A trip to Pulau Redang, Terengganu (登嘉楼热浪岛) cum a
visit to Terengganu Hokkien Association (登嘉楼福建会馆) was
organized by Selangor Cheras Hokkien Association (雪兰莪蕉赖区福建公会) for its
committee members and spouses from Wednesday,
August 9, 2017 till Saturday, August 12, 2017. (四天两夜热浪岛之旅暨登嘉楼福建会馆交流)
A total of 30 people participated in this journey, led by
Mr. Kenny Thong (唐金华) and assisted by the Association’s executive secretary Mr.
SK Tan (陈绍金). There were 13
senior citizens aged 60 and above (including me), with a good mixture of gender. Among the participants were the Association’s
newly-elected president (2017-2019) 钱锦发 (78 year-old), founder and
long-time past president (1993-2017) 陈思添 (75 year-old) and his wife who is the younger sister of the
president, and many other important office-bearers of the committee.
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| Map of Pulau Redang |
I was fortunate to be able to join the trip as the spouse to
my wife Soh Ai who is a committee member. I am not a Hokkien and hence
understand only a bit of the Hokkien dialect.
This is the 2nd time I participated in Cheras Hokkien
Association’s tours, the 1st being a 2D1N visit to Hokkien
Associations in Triang, Pahang and Bahau, Negeri Sembilan respectively just 4
months ago from April 15 to 16, 2017 (see my travelogue: https://taionn.blogspot.my/2017/04/cheras-hokkien-association-visiting.html).
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| The itinerary of our 4D2N trip |
The tour fare was RM470 per pax. It is understood that the Association
subsidized RM4,000 for the rental of the tour bus (excluding RM200 for the
driver). The rate for 2N stay at Redang Holiday Beach Villa includes 2
breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 tea-times and 2 dinners, ferry transfer from KT jetty
to and fro Redang Island, 3 speed-boat trips for snorkeling (excluding RM30 per
pax for the snorkeling equipments, i.e. goggles and life-jacket).
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| Our 30-seater tour bus |
At 8.00pm on Wednesday (09/08/2017), I drove with Soh Ai and
my eldest son Wai Kit to pick up Mr. and Mrs. SK Tan (陈绍金 & 李秀美) in the nearby area.
We reached the gathering place at the basketball court of Batu 11 Cheras
New Village at 8.30pm. Wai Kit then
drove home our car.
Our luxurious tour bus was driven by 62-year-old En. Md
Nor. We departed from Batu 11 Cheras at
9.20pm. The bus stopped at a few R&R
stations (Kawasan Rehat) for toilet including Termeloh Timur and Paka.
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| The route from Cheras to Pulau Redang |
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| A stop for answering nature's all and a cup of coffee |
At 3.35am, Thursday (10/08/2017) we made a stopover at
Rantau Abang for half an hour and visited the pitch-dark beach hoping to find
any egg-laying sea turtles but to no avail.
We arrived at Chinatown of Kuala Terengganu (登嘉楼唐人街) at 5.30am where we took our early breakfast at a coffee
shop known as 茵茵面档. A bowl of soup
noodles with 3 pieces of yong tau fu costs RM5.00 and a cup of kopi-o RM1.40.
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| Terengganu Chinatown |
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| Early breakfast at 5.30am |
We left Chinatown at 6.35am
and reached Jeti Pelancongan Shahbandar, Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin at 7.00am.
We boarded the air-con ferry of Sejahtera Ferry Services Sdn Bhd vide
gate K5. The ferry departed at 8.30am,
taking 1 hour 15 minutes to reach Pulau Redang.
Along the voyage, I noticed the sea water really crystal clear and blue!
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| Unloading our luggage from the bus at KT Syahbandar Jetty |
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| Ferry service counter |
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| A pose in front of the ferry that took us to Pulau Redang |
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| Crystal clear waters |
The ferry took us to the Long Beach Jetty near Redang Beach
Resort at 9.45am. A beach buggy then fetched
us together with our luggage in 2 trips to Redang Holiday Beach Villa.
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| Arriving at the Pulau Redang Long Beach |
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| Beach buggy ride to our hotel |
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| The Resort was where we landed but not where we stayed in |
Since our rooms were not ready for check-in at that time of 10.05am,
we loitered around the villa until 12.00pm noon when the buffet lunch was ready
to be served. The food comprised
chicken, beef, vegetables, sausages, yellow beans and salad and the fruit was watermelon.
