Tuesday 5 July 2011

Redang Island through pictures

 It was my first time setting foot in Terengganu's soil and here I was, after a 55 minutes flight from KL and this was the sight that greeted me:
 I felt like I've traveled back in time where there's no high rise buildings. Reminds me a lot of Kelantan and Sandakan but this was further back in time.

 Kuala Terengganu from the highest building in Chinatown.

 Sweet steamed cake. Very concentrated with egg.

After eating so much, we finally made our way to Redang island. It took half an hour by land and another hour by speed boat. I'm so glad that I have no motion sickness. All that traveling paid off as I stepped into a different world:


 The view took my breath away.

 We stayed at Redang Holiday resort and the first thing on our itinerary was buffet lunch. Throughout our stay, I'm so glad that we had good food at every meal.

 Relaxing while waiting for our turn to go snorkeling.

 I thought that my spot was the most conducive place to take a nap and forget about all the worries as it was really shady and that constant cool sea breeze blowing at 12 noon was making me sleepy. At the final moment before I achieved 'inner peace', I looked up and saw......


 Coconuts hanging directly over my head which can give way to gravity at any split second.....maybe it's time to choose another spot.

Yup, I moved to another spot with a more comfy beach chair and brought along my mp3. I fell asleep before I could understand what inner peace was. Anyone who hasn't watched Kungfu Panda 2 should really go watch it. I loved that movie. Sorry, straying away from the topic.

Redang is all about postcard scenery, snorkeling, relaxation, snorkeling and monkeys...
 This was one monkey spotted resting on the water pipe.
 
 And another 2.
 This was our accommodation at the resort with no more monkeys in sight as it was noon time and the sun was hot and blazing.

 Enough about monkey, let's move on to snorkeling, the highlight of the trip. I love snorkeling!!!! How I wish that I had scuba diving license too. The fishes and corals seemed so far from me.

 On our way to Anchor Rock, one of the snorkeling spots.

 Bored LC who wasn't too eager to snorkel and she was still tired from the previous snorkeling expedition. Redang is all about the sea. It'll be such a waste if you don't snorkel.

 Such beautiful colour.

 I loved the clear aqua colour of the sea. So beautiful! I wanted to count the number of colours of the Parrot fish but each fish seemed to be of different colours. I even saw a school of anchovies swimming past me. So cute!

 After snorkeling. Tiring but fun.

 Let's hope that we get back to the Resort with LC steering.

 LC and I

 The time flew by so fast while we were snorkeling. Our holiday package came with 3 snorkeling trips and they were worth it.

 One of the main highlights was snorkeling at Marine Park. 

 I remember our guide catching one of the smaller fish to lure out the giant moray eel hiding behind the rocks. So scary.....I thought all fishes were vegetarians but this one was carnivorous. So scary. Photo is taken from this website.

 On our way home.

 If I could take strolls along the beach every single day like this.

 Pass by corals washed up shore by the waves.

 Take dips in the sea whenever the weather got too hot.

 Enjoy the night life without worries.

Life will be .......mundane for me after a while. I think you didn't expect that coming, didn't you? It's good to be relaxed for a short while, but not too long as I'll end up becoming too bored and lazy.

 Pisang goreng (banana fritters) and barley tong sui. What more can I ask after all that snorkeling in the sea.

 We had bbq dinner on one of the nights. I didn't expect that the bbq was prepared. I thought I would be sitting around a bon fire roasting marshmallows.

 I loved the different variety of pulut pangang. Usually it's filling is made of dried prawns but this was of fish. Delicious! Please don't ask me how many I took.

 Freshly made roti canai for breakfast.

Soon, it was time for us to bid farewell to Redang. I will miss this place. Back to Kuala Terengganu for the afternoon before catching our flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

 Terengganu's nasi dagang. It's very different as compared to the nasi dagang of Kelantan. However, the sweetness is the same. This was super duper sweet.

 Another steamed cake and this time, it's steamed yam cake with pieces of preserved pork topped with dried prawns, chili and friend onion. I love this kuih.

 I was introduced to Jim Kuih (Crab cake in Hokkien dialect). It's RM 10 per piece. It was my first time eating kuih made out of while crab with minced pork and some other secret ingredients. Delicious and it's only available in Terengganu. I've never seen it elsewhere. It's such a delicacy that orders have to be made at least 24 hours before or you won't be able to buy any on the spot. Located at the corner shop in Chinatown.

 Chinatown arch in Kuala Terengganu. This place really reminds me of Liverpool as there is also a grand arch but the number of shops is so few.

I wished that I'd more holidays. I'm dying to travel to somewhere  and escape all the stress at work at my new rotation. Doing cardiology rotation at the moment and all I can say is it's challenging with the number of patients with cardiac problems. Please, cigarettes are so out of fashion nowadays. You don't look cool holding that cancer stick between those fingers.

One of my patient told me today that he thinks that he could start smoking all he wants again after angiogram. It's not even angioplasty or stenting. I don't know if I should start laughing or crying.

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