There is Travelogue, and then there is Diveologue! Mine is obviously Diveologue cos my main purpose of Redang Trip is to Dive!! My 1st dive in 2008, yes & i have fulfilled my wishlist of at least 1 dive a year! The difference is --- I have my own equipment!! Masks, booties & fins (and snorkel which was lost on my 1st dive in the water angry angry angry). What a great feeling to dive with own equipments! No more leaking masks, perfect fit & nice fins!! So shiok ar!
Of cos, the planning was terrible. It was a case of almost NOT happening trip after Tingmei & I had been so looking forward to the holiday (planned our leave & booked, really to go). 3wks b4 the date, we started to look ard the resorts & calling them to ask for availability. To our horror, all resorts (those we wanted) were FULL!!!!! Jialat! Then, a glimmer of hope appeared with 1 particular resort with 1 unit still available. Without thinking, we juz booked it. After which, we decided to book coach ticket & to our horror AGAIN, NO COACHES to redang during that period of time from Singapore!!!!! Jialat, no bus to go will DIE!! So we decided on Plan B - Go Johore buy ticket, depart ffrom Johore. So Dearest Tingmei went to JB to buy, luckily GOT TICKET!!! So heng ar! So this is our plan:
Depart 30th April Night from JB Larkin Terminal 1030pm
Duration: 10hours
Arrive Kuala Terrengganu 8am the following morning
Duration of stay in Redang: 4D3N
Return 4th May From KT to Singapore 9am bus
Given that my home is at the far end of Singapore (Jurong), I did not go home on 30th April (mind you i had to work on that day). So instead, i went to the gym n worked out haha to prepare my body for the 3 days of diving!! Perspiration, wash up & rush to the bus terminal to take bus to cross JB. Bloody bus damn slow & running late, so i ended up taking the cab to the causeway & hafway there kena JAM!!! Stupid buses & lorries choking up the roads, ended up i had to alight the cab a distance away from the causeway & ran my crazy arse all the way over (it was abt 15mins of extreme running). By the time i crossed over Singapore custom, i was soaking wet & panting!! Luckily all those gym work did me some good in building up my stamina! With the heavy backpack & diving gear, it is not easy task running the long long distance!
So instead of 845pm, i reached at 930pm. Poor Tingmei had to wait for me there. Panic raised as we had to reach Larkin Terminal by 1030pm. By the time we boarded the bloody bus 170 to cross the causeway, it was almost 945pm. Heart racing & clock ticking, we sat in the bus waiting anxiously as the bus maneuvered slowly out of the packed SG custom & onto a smooth ride across! Double lucky again! by 10pm, we made our way past the JB custom, surprisingly no Q no jam given that the following day is a holiday! So quickly, we boarded the bus to Larkin Terminal. By 1020pm, we reached the terminal & survived the scare! Super duper HENG AR!!! The bus left at 1040pm quite promptly i must say. Imagine if i was still stuck in the bus & not taken the cab, super LATE!!
After boarding, it was the start of the gruelling 10hours ride all the way to Kuala Terrengganu. Gruelling is not exaggerating! The bus was FREAKING COLD! The seats not so comfy & quite a bumpy ride. Felt so damn tired but too cold to really sleep properly! N the bus driver didnt bother to turn down the air con (maybe the language barrier was a prob too) So had to endure the freezer bus! Made sleeping really really hard cos u'r freezing but u wana sleep...Haiz
8am next morning, we reached KT terminal! Quite on the dot! Walked a short 5min to the jetty for our boat ride to Redang. Yeah we can smell the beach! But alas! All was not rosy! At the jetty by 830am, but the bloody 9am boat did not come for us! Ended up we waited till 1130am, wasted a good 3hrs of our time! We could have gone for an extra dive or extra hours of sunning by the beach! By the time we reached Redang it was 130pm (the boat ride was more than 1hr). So our dive had to be specially arranged at 430pm. The 2 of us joined a super big group (also from Singapore) of 16pax, means a total of abt 18 of us out to dive with 2 dive masters along - Robert & Zuki. 1st dive was only so-so, juz a starter. The rest of the day went on without anymore trouble. Dinner followed (buffet style) and nothing to rave about and by 9+pm, we were dead tired (lack of sleep) & so juz conked out on the bed till the next morning!
Redang Beach REsort!! Finally
View of Redang Beach!
During the break, Tingmei & I went to explore the island. We stayed at the "Xia Re Mo MO Cha" stretch of beach so we visited the More More Tea Inn, which has been rebuilt to a gift shop. So of cos, being the tourists that we are, we HAD to take pictures with the Inn & anything related to it!!!
Coffee, More More Tea or Me?!?!?!
With Love From Redang, Muaks!!!!
Just to mention, they have this really cute way of announcing the snorkelling trips! Cos pple go Redang mostly on snorkelling packages so every day there are 2 trips out. So at 10am and 3pm, they will play the Hawaii music & annouce: "It is time for snorkelling. please get really your masks & livejackets! We will see u at the beach". So furnie!! N Interesting!! haha... We laugh e'rytime the announcement comes on!
