SPORT SCIENCE AND HEALTH COURSE (DAY 2)

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Posing at the jetty before our expedition

On the second day, we started very early in the morning, preparing ourselves to go snorkelling. This was my first time snorkelling in my life. That's why I feel so nervous and not too excited. We were divided into two groups and were moved in two boats. Out boat was smaller and faster than the other boat. My colleagues screaming and shouting in the boat. They got so excited to see the unbelievable blue colour of the sea.

Speed boat moves rapidly in the blue sea.

The water is always blue, you don't need to touch it up

Out first destination namely Pulau Kerengga

Our first destination is Pulau Kerengga. The water look dark due to the depth. There's many coral fish here especially the blue colour and a normal stripe blue yellow colour. There's also many corals here. I felt so panic when getting down into the water. Eventually, the colour of fishes help me  to overcome my feeling.

Blue color of coral fishes.

An hour later we moves ourselves to the shark point at Long Beach, Redang. This place is famous for big fish like baby shark and all type of fishes that you eat at home. At this time I started feeling sea sick and unable to put the utmost appreciation toward the activity and surroundings.

Snorkelling at Long Beach, Redang Island

There's many foreigners at Long Beach especially the Japanese and all the chinese looking tourists. Long Beach has a lot of dead coral at the beach and it's quite difficult to walk properly. The colour of water is turqoise and very clear. You need not to snorkel to see the fishes, you can see them clearly from the boat.

The last guy to try floating. His nervous feeling was even worse than mine..

They caught the Nemo but later they put  it back into the sea becoz Nemo cannot live without sea anemone.

Redang Marine Park

Our last snorkelling destination was Redang Island Marine Park situated at Pulau Pinang, Redang Island. This was a real nice place. We ate, swam and snorkelled here until 3.00 o'clock. A lot of coral species can be seen here. You can see the branch type, the sponge type, the mushroom type and many other unknown species. There's also a sanctuary means for the turtle egg to hatch. The best things is you can see a reef eel namely 'moray eel' hiding under the coral reef. These are really an unforgetable view in ones life.

Myself resting at the bench after lunch.

The water is very2 clear

This marine park has a wide and long coral bank that's painful to step on.

These are the unknown pieces of material found among dead corals that looks like glass but have smooth edges.

The most memorable thing when I was at Marine Park was the drown memory  . Yes, I was drown there and nearly died. God save my life by sending my student to drag me out of the water. Actually I forgot to wear my life jacket because before I snorkel for the second time there, my sister and I practise swimming, that's why I took off my life jacket. When I snorkeled for the second time, I forgot to wear it back. I was so excited to see the fishes that I unconciously swam without wearing the jacket. I realized only after my google filled with water, and I swallowed a lot of salt water before they saved me. This memory prevented me to swim at any place deeper than my height until now, eventhough now I can already master breast stroke very well.

See you later, salaaamm

Going home next morning

SPORT SCIENCE AND HEALTH COURSE AT REDANG ISLAND (DAY 1)

Deep Bay, Redang Island

Redang Island is one of the famous islands in Malaysia . Situated at Terengganu coastal area, where the nearest island is Perhentian, the beauty of both islands are comparable. The better sides of Redang are the provided infrastructure  like centralize electrical power station, road, the village in the middle of the island, the transportation, the plane terminal  and the considerable price of foods. Most of Redang beaches are broader and longer.  Some of the beaches are suitable for swimming and water sports while the rest are suitable for fishing. At Redang, we can see the white beach at one side and the swamp and mangrove at the other.

 

Listening to the lecture given by the instructor

On the day we arrived at Redang Island (June 12, 2011), we were taught on how to protect ourselves from dangerous sea creatures such as jellyfish and sea urchin. The instructor also taugh us on how to give an instant medical treatment if in case we were stung. This skillful instructor showed us a few type of leaves that grow at the seashore, that can be use as a remedy. A leaf namely 'aeroplane leaf' is very effective in curing cuts and wound, by preventing the bacteria growth. I listened to the lecture but my eyes were more focused to the beauty of the surroundings.

My colleagues laughed when I said that I wanna bring the sand home..

The sand is so far the whitest I've ever seen. It looks more like the talc than the sand.

