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April 29, 2003

Destination Redang Di-Ekor Tebu

The party originally consisted of 8, but Esther had to unleash a 777 at the very last minute. Not good at all I first realized. So in the end it was 3 couples, and me! But it wasn't so bad as it turned out to be; I never once played lamp post throughout the trip!

Day 1

Left the house around 5 in the morning, and it was already 9 by the time we reached the jetty. Halfway through to the island, our speedboat stalled, in the middle of the ocean! 1 minute 'sandiwara' there. Smiles almost immediately turned to worried frowns. Not a great way to kickstart your vacation no? Luckily it wasn't serious. According to our guide the engine overheated a little normal than usual, so a check had to be made. PHEW. It didn't take long before we were on our way again.

I've never seen such jade green seas in my entire sorry life! Man, it sure didn't look anything like the ads from Mild 7... it was better! Soon enough, the green became translucent shades of blue. Pure eye candy. You just had to be there to see it. Nothing comes close to the other beaches i've already been to! The sand was so white, it made my eyes hurt just to look at it for a second.

"Oooh this is definately it..."

It was straight for a mad dash to the beach upon checking in to the chalet. Had my trunks on all the while so yes, I was that eager! Snorkeling just had to be given a pass later that afternoon, everyone was beat after all that diving and swimming earlier!

"GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD!!!", my last words before the 5 metre dive ;)

Meals were provided daily, so food was never a problem at all. Not that I remember knocking on the kitchen door in the dead of night anyway. Ooo ooo! I'm telling you, the place is blessed... it had Astro installed! You just knew I wouldn't miss that Manyewww v Real game did you? :D hahah I thought so. Ach, such is the defensive quality of the Mancunians... but overall? Bittersweet.

Day 2

was loaded with stuff to do. Woke up as early since snorkeling was at 10 that morning. Another boat ride was taken to the Redang Marine Park, where the dive was going to be. To be honest after all that underwater sighting, it was kind of a dissapointment. Expectations of a coral reef filled with a riot of colours soon diminished to a dreadful view of dead, broken corals. Good thing the fishes made up for all that eyesore. Came in all sorts of shapes and colours. Flourecent ones were simply breath taking. If only I had some ultra violet light to bask on these guys, what a scene that would have made!

A couple of hours later in the 'Mangrove Pit', it was back to the chalet for lunch and some rest. Oooyeah we were gonna get all the rest we could; reef shark viewing was up next!

This session has to go down as the most exhausting of the lot. Imagine this: the boat had to travel almost 2 clicks away from shore, and from the boat we had to endure a 200 metre swim to make it to the spot, hence 400 metres in all on rough current filled seas! The sharks I saw didn't differ much from the ones that can be seen from aquariums (ala beach club),so it wasn't much of a big deal after all.

Instead, sea turtles (not leatherbacks unfortunately) made it to the big picture. It went something like this:

As we were all swimming to the spot where the sharks supposedly were, the guide pointed to the surface frantically, where there was this rather large turtle resting, nestled among the corals. Quickly, he dived down, and as the poor creature tried in vain to whisk away, our guide caught hold of its shell, and started to swim to the surface. Not wanting to lose my fingers, I stroked the back of its shell, and man was it rock hard! Kae on the other hand did manage to feel it's fins though, soft as they were. Soon after that it was once again back to the chalet, with a little self satisfaction.

As always no beach outing is complete without some beach volleyball! 7 sets later I just knew how much I sucked at it after all these years neglecting this bruising spike and dive fetish. Well at least all of my serves got through :D

I was so tired out by dinner time that lifting a pair of eating utensils became such a workout! Uhhuh you could tell how burned out I was. Crashed right after dinner so I missed karaoke later that night. Heard it was a blast.

Day 3

The flight back home was scheduled at 8:30 that morning so we really had no choice but to leave the island as early as 6! What a shame that we didn't have the chance to spend another evening there. Then again, you wouldn't want to mess with Air Asia's ticket policy, a minute late upon ticket collection and it's auf wiedersehen to your flight. It happened once to me so I should know better :)

All in all the trip was memorable. Till now I still have that scene of the perfect seaside etched in my mind. Though we didn't exactly do just about everything which was possible there, it was time and moolah well spent, down to the last split second and cent :) Also, pictures from the SuperSampler turned out to be absolutely terrific! Postcard picture stuff! I'll have them on the site as soon as I have them scanned. Lol some of the shots looked as though they were taken from a Sunday comic strip. Hurhur and that tan I have, just nice! Hope they don't start peeling off just yet. Meanwhile it's moisturizers all around.

Posted by kahjin at April 29, 2003 05:33 AM

Comments

Wow..... sounds like a fun trip! I have always wanted to go to Redang for holiday... but i hate getting sunburn hehe... :D

Posted by: Evie at May 8, 2003 02:44 AM

Hey..the pics are nice... esp the one you took from the jetty... are you sure you didn't edit the pic?... the view is really breathtaking, it's really beautiful... :O
or shall the credit goes to the photographer? ;)

Posted by: Evie at May 8, 2003 02:47 AM

Eve, any trip to the beach requires a sunburn! :) Just put on loads on sunscreen on yourself lah. That ought to keep your skin from peeling off.

All of the pics are raw. Some of them are bluish because of the modes taken from the camera. I've never taken shots with artificial tungsten lighting, so the results were more of a suprise. I have to admit, it's pretty darn cool! :)

Posted by: kahjin at May 8, 2003 03:21 AM

Hi,thinking of going there next year.Seem like u enjoyed yourself.Can u like tell me more bout the condition of the chalets, how is it? Is it air conditioned? How would you rate the chalet? Comfortable? There is not much info on the internet about it. Glad if u can help. :)

Farid

Posted by: Faridah at November 14, 2003 12:34 PM

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