2nd day begun with a 830am dive, 1130am dive and 245pm dive. 3 dives in a day. SOunds xiong but i think it was still manageable! We changed group & Divemaster. Robert 'abandoned' us to follow the big grp of divers, while we followed Dolloa with 4 more guys from KL. Good, cos we prefer a smaller grp of divers. We were joined by another grp with John as the Divemaster. The 2nd day's dive sites were much much better! We saw more fishes & things like big stingrays, shrimps & crabs. Did some suntanning as well!
Took some posy photos then we walked to another part of the beach to REdang Bay resort, where there's a really quiet & secluded area of beach to R&R! There were some rocks far out, so we decided to climb & conquer! Both of us did mountaineering b4 so this is small case la! Up Up and Away! Our mini mountaineering expedition in Redang!! We made it all the wayout to the high point & once again, our holiday demon came out & possessed us! We started cam-whoring!! Haha, our fun inner self all exposed! Poses after poses of modelesque look, click click click! Hahah we will only selectively post some of the photos the rest r for our own eyes only! Well, we are 2 tourists to Redang where noone knows us & probably nvr will! So who cares!!! Hahaha!! Shall only pose those that can be seen by pple here..haha the rest r for my eyes (n selected few) only:
Moody feel pose on top of the rocks!
Yippie! Doing some crazy poses for the camera!
Oh not to forget, we went to get spray-on tattoos done! For the fun of it! I got mine on my lower back, nice picture! With colours. Tingmei got a small butterfly on her ankle! Well if i can't get a real one, a fake one is good enuff.
Can see? The airbrush tattoo!! Nice nice
After our fun moments we retreated back for our shower. Enroute back to our resort, we saw the Great Redang Workout! Haha, some resort was having this dancing workout and a group of holiday makers were following instructions & dancing their hearts out with the music. Looks like fun!
Come on everybody, dance to the beat of the music!!
After dinner, we stayed for a while waiting for the so-called liveband at SUmmer Point Bar. We were invited for drinks by the KL guys we dived with during the day. Sat down & chatted for quite sometime. 1 is a chef while the other is a horse keeper, training to be jockey! How interesting!!! They are quite fun guys. The liveband -- SUCKS!! Especially the 2 guy singers. Omigod! Cannot stand a second of their singing. Sing as though they think they're so good but in fact sucks BIG TIME. The female singer is still not tat bad.
Me in the Redang Beach Dive suit outside Dive center
3rd day & last day in Redang. We completed 3 dives again! We followed John most of the time & enjoyed our dive very much! Only downside was that the 3rd day was a gloomy day. Cloudy & not much sun. Waves were damn BIG! Lousy weather! Was hoping for more sun so i could do a bit more sunning. U noe, must have evidence to show u actually had been to the beach! What better way than a nice tan!
So we ended our diving with 7 days for the whole duration! I got a total of 25 dives! That's silver status! By my own record la keke, calls for some celebration right! N on our last day in Redang, time for more cam-whoring! To commemorate our last moments in Redang! Cam-whoring with Redang beach, with the Dive center Divemasters!
Pretty Redang beach babes!! ahahha
Us with dive frens from KL
Leaving my mark in Redang! Redang walk of fame!!
That's our divemaster (who abandoned us after 1st day). He looks so slutty!!!
At night, wanted to just go for the disco for a while but ended up not staying cos the music not so nice & the lighting not so nice. We were also super tired...Next morning had to get up at 5am to catch the 630am boat over. Our bus departs KT terminal at 9am. This time no delays & promptly reached the bus on time! Another 10hrs bus ride home, this time WORSE cos during the day, u don't really sleep much!
After much counting counting & counting down, finally!!! The custom! No jam, only hordes of people. By the time i reached home it was almost 930pm.
Epilogue
Redang diving, so-so la. Perhentian is still SO MUCH BETTER!!! But not to say Redang is nothing la, it is still nice but cannot compare to Perhentian. Redang also is too commercialised for liking. It's a good place for families though. I may go back again..who knows but the bloody trip there is torturous! 10hrs to 10hrs back. Will die!!! OF cos i got a tan! Not so much as Perhentian but still a tan!
Learnt more abt diving from the instructors. U learn more with each dives! How to breathe, how to control bouyancy. Instructors and divemasters are nice! Well they always are! They are so carefree people! This John, he used to work in computer line for 10yrs b4 becoming a dive instructor & has been for the past 10yrs! Interesting characters u meet on dive trips!
Also, met an NTU mate there! He was with the big grp of Singapore divers. What a coincidence!
So the next question is -- What next? Where next? And When next? hahaha.........
For the sake of my faithful beloved readers, here is the link to the entire REdang photo album... See i so nice...
Redang Diveologue 2008
