Jun 28, 2001

I departed at night from Singapore to Malaysia North-South Expressway via the luxurious coach bus. The seat was comfortably wide and easily tilted to provide easy sleeping postures. I slept in the bus with occasional awakenings, eager to reach Pulau Redang the next morning.

Jun 29,2001

In the morning, I reached Terengganu state of West Malaysia. Had a brief breakfast at a beach chalet and headed on to furthur the Merang Jetty. Merang Jetty was nothing more of a sandy coast riddled with loosely pitched souvenir shops and stopover boats. From the jetty, I had a bumpy speedboat ride for about half an hour before finally reaching Pulau Redang.

Pulau Redang and its neighbouring islands were officially designated a marine park, itself being the biggest island in the park. It had been a popular spot for snorkellers and divers seeking for abundant coral reef life.

Upon arrival, the staff of Redang Bay Resort briefed me about the resort itineraries and facilities. I stayed in a 8-person economy room although there were only 4 persons of us. Before I started snorkelling, I was served with meal pre-apportioned at the table, where each guest group had assigned seats in a sort-of canteen. Later, I obtained from the resort the snorkelling equipment which some of them were free-of-charge and was ready for a water dip.

The guests were assembled at the reception area to be assigned to different boats. After a short briefing, I waded through the water to a boat called 'Estee' which was anchored few meters from beach. The boat carried a big crowd including me, eastward to Pulau Lima (a cluster of 5 islets). With no intention of parking the boat at the beach, the guides instructed each of us to jump down to the water which was few meters deep. Unprepared for the sudden alighting off the boat and being a relatively poor swimmer, I slowly made my way down to the water and kept afloat with my life vest. I swam towards towards the shore but was later told not to touch the island. I witnessed a young swimming guide smoking while trapping water without any life vest! After about two hours of snorkelling, I boarded the boat to be sent back to the resort.

In the late afternoon, I explored the Redang island around the perimeter of the Pasir Panjang shoreline. Not far from the resort I stayed was a brightly colored wooden hut set up for the Hongkong film called 'Summer More More Tea' starring Sammi Cheng and Richie Ren. Now it was wrecked and vandalised, and the staircase leading to the second story was ripped apart. It was a sorry state of this hut which was casted so beautiful in the movie. (Please take a look at my sketch of Shark Bay and More More Tea Inn at Pulau Redang)

Later, I headed to a rock ridge between Redang Beach resort and Redang Reef resort. A flag pole was erected at the rock tip which I intended to reach. However, the furthur I climbed up, the more risky the cliff seemed. Being attired simply with swimming trunk and sandal, I gave up my expedition. Perhaps I was not as adventurous as I thought. Nevertheless, the climb was fun enough to indulge myself with a board view of sea across Redang.

When the sun set, I had quite a heavy BBQ buffet dinner thought the food supply was not replenished as fast as the guest demands. After that, I strolled along the beach. I could hear the wave splashing more clearly as night quietly fell. Lying idly on a wooden bench, I had a singing marathon with my fellow friends to spend this peaceful night.

Jun 30,2001

The breakfast was simple but contented. Soon, I boarded on the same boat 'Estee' to arrive at Marine Park Centre where its admission was charged at RM5 per adult. The coastal park was unusual crowded but the the jetty offered easy access to a large variety of marine fishes. A nearby shipwreak was also worth exploring with sea residents and soft coral carpets at crevices on the wreck top. But maneuvering near the shipwreck was tricky as one might easily been knocked by rusted hull. I sneaked some breads from the resort breakfast and used them to feed the fishes. The fishes, mainly damselfish, were so aggressive in snatching the bread scraps that I took cautions in preventing my fingers from mistaking as their meal. The snorkelling enjoyment was abruptly ended when the guide whispered us to go on board the boat back to the resort.

The fun was just begun. Still having my snorkel gear on, I headed to the 'Shark Bay' adjacent to the resort. The 'Shark Bay' had its name due to presence of sharks around the area. I swam afar and was astonished to find that more fish varieties and much lively coral were discovered just beside my lodging. The coral was brilliantly greenish, dwelled with fishes scattering around. In the shallow water, I was thrilled to find a group of 4 baby reef sharks wandering around. I attempted to chase one shark for a clear picture, neglecting any possibility that its mama might be around the area. I had my enjoyment at the bay for so long that I nearly missed my lunch.

The rest after meal was short as I was going to head for the next but last snorkelling site -- Pulau Mat Dollah. The place was a disappointment as the quite milky deep water was lack of marine fishes and attractive coral bed. Nevertheless, I encountered unprecedentedly a few baby jellyfishs. My craze over fish viewing was not dormant after the trip, thus I returned to 'Shark Bay' in search of turtles this time. However, I swam far to the sea and had no luck of seeing one. Guessed I might have searched at the wrong spot. Soon, big waves arrived and were hitting hard at the beach. I mischievously displayed martial postures in front of the wave momentum.

Night fell once again. This time, four of us stayed in our chalet room to have rounds of card games. We played for hours til our eyes could no longer open wide.

Jul 01,2001

I woke early around six to wait at the beach, wishing to catch a glimpse of early sunrays. Unfortunately, the clouds over the horizon did not give much chance of a really good sunrise view. Abandoned our morning hope, I trekked up to another rock ridge where its top presented a board view of greenish-blue coastal water and white sand beach of Pasir Panjang.

It was about time to pack my items and return the equipment to the resort after breakfast. While waiting for a boat to transfer me back to the mainland, I laid around the beach to be tanned under the hot sun. The trip ended by a half hour speedboat ride and over ten hours of tiring coach bus journey back to Singapore. A worthy experience to get closer to the water world, I shall remember.