Cuti pulau (this is avery very veryyy long-due post, mind you)
The trip happened some time in early Aug. Ok first lemme tell you that i am not really the beach and sunshine type of girl. My definition of a beach holiday is lazying in a hammock somewhere by the beach while reading a book. Mandi air laut masin tu kira pantang lah and takat celup2 kaki basah sampai paras lutut je. Hehe. But this Redang trip totally changed that! It was the trigerring point of a passionate love affair with snorkelling, sun, sea, sand aaand snorkelling. Hehe. And since then, i cant wait for our next island holiday. Mabul perhaps, mr.man?
We went there with 8 friends, in 3 separate cars driving from kl all the way until merang jetty in Terengganu. We kicked off the journey on Thursday nite at around 10ish pm. I was really excited!! There were 2 other close friends in our car. Our first stop was at r&r Genting Sempah, having made a promise to wait for the other 2 cars. Sumpah sejuk gile genting sempah tu at almost midnite. Most of the kedai makan dah tutup anyways and menunggulah kami di situ. Lucky there was a kedai still opened and we ordered teh and nescafe tarik to kill the time. I saw a few groups of travellers lepaking there and based on their attire, i reckon they are also heading to the east coast for a taste of sunny beaches. Waaahhh.. Makin excited ok. Not long after that the rest of our friends arrived and we took off. Well, i dozed off as soon as i went in the car and terjaga bila they stopped for petrol and toilet breaks.
(Tip: Wear comfy clothes. It was nightime & noone will see u anyways. No need for makeup and stuff like tht coz u'll only wake up with runny mascara. )
Since what I did the whole time during journey is bangun dan tidur, tau2 je around 7-ish like that dah sampai Terengganu, yay! We paid a visit to a drive-through McD, tapau some breakfast and continued our journey to Jeti Merang. Ok there was some drama coz we were pretty late to catch the earliest boat to Redang. Campur sesat2 lagi. Memang driver dah stress sebab driving the whole nite tak tido2 lagi. But alhamdulillah, dalam sesat2 tu, we managed to find our way and tadaaaa, selamat sampai di Jeti Merang. Expect nothing much coz the jetty is quite "traditional", meaning nothing canggih, all kayu, very old-school jetty lah. Sampai sana terus cari parking. Managed to find one with sort of covered sebab nak tinggal 3-4 hari kan. It costs RM 10 ke RM 15 per day. The parking rate here is more pricey than the one in Jeti Kuala Terengganu. Jeti KT tu lagi proper covered and cost around 4-5 hinggit je per day kot. (This is what hubby told me). But It is much nearer to get to Pulau Redang from Jeti Merang. The timing was nice as a few minutes waiting, the boat arrived.
(Tip: Travel as light as possible :) Maybe now is the time where you can leave your gazillions of makeup kit at home? Hehe..No need for luggage yg tarik2 tu. Use backpack ke, duffel bag ke. Senang and lasak. Ye lah, boat kan, kalau basah ke apa.. Nak angkat pun senang.)
Off we we went into the boat and after a smooth journey (no huge waves, nice weather so nobody got seasick much), we arrived at Pulau Redang. The chalet that we stayed in was Mutiara Redang. It has its own private beach and own jetty. Jetty dia lagi cantek dar Jeti Merang. Haha. This resort is not located at the beach where Redang Beach, Redang Lagoon and the likes are located. So there's privacy. Suitable if nak buat family day ke or honeymooners. But as for me, i don't mind staying at the more public beach sebab lagi byk facilities kalau tetiba lapar ke, nak pegi kedai ke. There was food provided but you know lah kadang2 tak kena dgn tastebud kita.
(Tip: If you're staying at a private beach like me, you bettery bring along food like tidbits coz there's no kedai there. True there is free flow of beverages and roti + kaya + mentega + jem but kalau tanak muak, just spare some kudap-kudapan lah k)
And since it was a private beach, when the nite came, it was either we were all worn out sebab all out snorkelling time siang so bantai tido je lepas dinner, or duduk depan chalet buat unggun api and nyanyi2 dgn gitar kapok. Haha. Very the in touch with the nature gitu.
(Tip: Untuk takmo boring you can organize your own bbq. Like we did. The resort have one but saje je la nak tambah aktiviti kan.)
(Tip: It is advisabale to bring dry-fit attire coz there was a lot of snorkelling activities. Nanti tak sempat kering. And boleh la pack light kalau ada dry-fit. I saw some at Uniqlo for women.)
So for the next 2 days, memang pagi petang adalah snorkelling which I lovedddd!!! Such serenity being in the water. Like you can forget about everything else - your piling workload, your sucky bosses, bitchy people at work etc. It was just you, the sea and the beach. Satu je kurang, takde hammock banyak2 macam dekat public beach tu. Kalau ada memang lagi terbaik lah.
All in all. The trip was great!! On the way back from Terengganu to KL, we stopped by a few places like Pasar Payang, tempat lunch yg best tapi lupa apa nama dia and the famous tempat makan keropok lekor. Aaahh... Memang rejuvenating. Am definitely looking forward to go back there!!
Baiklah, some lomo pictures of my Redang vacation.
The private jetty of the chalet. Lihatlah air biru!
just arrived - happy faces
Redang Mutiara - where we stayed
a glimpse of the chalets..
the dining hall
the beach :)
perfect getaway - me, mr.man and mr.beach
during sunset.
masa untuk pulang...
