Day 5: Goodbye Perhentian and Alunan

We slept in a little more today, since we had nothing to do until checkout time at 11am. We were booked for the 12.00pm boat. Headed to Bayu Restaurant to have our breakfast. At the egg station, the man asked if Mei-mei liked pancakes to which you said you liked it, but didn't want it today. You didn't look too good, probably exhausted from the many days of activities.

Breakfast

To our surprise as we were finishing up, the waiter brought us this platter, saying it was from the chef. Aww.. so sweet!

After breakfast, we went back to the room to grab something for Minh to share with Nikki. We had packed Solo for you kids. Since we never had a chance to drink our drinks, we decided to pass it to them. Surely Nikki would love and miss this Aussie drink. Also took a photo with her:

Went back to shower and finish packing. The porter came to the room to pick up our stuff. Then we headed to the lobby to wait for the boat. Here you kids just wandered around, petting Itam and played some of the games, SNAP and batu Seremban.

Our food bag. We barely touched the food we packed. 

Mei-mei trying out her skills

Nice set

Then we walked to the Sunset Deck and had some cold water while waiting for the boat to arrive. When the boat arrived, we hopped in and Mei-mei promptly fell asleep. 

When we reached Kuala Besut, daddy and Ko-ko went to get the car while we made our way back to the Alunan office. Before that, we had time to stop to quickly buy some souvenirs for you to give your friends. 

When we finally packed into the car, we decided not to have lunch. Daddy filed up his car and off we started our journey back to Penang. 

The drive back seemed slower as the traffic on the roads were much heavier than when we drove over. 

Sign on what to do if we see an elephant

We had a toilet stop at the Titiwangsa RnR. Thought to look for anything to eat, but nothing seemed appetizing. After stretching our legs a little and enjoying the view and cool air, we hopped back into the car. This time, I let Ko-ko sit in front and Mei-mei didn't seem to look too good. 

Sleepy little girl

Scenery

Beautiful

When we had phone line, I messaged Ah Ma to have Kakak cook moi-moi for mei-mei since she seemed to be having a slight fever. 

We reached Penang at around 6.30pm where daddy dropped Ko-ko and I to queue for Shariff nasi kandar then he headed home to drop off the stuff and a tired little girl.

And thus ends our holiday. 

Day 4/Part 2:

All that swimming in the sea still didn't seem enough. We both headed to the pool while the boys rested in the room. It was lovely as there were no one in the pool. We stayed here for a while until more and more people came to the pool. Then we headed back to the room to shower, rest and then get ready for dinner.

Mei-mei in her pool attire

On the way back to the room.. you spotted Oyen:

Never missed a chance to pet Oyen

Tonight would be our last meal in the Sunset Deck. We had a slow and leisurely dinner here. Tried out a few new dishes along with the ones we have tried before:

Ordered Polpa Alla Sarda, an octopus only dish, but received this.. fine with us. Just as delicious

Mei-mei's favourite Bruschetta

Sunset.. wow! So beautiful

This was a paid dish, but we received this complimentary dish from the chef

Biance Alunan: Ko-ko suggested this... nice!

Our wine came in a plastic wine glass!

After dinner, we stopped by the Bayu Restaurant to ask for vinegar. It is supposed to help with the jellyfish sting. They gave us a small container of it and daddy rinsed his forearm with it. 

Our bellies were so full. But we still wanted to have a go at the Keropok Lekor. So I placed an order for 1 portion to be eaten at 9.30pm, which was the last call for the night. We went back a little earlier.. and happily ate:

Yummy.. Keropok Lekor

Kids having their drink

After that, we took a walk back to the pool for one final look.

Went back to the room to continue packing up all our stuff. 

Day 4/Part 1: Redang

The morning started with our breakfast, as usual in Bayu Restaurant. Then we headed back to the room to clear our system (Naufal had reminded us yesterday that there would be no toilets in case we needed to poo!!).  Got dressed then headed to the excursion center to meet up with the group. We were the initial 4 to sign up and were told that the excursion would not go on (even though we offered to pay for the 5th person so that the trip can go on). The staff worked hard to sell the excursion and in the end, another family of 4, a couple and a gentleman signed up for the trip. Yay!

Our marine biologists for this trip were Naufal and Sara. The boatman was a new, but equally as friendly man.

After a boat ride of around 40 minutes we arrived at Turtle Bay to swim with turtles. Before jumping into the water, Naufal briefed us. He reminded us not to touch the turtle and not to feed the turtles, although other boat operators will feed the turtles so that they would come nearer to the snorkelers. 

Up close with the turtle

After a while, we headed back to the boat and chatted a while with the boatman. He was telling us about how the fishermen and island villagers survived during the movement control order in the past 2 years and how the economy is now that we have opened up. Ko-ko stayed in the water with the intent of doing a pee.. but try as he would, he could not pee.. *laugh*

Next stop is Pulau Lima. Before arriving, Mei-mei looked a little green. So she asked if we could go to the island. Daddy brought her along. Boy was that a rough swim. The waves were strong and it was rocky to reach the beach. Ko-ko also went to the island as he needed to pee. I thought to follow but daddy told me to go back to the boat while was safer. Sara went with you all (the single gentleman also went to the beach).

After a while, Ko-ko came back to snorkel and then later after much struggle, daddy got Mei-mei back to the beach where she snorkeled with me a while and daddy went back to the boat to rest. He suffered some cuts and when he looked, his fins also had gashes. Thank goodness for the fins!

Next stop was  a placed called Sand Bank. It was open and hot, but everyone hopped off the boat while daddy rested in the boat and ate his energy bar. 

Beautiful strip of sand

Can you spot daddy in the boat?