The taste of the food was so-so only.
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| Arrived at Redang Holiday Beach Villa where we stayed in |
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| The cafetaria where we had our meals |
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| My first buffet lunch at Redang Island |
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| The itinerary displayed on the side wall of the reception counter is almost identical to our own itinerary |
We checked into our respective rooms at 12.30pm, and I found
my room (RH35) furnished with bare minimum, no TV, no kettle, no supply of
shampoo, toothpaste and etc. There wasn’t even provision of towels which I
found out later was available for collection at the reception counter after
4.00pm.
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| The corner room for my wife and I |
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| A glimpse of the room |
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| Swimming pool |
We went for our 1st snorkeling (浮潜) at 2.30pm. A speed-boat took us to the sea somewhere near
the island and stopped for one hour. I
had a good time snorkeling for the first time in my life and did manage to
watch the beautiful small fishes swimming freely in the waters.
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| Mr. SK Tan and I |
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| Waiting for the trip to snorkeling |
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| Lee Siew Bee (pic left) and Soh Ai |
As I was afraid that my smart-phone would get wet during the
boat-ride, I didn’t bring it along but took a digital camera wrapped in a
plastic bag instead. Soh Ai took some
photos of me snorkeling in the sea waters and those photos were the first of
its kind in my life!
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| Precious photos of my snorkeling for the first time in my life |
We returned to Holiday Beach Villa at about 4.00pm and
tea-time was ready then. Soh Ai and I decided
to go back to our room to take a shower before taking the tea-time. By the time we returned to the cafeteria, the
only food goreng pisang (fried bananas) was all finished and only bubur cha cha
soup was left for us!
At 4.45pm, I followed the energetic SK Tan, 陈思添 and two others to go jungle-trekking behind our villa. We walked through trees and bushes, watched
some squirrels hunting for food and water and admired at the sea view from
atop.
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| Jungle trekking |
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| A pose with Cheras Hokkien Association founder and past president 陈思添 |
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| Squirrel looking for food |
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| Queuing up for dinner food |
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| My dinner |
After dinner from 7.00pm to 8.30pm, Soh Ai and I followed SK
Tan, his wife Lee Siew Bee and the Association’s treasurer陈振发to stroll along the beach.
There were more crowds on the beach in front of other beach resorts such
as Redang Pelangi Resort. A romantic “LOVE”
framing was put up on the beach attracting many couples to take photos with it.
There was nothing much to do at the villa at night except
chit-chatting with friends and playing with hand-phones using mobile data (no
wi-fi available). I google-searched and
found the sunrise time next morning to be 7.04am and planned to wake up early
to watch. I went to bed at 11.00pm.
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| Romantic frame on beach |
On Friday (11/08/2017), I was awakened by my phone alarm at 6.30am. Soh Ai was too tired and preferred to stay
sleeping instead of going out to watch sunrise.
As I walked out my room, I was a bit disappointed to find
the sky already quite bright. Anyway, a brightly-lit moon was still visible in
the sky and the sun hadn’t risen above the sea horizon. At about 7.00am, the spectacular view of the
sunrise was really eye-catching!
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| Early Friday morning before dawn |
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| Moon was still visible just before 7.00am |
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| Sun was about to rise at 7.04am |
An appropriate Chinese poem to describe the beautiful scenery
should be one composed by the 1st emperor of the Song Dynasty, Song Taizu Zhao
Kuangyin (reign time 960-976): “太阳初出光赫赫，千山万山如火发。一轮顷刻上天衢，逐退群星与残月。”(咏初日，宋 · 赵匡胤)
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| SK Tan and Lee Siew Bee |
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| Beautiful sunrise overlooking South China Sea |
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| Breakfast time |
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| My breakfast |
After breakfast from 7.10am till 8.00am, we went for
snorkeling for the 2nd time at 8.30am. This time around it was a place called Marine
Park Centre. Admission fee is RM5 for
adults and RM2 for children and senior citizens. There was nothing special there except that
snorkeling could be done next to the beach with sighting of fishes and coral
reefs. Over there we posed for the only
group photo of all but 2 or 3 members.
