Redang 2008

Let's save the best for last and put the worst things first.

Tony stood naked on a rock outside our rooms for 30s

Our flight got delayed for about 6-7 hours and our checkout time couldn't be changed unless we paid an exorbitant fee of about 50 per person only to delay it for a few hours. This caused us to spend about 12 hours in a dead airport, in Kuala Terengganu, where we played Gin Rummy and slept.. on the floor. More on that later.

So... 3 2 days and 2 nights, since we were forced to leave the island about 9am on the day we left T_T Doesn't mean we didn't make the most of our short period there =D It was beyond a blast, maybe two blasts! *blast blast* I am retarded, anyway, things will get more visual here on.

*There is a mighty load of pictures, and that's only from MY camera alone, so I think I'll break the post in two parts.

Fresh from watching the triumphant Spaniards in the Euro finals (Amin, Tony, Me and Jin-who-did-not-go-to-Redang-but-fetched-us-to-the-airport), Jin dropped us in Subang airport before driving off sleepily and dangerously This is my first time flying in about 10 years, and I gotta say, it brings back memories. The fluffy clouds out the window was quite a spectacle really, as were my sleepy friends. I read my 'Plant Litter' book to burn out the 1 hour journey, to keep my brain loaded with some research-related info so I don't return to the labs empty-headed.

Oh finally, Kuala Terengganu airport *glee* Michelle was the only one awake enough to flash a smile to my camera -_- Our flight was 7am or so after all.

An interesting "Demon-ic" mascot we spotted on a billboard on the way to the jetty, chauffeured by a van that was driven way too fast for comfort. On our journey back, I noticed that all the meters on the van were not working except the fuel meter, which is probably a ploy to avoid speeding tickets, since the speed meter shows a constant 0 km/h "My car ain't even movin man, what'cha gimme that ticket fer?" Dirty tricks aplenty.

The jetty, ahhh, we're definitely still in Malaysia.
At the jetty. Tony was sleepy.
hmmm...My foot, there were at least 30 people on the boat.
heh heh, awwww..
First signs of paradise from the boat, nyehehehe~
Ahhh, after a play-around on the beach, we laze on our veranda while Michelle does her stuff in the room (shower or something)
That, is where we stayed =D

Mich and I venturing the rocky shores beside our unit. My new innate fondness for these rocky shores is rather extreme. You get a thrill from the climb, a great view as a reward for climbing, beautiful rock structures to see and fauna aplenty for the eyes. If you're lucky enough you may even find a nice spot to lie on, make sure you got a towel to avoid back/butt-burn or scratches.

Rocky shores.

I miss them.

View of the beach from the rocky sh0res. That's the beach we pretty much spent most our free time at, toasting ourselves a crisp, golden brown. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. We were all very diligent in having a "let's-rub-ourselves-together-with-cream" session every time before we go out in the sun. Syok sendiri self touching sessions. I'm talking about sunblock application, you naughty lil squirrel.
Butt-up dragonfly at the rocky shores, probably awaiting a mate. It's got a rather odd shade that I don't remember seeing before this, which made me try quite hard to get a decent picture. I thank the blazing sunlight for the detail of this picture.

Mich on rocks.

Cool rock formations, check out all that angular crevices and deep, tell-tale gashes. Hmmm,I just don't get why I'm so fascinated sometimes. The pictures don't do them much justice really, which kinda prompts me to get a semi-pro camera so I could tweak more lighting-related settings etc. It'd promise much better pictures, that'd at least do mother nature a lil more justice. Recommendations other than the Canon S5 Mich recommended?
One of the units directly facing the rocky shores, such lucky buggers. Our unit was slightly further left from theirs.
Notice the line of sand deposited down that line in the middle? Mich and I are guessing that's how those gashes from the picture earlier formed. It's rather perplexing how straight these lines tend to form though, wonderful. It runs further down, and higher up the cliff than what the picture may suggest.

Mudskippers? lil fishies? One of those anyway, this is a lil rock pool in the rocky shores, kinda cool =)
Lim-pets (limpets), which I purposely twinned in the picture. Don't they remind you of something we all have? Ngee hee hee

More of my shores of grandeur.
Barnacle party. They get submerged on high tide =)
Crab remains I found in a tiny rock pool, must've gotten crushed by something, it was in tatters =S
Macho-Min, Mich and Shim
Slimy, slippery, timid mudskippers having a sunbathing session on the shores.
Crabbies! Initially saw a bigger, blacker and shinier one getting a tan, but it was way too far to be photographed *dang*
Filter feeding creatures in a rocky pool? Tse YuEn seems to think they're anemones, I wonder. I find it quite amazing how so many things can live on such an unfavourable environment such as the rocky shores.

