Vacations, vacations......

Well, Phase II MBBS exams are over and a few days later, I'm off to Redang with my dad.

Once we checked in, what my sis n I mostly did was sleep, roughly three times a day! I guess all the post-exam exhaustion finally kicked in once the adrenaline wore off ( with some help from Azlaili, and that night out with Al n Hafiz, of course). To my surprise, my dad actually allowed us to go to the spa on the 2nd day. My sis had an aromatherapy massage and came out looking like a baby high on something (that good, huh?). I myself chose a body scrub coz face it, I'm too lazy to use a body scrub on a regular basis, and i get more or less a massage while they're putting that stuff on (and to u idiots who think that makes me sound somewhat 'less hygienic', i'm willing to bet cash that you've never tried using a body scrub, thoroughly, on yourself). I was very,very satisfied with what i got coz my skin never felt so smooth. What a way to relax after exam....whew! Surely takes all that away!

Once we were all done with our spa treatments, knowing my dad, he can't wait to jump into the beach and so that's where we headed to next. The water was super clean man, i mean, even when i'm at the deeper parts where i can barely stand, i can still see my toes!!! There were no waves, making it perfect for swimming. It wasn't deep, so I got the satisfaction of going further and further into the sea than i would normally dare. My sis had the honour of being welcomed into the sea : my dad picked her up from the shore and threw her in the water!

After all that fun in the barely-there sun, we got ready for dinner. We had buffet everyday for breakfast, and for almost all dinners. So much for trying to lose weight and all the pre-exam workouts and improved food habits. But what the heck, the buffet's fantastic. Then, karaoke. I practically got a heart attack listeting to my sister 'singing' (read : screaming, belting out, 'feeling') her 'rock kapak'. My goodness. What on earth did UiTM do to her? Well, karaoke is my sister's game, not because she's a fantastic singer, but because of her guts and crazy expression and 'stage antics'. I wish i can go all crazy-shameless like that...

As much as most of you don't agree, I AM a shy person!!!

The 3rd day is where all the fun REALLY began. Snorkelling. It's my second time, so i tought I pretty much know what to expect. I was right, and wrong. They took us to 4 different locations, all at different depths. As we go deeper, we see different types of fish and the corals are huge! Mind you, at the depth of 10ft, i can still see the seabed. Told you the water's crazy clean! I saw more and more Nemos hiding in their anemones, and I got my first kiss. That naughty little fish bit my lip! I couldn't see which one was it coz the goggles restrict the side visual fields. My sis got hers too. Her fish was more....brutal. Her lip bled a bit and there was an ulcer-like lesion left for souvenir. That night, pure exhaustion. I needed heaty ointments to make my arms bearable. And the thought we're going snorkelling again the next day...I thought I couldn't take it. Part of me wanted to cancel. Mind you, i just wanted to plop in bed unconscious. But, I stayed up till about 2 a.m. You know why? COZ IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! 15th of May, me turning the big 21, I'm sure as hell not gonna miss it!. At the stroke of midnight, suddenly my sis jumped onto my bed and gave me a huge baby bear hug n said Happy Birthday in her lil baby voice. Then, all the smses came (thank you, I love you guys!), and the rain poured down so heavily. Ironic.

The next morning, we went for another snorkelling trip. It was da bomb! Our 2 guides were regular freedivers, they can go up to depths of 30ft with only snorkels and flippers. Cool eh? You should've seen their 6-packs...way cooler. Today, we went to 5 places. The best thing about this trip is our guides joined us in and showed us the cool stuff. Once the boat is anchored and they felt like jumping, they jumped! So easy...flamboyant. Anyway, at this one beautiful site we can actually see the corals from shallow, to deep, then a trench going deeper into open waters. Beautiful landscape. Our guides showed us this coral with what i take to be marine plants on it, and when he swiped his hands over them they shrank and hid in the corals. At another site, he caught a Nemo (i know its a clownfish, but Nemo sounds cuter) and brought it on the boat. We had kids in our group you see, and they want to see Nemo up close. But Nemos live so deep and we can't dive in because of the depth and because we wore life jackets. No harm done because once the kids were done with Nemo, our guide returned Nemo to his anemone so his dad won't have to look for him.

Another site we went to was a 'playground' for baby sharks. My sis n dad managed to see one, and they also saw a squid in motion. I'm so jealous; I missed my chance because I was having trouble with my snorkel mask!! Nevermind, at least I got to see a blowfish the day before and my sister didn't. That's one cool thing about going anywhere with my dad, he knows a lot of stuff. Anyway, we went to the sea next, to see turtles in motion. Our guide jumped in to look for turtles and surfaced evrytime he saw one. Funny thing was, he started clambering up into the boat rather frantically afterwards coz he got scared that the turtle was bigger than him! Well, it was about 30ft deep, but a few of us jumped in anyway and you know what, even at that depth I can still clearly see the seabed. That's when I knew Redang is so cool.

Then we moved on to the marine park (on shore) and I got to hold little cutie baby turtles..aww..they're so small. Next stop was another dive site at that jetty, and our guides wanted to show us eels, but none were found. But this site was already very beautiful and the fish were friendly (thanks to the bread I brought along).

So that's Redang folks. Now, I thought I'd share with u my trip to Bali.

I went to Bali with my mum, sis, and grandma right after the semester 1 finals. How cool is that; this year i get a beach getaway after every semester final exams. Well, Bali was a lot of 'first times' for me : first time on an elephant ride, first henna tattoo, first time on a horse carriage, first time parasailing, first time holding a turtle and a bat, first time on the 'flying fish', first time seeing a volcano, first time getting a spa treatment, first time scuba diving. It was very much an animal-related vacation, and i stick to my statement that if I had gone on this Bali vacation earlier in life, I would've end up as a wildlife conservationist. I loved Bali coz I mingled very well with the locals, had long chats with the elephant guys, (because of that we got a lil extra : photo shoot while the elephant stood on 2 legs, and we got to ride Gandhi and Sugi on their necks instead of on the provided bench) the dudes at the tattoo touch-up place (got a great discount!), the carriage driver (learnt a lot about life in Bali and the bombing) and not to forget the waitresses at the hotel. It was a great vacation. I miss the elephants. They're so cute, they can even smile for the cameras! Only thing about Bali is that not everything is Halal (they are mostly Hindus, very religious!).

So there you have it, my two kick-ass vacations during 2nd year medic. I sure enjoyed them very much and hope for more. Perhaps we should try a different theme : culture, safari, or theme parks. But you know me, I'll never say no to the beach! Heck, I even managed two trips to Port Dickson this year with friends... I love beach related activities and I'll definitely be back for more. One day, I WILL get my scuba diving liscence. Supposed to go for the classes this semester break but thanks to elective n other less interesting stuff, I can't spare the time needed. Till my next voyage, stay tuned to the other aspects of my life & times. Seacrest, out!