Kiddies playing in the beach. Trying to skip corals and pebbles

Daddy later joined us and after many tries, managed to get this shot of the two of you:

Yup, Mei-mei obviously felt a lot better 

We scrambled back into the boat and then headed to the Redang Marine Park. Here we were to go swim in the shipwreck just outside the marine park. The ship was intentionally sunken there to serve as an artificial reef for the sea life. Naufal jumped into the sea to check out the condition of the sea before beckoning to the rest of us to jump in. 

Can you spot the top of the wreck?

Beautiful corals

Table top coral

We swam for quite a while in the sea. Daddy was telling me that it was beautiful to swim just above the ship. And I told him to bring Mei-mei with him so that he can navigate with her. Ko-ko joined me. He told me that it felt like he may have been stung by jellyfish on his neck. Then we spotted a jellyfish and swam away from it towards out boat. By then Naufal came looking for us, saying that there were quite a number of them in the water. We quickly got back into the boat and found out that daddy had been stung on his forearm. 

Later we found out that you were both heading back to the boat and there were jellyfish. Daddy tried to protect Mei-mei by kicking them away with his fins. Mei-mei on the other hand was screaming and tried to scramble up the boat sans the ladder (the ladder had come undone), and one of the others in the group helped to pull her into the boat. 

When everyone were safely back into the boat, we headed to Pulau Lang Tengah. Here we had our lunch. It was a packed lunch of rice, chicken and some vegetables. The kids played in the beach again while the rest of the group just sat around and relaxed. 

We then clambered back into the boat and went to the final snorkel site. It was just a 5 minute boat ride. Here was the site of a plane which was intentionally sunken to be a reef. This plane was just sunken a year ago. Too bad the waters were rather murky and we could not see anything from the top. Ko-ko did a dive and said he could see something. Daddy tried and said he probably saw the wing of the plane. 

After a while, everyone went back into the boat. We were too tired to want to snorkel much. Then we headed back to the resort. As usual, Mei-mei slept all the way back with daddy keeping her safe (and not falling off the boat!).

An interesting trip, and like Ko-ko said: We've done 2 islands in this trip. No need to plan for Redang anymore. 

Day 3/Part2: Dinner then Crabby Hunt round 2

After our coral adoption was complete, we headed back to the room to shower and get ready for a slow dinner. Mei-mei and I walked ahead of the boys and we spotted Oyen. First thing the cat did when seeing Mei-mei was to stop right in front of her and sat down. It must love being petted. 

How to resist such a cute cat?

Then we headed to Sunset Deck. First was nice, cool drinks:

Ah.. nice and refreshing Mojito

Tonight, we shared the appetizers then each had our own main. No photo of appetizers as they are a repeat of the past few days. 

Customized Risotto (no seafood)

Lasagna

Costolette diAgnello - Lamb

Grilled fish

Well.. after that very large dinner, we need to exercise, right? Off you all went to collect your head band torchlight and daddy's giant torch lights, while I waited at the same spot in front of the spa. Oyen and Itam walked up from the beach while I sat around, but too bad you were both not around to see them. 

It was low tide, so we could walk into the sea where there were pools of water and could spot some mud skippers and little fishes. We also spotted some crabs. Mei-mei got excited but screamed whenever the confused crab ran towards her.

Spotting sea life in the water

Poking at a crab

Some pretty shell?

We walked quite a distance to where there was some construction of new building. Then we headed back. But before that, a family wefie with the "Alunan" wording all lighted at the background 💓

Day 3/Part 1: Discover Scuba Diving

Surprise! There was roti canai served for breakfast this morning. Yummy. 

Roti canai with dhal and curry

We headed back to the room to get ready for our first scuba diving experience. 

We had signed all the forms yesterday evening before heading out to Romantic Beach, so all we needed to do was some briefing from Minh and to wait for our boat. 

While waiting, you both went to the beach and attempted to torture another crab. The poor thing must have been so scared, it even flipped on its back and could not move. We had to flip it back on the feet and then leave it alone! Rascals!

Finally our boat arrived and we all hopped in while Minh loaded the boat with all 5 sets of diving equipment. We had to stop at Ombak Dive Resort to pick up 3 others dive students and another 2 instructors. 

Took this opportunity to take pictures:

Off we went and turned out, we were going to Romantic Beach again. Stopped out in the sea for the 3 students to jump into the water. Then we headed to the beach to have our lessons. Minh was with Mei-mei while the 3 of us were with Nikki, learning how to breathe with the equipment, what to do if we lose the oxygen and later swimming. Daddy had problems with the oxygen and also worried about Mei-mei so he gave up. In the end, they both played on the beach while Ko-ko and I went scuba diving. Minh stayed with Ko-ko while I was with Nikki. It was interesting, although it seemed that the water was rather murky. I also had ear pain at one stage, but was lucky to have Nikki help me.

Went back after that to shower and then it was lunch time again. What was on the menu? Italian, of course!

Our nice, cool drinks

Mozzarella Caprese

Spaghetti Aglio Olio

The rest of the food we ordered was a repeat from the other days. As always, the food was amazing!

We went back to the room where Ko-ko rested. Daddy, Mei-mei and I took part in the coral adoption program. The nice man, Dewan explained to us why we needed to have coral conservation.

Mei-mei picking her "baby"

Dewan helping to tie down her coral

Mei-mei's coral

Photo of us together

We later tried to go snorkeling at the house reef, but Evelyn was not feeling well. So in the end, we went back to change into our swimsuits and headed to the pool, while the boys headed to the house reef. They met us at the pool and we headed back to the excursion center again for the boys to adopt their babies. 

Ko-ko and his baby

Petting Oyen while daddy was with his coral

Daddy and his baby

Our babies

We also filled up a sticker with our names, and email address. We also got to name our babies:

Evelyn : Pinky

Mummy : Biggy

Evan : Jack

Daddy : Tiny