Last year was full of events for me. From day trip to Pulau Kapas (Kapas Island), spontaneous trip to Pulau Perhentian (Perhentian Island), graduation trip to Pulau Redang (Redang Island), dinosaurs' retreat to Tadom Hill Resort, road trip up north along the west coast of Malaysia all the way to Penang, and finally another graduation trip to Japan.
In this post, I'll tell our stories in Terengganu. It was our final year and we just grabbed every opportunity we had to visit the islands and beaches because for the record, Terengganu is a state blessed with scenic coastlines and beautiful islands! :)
Pulau Kapas is a small island about half an hour's boat ride from Marang, Terengganu. It's beautiful, and the best part about it is that it's less crowded with tourists. We snorkeled in the morning and wanted to hike in the afternoon, but we were unprepared for it - wearing slippers and not having mosquito repellent with us, so the plan was called off even though we had braved the scorching hot weather to the foothill. Seriously, the unrelenting sun made that 15-minute distance felt like forever. But you know what, it's also because of the sun that the sea was stunningly beautiful!
Clear, blue sky and the clear, blue sea! :)
Gem Island seen from Kapas Island
Shimmering waters :)
Me trying to get an Instagram-worthy shot :p
So now, the spontaneous trip to Pulau Perhentian. It was the end of our O&G posting, we finished a few days earlier and had a few days off. I remember we planned for an island trip that weekend but eventually SY and I decided not to join for some reasons I can't recall. I was on the 宅女 mode already thinking of just staying back to relax, and out of the blue SY asked if I'd like to join QY and Nic to Pulau Perhentian. Seriously... Please understand that it actually-usually-normally takes me some time to adapt to sudden changes -.- I was still thinking about it and the next moment, SY told me that they had booked a room. Oh well... Might as well join them even though it felt like I ffk-ed the other side to go for this. But really, trust me, though a tiny mini little bit reluctant to go in the beginning, that trip gave me the best snorkeling experience I ever had! We went on weekdays and there weren't many people on the island. We rented a mini boat just enough to take the four of us. And if I may say so, it felt as if we booked the sea when we arrived at the snorkeling spots! There wasn't anyone else, except for a few other visitors who came later. Plunge into the sea and it's a whole new world. And at that moment, it felt like there was just me, the sea, the fishes and the warm sunlight. I can never, ever forget that feeling. Enchanting is not even enough to describe it. This time round, we managed to hike (still wearing slippers)! And my goodness... That view - I never knew Malaysia could have such a view!
L.O.V.E. from us!
The amazing view from the hill on Pulau Perhentian Kecil :)
Starry, starry night
And then to Pulau Redang! This time I went with Amanda, Karen, KC, Jack and Jon. We stayed at Pelangi Resort. It belonged to Jack's landlord and we got a discount because they said that Jack was "aunty's favourite" hahaha. Honestly, the snorkeling experience wasn't that great for me because there were too many people floating around and we frequently bumped into each other. One of us didn't feel well and skipped the snorkeling session scheduled that second afternoon, and the rest of us thought we might as well ponteng too. But thinking it would be a waste to just stay in, we snorkeled on our own in shallow waters. And we found that just quietly floating on the sea is actually a bliss. We got a few shades darker as a result but that's fine because we enjoyed that moment. This one friend M, who can be quite annoying on land but not so annoying underwater (you can guess why), took Amanda and I on a tour to see "a school of fish". It was a grand sight to see thousands of them swirling in a circle. M dived into the school of fish, and I honestly never seen him so graceful before haha! One of the highlights of the trip, was that I finally got to shoot the galactic core of the milky way! M told me that it could be seen with naked eyes on the island. I didn't believe him at first, until when I set my eyes on a cluster of stars that seemed to take the shape of the core, I wanted to scream my lungs out! I had always wanted to shoot that but I never expected that I would do it on this trip! It was really like a dream come true :)
Isn't it beautiful? :)
Us kids who ponteng (played truant)!
Failed jump shot :p
Thought we might as well tried to pose
"Aunty's favourite" :p
A dream come true! :))
I'll definitely miss Terengganu in all its beauty!