We started the warm-up session

I've been to many beaches in my life, this beach is the most unforgetable beach in my memory. All because of the whiteness ane pureness. There were many coconut trees and they sway rhythmically following the wind breeze. The wheather was so-so and the waves were gentle. Well, I just can't take out this nostalgic memory from my heart.

Water confident activity -where everybody needs to float facing the sky.

Later, we were asked to go into the water for the water confident activity. At first I though this was the worst part because at that time I was yet learn how to swim. But later I found that the activity was not too bad, I managed to master it eventually.

This photo is taken at daytime but using a different camera function (night mode), I save it bcoz think I looks so unique.



Nice photo of Yeap Sock Bee (my chinese colleague) walk at the beach



My friend, Effa and Nisha posing at the beach wearing their life jacket.

My sister and I on the fishing boat

After the activity, we were so tired and planning to call it a day when the instructor offered us to go fishing that night. That was the worst decicion I've ever made. My sister and I agreed to follow but its turned-out that only two of us  the girls who joined the mission . At first the whether was okay and we were fishing happily. My friend got sea-sick and vomited badly. All of a sudden, the whether started to change . The rain dropped and the boatmen suddenly looked worried, but they remain quiet. They packed all the fishing gadgets hurriedly and started the boat's engine. We looked at them confusingly. They drove us back to the jetty very rapidly that the rain and sea water poured inside the boat.  It was so dark and we saw nothing. The boat itself moves rampagingly and barely touched the water. I feel like we're flying in the air, with the salty water dashed to my face . We were totally wet.  According to the boatmen,  we were caught in a storm and it was very dangerous.  Somehow, we arrived safely. We went back to our room to find out that other roomates were already doze-off. We took bath and slip to our bed grievely, trying to figure out  the 'unforgetable moment' chronologically. Everything happened very fast, as though we're dreaming. Outside, the rain was like cats and dogs. Inside the room the air-cond temperature was very low. We were freezed on our bed and barely closed our eyes.I felt relief and grateful to Allah SWT that nothing bad happened to all of us that night.

College Visit To Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia

A boat jetty at Kuah,Langkawi.

Two weeks ago (27 April 2012), my husband and I went to Langkawi Island, accompanying my students from Community College to do their entrepreneur activities there. The activities, simliar to the famous ' The Apperentice ' where the students need to sell their innovative products to tourist, finished on the first day of our visit. The second and third day, we round the island and took a few photos for my blog.

Langkawi Baron Seaside Restaurant

Langkawi sea water is not as clear as any of East Coast Island's. Most of Langkawi beaches have a murky water except a few at north part of Langkawi. The colour of the water is greenish, unlike Perhentian Island which is blueish. The beaches at north part of Langkawi have  clear greenish water and some parts are very beautiful like Pasir Tengkorak Beach, Datai Beach, Teluk Yu beach, Pasir Hitam beach and Tanjung Rhu beach. The further north you go, the clearer the water and you may reach Ko Lipe dan Terutao National Park, Thailand. These two islands can be seen from Langkawi very clearly. Langkawi is nearer to this two islands than Malaysia . As everybody know, this two island  and many others from Thailand have  very clear blue water, just like Perhentian's.

Sunset at Cenang Beach

It was quite late in the evening when we arrived at Cenang Beach. Our students have finished selling their products and we saw them walking along Pantai Cenang road to their accomodations. We went to the beach instead. Cenang Beach is the most famous beach in Langkawi. This beach is famous for water sports like parasailing, water scooter and banana boat. The water is rather murky but the waves is strong and the wind is very refreshing . The strong wind helps to push parasails up to the air. The sand is white in colour but not as clean as that of Perhentian's. The casuarina leaves scattered on the ground, so as the plastic, the bottles and tetrapaks, yet nobody cares. There are also many chalets and hotels, they built them so close to each other that we barely find any access to the beach. From the road, we barely see the beach and most of the tourists went to the beach through the private access inside the hotels and chalets area. 

A spiral 'mengkuang' at Cenang Beach

We saw this odd looking mengkuang tree on our way back. They make it look so nice by trimming the leaves. It looks like spiral staircase.

The famous 'happening' Cenang Beach with many watersport activities.

I managed to capture the last photo of Cenang Beach overlooking the whole beach area. I like this beach for one reason: the visitors are 'well dressed'....

