
4th April 2008, Friday
It wasn't really comfortable trying to sleep on a coach that's twisting and turning and bumping up and down. Didn't sleep much at all. I woke up at 5am plus to see the surroundings very bright. We were actually in the middle of some power generators or something. The generators were all over the place, with lights and fluoroscent lamps all over. It's like some fortress or something. Looks damn cool. It's a pity the coach was travelling too fast for me to take some nice shots. The best I could do was this:
We reached the jetty where we were supposed to wait for our boat. Then we found out that we were at the wrong jetty, and thus we had to find the correct one. There were many jetties around the area, and what's worst was that it was raining! The 6 of us only had 2 umbrellas, thus I suddenly thought of the tablecloth which I had meant to use it as a groundsheet. Then Peiyi, Siying, Sharon and I then grabbed one corner of the tablecloth each and used it as a makeshift umbrella. LOL Finally we reached the correct jetty. Those youngsters who took the same coach as us were at the jetty already. They were quite paikia, dyed hair and smoking. Too bad, one of the girls were quite cute. LOL Anyway we then took the boat and reached Redang Island in approximately one hour.
Woohoo paradise! I finally stepped on Redang Island. I had long wanted to go there, ever since watching the movie "夏日么么茶" starring 任贤齐 and 郑秀文. 我终于到乐浪岛了! We were led to our Redang Bay Resort by one of the guides. We walked through several other resorts and finally reached our resort. The guide gave a short briefing before we marched off to our rooms. We immediately went to grab our snorkels and masks, which cost RM10 for renting for 3 days. We were told that we would have a total of 3 snorkelling trips for the 2 days. We then signed up for the supposed Marine Park snorkelling trip for the first 2:30pm trip. We then explored the beach right in front of our resort.
The beautiful white sand and crystal clear waters was truly a marvellous sight, just as what was seen on the movie. Truly a paradise worth visiting. We started taking pictures all around the beach area. Shiokz man. Just love the place. We then went for lunch at the canteen in our resort. All our meals were provided for, including tea break at 4:30pm. Awesome. The lunch was very simple fare, just like any home-cooked food. Not too bad at all. After lunch, we got ready for our very first snorkelling trip! Woohoo!
We were taken quite a distance away from our resort on a boat, and then stopped in the middle of the sea, which was quite close to shore. We thought this trip was at the Marine Park. However, we realized on the next day that it wasn't so. Anyway we then jumped into the sea and were mesmerized by the enchanting scene. Fish of all shapes and sizes and colours surrounded us. There were clown fish, dory fish, plus many other species that I don't recognize, but still very beautiful nonetheless. It feels as though the fish were not afraid of humans. Some of the angmohs dived deep into the waters as they didn't wear life jackets. I almost wanted to do the same because with the snorkels and life jackets on, we could only view from just below the surface of the water. The seabed was about 4 to 5 metres deep only. There were many types of colourful corals and creatures at the seabed. Was very tempted to take off my jacket and snorkel and dive deep into the waters hehe. The water was so clear you can actually see quite a long distance ahead of you. But the only bad thing was it tasted VERY salty. Once the seawater got into my mouth and eyes, it felt so irritating. I had to keep adjusting my mask to wipe off the seawater on my face, and also to get rid of the air that got into it. Very lousy masks they have. Anyway it's quite a waste I couldn't take any pictures of our snorkelling trips. Damn...
After soaking in the seawater for about half an hour or so, we were brought back to shore. Since it was still early, we decided to play beach volleyball. Thanks to Jiahao who brought his brand new volleyball, we managed to become beachboys and beachgirls. LOL! Then we went back to bathe and change and got ready for dinner. It was fr
ee flow of barbeque food. Not too bad for a $275 package. Still got bbq buffet dinner. I had a second helping to the bbq dinner, and also additional rice and even add extra from the leftovers from the girls. Peyyong too. We exhausted all our energy on the beaches of Redang Island, therefore we had to eat a lot to replenish our energy. The food were not bad at all. After dinner, we explored around the island. I brought a tripod along to take some night shots. The night scenery was so romantic. All the beautiful lights coming from the buildings, plus the shimmering stars decorating the whole of the dark sky. Such sights can never be found in Singapore. Truly a wonderful sight and atmosphere. We then walked on to Laguna Redang Island Resort, one of the most prominent resorts on the island. It's got very nice lighting and decorations. The picture shown here shows that exact resort illuminating the island. We walked along the shore, admiring the sight, eventually reaching Laguna. Then we went to explore the restaurant. The prices seemed very reasonable, therefore we went for drinks and dessert. After that, we went on to explore the disco cum KTV pub further behind the resort. The whole place was empty except for a family of angmohs. We checked out the KTV rooms and were shocked to find that it only costs RM30 per hour for a KTV room! Without hesitation we took one room and started singing our hearts out. I ordered a Pina Colada at only RM20, and also went into the main public area to check out the music. The DJ was spinning quite old dance hits, which were like at least four to five years back. The 6 of us sung until 12+, which was time for them to close shop. So we slowly made our way back to our resort and slept like logs.
That was the update for Day 1 of my Redang Island trip. Can't concentrate cos busy chatting around on msn. Taking too long to make this update hahaha. Shall post the update for Day 2 soon...
