This is going to be one heckuva long post, but I'm detailing everything, for the benefit of my poor memory and for the informational pleasure of anyone intending to embark on the same adventure. (
I'm typing this to the tunes of The Beach Boys - The Platinum Collection).
Day 0Amidst heavy clouds, 2 cars set off at 7pm on Friday the 28th on the very long drive to Kuala Terengganu (KT). That Penchala link ah ... yes, the tunnel is very wide and beautiful and modern ... but
haiyor, it brought us splat in the middle of the Jalan Kuching jam! Like hello, we didn't pay RM2 on that 4-minute drive to bring us into a jam we thought we could avoid! Anyway, although the MRR2 is closed for an indefinite period of time, I think it would be quite safe to say that the roads under MRR2 make for a better way towards Karak, rather than the lousy Penchala link.
So, we drove on and on. Yewl, Jason and Dennis in one car; me, KF and David in the other. We finally arrived in KT town at about 3am, after an unnecessary jam on the single-lane Karak highway. And the guys decided we didn't want to spend RM88 to sleep in the KT apartment provided for us by Square Point Resort. So, we headed on to Merang jetty, which is apparently 45 mins' drive from KT. Stopped halfway in this dingy Malay roadside stall for a munch and arrived at the dark deserted jetty at about 4.30am. Everyone was quite tired after that long drive, so some of us caught some winks in the car, while some just hung around trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep.
Day 1
Finally, daylight! (We still look quite fresh
hor after that tiring night?) Buses were starting to come into the jetty, bringing with them throngs of people. We managed to get onto the 8.15am boat to Square Point resort (which apparently had several boats transferring guests to the resort that day due to the peak season). The speedboat (which was actually quite worn) took an hour to reach the resort. But, the ride was good. Just blue, blue sea and bright, clear skies everywhere. My heart started getting quite excited at the prospect of 3 whole days in such idyllic conditions.
When we reached the resort, it was high tide. So, the mini-jetty was not use-able, and a resort staff had to scurry around for a chair that we could use to get off the boat. Yes, lotsa climbing in and outta boats for this trip. We were greeted by one of the resort staff, Bai (short for Baizura), who was gave us a short briefing of the rules and regulations of the resort. Goodness, I felt like a school kid - bring your plates to the collection area after you're done, no taking towels out of rooms, follow the schedule of snorkelling provided, meal-times will be marked with the sounding of a huge triangular instrument, try to come early for meals or don't complain if there's nothing left, etc. But I guess, the rules were necessary since it was a full house at the small resort - some 140+ people, I think.
We checked-in to our rooms. Our rooms were on the ground floor of a 2-storey wooden building. The upper floor were for triple rooms, whereas the ground floor were for twin rooms. There were other single-storey buildings scattered around the resort's volleyball court which were family suites (for 4 people - 1 double bed and a double-decker bunk) and seaview deluxe suites, which faced the blue, blue sea.
Our room had an attached bathroom, with rather dirty-looking floors and an instant water heater. The water pressure was okay, and if you transport yourself back to university camp days, you'll survive the bathroom. The room had two single beds - with sheets, blankets and pillows, a built-in wardrobe which they thoughtfully equipped with two hangers, a side table, a dressing table with mirror and 2 drawers (which were so filled with ants that it horrified me, but my Superman cleverly took the drawers out of the room to clean them with a broom). The doors had plenty of hooks to hang your clothes. And outside the room, along the corridors, there was a string to hang your wet things. Outside the door of every room, there was also a broom which I presume is for you to do your own sweeping if the sand in your room irritates you. I find the resort quite d-i-y, and it's that element which immediately made me feel good - that everyone did their bit to make the resort better.
So, we chucked our bags and traipsed outside to get our welcome drink - orange cordial only, nothing much. Then, because KF didn't sleep at all after that long drive overnight, we went back into the room to sleep for about an hour until someone started yelling "Lunch, l-u-n-c-h!" at 12.30pm. Lunch was chicken, some vege, rice, noodles and orange juice. Meals were rather typical, simple Malay fare. I thought the food was very acceptable, but I guess the guys were expecting better food, so they complained abit.
