burnt and blessed

Dear, Kams

wish you were there, cos the Redang trip was awesome.

i arrived home at 11 last night.. too beat to unpack, i crashed on the bed after a good warm shower.. i unpacked my bag from the Redang trip this morning, and couldn't help reminiscing the time we had. seriously, Kams.. Redang is truly the most beautiful beach in Malaysia. hehe.. i sound like a line from an advertisement, but really.. I'm not exaggerating.

i remembered our ferry ride to the island, sitting in the open air upper deck with Ayush, Prom and Prav, with the wind in our hair and the sunny morning sun on our skin. The salty wind and the strong sounds of the highpowered ferry slicing through the south china sea was simply thereupatic. so relaxed, yet so excited in looking forward to what was in stored for us after that 2 hour ride on the ferry.

approaching the island, you'll never fail to admire the beautiful light blue color of the sea.. all 4 of us looked into the water, and noticed that we could actually see the sand at the bottom so clearly! Prav and Prom had the least sleep on the bus the night before. despite that, i could tell, just the sight of the beach was refreshing enough to keep them awake the rest of the day.

Our first activity after a sumptuous lunch (hey, for the price we paid, the food was good) - deep sea snorkeling. All geared up with the snorkels and life vest, the boat ride to "the middle of the ocean" made me a little nervous, to be frank. never have i jumped into the middle of the sea, what more swim among fishies.. comforted Prom, who was having second thoughts already.. but deep inside i was as nervous as an eel myself. but once the boat stopped, and once we saw the crowd in the water, curiosity overcame fear.

we saw the most dazzling array of fish. i had goosebumps. both out from the cool sea, and from the mere thought of swimming just inches away from fish the size of my vest and corals of many shapes and sizes all meters below me. oh, i saw Nemo's.. and many Dorry.. i took a mental note to bring Sham there in the future, and that time, you have to promise me you can make it. i wasn't as lucky as Prav in catching a glimpse of eels and jellyfish. but what i saw was enough to keep me contented. The underwater world is remarkably colorful, Kams..

another snorkeling trip the next day, this time at the Marine Park, another island in the sea. the boat ride itself was super. us girls chose the best spot on the boat to sit - on the boat's front tip. we were given extra privileges by the instructors, i would think. haha.. picture a seen from a Miami set music video clip. that was how we were. minus life jackets over swimming suits. you, i know for sure, would've loved it!

at the Marine Park, laughed and screamed more, what with prav constantly throwing bread crumbs towards Ayush and i while we were snorkeling. schools of fish fighting for the bread crumbs right infront of my snorkles almost touching my face was quite scary. it's amazing we could eat fish again for lunch that day..

we were hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the largest tropical sea fish - the Garupa. so shy, hiding in a gigantic cove like coral. again, Prav managed a glimpse of its uglyface :P it shocked her how big the head was. i was at first disappointed not being able to spot it, but after hearing Prav's description of the big fish, somehow, i just wanted to let it be alone, and not scare myself out of the water. the mere thought of swimming along a fish as large as you wasn't exactly comforting. thank goodness it was shy / lazy...

trip back to the island sitting on the same part of the boat, we saw not one but 2 beautiful sea turtles swimming. What are the odds, right? The boat stopped to let us all admire its beauty. one actually bobbed its head above the water! beautiful.

with all the swimming and lazying on the beach the rest of the day, all four of us are officially 2 to 3 shades darker.. i love my dark tan. Vek won't approve, i know.. haha.. prom claims she looks like a "red indian". but we all know how pretty she looks no matter what color her skin is :)

The last night, we danced on the soft sand, under a slight drizzle. the crowd at the Beach party started slow, but ended with so much hype, fireworks and all.. even a grandma joined the fun. she was adorable dancing to hip hop and r&b! coincidently, it was Thursday night. lol...

unpacking my bag, this morning, there was still sand in my backpack. wish i could bottle the little bit up, that little bit of Redang, i brought back.

i don't mind going again. hopefully the next time it's with you. cos, what i learnt throughout this trip was it's not the destination that truly matters in the end of the day, but the journey. sure, the place was beautiful, but it was made much better to spend it with our wacky friends Prom, Prav and Ayush.

see you soon, dear.

love,

sho