#wentraveldays: Malaysia - Day 1: Redang Island (20 Jun 2015)

Yeah, it was camp break last week and a few of us had planned to go for a short trip to Redang Island! Beach holiday - my favourite! When you hear of Redang Island, what are you reminded of? It's 夏日嬷嬷茶! It is also known as Summer Holiday, a Mandarin film released in Aug 2000, starring Richie Ren and Sammi Cheng. Go Google it!

And so, because the talk was going on for some time and no one took the action, I initiated and went ahead with the research on how to get there etc. In the end, there were only 5 of us for the 3D2N trip (better than nothing hur).

Singapore - Day 0 (19 Jun 2015)

It was a Friday and most/all of us were working. We individually settled our dinner and met at Golden Mile Tower #01-52B (Konsortium Express and Tour's Office) at 9pm or so. Check in was at 9pm as informed by the sales team. After checking in, collected our tickets, bottled water etc, we waited around for the bus. Golden Mile area is pretty messy with many people and buses around especially on Fridays and weekends. I didn't expect Redang Island to still be a popular destination for many, hence I was kinda surprised to see the bus full. The bus left at 9.30pm sharp and being me, I will always try to sleep on long bus rides.

At Golden Mile Tower.

The seats were quite spacious and there were mini pillows provided at each seat.

The entire journey was about 9 to 10 hours. Apart from the immigration checkpoints that we had to alight the bus, I think I slept most of the journey. Heh! Oh but I remember we came down at Yong Peng for a toilet break.

Common rest point for most Malaysia long bus rides: Yong Peng.

Malaysia - Day 1: 20 Jun 2015

We finally arrived at Shah Bandar Jetty at Terengganu at 7am or so. The jetty was pretty quiet since we were early. First thing most of us did were to find the toilet and freshen up. Then we had our self brought breakfast! All thanks to WL for bringing them!

Outdoor and indoor resting areas at the jetty. Toilets are available near the indoor seating.

Yeah it was Nestle cereals! Such comfort food~

As always, J would wander off on his own while the rest of us waited patiently at the jetty. Afterall, there was plenty of time to spend until our ferry departs (at 9.30am). So, not too far away from the jetty, was a market and an area that looks like their Chinatown as it seems dominated by the Chinese. I can't say much as to what J saw but let his pictures speak for themselves!

J being curious all the time, took a while before he came back. We are used to it. He came back with bags of stuff that he got from the market. Old school bread bun, coffee/tea, nasi lemark etc. We will never be hungry with him around. LOL. And soon after we satisfied our tummies, the Laguna Redang counter started operations and we collected our boarding passes (sounds atas! wait till you see them...) It was a little chaotic at the counter as they required us to fill in some form (can't remember what it was for, what it required passport details).

The boarding passes are reusable and probably used to account for the number of pax on board. We had to return the boarding passes just before boarding the ferry.

And then... we were finally on our way to the ferry!

I slept again on board the ferry because otherwise I would get motion sickness. We arrived at Redang Island after a 45 minutes ride on the sea! Woohoo!

These trams offer complimentary ferry service for tourists to and fro the hotel lobby and jetty.

Upon arrival, the staff would direct all tourists to the Laguna briefing room for a short brief about the stay. Some of the important information shared were the available boat departure timing (9.00am and 11.30am, with limited seats), meal vouchers are required for every meal at Sang Suria Restaurant (Breakfast: 7.00am to 10.00am, Lunch: 12 noon to 2.30pm, Dinner: 7.00pm to 9.30pm).

Around the briefing room, you could see posters about Redang Island and the available activity packages. They have an extensive list of activities you can do with them at affordable prices! Check them out when you are there!

We were greeted by the lobby staff with a welcome drink each. It was so tasty that I thought of getting a second serving! Then there was a long queue for the check-in.

By the time we were done with the check-in, the restaurant was ready to receive the lunch crowd! We lugged our bags and went up to Sang Suria Restaurant for our buffet lunch. They had quite a wide spread!

Satisfied with our lunch, we slowly made our way to the reception to check on the status of our room keys. We were lucky to get the keys earlier than stated (2.00pm). We then headed to the recreation centre to get the snorkelling equipment. There was an upfront payment of RM 20 each (RM 5 for marine park conservation charge, and RM 15 for rental of snorkelling equipment). You could charge these to the room too!

The ladies' room. It was supposed to be twin sharing but it can fit 4 pax! In fact, it's the same as the quad room but we paid more cos there were only 2 of us. 😅

Redang Island is SO SO SO proud of 夏日嬷嬷茶 that they have a TV channel that runs the show on loop! Each time we are back in the room and switch on the TV, the show is running.

Just in case, you don't know, there is a big swimming pool and Jacuzzi pool at the hotel.

Off we go for our first snorkel on this trip! The crowd was crazy...

Honestly speaking, every since I started diving, I no longer enjoy snorkelling. So usually I snorkel only when I have no other options and everyone else wants to do that. Probably only scuba divers understand how I feel.

We went for a dip in the sea after returning from snorkelling. This is what beach holiday is all about!

We didn't do much but were hungry again after washing up. Everyone was probably the same as us. There was a long queue leading up to dinner. We filled our stomachs and went for a walk along the beach and hotel-hopped. Pretty much nothing else to do at night unless you drink or sit for some local music bands. Let the pictures sum up the night!