One of those shots.
Wise Min says..
My new slippers for the trip, they're nice, grippy and reliable. Tested and proven to be useful for climbing rocky shores.

After the trip down the shores, more malas time before our snorkelling trips began.
My first time seeing this done successfully *clap clap* Trick's to use old cards so they don't slip, Wise Mich says =)
A lil friend that kept following us around... for food -_- It later got more adventurous when we went for our snorkelling trip; it ransacked our stuff we left on the veranda and overturned the trashcan. Bad squirrel, no more crackers for you! just kiddin =D Damn, being cute helps doesn't it? -_-

All meals were buffet style and there were some buggas who hogged most of the breakfast on the last day, geezers. No snorkelling pictures either since my camera ain't water-proof, gotta wait on Mich's for those. It's quite an eyesore watching so many idiots stepping on corals to catch their breath, it kills the corals that they paid to come and see, silly lil buggers. I even caught one of the guides practically tickling a tentacle-y coral (could've been an anemone), pray he gets stung by one of those venomous stingers' nematocysts (their stinging apparatus) and gets significantly injured. That way, it'd raise awareness and people will be more careful with the corals. Sometimes, sacrifices are necessary for the greater good of all, I didn't wish for the dude to die at least.

Where food is served every meal, makes you feel like it's free when food is prepaid in the room package =)

*Skips dinner, since I didn't get any good pictures*

After one and a half glasses of wine, the purple tongue syndrome returns. Tony and I paid for the Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 red and he only took a glass, not a wine person he says. Good bargain eh? "Drinking wine is like making love, and whisky is like sex" Tony is a whisky person, nyahahaha "Sometimes in life, we just gotta settle for sex". heheh. Anyway I drank the remainders in the 2 nights, which was about 3 glasses in total. I'm talking about the usual glasses you drink juice with, so it's substantially more than wine glasses. Not as classy, but it'd do, since we 'borrowed' them from the place we eat our meals >_<>

Outside a diving school at night. We have a happy Tony.
"People, if you dive enough, one day you'll look just like me"
The last night after dinner, ahhhh... sesi malas lagi.

This picture was has a lot of stories behind it. Tony, Min and I played Gin Rummy, and before we decided on the game, I just nonchalantly said "strip poker", which gave Tony (pic) ideas. "Loser stands outside on the rock structure naked for 30s, no pictures, and no covering - and no waking people up to see" It was 2:00am or so when our hero braved the rocks, sacrificing his "dick-nity" (new term), while Amin and I winced away at the horrific sight (hind view, we are straight men, unlike our losing counterpart who shook his butt in our faces from above the rocks). Cursing his luck, Tony tried once again with a last shot at winning. This time, loser drinks a bottle of 1.5L mineral water in 5 minutes. Fail and you shall be barred from the toilet for the night, piss outside. This time, our hero clocked an impressive 2 and a half minutes, though 5s later, yet another traumatizing scene unfolded as he reurgitated just about all of the water he gulped down onto the lucky plants that lay below our veranda. It's good that we suggested the punishment be done outside or we'll get a flood in the room. We didn't make him drink up more to make up for it, since we were disgusted enough already. Amin and I did not drink water for the rest of the night.
That's the spot our hero stood proud for 30s, dropping his final defenses; his towel. Our neighbours may even have had a peek, God knows if anyone else saw the horrific sight.

"It felt like freaking 15 minutes standing up there"
My star-gazing, wine-sippin spot =) Missing it already.
The final day before departure, a shot at the sun rise that rose. We were rather late for sun rise. It's real hard getting the sea horizon to be straight in a picture when you don't have a tripod with ya.
Until then, this remains my laptop wallpaper =)

On another (literal) note, I broke a string on Emma earlier on one of those epic high bends at the end of a song, which is wholesomely, extremely 'potong stim'; this calls for new strings tomorrow. About time really. Guess God wants me to be fair to my babes, just changed Jasmine's strings few days ago, can't mistreat your ladies ya know? Ernie Ball, I wonder how much I'd have paid you by the time I'm 50. You do make good strings though.

Insomnia strikes the afternoon napper, as he awaits 8am for basketball with another donkey. Good Night Morning, world.