there's a billboard near the gombak toll exit that says "now you know how charming the east coast can be" or something along that line. disregarding the 15 hours drive in a cramped-up, suspension-lacking kembara, the east coast can truly be charming. especially the islands beyond its coasts. especially redang.
we spent the weekend at coral view in perhentian besar. we were really impressed to see the wonderfully clear waters, but we later found out the beach was unswimable. it's relatively nice, but it's littered with dead corals.
coral view, my ass.
upon checking in, papa cracked open a few durians bought from the locals, my first durian for this year, and our first durian by the beach experience, ever. and then we hopped on the boat onto the small island to watch the sunset. took a few photos, got to know our boatman and witnessed this out-of-this-world storm clouds rolling and roaring toward the beach.
the clouds and winds were crazy but we were crazier. i don't know what the fuck made us do what we did but we decided to ride through that storm. it was one of the scariest experiences i've ever gone through. it's right there between coming out into this world naked and crying and learning how to rollerblade for the first time. with all the confusion of emotions i was feeling, i'm glad that i was with my family at that time. should i have died that night, in the middle of the tumultuous ocean, i'd die happy knowing that my family was with me.
the next morning, the sky was bluer and the sea was calmer. thank god. or else the trip would be a total photog loss. we headed on to our next island adventure - breakfast. i had a hearty mat salleh breakfast with really really kaw local coffee. a good way to start a day although really stupid when your day entails choppy seas, jumpy boat rides and floating in the water face down most of the time to swim with the fishes. and then we headed out to redang.
redang is one of the most beautiful places i've ever been to. i've never been to many but so far, it's the most beautiful. we all kinda regretted for not staying there in the first place. but glad to experience it anyway. i've got no words for it. not because i'm vocabulary-challenged, which i am from time to time, but because there's no words to describe the beauty of it. and the fishes.. oh my god .. i never thought i'd be that happy to see fish in my life.
and the best part of the trip is that i get to do the travel-photographer wannabe thing with my toy. i even agreed to wake up at 6.30am to catch the sunrise. i mean, i don't even wake up for solat subuh.
speaking of toys .. i almost had to replace falie's really expensive polarizing filter if it wasn't for the hero of the day, our boatman, wak. we were at pulau lang tengah where i stayed on the boat to take photos of my family snorkeling when suddenly, the polarizer accidentally dismounted from my camera and casually dropped into the water and onto the corals. i was freaking out calling falie and my dad to dive down and get it for me. out of the blue, wak just took of his t-shirt and dove down like a pelican scooping a mouthful of fish. it took him less than a second to retrieve the filter and climbing back into his boat and back to his driver side. one of the most impressive things a man has ever done for me. i was impressed.
so anyway, im still rather vertigo from the trip. i can still feel myself swaying aimlessly like a sandbag. so .. here're some photos from the trip.
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