Quite a number of snorkellers were stung by jelly-fishes
near the bridge area but no major injury was reported. There is a Marine Park
Museum exhibiting replica
of marine life.
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| Waiting for 2nd day 2nd time snorkeling |
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| Going for snorkeling |
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| Arriving at Marine Park Centre |
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| Sk and Siew Bee geared up to go snorkeling |
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| Our group photo on the beach of Marine Park Centre |
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| The 31-year Chinese guide (hailed from Tmn Supreme, Cheras, KL) for our snorkeling trips earning only RM1,200 per month |
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| Marine Park Museum |
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| Returning to Redang Island after snorkeling |
We returned to our villa at about 10.45am and had our lunch at 12.00pm. Soh Ai decided not to go out after lunch and took a nap. The weather was very hot then, I too initially hesitated whether to go or not for snorkeling for the 3rd time in the afternoon.
As there was nothing much to do, I changed my mind and decided to go for the 3rd snorkeling (this time quite a number of our group members chose to drop out). I didn’t carry my camera to take any photos.
I found my 3rd snorkeling experience a bad one, although the fishes and coral reefs seemed abundant. I somehow got drifted unknowingly by the undercurrent away from our boat, water went inside the goggles and caused me to swallow it a few times, briefly stepped on the corals on a few occasions. I quickly swam back to the boat and waited there.
After snorkeling, we returned to our villa at 3.45pm. I swam for a little while in the swimming pool, before going for the tea-time at 4.15pm.
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| The quiet Luna Bar attached to our villa |
At 5.30pm, I followed SK and Siew Bee to walk along the beach
to view the many activities of holiday-makers.
There was a “Help Save Sea Turtles” Campaign going on attracting a big crowd
of bystanders. We visited “More More Tea
Inn” which was used as the main location for a successful Hong Kong movie “SUMMER
HOLIDAY” (《夏日么么茶》) starring
Sammi Cheng (郑秀文) and Ritchie Ren (任贤齐) and screened in all Asian
countries in 1999.
We also walked to Redang Reef Resort which is perched atop a
rocky ledge amidst its serene greenery at one corner of the island.
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| "Help Save Sea Turtles" campaign |
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| More More Tea Inn |
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| 《夏日么么茶》movie location |
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| Redang Reef Resort |
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| "Little Canyon" |
Three of us returned to our villa at 7.10pm just in time for
dinner. After dinner, Soh Ai stayed back
at the cafeteria with her friends while I returned to the room at about
9.00pm. I was told the next day that many
members consumed beers and chit-chat until midnight. But I went to bed early at 11.00pm.
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| Dinner time |
On Saturday (12/08/2017), I woke up at 5.15am. We checked out of our room, left our luggage
near the reception counter and had our last early breakfast at 6.00am. We were fetched by beach buggy to the Long
Beach Jetty at 6.45am. From there a
smaller ferry transferred us to a bigger one at 7.15am. We departed from Pulau Redang at 7.22am and
arrived at Shahbandar Jetty of Kuala Terengganu at 8.35am.
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| Luggage by the reception side |
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| Early breakfast before departure |
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| On the beach buggy |
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| On the ferry returning to the mainland |
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| KT Jetty |
Our tour bus picked us up at 9.05am and took us to Chinatown at 9.10am.
We walked around Dataran Shahbandar, Jalan Kampung Cina and Pulau Warisan River Cruise area and
noticed some interesting wall murals. A
few of us visited Pasar Besar Kedai Payang (a wet and dry market). I bought
from a Chinatown local delicacies shop 3
packets of biscuits for RM20.00. Some of
us had refreshment in a coffee shop.
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| Our tour bus picking us up |
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| Jalan Kampung Cina wall murals |
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| A miniature house |
Pulau Warisan River Cruise
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| Market visit |
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| Local delicacy shop |
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| Coffee shop |
The main program of the day was to pay a courtesy call to
and have interaction with the Terengganu Hokkien Association at 11.00am. The Association president and another
committee member were so nice to come up to our bus to greet us before leading us
to their premises at Jalan Sultan Ismail, KT.
