redang escapade

My return to Pulau Redang recently, reignited my love for its white sandy beach. It was about a decade ago since my first trip here, yet i still vividly remember my first ever snorkeling experience then, that resulted in me drifting aimlessly towards South China Sea with only a rubber tire around my waist. You see, i ain't no swimmer back then and somehow fear got the better of me lest i lose my snorkeling goggles  in the sea (i was wearing a power mask that time), which was as good as losing my sight!

This time around, i STILL ain't no swimmer. haha, got you there didn't i?

But with the wonders of contact lens and dear as 'Aquaman' to save me from being devoured by the ocean, i was all ready to jump into the open seas again this time. Ok, maybe not jump but rather  slide in slowly. 

So much for being ballsy. Turned out, that time of the month just had to come for me on the first day i arrived in Redang. Bang, right on time! Heck, i COULD still go in the waters but wouldn't want to attract the sharks  over. Besides, it's the island wei....there are tons of other stuff to do besides snorkeling.

But before i get down to the details, here's a beautiful 8am view from the plane to Kuala Terengganu that i traveled in together with 12 other buddies.    

We arrived at the very small airport of KT at approximately 8.30am Sat morning...a time when we should all be sleeping instead.

The Merang Jetty from which we would soon be going on a bumpy 45-minute ride on speedboat, bringing us closer to Redang island ala paradise.

Our itinerary shows that when you're not eating, you're snorkeling.
And when you're not snorkeling, you're eating.

To my surprise, Redang is still as beautiful as i remember it to be...if not better!
Those crystal clear blue waters are simply awesome!

Any choppy ride to get here is definitely worth it.

We remembered to wear our life jackets in case we get tossed out into the ocean.

Redang Reef Resort (RRR) was gonna be our home for the next couple of nights. 

Our twin room (which had an additional single bed?!) cost us RM 430/pax. Don't worry, this includes 8 meals and 3 snorkeling sessions in total. The only snorkeling i did was while in my dreams that night. o_o'''

Ever so glad our room had a water heater, but where's the tv leh?
i know i know, enjoy nature at its best...breakaway from modernisation (and epl weekends in dear's case).

The bed was rather clean, except that the floor was a bit sandy when i first stepped into the room. Note to self : bring hotel room slippers next time.

And for some reason, water supply can get a bit cuckoo at times and it doesn't help either that my room had water leaking down from the ceiling above. Luckily not onto my bed.
I do hope the management does something about the leakage.

Now, I did really enjoy the private beach that RRR has. 

The dining hall of the resort. Mark is like a spokesperson for the resort.

Wearing a shirt like that, we just had to occupy room no. 5.

This island is full of hungry wolves (i mean all 13 of us) and hungry adorable squirrels.

I'm starting to think those cream crackers are their staple food on the island.

We arrived on the island just in time for lunch. I was pleased with how good the Chinese-style cooking tasted. Or maybe everything tends to taste better on an island due to its salty sea water?

We were all in our life jackets again shortly after lunch, for our first snorkeling trip.

Even at 2pm under the hot blazing sun,  the beach was full of life.

This is Laguna Resort, our initial intended place of accommodation, before we found out it was fully occupied.

Lucky for us, Laguna and Redang Reef were just next to one another and only a plank-walk away.

Beauties in a row...

Beauties and the beasts leng-zais going out to sea.

Big waves.....HUGE waves..

Hang on tight!

So, while i waited patiently in the boat (with Yee Lee to accompany me thankfully), i had my cam cam to play with. 

About half an hour later, this is what snorkeling can do to you ...

After seeing too many fish in the sea, you tend to look like one too.

Due to an allergic reaction, your left ear grows to be bigger than your right.

After draining out all your energy, you can easily go into hibernation mode.
(and Polly, no one believes you were actually fixing your life jacket)

Back to shore, everyone was oober-excited to just get back into the waters.
I could spend hours just laying by the beach, burying my feet in the sand and getting hit by the ocean waves. Damn therapeutic!

I was famished by tea time and there was nothing more heavenly than a piece of toasted bread with planta and a heap of Milo powder on it! 

Oh wait, there is!..
Keropok lekor that looks plasticky but tastes like how a lekor should taste like. Awesome. You just can't find them as good here.

Photo time!

Practising for wedding shot perhaps?

Mr and Mrs Lim ... lame lame, i know.. hehe

aaaaawww...

Pretending to look cool ain't cool, guys!

We went around to Laguna Resort for some sight-seeing...

Nice rooms with balconies overlooking the pool. Apparently, their prices are not far off from RRR's.

Found a very rare unoccupied beach chair at Laguna's.
Somehow this photo turned out to have a lot of 'ke-leh-feh' (side actors) behind us. lol.

Come dinner time, we got to enjoy our food outdoors to enjoy the cool breeze of the ocean.

My dinner plate. Very 'economy-rice' style, but most appetising.

We walked around the resort a bit after dinner. Which i guess wouldn't be the case if there were tv sets in every room.
Much to Lydia's delight, Chee Foong was searching high and low for 'blue diamonds'.

Card playing turned out to be one of our fave pastimes in Redang.
If only we could figure out the correct way of playing Uno Bomb. Anyone?

 

To be continued.... stay tuned.