Having eaten and slept (or snorkelled, as some of the guys couldn't wait to jump into the blue, blue sea), we checked the board for our group's snorkelling schedule. We were scheduled for snorkelling the next day. So we settled in to a free afternoon. The guys took out their trusty "chor tai dee" cards and began the first of many endless rounds. I was quite amazed that the same game can keep them occupied for so many hours. I took some pictures and read a book.
Finally, the guys got bored of their cards and we walked along the beach trailing some
ang moh girls until we came to the next resort, D'Coconut Lagoon, if I'm not mistaken. The resort there looked nicer i.e. the buildings, but the beach was not very nice with very rough sand - reclaimed land, according to Dennis. We walked back to our resort and found a hammock and a swing! We settled there under the shade of this huge tree (which had a treehouse!) and began a game of charades - Jason's idea - and it was quite fun passing the afternoon in that secluded corner :)
Then, after tea break, when the sun was less blazing (but still shining bright and hot, nevertheless), we slapped on sunblock, put on our fins and life vests and masks and dipped into the Lang Tengah wonderland! I put on my disposal daily lenses, put some leave-in conditioner in my tied-up hair, sprayed on waterproof sunblock, swiped petroleum jelly on my face where the mask fits (a tip to prevent water leaking thru), learnt to breathe through my mouth, and began snorkelling!
It was nothing short of amazing. Fishes of all colours swimming so close, but always narrowly missing my outstretched hands ... geli-looking sea cucumbers settled on the sea bottom ... scary-looking dead corals so near that I was afraid I'd scratch my legs on them when I kicked my fins ... many other sea creatures that I don't know the name of ... and yes, a baby shark! When KF spotted the shark, he pointed it out to me, and that moment was surreal : it was quite far away but still visible, we could clearly see it was a shark, it didn't look baby-like to me, but I guess a grown shark would have been much bigger, it felt like I was watching it through an aquarium (because I had a mask on) but then I knew I was swimming in the same sea as it ... and then, it turned and swam away into the invisible darkness of the far-off sea. Haha, dramatic leh.
So, I successfully handled my first snorkelling experience - powered by KF's strong arm which gave me occasional guidance and pushes when I couldn't swim forward against the current and waves. Was really looking forward to the resort snorkelling trips the next day. We bathed, had dinner, sat under the stars for a while. Then one by one at 8.30pm, we went in to our rooms when tiredness crept into our bones. We had made a plan to get up at 12 midnight again but all of us slept on thru the night.
Day 2
From this resort, it's not possible to see the sunrise, so we slept until 7.30am. While having breakfast, we did what we couldn't get up to do the night before - brought out David's surprise birthday cake and sang him the traditional song. The cake, a chocolate walnut cake, amazingly survived the trip from KL to the resort without getting flattened or crushed or gone bad. Thanks to my sister's wonderful baking prowess. The guys dubbed the cake the G-shock cake, perfect for adventure travel. But, no, the texture is nothing inedible - Jason said it tasted like a chocolate mooncake. There was less moisture in the cake as it had to withstand more than 24 hours without a fridge.
Then at 9.30am, we boarded the resort's boat to begin our trip to Redang Marine Park. After an hour's boat ride, we arrived to see many many people already snorkelling there. Maybe because it's peak season, so we bumped into quite a number of people while snorkelling. But, the beauty of the underwater park more than made up for it. I saw the Nemo house, little Nemo fishes, the worms called Christmas trees, and, a Moray eel!! Someone tempted the eel out with a fish and I got to see the eel in its full glory. I was awed and afraid at the same time.
The marine park also had fishes so tame that many swam incredibly near me. I truly appreciate the person who developed the snorkelling activity and the snorkel mask. We had an hour in the water, and came up at about 11.45am. Then we gathered onto the jetty and waited for many many boats-full of Laguna Redang guests to get onto their boats before we got onto ours to get back for lunch. At that moment, I was glad we had gone to Lang Tengah instead of Redang because judging from the number of guests at Laguna, I could imagine how packed Redang would be compared to the rather idyllic and calm Lang Tengah.
