and guess what? on friday i missed another flight. this time though, it wasn't my fault and i was really calm about it because i'd kinda realised on the way to the airport that we'd already missed our flight... whereas i think it was more of a shock for my friend cos it only sank in when we reached the counter and they refused to let us check-in anymore. Tsk. These first-time flight missers...
having missed the flight (to banda aceh by the way) i was quite tempted to just return to the hotel and go back to work... but of course my friend refused to let me and since i'd taken leave on fri and sat, was off on sun, and monday was Malaysia's national day, it would have been quite a pity to waste the long weekend...
so we ended up joining my colleague's family on a road trip up to Redang! (which is so hard to say, i keep thinking of it as rendang)
this car's license plate is ideal for my family!!
the road trip included a few hrs stop over in kuantan to wait to meet up with the rest of the group. kuantan's a pretty small town... kinda reminded me of Malacca!and boy am i glad our hotel reception counter is nothing like this one!
our very idyllic beach resort-ish beach resort! perfect for plenty of beach bumming. i'm afraid i've left my colleague's family with an impression of me as an absolute sleepyhead... they were counting the top 5 places i slept on the first day - the car, the speedboat, the hammock, the ferry, on the water while snorkelling... basically anywhere and everywhere!! (hey it's quite a useful talent to be able to sleep anywhere ok...)
on the first night we had the brilliant idea of going over to the other side of the island where there was apparently more "life"... and on the way back we took shelter from a storm that was starting and ended up sitting facing this view above for almost 2hrs while waiting for the rain to stop! all i can say is... BRRRR. it was really cold. oh yes, this was yet another of the places that i slept at that day. not for long tho, it got too cold.
the second morning we headed out to a marine park to snorkle some more and it was really cool. a LOT of fish. and amazing corals. our tour guide having showed us a huge coral with a hole that was the home of a HUMUNGOUS garoupa which he lured out by feeding another fish to!! the garoupa had an eel for a neighbour which he also lured out to show us. there were so many fish that i inadvertently smacked one. and at one point i was just happily swimming along when i felt something at my feet and when i turned around i saw a whole school of fish following me!
that was quite freaky. i've discovered that i find huge numbers of wild fish in the sea very scary. in general, i find fish spooky even when they're dead on a plate, if their eyes are still there.
that morning, i actually entered the water holding a pile of bread thinking it would be fun to feed the fish. but when i realised what a swarm of fish there were i freaked out and flung the bread away... which was a BAD BAD idea cos i didn't fling it far away enough and ALLLLL the fish swarmed round! urgh.
but honestly, the water was really clear and for the most paart, the fish were really pretty and it was quite peaceful just watching them and seeing them dive to lip plankton off the corals and so on. people who like fish should really go... i think the snorkelling here is better than phuket and tioman.
anyway, luckily we were one of the first to arrive cos not long after, tons of tourists from other resorts turned up and thronged the beach as you can see above. almost more people than fish. then again, there was an extraordinarily large number of fish in that small beach area.
a rather unique tree lizard we spotted one day
baby sea turtles which hatcehd at our resort! they're gonna keep them till they're big enough to fend for themselves and then release them back into the water. so much like the ones in Nemo! we also saw one adult out in the sea while we were kayaking. it's amazing how near they come!
this is the best!! Squee kept us company most meal times. this candid shot looks like it came straight out of a cartoon! the little round green lump, bottom left, was a pea that we put out on the railing and there you see Squee running straight for it!
Squee munching on his bread while hanging upside down from the blinds like a bat!
Squee coming to visit while i was lying on my hammock!
what's a beach resort without palm trees...A great holiday... for what little time i was awake to enjoy it! And amazingly enough... i'm still sleepy! and slightly giddy... it was a long car ride. night.
1 条评论:
Why were you going to Banda Aceh?
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