Relaxing in Redang

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Crossing the border from Thailand was like a breath of fresh air. There was a chap there whose job was just to welcome us to Malaysia! How nice is that? Everyone seemed really friendly and helpful.

We headed to Kuala Terrenganu as a good stopping off place to get to Redang but we didn't get to see much there as I got sick for a few days. No better cure than to chill on a beach and what a beach we found in Redang! It was stunning. Sand like icing sugar and warm crystal clear water filled with tropical fish. The snorkelling, even off the beach which had several hotels along it, was fantastic. It was so good we even got up early to go swimming!

The hotel organised snorkelling trips to various sites around the island where we got to join loads of other tourists and the guides chucked loads of stale white bread into the fish. Not sure we agree with feeding the fish for the benefit of tourists, especially not white bread - that's not good for anyone never mind not being part of typical fish diet. However, the coral and the quantity of fish we could see was amazing. We went to one site off the beach in the marine park where they had cordoned off part of the sea and threw in boat loads of tourists. There must have been about 300 people there, most wearing bright buoyancy aids (don't they teach swimming in Malaysia?) feeding the fish. There was a 2m Moray eel there, good to see but a guide was feeding him fish and treating it like a trained monkey. Don't know why it stayed there but I guess it must be happy or he'd swim off and live in peace elsewhere. The visibility was brilliant, at least 20m. We also saw a small reef shark just off the beach, too small to be scary but good to see.

Our package was all inclusive (no booze) on a mainly Malaysian resort. It was great apart from the food, can't recommend boiled veg as the way forward 3 meals a day. For some reason, the chef and the staff assumed that vegetarians don't eat garlic or onions. I tried telling them otherwise but they stuck to their guns and put an embargo on flavour. Still, can't have everything, the beach shop sold much tastier pot noodles and we had the most stunning view from the balcony to make everything seem right.

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