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| Terengganu Hokkien Association committee members greeting us on the bus |
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| The premises of Terengganu Hokkien Association (THA) |
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| View of KT town from the window of THA's premises |
The interaction started at 11.30am with the welcoming
address by the newly-elected (2 months ago) president of Terengganu Hokkien
Association杜丕政at the meeting room on the 3rd floor. He was quite talkative
and spoke for at least half an hour. As the speech was delivered in Hokkien, I
could understand only a bit but nonetheless enjoyed the interesting part that I
understood. The most impressive point was
that this association was a prime-mover for the formation of The Federation of
Hokkien Associations Malaysia (马来西亚福建社团联合会，简称大马福联会).
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| Interaction of the two Hokkien Associations in progress |
The next speaker was our tour leader Kenny Thong who spoke
with great humor, arousing frequent laughter across the room, and introduced
all those Cheras Hokkien Association committee members who were present. He also emphasized the use of Hokkien as the medium
of dialogue between Hokkien Associations as that would be most amicable. This forced
the following speaker Cheras Hokkien Association president钱锦发to deliver his speech in Hokkien, which he said was the
first time in his life as he used to speak in Mandarin in all social functions
he attended. Nonetheless, he did his
part of the introduction of Cheras Hokkien Association very well.
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| Our tour leader Kenny Thong giving a light-hearted introduction |
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| The organization chart of the committee of Terengganu Hokkien Association |
After that, we all proceeded to a bigger hall on the 4th
floor for a group photo session. I was one
of 3 photographers as SK Tan requested me to assist. This was followed by the two presidents
exchanging momentos and souvenirs before we adjourned for lunch at a nearby
Restoran Uncle Ng at 12.50pm. The
sumptuous meal was hosted by Trengganu Hokkien Association. They also gave each one of us a T-shirt
showcasing the slogan of “Visit Beautiful Terrenggu 2017” as a gift!
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| A group photo of the two associations' committee members |
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| Giving momento to the host |
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| Reciprocal giving of momento |
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| Exchange of souvenirs |
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| Restaurant for lunch on the first floor |
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| T-shirt gift from Terengganu Hokkien Association. Black for men, pink for women. |
We left KT at 1.30pm.
At 4.45pm, the bus stopped at Kawasan Rehat Perasing which was quite a
new and spacious R&R Station where we took some refreshment. I bought
packets of Kat-Kat roasted cuttlefish (RM11.50) and Cap Tiga Ikan keropok ikan
segera (RM10.00).
At 6.00pm we stopped at Sri Jaya, Maran for dinner at
Restoran Sin Tong Kok. Former president陈思添had ordered beforehand quite a large quantity of pau or steamed
buns, said to be reputed at this restaurant.
He gave some pau to many of us who didn’t purchase. The dinner costing RM220 per table was
supposed to be on our own expense but subsequently the association decided to bear
the cost and treated us!
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| Restaurant at Sri Jaya, Maran |
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| R&R Station stop before returning to Batu 11 Cheras |
We stopped again at R&R Karak for toilet at 8.50pm and finally
returned to Batu 11 Cheras at 10.30pm.
Wai Kit came to fetch us and we sent Mr. & Mrs. SK Tan home first
before returning to ours at 11.00pm. For
the record, I spent a total of RM1,066 for Soh Ai and myself for this trip.
In conclusion, the trip to Pulau Redang and visit to
Terengganu Hokkien Association was very enjoyable. The cooperative and joyful spirit of Cheras
Hokkien Association committee members is most remarkable and praiseworthy!
Below are selected photos shared by members of the
tour group in the WhatsApp Chat Group to show how vigorous and youthful they
are!
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| Cheras Hokkien Association president 钱锦发 (pic left) with committee members |
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| What a super-heroine look! |
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| 陈思添 and his wife |
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| The lady on the right is a 70-year old granny. Can you not admire at her vigor? |
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| "Micheal Jackson" of the Cheras Hokkien Association? |
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| 老当益壮！ |
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| Tour leader Kenny Thong (pic left) and the president |
Labels: Travelogue
I was fortunate to be able to join the trip as the spouse to
my wife Soh Ai who is a committee member. I am not a Hokkien and hence
understand only a bit of the Hokkien dialect.
This is the 2nd time I participated in Cheras Hokkien
Association’s tours, the 1st being a 2D1N visit to Hokkien
Associations in Triang, Pahang and Bahau, Negeri Sembilan respectively just 4
months ago from April 15 to 16, 2017 (see my travelogue: https://taionn.blogspot.my/2017/04/cheras-hokkien-association-visiting.html).
