Stunning Redang!

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I had never heard of Redang Island before moving to Malaysia, which was a good thing in my mind! Many of my new friends here who have already visited the island speak highly of it and so I booked a week here as soon as I could. It did not disappoint but there were a few things to note about the place that I think are worth explaining for my fellow travellers.



We flew to Kota Baru and took a 15 minute bus ride to the port. We were ushered to our resorts counter and then issued our tickets. First thing to note here is that we found it very difficult to find accommodation on the island that wasn’t on a resort or part of a package deal. I had been told about this by some local friends here in Malaysia but I obviously thought things would be fine and I would find some nice little hostel or beach front chalet. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. You really cannot find beach front accommodation that isn’t part of a resort.



We had booked with Redang Beach resort and they were very organised and very accommodating throughout the whole trip. We were lead onto a small ferry and then proceeded on to the worst boat journey I had been on for quite some time. I have been on some very hairy boat journeys on my travels, especially throughout SEAsia, but this one was probably the worst. Apparently there had been a storm over night, which had caused a larger swell than normal. This meant that we had to take a different route to the island to ensure we never went against the tide and this doubled our journey time. I would guess about 50% of the 150 people on board were sick and about 90% had sick bags at the ready.



Was it worth it? Yes. Unfortunately, this is just part of the travel package in this part of the world and it happens sometimes. It took us 2 hours before we finally pulled up in front of a beautiful looking bay, silhouetted in front of a lush green forested backdrop - a view that I never think I will tire of! Our resort was straight in front of where the boat stopped, which was very convenient at this time but would come to be a little annoying during our 5 day stay. Our bay was called Shark Bay and was split into 2 beached that felt very separate as they curved round like a boomerang. Our strip of beach was dominated by 2 resorts, the Laguna Resort and the one I was staying at. This gives you an idea of how large these resorts are because this stretch of beach was a good 500m long. However, they were set far enough back from the beach to not feel imposing, and the place was very clean.



So how would I review the surroundings here? The water was picture perfect clear as you like. I would say I have rarely stood in clearer waters. After a storm or a bit of rain, the tide can pick up quite a lot and this will obviously stir up the silt and effect the clarity of the water but on a clear day, I cannot fault it. The coral just in front of the bay was amazing. Considering the increase in footfall and boat activity, I was very impressed and we enjoyed a number of great experiences, topped off by snorkelling with a school/shoal/pod/crash(?) of about 20 reef sharks. The beach was kept very clean. Comparing it with other islands I have visited around this area, it is by far the cleanest. Each resort has a little tractor they use to collect customers getting off the boat in front of our resort once a day. This was the only annoyance when it came to the environment and it wasn’t even that bothering.



Every resort that I walked past was of similar size and seemed to have the same set up.They are all full board and they all offer snorkelling package holidays as standard. You don’t need to go on these snorkelling trips but each resort looked like they offered 2 a day, which amounted to substantial numbers of people in the water. The reason for this set up is that 99.9% of the demand comes from local Chinese/Korean/Malay tourists looking for a short stay with everything paid for. Of the 100 or so people staying in our resort, we were 4 of only a handful of Western tourists throughout the 5 day stay. This is obviously not a bad thing but what it does do is throw up some interesting cultural parallels that can get a bit testing.



For example, the local tourists have a very different idea of what “snorkelling” is. When we arrived for our first snorkelling trip there were about another 50 people waiting to go, most of them with bags of bread or plastic bottles full of crackers ready for the trip. I have been around tourists feeding fish on snorkelling trips before, but never on this scale. It was insane and it was quite annoying for me, but also something that I guess I just have to get used to for now. As we were snorkelling in the national Marine Park, I thought there may be discouragement from the resort but they seemed to welcome it. I think that if they tried to ban it, they would lose a lot of custom because the tourists seemed genuinely excited about the prospect of feeding a thousand Sergeant Major fish right next to the boat. One positive to come out of this is that most of the “snorkelers” remained right next to the boat whilst we were free to swim off and explore the quiet surroundings.



Another example of these cultural differences are the travelling habits. I have gotten used to the ferocity of Malaysian travellers since I have been living in KL but my parents had not and they noticed it all of the time. Queuing is not quite the same as us Brits like to do it and opening doors, leaving space, giving up seats etc. are things that rarely happen. I would say that this does not mean I think Asian tourists are rude, not at all, it is just a difference between ours and their culture that can become a little frustrating during a long day of travel.





Anyway - I do not want these rants to appear too negative, because our stay on Redang was amazing. It was just interesting to be on an island that is fully developed specifically for local tourists. I don’t think I have ever been on one like it and it just emphasised these parallels and I thought I would share!! Redang Island is a stunning little place with some amazing snorkelling and if you are happy to put up with a little crowd then this is a great place to stay. I definitely felt very relaxed there and the waters offered a new experience every day. If you are a diver, I have heard that the best dives are at the spots that are just as easy to snorkel so it may not be the best place for a dive getaway. But hey, what do I know? Go there and find out yourself!!

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