Fish Spa, Wave massage

Fish Spa, Wave Massage, Anyone???

March term exams are finally over. I felt totally exhausted. Terms like g(x), gf(x), ax²+bx+c, interstitial fluid, homeostasis, phagocytosis, valence electrons... that were swimming in my head for the last 2 weeks can finally be replaced by 'Fish Spa, Wave Massage', or in Chinese, '蓝天碧海'!

1st Day:
Okay, I know going on a holiday on the 9th of March may make my family seem like we were oblivious to the fact that the day before was the day democracy makes a difference to our country, but no. On the way to the enchanting island of Pulau Redang, we listened to the news of BN vs DAP on the radio. For total 7 hours since 0500, the radio was blaring away with news of the election, but even that could not dampen the holiday spirit in the car. Looks like Terengganu is pretty big on PAS.

At around 1220, we reached the jetty, all of us suffering from leg cramps. We lugged our baggage into the boat, and for 2 hours we suffered a roller-coaster kind of boat ride. I'm not exaggerating the 'roller-coaster' description. I mean it.

To be honest, I did not expect much from this holiday. I expected a bumpy boat ride to P. Redang, 'buruk' resort, polluted beach, rainy days. Thus, I was totally gobsmacked when I reached the beachfront, Laguna Redang Resort. Oh. My. God. The sea was in this totally stunning blue, no, turquoise! It glistened under the big, yellow sun, looking like a sea of sapphires. The waves were huge, crashing onto the rocks along the shore. I can taste salt in the air. The gentle breeze was blowing the hair off my face. The sand was this soft, fine, white colour. It had me thinking, did I just accidentally step out to the Caribbean??? Who would have thought Malaysia have this enchanting beach? I instantly fell in love with the beach.

After having late lunch at 1430, we explored the resort.

And, we hit the beach! The waves were huge and violent. Let me show you a 4-step guide for Dummies for Waves.

Step 1: Sit on the sea shore and let the waves wash over your legs. This is for a warm-up, because the sea water is really cold. Dummies go straight for the waves, ended up shivering like mad. Like my brother and cousin, Jason.

Step 2: Run towards the sea and embrace the waves!

Step 3: Turn around and let the huge waves hit you right on the butt! It's so relaxing.

Step 4: Say Ahhhhh!

P.S. Life jackets are crucial. The current is so strong that you'll be swept out of the sea before you can say "Help!"

2nd Day:

A good day starts with a big breakfast.

Swimming trunks. Check. Life jacket. Check. Snorkeling mask. Check. Suntan lotion. Check. Off to the P. Redang Marine Park! By boat.

Boat 1:

Yay! We arrived! It was burning hot! Spot me? I don't think I'm in this photo.

Lots of fish swimming about. 200,000 species, according to the instructor. It's kind of freaky, fish touching your skin. I'm still shocked at looking under the water and seeing a school of fish swimming towards me.

90 minutes later, the instructor yelled, "Laguna, times up!"

Boat 2:

Don't we all look like victims of some kind of flood?



We couldn't get enough of snorkeling. After lunch, we went for it again. This time, to the OPEN SEA! We had to jump down from the boat. Gosh, I've never seen a real coral in my entire life. One looked like cauliflower, the other looked like human brain. Ewww....There were pretty ones too, though. Carpet kind of coral. Fish....these fish are wild! Not like those tame ones in the Marine Park. It was a wonderful feeling, swimming in the wide, open sea. I think it was about 10 metres deep. Unfortunately, about 40 minutes later, I heard the horn of the boat. I was with Yan and Jason at that time, looking at those disgusting corals. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew, and the current grew stronger. We were drifting helplessly. Somebody yelled, "SHARKS!!!" I looked around, shocked. Sharks???? Sharks???? I was gripped with fear, suddenly realizing as if a world of danger had opened right in front of me. I yelled at Yan and Jason to get back to the boat. Mum was no where to be seen. Jun had gone up to the boat earlier with Dad. There was other people either far in front or far behind us. We swam with all of our strength. It was no easy job, I'm telling you. It seemed so easy to swim away from the boat when we first jumped down. But, swimming back was way harder, because we were swimming against the strong current. I couldn't identify any life guards. We swam hard, and just as I gasped for air, Yan kicked a mouthful of water into my mouth and I swallowed it, choking hard. Yuck. I suddenly thought about those Schistomosis things going into your skin or something I read about during the EST exam, and I shuddered. Finally, we reached our boat. Relief washed over me. 5 minutes later, Mum reached the boat too. The "SHARKS!" chaos was a stupid man's fault. He tried to tricked everyone to swim back to the boat faster when time was up. And, I believed him. I mean, anything could happen in the open sea! There's a huge possibility that sharks are swimming about, you know.

Look at these people, too weak to swim back. The life guard was pulling them back to the boat.

Boat 3:

The passengers really, really looked like victims of some sort of disaster. So, we went back to the resort with this boat, and had diiner. This colourful house, in that photo, is used in a Hong Kong movie years ago. I watched it on the hotel's TV. The movie was on 24/7, non-stop. We watched it countless times, until we could memorize the lines. It wasn't a boring movie. A romance comedy. No matter how many times we watched it, we still laughed out loud. The name of the main actor is More More Tea (么么茶）; the actress' name is Summer. 光良and 阿牛both starred in this movie too. The theme song (posted on my blog) was constantly stucked in my head when I was in P. Redang. This movie was genuinely made at P.Redang.

After a long, fun-filled day, we return to our rooms for a good night of rest. Doesn't our room looks like a dormitory?

3rd Day:

I just woke up from bed. Sitting on the balcony and listening to the soothing sound of waves is a good way to start a day.

Boat 4: (The best boat I've ever ridden for the entire P.Redang vacation) We went snorkeling at the Marine Park for the second time. It was more enjoyable this time. We had underwater photos took by the instructor, along with fish!

My mum is totally surrounded by fish!
How come I only got a few?
Fighting underwater with Jason.
Gasping for air...

Enough of snorkeling. I've got to have some photos with this beautiful scenery on this 'isolated' island. Wow...two waves overlapping with each other.

Time to go back.
Boat 5: (I don't think that this boat is even safe, taking in consideration it is about 30 years old. Plus, it said 12 PENUMPANG MAKSIMUM, but I'm pretty sure there was 30++ passengers aboard. The irony. We had to sit on the floor. No seats at all.)
After our lunch, we had a stroll along the beach.

My brother looks so cute!

4th Day/ Last Day:

Just one last photo at More More Tea Inn before going home. Another rocky ride with the boat.

Overall, this was one of the best beach resort I've ever been to. Everything was just tres magnifique!