Ok, so this was the hysterically fast boat that whacked its way across the South China Sea to Redang Island. Jordan and I ended up standing (where this photo was taken) so we could see outside. It was like doing mogels on a ski hill, except going straight over top of them all. Absolutely mental. (Note everyone has lifejackets on...no one was taking any chances!)
This the view of our lovely little resort (the last built up one) taken from a climb up the hill behind the bar area. we practically had the place to ourselves, which is maybe another reason we chatted so much and gone on so well with our local dudes. I highly recommend this place. You have to walk further, and past all the built-up areas, but it is SO worth it. Absolutely stunning.
This was the breakfast scene everyday. The lovely Indian gentleman was making Hannah her roti canai, which she had every day, dipped in curry sauce. You can also have it with an egg mixed in. Super thin dough, made even thinner, then folded a bit like an envelope and grilled. It then tears apart and you dunk it. Or stuff your face with it. What did the world do before there was roti canai?
Kids. Beach. Crazy warm water. The end.
Going loco. Not sure why Hannah bothered getting changed. Her GPS kept dragging her back into the ocean.
Hanging out at the bar with a good puzzle book and bananagrams...oh and a cocoa camino peanut butter chocolate bar. The SECOND last one. (Not that we're counting or anything.)
This was a totally nutty bug that caused fits of laughter. It looks like a walking piece of roti canai, to be honest. None of us could figure it out, and when Jordan leaned in to take a closer look, it lept onto his chest. It was really really odd-looking, totally off-balance. I don't know that it really knew what it was.
Ok, so this was highly entertaining. Jordan has it all on video. Several times. At least twice each day, this tractor showed up with either construction supplies, pathetic I-don't-want-to-walk tourists...or nothing at all in the trailer. And EVERY SINGLE time, it got stuck. You see, prior to our arrival, there were massive rains...monsoons, in fact, and a lot of the land or sand slid out. Anyway, not sure why they tried again and again to drive up here, but they did. It became better than a sitcom. And when things got really embarrassing, a larger backhoe -- running on one less cylinder (that would be Ali's mechanically-obsessive observation) came along and pushed it up the tiny incline. I know, I know. Small things amuse small minds. You didn't have to say it.
Our boat ride back. Hannah was a little sad to be leaving (ok, grumpy)...so I tried a foolproof method to get her to smile: 'Smile for Liam, Hannah!!!'
Word of the Day: Matsalleh (white person)We are greeted with smiles by a guy at the side of the road, standing beside a gold Toyota van (exactly what was described to Ali over the phone). We unload our 2 bags of luggage and he takes them to the dock. He tells us to sit and wait, and then directs Ali where to park our van, across the street. There is a per day fee, and Ali also pays the Marine Park fee, something that goes towards maintaining the whole cluster of islands that include Redang as the whole place is a nature reserve. Something we are more than happy to contribute to.
We eventually clamber down into this boat, along with about 10 other Chinese folk, including some giggling girls (travelling with one guy – he is soaking up all those giggles, you can be sure) and a tiny baby. Rebecca, I am not sure you would be into taking Mika on this boat ride! We all put on life jackets and the boat takes off. Did I mention that the boat took off? Had you been standing, you would no longer be standing. We fly off at breakneck speed, whacking waves at a great rate of knots (pardon the punny expression). There is one spot to see out of, beside the driver, so I cannot resist it. I clamber towards it, and hang on to the metal pole beside him. Think the inside of the Metro or TTC, except half the length. Of course, in about 30 seconds, given the wind on my face, my contacts are like cling film on my eyeballs. Ali shouts at me over the din of the engine and the waves to grab Jordan and hold him, thinking it might be better for his motion sickness. So Jordan stands in front of me, I hold him around the waist and he too grabs the metal pole to the left of our driver (driver is on the right, remember). We “ride” the waves, buckling at the knees and Jordan is having the time of his life, comparing it to the Park at Vorlage. He is completely silent, yet is bursting with happiness inside. It is one of the highlights for me, as a Mum. The ride is supposed to take 45 mins, but we are there in about 30. Jordan and I have serious rubber legs after our standing workout. (The driver of course, says nothing to us. I am sure he thinks, if these stupid matsallehs want to stand, let them.) We get to the island and we all get off, but our luggage is left on the boat. They are to bring it to further around the island and we are walk “through” the island. “Come, come” says this Chinese guide of sorts, who is really with this other big group of herd-like tourists. Oh-oh, I think. I hope our place is not some overblown Americanized resort. We walk about 30 minutes, and end up on another beach where there are 3 resorts: 1 medium, 1 new large and fancy and 1 small at the very end around the corner...that would be ours. We are in heaven (although both Ali and I are a bit saddened at the Burmese guys who carry our 2 suitcases on their backs along the beach – I guess the boat only unloaded at the fancier places). Realizing it is their job, we give them a massive tip. (Of course, by the end of our stay here, we have become quite friendly with all the workers here, as they have with us. Helps that Ali is Malay AND has married a matsalleh and our kids eat everything here.)
