Aug 11, 2015

ISLAND ESCAPE : PULAU REDANG



A good friend of mine, Irfa Sharafina is an aqua freak. She loves everything about water and that includes island. Whenever we went to lepak, she always told me about her majestic obsession towards island, especially Redang Island. Things got funny no more when my friend from the same circle, Izzul Syafiq is really into the sea as well. I have been listening to their excitement for more than a year. To be truth, island is never really my place to begin with because I can't swim, I hate salt water and I do not want to get my skin burned. However, a part of me was telling me to try, to go on something I have never experienced before. Well, I will try everything once, if I like it I will do it again. I decided to go.

I spent about RM450 for everything. I met two new friends, Joe and Nana. Things were kinda awkward with them at first because they were both related to Izzul and they knew each other for a very long time already, I just met them like 2 hours? However, it is impressing how fast all of us got along.

I slept all they way from KL to Terengganu. So, if you ask me 'how was the journey?', I may not know how to answer it. I felt like sleeping for 10 minutes and the next minute I was at Terengganu already.

First, we went to Joe's house in Losong, Terengganu. I have never been to Terengganu before if I wasn't mistaken. We arrived at 6am and we went straight to a stall to have nasi lemak. Unfortunately, all nasi lemak were all sold out. I was like, damn these people had their breakfast sooo early! We had Nasi Kuning instead and it was good.

DAY 1


On the first day, we went to sight-seeing at Kuala Terengganu. It is a very calm place at the first sight, like the whole thing is so different compared to the place I came from. 


Shortly after that, we went to Pantai Teluk Ketapang. We had a tea time at a restaurant where everybody calls it Sotong Celup Tepung. It was so crowded with people, I don't know maybe because of the variety of cheap seafood like squids, crabs, prawns and fishes. 

We were spending the night at Joe's place. His family was very welcoming. They pampered us with good foods, good foods and good foods. I couldn't be more thankful for all of it.

DAY 2
I woke up late and got scolded by Izzul. We had a quick breakfast. We thanked Joe's family for everything, they were being really nice to us. It took us about 40 minutes to arrive at Merang. Parked the car. Headed to jetty. Waited for the ferry.


I was so excited at this moment. It has been a while since the last ferry I took, which is in Penang, 10 years ago! 


This is my escaping-reality-for-awhile photo and I like it sooo much.


After about 40 minutes, we were so close to the island. The water just turned from dark blue to turquoise. We arrived at the beautiful Redang Island. Don't tell anyone, this is my first time of experiencing crystal-clear water and turqoise color sea shore island. I waited months for this!

What is this place! We checked in the room to put all the bags. I felt sleepy but since the resort management decided to cut off the electricity during daytime, I better go out.


Ok let's move on to the next picture..


This is my savior here. I'm not a good swimmer. Oh wait, I can't swim at all actually. There were so many times I felt death is a step closer without a life jacket on!

We went to snorkeling after that. The place is called Marine Park. It's like a whole different world to me since I have never been snorkeling before.

There were sooo many sea creatures down there!

Izzul was like a fucking mermaid I hate him. He was like flying here and there effortlessly and I hate him even more. I was like, is he an Aquaman or what? 

Then, I went out of the sea. I felt so dizzy like I was about to vomit my stomach out. Then, I realized that I got seasick. Wow, it was my first seasick ever! And I'm sooo happy that I got seasick! I didn't take photos that night because my phone ran out of battery life. We were having dinner, laughing, feeling tired and sleeping. It was a very good first day, hmm not bad for a first day since most of my first days in life are just a series of total turn-offs.

DAY 3


I woke up with a bad news. Joe's leaving us. He got to go to work at Penang if I wasn't mistaken. Joe, I know you're reading this - I don't know if we ever meet again, I just want to say thank you sooo much for everything. 

Since Joe's not around and Irfa was busy with her Rescue license, we all got along fine with our ownselves at the island.


This is the view from the highest peak of the island. Yes, we climbed up here to see the panoramic view and I'm so glad we did.

What I like about my island escape is I really feel like it was an escape. It is pretty lonely here, it's like only you and the nature! 

This is one of many normal views at the island. Sometimes, I sat on the beach and thought to myself about life. Then I got fucked up and...

Boom!


To be honest, I really enjoyed myself being alone at the island. It's very therapeutic I would say. I've said this and I'm about to say it again, it was calming the fuck out of me! 

During the night, all of us went to the jetty to get some line connections! It was really really dark, I can't even capture any photo that night. It's saddening because the best part of this journey happened tonight! We were lying down, turning on some Coldplays, stargazing everything in the sky *damn the sky by the beach was motherfucking majestic! It's like it has been photoshopped or something! Then, Irfa, Izzul and Nana were singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY song, I was like, siapa punya birthday? They were looking at me, eh mine next week la! Then I found out it was a pre-birthday celebration! They were scattering A LOT of green and yellow glow-in-the-dark powder along the jetty! How I wished I could capture the moment, I was almost in tears because it was absolutely one of the the best birthdays I have ever had in my life! Then, I realized that I'm so glad I didn't stand any chance to take photos or videos because it is something that I should keep in my heart. 

It's getting late. We were tired but before we went to sleep, we promised to ourselves to get up early next morning to take one last swim in the island. But guess what? We still woke up late! By the time I woke up, the ferry was already there in the jetty to fetch all of us up! A bit disappointed because time flies tremendously fast when you are happy. Nevermind, I had fun for the past few days, a fun that I have never felt before. 

And that's how my journey ended. It has been a year now but everything is still fresh in my mind. Probably the most exciting escape I have ever had. Enjoying every bit of life with beautiful people in a very beautiful place, I couldn't ask for more. Of course I'm looking forward to the next island escape!