Redang

Ok...i know i'm late...but better than nothing right???...hehehe

so...the journey continues...

2nd Oct - 4th Oct 2008

we left Kuantan at 8am in the morning and continued our long 4 hour journey to the Merang Jetty so that we can board the Laguna ferry to Redang. We reached the the jetty at 12pm with our ferry scheduled to be at 1230pm...but as usual...Malaysians...we were delayed and in the end...the ferry departed at 1250pm

We had to transfer to a bigger ferry at the river mouth as the big ferry couldn't get into the jetty as it was low tide...the journey to the hotel in the big ferry...to be honest...wasn't nice especially on the upper deck as the whole place was shaking due to the ferry's engine laying right below the deck...so imagine having to sit through the whole 1 hour as if your whole body is vibrating the whole time!!!...the lower deck wasn't so bad but unfortunately...if you want a nice view of the beautiful ocean which turns blue at the middle of the sea...upper deck you go...the ferry was fairly empty as it only ferried about 30 people...when the capacity load was 112 persons...this was because before that the ferry was ferrying those who were coming out from Laguna...and it was PACKED!!!

Anyway...we reached Laguna Resort after an hour's journey on the ferry...and right from the ferry when i saw the CRYSTAL CLEAR BLUE WATER...i fell in love with the island straight away...and that was before i saw the famous Pasir Panjang beach where the movie Summer Holidays were shot...imagine my feelings when my eyes set hold of the beautiful and spectacular view of the ocean and beach...CLEAN WHITE SAND AND CRYSTAL CLEAR BLUE WATER...beat that...

Since we arrived late...we had late lunch and eventually missed the open sea snorkelling trip...not to miss out on anything...we (my family only) immediately jumped into the clear blue waters in front of the hotel...and my goodness...it was super duper salty!!!...ok ok...i know its sea water what do you expect...but can't blame me...i'm used to pool water...not sea water....but the clearity of the water was...i would say...as clean as a very clean swimming pool....and there were lots of fishes there as well...who says we need to go deep sea snorkelling to see fishes and corals...there were all there in front of the hotel!!!...and i could see clearly thanks to my powered goggles...no longer like last time in Perhentian when my cousin was pointing and shouting NEMO!!! through her mouthpiece and the only thing i could do was shout back with my mouthpiece...I CANNOT SEE!!!

Anyway...the others later joined us with their life jackets and snorkelling gear...and bread!!! my my...the fishes follows you everywhere you go as long as your hand is holding some bread!!! it was amazing looking at the fishes and corals just right in front of our hotel...and i've never swam so far out of the beach before...maybe its because now that i know how to swim...not pro but better than nothing...and also because its 100x much easier to tread water in the sea than in the swimming pool!!!

At night we went to try out our snorkelling gear...then we found that they were renting out POWERED MASK!!! its like i finally can snorkel properly and see whatever is in the water!!! since my whole family wears glasses...its only natural that all four of us rent the powered masks to see clearly...the lifejackets looks old but at least its still in good condition...so its not so bad..

The next day in the morning we went to the Marine Park...dad was at first hesitant to go there because his colleague was telling him that you see more humans than you see fishes...and wherever you turn you bump into someone...after much persuation we decided to go for it and pay the marine park ticket...when we arrived there...the first person to go OO AHH was dad...cause of the huge number of fishes which can be seen clearly right at the jetty...

The fishes at the Marine Park i would say are very very "tam chiak" (greedy makan)...why???...before you could even tear some of the bread off to feed them...they would come and just eat the bread off your hands while you are holding it...and i got some fish biting me just because they tam chiak...however swimming with the life jacket on can be quite a pain...especially if they keep moving around and the underleg strap keeps going up!!!

In the afternoon we went for the deep sea ocean snorkelling...this trip requires us to go into the water from the boat...means climb down from the back of the boat...as the boat was full of people...with half of them scared of water...the queue gets stuck...and when the queue gets stuck you find a faster way to get down into the water...so dad asks us to cross over to the other boat to get down...bro was already in the water...calling excitingly to us to quickly get down...mom and dad crossed over to the other boat...and now it was my turn...i called dad to hold my hand but he didn't hear me...the sun was getting hot and the deck was burning...so i decided to cross myself...how hard can it be??...so while i was holding the top of the other boat...with my right leg crossing over to the other boat...suddenly...i slipped!!!...the deck was slippery!!!...in the process of slipping...as mom and bro says...i did a Paul Scholes tackle on the China lady...which i could have been red carded...hahahah...the end result???... i got a big blue black bruise on my hand...not sure about China lady though...the only consolation i could give her was...SORRY YA...ARE YOU OK??...YOU OK??..SORRY YA...SORRY YA...

Back to deep ocean snorkelling...remember i mentioned that the fishes in the Marine Park were tam chiak??...well the fishes in the ocean were very "tiao keh" (tarik harga...snobbish)...your give them bread...they swim away...unless you push the bread down into the water...only will they eat it...and in the marine park..the fishes fight for the food and normally one fish will eat more than the rest...in the ocean??...the fishes were polite...they take one bite and they leave...u hold the bread in front of them??...it takes ages for the bread to disappear unlike in the marine park which takes seconds!! however...honestly speaking...the fishes in the ocean were much smaller than i expected them to be...the fishes in front of the hotel and also at the marine park were much bigger...and less choosy of course...hehehe...so we came to this conclusion as dad puts it well...at the hotel and marine park...the fishes see humans and they see food...in the ocean...the fishes see human and they see themselves as the food!!!...hahaha

During the night time...we saw people crowding along the beach near the water...then bro mentioned something about blue sands...it turns out that when the water comes in...they will be some sand particles that will glow in blue when it reaches the shore...however it only lasts for a few seconds before it dims away...we saw some after some effort in finding it...and it was a new experience...

About the hotel...we stayed at Laguna Resort...the famous site of the Hong Kong movie Summer Holiday...which they built the set replica next to the hotel...the MORE MORE TEA INN...which currently runs as a gift shop...the room we stayed in was Deluxe Garden which has 3 beds...2 single 1 double bed...seperate toilet and shower...and the room was quite big...they even have a channel to just keep airing the movie Summer Holiday...and that time...the water is just as nice as it is now...the food in Laguna is quite nice...all buffets...which served a big variety of food...however...i don't quite enjoy the spread that they have for breakfast...lunch and dinner are much better...the things that the hotel sells are reasonably priced...unlike those hotels that charges super duperly expensive for a normal nestle ice cream...they only like charged RM1 extra as what u pay now in the city...furthermore...their RM8 mango ice kacang is quite big and nice...

That's all for my super long post of my journey to Redang...

Next up...what happened to me at my first day at "work"