We are given the key to our chalet: it has a big wooden bar on it with “G8” painted on it. Jordan immediately says he hopes Stephen Harper isn’t here as well, if it’s a summit. Hahaha. This would be the boy whose speech was on French tongue twisters, remember. We walk a few metres to our chalet, which has a verandah around 2 sides, and enter a lovely cool room with 2 double beds on the main floor and a double bed upstairs in a loft. It is absolutely lovely. There is even the world’s tiniest fridge, where we stick our leftover lunch bits (yes, there were leftover lunch bits). The kids are chafing at the bit to get into the ocean, so we all change as fast as we can and head out into the waves. You can imagine the scene: lots of happy screams and smiles and laughter. It is all too good to be true. I stand there, wondering how we ever got here. How this is happening to us. And I am so so happy for our children. They are literally soaking it all up, the good, the bad and the superfantastic. I am in heaven.
We eat lunch – a lovely buffet concoction of noodles, curries, veggies and rice and tiny sweet bananas for dessert – and then purchase our snorkelling equipment ($10) for the week. There are two snorkelling times listed on a board outside the tiny wooden building that is “reception”. The next run is at 2:30, so after some unpacking and more swimming, we put on our lifejackets, strap our snorkels round our arms and follow our 3 local dudes (and they truly are dudes) into the ocean waves. I drag Hannah over the large waves, as the boat is quite far out, getting her to face in so the waves don’t smash against her face. None of our kids have ever swum in an ocean, so it’s all quite wild. We clamber into this boat and, once again, head off at breakneck speed. There is only our family in the boat – how lucky are we? One of our dudes tells us (well, Ali) that the place is usually packed during school holidays and peak seasons, that we are really lucky. Cool. We zoom around another couple of smaller islands, and then pull into a cove. We are all told to jump in and go for it. We all do. It is fantastic. Hannah, once again, turns out to be the surprise adventurer of the trip. She snorkels the whole hour, never coming back to the boat for a break, like her brothers. Ali, unfortunately, got a bit spooked (he is the only non-swimmer) and had to climb back into the boat after 5 minutes, poor guy. (Note: he is trying again this morning, though, at the nature reserve island , the morning location for snorkelling, where you can walk in from the shore’s edge). We see all kinds of coloured fish, and really enjoy zooming around checking them all out, pointing to each other and making funny noises through our snorkel tubes as we all spot different colours and shapes and sizes.
Back to Redang, and it’s post-snorkelling tea time. The kids love tea-time. It consists of sweet juice drinks and what I would call Sarah lee type cakes. I am happy because there is a massive big 3-foot urn of boiling water here 24/7, with teabags (and coffee and hot chocolate) and a tin of susu manis. (susu = milk, manis = sweet...it’s sweetened condensed milk. This is how they drink tea and coffee here, and to be perfectly frank, it is delicious). We swim yet again, write in journals, do some Games Magazine puzzles and eventually change out of our swimsuits for dinner. Dinner is just as delicious as lunchtime – chicken, whole fried fish, tofu, veg, rice, and some form of fruit for dessert. We then move over to the bar area – there is no one here, the resort is so empty – but it is a lovely overhanging deck area where we watch crabs catching the last of the sun on the massive rocks below. There is a constant breeze here, and the water is warm, warm, warm. Ali has a beer, and I have some more of my wine (that I have brought with me, being the red wine freak that I am – I bought some in Singapore). All very surreal. I really still cannot believe it all.
We clamber into our cool beds, exhausted. We try to stay up, but we all crash around 9:45.
Only to be woken up by Harrison the Rooster (the kids have named him) at some ungodly dark hour. What the heck. We fall back asleep for a bit, but then we get up at 6:45 and walk along the beach and witness the sunrise. Wow. Ok, so maybe Harrison was onto something.
Breakfast is the best meal of the day. Of course we are now starving, too, because we have been up so long and it is only served from 8 to 9am (after which is snorkelling session no. 1). There are two dudes (yes, still dudes) who will prepare the most scrumptious roti canai, either plain or with an egg mixed. Our kids ask for both. And Hannah – OF COURSE – picks out noodles and chicken and hot curry dipping sauce for her roti canai. Fascinating really. She may be shy, but boy is she into food. I love it. They also have really white sliced bread for toast, and massive tubs of coconut “jam”, marmalade, strawberry jam and peanut butter as well. Although I have tackled the marmalade, the kids are not tackling the peanut butter at all –and I really thought they would.
Animals around the resort:
Roger the Monkey (whom we have witnessed racing over to a family’s table and grabbing a piece of toast, the outcome of which was our dude friends using a slingshot towards the tree he was in to scare him off. Our kids thought this was all super exciting, as you can imagine.)
Harrison the Rooster who continues to drive us up the wall. In addition to waking us up, he crows at the oddest times of the day, at which point Jordan shouts, “We’re already awake, Harrison!”.
Wild, scrawny stubby-tailed cats who roam everywhere. Unnamed as of yet by our kids, because there are quite a few of them.
No massive bugs or odd creatures yet.