Talking about the beach, ( well... I'm the beach lover)... You cannot get all the nice elements come together at one beach. You want a crystal clear blue water, where you can swim or kayaking happily, then there will be no refreshing strong wind included in the 'pakage'. Somemore the weather must be hot and the sun must shines very brightly and you will get burned by the ray. If you want a windy beach, where the refreshing wind blows non stop, and you feel like flying?  Yes you may get it with a strong waves and murky water. The former suitable for snokelling, kayaking and swimming, the latter suitable for parasailing, surfing and many other activities.

Black Sand Beach

On the second day, it started rains early in the morning. I felt very lazy to go out and I watched TV until 11.00 am. My husband pushed me to dress up and do the planned activity: round island by bike. I quite disagree because I was sure that we will get wet. However, when we leave our room, the sun started shining behind the cloud and the rain stopped.

Our first destination is Black Sand Beach. Look at the photo, do you sea the beach colour? It looks white but under the thin layer of sand, the soil is very black. Its due to the type of sediment from granite, I can't remember the name. There's only two place in this world that has this type of sand. This beach and the other one I cant remember it's name, but it's not located at Asia continent.

The Black sand beach: Overlooking Tarutaao Island (National Park) Thailand

Eventhough the sand is black, the water is quite clear. We nearly swim here but change out mind later for some reasons. Later we went further north to the famous Pasir Tengkorak Beach ( Skull Sand Beach). The name is very eerie, yet many visitors hanging around, playing happily. The beach is the cleanest public beach in Langkawi and the water is pristine clear. I salute the team who takes care of the beauty of the beach. I saw them sweeping and cleaning the place. The time we reached  the place, the rain started dropping.

Skull Sand Beach, Langkawi

The water is superb..

'Tarzan swing' - the nature gift.

Skull Sand Beach is actually a protected rainforest area that has a campsite. This place is taken care by the campsite team. It has facilities like washroom and a few chalet mean for camp facilitator. There's no tourist staying here. People comes and go back daily. This is a real nice place. This place is pristine jungle and you can hear sound of birds chirping, insect and monkey.  There's many hanging root that old enough and you can even sway on it. The water is actually very blue but the gloomy and cloudy day vanished the colour.

After that, we continued our journey to Kuah using the north route and we reached to this boat parking area. Rich Langkawian own the boats and I my husband was really attracted and planned to buy one... (lol) I think this is a dream that will remain a dream.

Snorkeling at Payar Island, Langkawi Marine Park

On The third day, we went to Payar Island. At this time our students have already gone back to college. We stayed for another one day.

Payar Island consist of 3 island under Langkawi Marine Park. These islands are famous with its marine life, infact it has the most marine species in Malaysia. It takes about 1 hour 30 minutes by boat from Langkawi to Payar. The water is clear greenish colour and there's a lot of fish including human sized reef sharks. The fish is so 'friendly', they surround you when you snorkel. There's one species, like to follow me, when I look at them, they look at me back, staring me. Maybe they asked for food. Actually, it's prohibited to feed the fishes. The reason is, once you feed them, they will crowd you in a second. At that time, the bigger size fish, normally reef shark  the predator, will also come to eat the fishes, if they failed to get the fish, they will get your hand. I interviewed a few life guard, they showed me their injured finger. All due to the shark feeding activity, once allowed and promoted, but later was banned by the authorities.

The fishes can be seen clearly..

That evening we went home and reach Langkawi at 5.00 o'clock. After having our tea, we went shopping at Kuah, Langkawi. Langkawi is famous for local because it's a duty free zone and you can buy anything at the unbelievable cheap price. The chocolates are awesome. You can also get dishes and cutleries from all over the world. On our way back to hotel, we saw this unknown object, the size of a boat and looks like a cabin with the opening on top. My husband suggested that this might be a long time ago submarine.

a long time ago submarine??

One of the Baron Hotel.

The last fascinating view was this flag painted hotel, namely Baron. Doesn't it looks nice? The next time I go to langkawi, this must be my place to stay..

Bye, salaammm..