When we got back, my head had little hammers in it - either due to the boat ride under the hot afternoon sun, or due to my new disposable lenses which did not accommodate for astigmatisme. Either way, after lunch, I had such a bad headache that KF and David had to hike to the next resort (Blue Coral) to get some Panadol for me. And hike they did. They came back with stories that the beach there is much nicer, facilities in the other resort much prettier, and that girls there were more cun. They did a pit stop at Redang Lang resort too (next to Blue Coral) before returning within 20 minutes after starting off from Square Point.
After popping the Panadols and a short 10-min nap plus some therapeutical head massage from KF's magical fingers, I was up and ready to go. We gathered at the "sports centre" and awaited our macho resort guides to bring us for the round-island trip. The round-island trip was to literally snorkel around the island looking at corals. We set out at a slow pace, so the guides could ensure that everyone knew how to snorkel. When we were about to reach the part of the sea near the end of our resort's beach, I got rather dizzy and KF escorted me back to the shore and he headed back out. I went back to rest in the room until KF came back with stories of how beautiful the corals were on the other side near Redang Lang resort. Maybe next time we'll go there to stay if we return to Lang Tengah again.
After KF bathed and had slapped on some after-sun moisturiser (he was badly-sunburnt after snorkelling), we headed out to find the guys on another round of chor tai dee. KF and I opted, instead, to walk along the beach. We headed to the hammock and he suggested another round of charades between both of us. Then, we walked back along the beach to see if we could catch the sunset. We continued with charades, a game of which will forever be etched in my memory of how romantic my dearie can be. That evening was a milestone event in my life. I cried a few tears of happiness and ... I shall save the mushy stuff to myself :P We headed back to dinner with something we promised to keep a secret between us for the next 24 hours :)
That night, we had rounds of Bluff and chor tai dee and then at 10.30pm, I left the guys to their own as I turned in for the night.
Day 3
Got up again at 7.30am and headed to breakfast. I wanted to check with Bai if we could take the first boat out to the jetty. So, after breakfast, we hurriedly packed our things, returned our rental gear and waited to check out. Bai said we were scheduled for the 12noon speedboat transfer to the jetty and she couldn't change the arrangements. We had to sit around and pass time, with chor tai dee, while seated on the sea-facing verandah of the resort. We took the opportunity to soak in the last of the relaxing atmosphere before heading back to the havoc of city-life.
Our days on the island had been blessed with fine sunny excruciatingly hot weather, but when we were about to leave, we began to feel small occasional droplets of rain. Our boat arrived and within an hour, we were back at Merang jetty. I was sad to leave Lang Tengah, but I was glad to see my car. Don't ask :P It cost us RM15 per car i.e. RM5 per day to park our car at the jetty, under the watchful eyes of Encik Mahadi the car park owner. I insisted we give him an RM2 tip as well.
So, at about 1.15pm, we began our journey back to KL. We stopped along the way to buy some keropok ikan and keropok lekor. And then, at about 5pm, stopped at Kemaman at Restoran Kemaman (haha) for lunch-cum-dinner of the apparently famous stuffed crab. The stuffed crab was shredded slices of crab meat stuffed into half a crab shell and covered with a thin layer of fried flour. Cost us RM6 per person for that crab! Slightly inflated, but I guess it's tourist price. We also had really fresh lala and fried sotong, some noodles, fried rice, vege. All in all RM18 per person - okay la for a meal, not cheap, not expensive either.
After dinner, we continued our drive back to KL. The long journey became extra-long when we reached Bentong where the Karak highway was reduced to a single lane. After a long weekend, you can imagine the number of cars on the road. Finally, arrived home at about 11.30pm. Whew! An almost 12-hour journey. We told ourselves, never ever again will we drive to KT. Airasia's definitely the way to go. By self-drive, the trip cost us less than RM350 per person inclusive of petrol, toll, parking, and the 3D2N full-board package at the resort.
Will I go to Lang Tengah again? Yes, definitely, yes!