FAMILY TRIP TO PERHENTIAN ISLAND (DAY 2)

The weather one the second day was very clear. We're eager to snorkel that day and I paid RM350.00 to rent a boat special for my family. It's a small boat with one boatman. They said that they will bring us to Tuku Burung (some people call it Tokong Burung), Susu Dara and Rawa Island. Our journey to Tuku Burung was very chalenging due to the strong waves of North Wind. At first my youngest daughter laughed happily and sang 'I believe I can fly', but later she cried very loudly. The waves were very strong that I barely believe we would be able to reach our destination. To the boatman, the strong waves were normal. They sometimes need to move through higher waves up to 7 meter during Monsoon. We reached our destination after about half an hour and prepared ourselves to snorkel.

Ready for snorkeling...at first ...still laughing...but later..

Tuku Burung Island (Bird Temple Island) ... the water was perfect.

Another foto of Tuku Burung Island

I try to take a photo of the clear water.. at this time I was so sea sick..

Poor me, the moment the boat stopped and the boatman lowered the anchor, I started  feeling seasick. It was so suddent and it spoiled all my mood. I was very dizzy that I can't even stand up properly.Later I found that my son also felt the same. Both of us barely went down into the water before we hold the reel and climb back into the boat. The waves was very strong, lullabying  everything. Both of us vomited a lot. Luckily when we vomit, the fish crowding the boat as though we poured them bread ..(lol). The water was so clear, we don't need to snorkel to see the fishes. The fish even jumped and bit my son mouth to get the 'food'. Not long after that, my husband and my youngest swam back to our boat. They too started feeling sea sick. Only my younger twin sister and one of my daughter didn't feel sea sick. They were so lucky and I'm so jealous. I remember at Redang Island, I sea sick but not too bad.

Everybody in the boat collapse..now the beauty of the sea is not attractive anymore..

Fifthteen minutes later the boatman start calling us. We move to Rawa Island. I felt relieved to move there. The boatman seems to understand the situation. Somehow, I managed to control my sickness the moment I see the beauty of Rawa Island.

Rawa Island, Perhentian, Malaysia.

Everybody was happy, running and jumping..

Rawa Island, Perhentian was even more beautiful than the photos I've seen in google image before. I forgot about my sea sickness the moment I put my feet on this land. This is Rawa Island, Perhentian. Malaysia has two Rawa Island. One at Perhentian and another is at Tioman Island, Johore. Both are equally beautiful. If you wish to look at another Rawa, just youtube to : Rawa Blues song by Ron White. I think the other Rawa is more beautiful because it's bigger and the sand is very much whiter. It's as white as bleached corn flour. No kidding!

The beauty of Rawa..

My husband still sea sick at this time. At first I vomited (the last call) and drawn the fishes too the shore.. yuck. Later followed by my husband. He was dizzy and slept at the shore. Very pity. I woke him up to enjoy the water but nothing much help. Later, I discovered that after vomited we felt much better.

Look at the strong waves..

Pristine Rawa...

Ahmad going snorkeling..

The coral fish is a lot...

my little rascal .. only survival of the sea sickness

I gotta Rawa blues.....

If you wanna watch the above photo in movie and see what I mean by a strong North wind, you can click the following url:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0em2Zk7sxsk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q72PxvXTfiA&feature=relmfu

An hour later we moved back to Perhentian Island. On the way back we feel very much better. The waves is not as high as before and we managed to reach Fisherman Village at Kampung Pasir Hantu (Ghost Sand Village) at less than thirty minutes. We had our lunch here and buy some food for tea break. The price of the food here much reasonable than that of chalet's.

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Ghost Sand Village's fisherman jetty..

plenty fishermen boats.. again..the water was wow..wow

I think this is the most beautiful fisherman village I've ever seen in my whole life. I leave at Penang, very near to the sea and I get used of seeing fisherman village but the scenery here is far more beautiful than that of Penang's. How I wish to stay here longer but we need to move for another snorkeling trip at shark point.

the rocky bank is meant to protect the village during monsoon season..

I still remember when we were having lunch there, a suddent strong wind struck us like lightning. It was so strong that it managed to push one canopy down and broke another canopy. The canopy fell next  to and nearly hit my daughter. Luckily nobody hurt. That's the strength of North Wind that rarely happened at Perhentian. If you wish to visit this village, welcome here but please cover your body because the villager are muslim and they are very shy (plus actually forbidden too) to look at your body. Bye..salaaam.