MY FIRST TRAVEL VIDEO DIARY

I first posted about my Redang and Perhentian trip with Jia Chi two years ago. I've always wanted to edit the footage I got from the trip but... I was too busy procrastinating. But guess what? I'm in week 9 of the semester now and assignments are piling up. Yet, all of sudden, I've decided to finally edit this video. If this is not my way of avoiding studying, I don't know what else is! I've always loved to do things irrelevant to studies when I'm not supposed to. At least this time, it was a productive activity. Another thing done in my life! 

I spent a total of two days to edit this 4 minute video. It was sort of my first time using iMovie. 

It meant so much to me when I actually completed uploading it to YouTube! My first YouTube video in ages after the Gwiyomi one, lol! 

I hope you guys enjoy watching it! Let me know how I can improve! 

Special thanks to my friend, Song Yong Low for borrowing me his GoPro! 

Onto doing my assignments now.

Love, 

Thong Jean Lim

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Redang & Perhentian Islands, Terengganu

Starting this blog post off by saying 'hi' through the bubble ring made by Abang Wan, our boat captain in Redang. I must say, this is one of my favourite travel blog posts ever. It's so blue-ish and the photos are so coordinated. Not only that, it had always been my wish to go to the islands in Terengganu since I was young. There is something about the islands, the sea, the ocean or anything related to the beach that fascinates me. My previous blog was named after a sea, so that's how much I love being able to feel the salty air by the beach. 

But first, some side stories. After completing my A-Levels programme, I had suggested to my friends to go to Redang. You know, it's that situation where everyone said they were keen to go but no actions were taken. It was frustrating. However, I worked things out. I went with Jia Chi. So both of us started to plan everything then off we went!

We wanted to go to both Redang and Perhentian for 3 days 2 nights, meaning that we were planning to stay at each island for a night. Little did we know that Redang and Perhentian were far from each other, hence it wasn't suffice to fully experience the vibe at each island. We ended up spending a lot of time and money on the boat just to travel from Redang to Perhentian.  Despite that, we managed to make the best of it in this trip. 

 The second day in Redang, Jia Chi and I started the day off by snorkelling. Mornings don't get any better than this. It was my first time snorkelling and I enjoyed it so much! When I first went into the sea, I accidentally swallowed a mouthful of sea water. It wasn't a very pleasant introduction to snorkelling but I eventually got the hang of it. I was wearing the life jacket the whole time in Redang because our boat captain, Abang Wan didn't suggest taking it off. Speaking of our boat captain, he was extremely helpful in bringing us around and discovering the world under the sea. Here's a tip guys, stick to the boat captain and you will get to find the gems there like what the locals do. Not to forget, the bubbling trick that Abang Wan did, it was something I had never witnessed before. 

After the morning dip in the ocean in Redang, I wore the exact same bikini underneath my shirt and took a taxi boat to Perhentian Island. The water in Perhentian was more turquoise compared to Redang in my own opinion. One interesting observation throughout this trip was that when I was in Redang, I met more Malaysians there, but when in Perhentian, almost all the tourists there were caucasians. Jia Chi and I were the only Malaysian tourists there, making us feel like we were in a foreign country.

 The next morning, we went snorkelling at several areas to swim with the turtles and baby sharks. In Perhentian, we were provided the fins. For experienced swimmers, the life jackets could be taken off as it would prevent them from swimming deeper. At first, I didn't have the courage to take the life jacket off, but I did in the end and felt so proud of myself. 

I had one of the best times of my life relaxing at these two islands. The sand was incredibly soft, massaging our foot whilst walking on it. You know it's a perfect getaway when you can enjoy the simple pleasures of life, such as gazing upon the billion stars at night, feeling the salty air blow through your wet hair, getting a tan when you usually avoid the sun in the city, etc.. These two places were on my bucket list before going to Australia and I can finally tick it off. 

Love, 

Lim Thong Jean 

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Penang Photo Diary

After completing my A-Levels programme, I travelled to Penang with my college friends for a couple of days. We attempted to go on budget throughout the trip in order to splurge on a one-night stay at Hard Rock Penang, and this is how it went: 

On the first day, we went to Penang Hill. From there, we got an amazingly extensive view of Penang, it was breathtaking. We chilled at a bar there to have some booze. In fact, we boozed every night because we managed to some good alcohol in Penang selling at a low price. To our surprise, Dharshan was such a good drinker and he knew how to make drinks. We played Cards Against Humanity every night while drinking the beverages specially made by him. 

The second day, I recommended that we go to the Escape Theme Park because I've been there and I knew they would love it. And they did!  ( No pictures taken there tho )

 The next day, we also went to seek for murals. I was like a tour guide bringing them around to search for murals and I felt proud of myself. We had our lunch at a famous Indian Restaurant at Little India and it was my first foray into eating with my hands!

Later, we hurriedly took a bus all the way to Bukit Ferringhi to check into Hard Rock Hotel. It was probably our best decision to stay there. You have no idea how bad we wanted to stay there for another night. We all felt like a rock star for a day. 

We had a really romantic dinner in dim light by the beach, thanks to Dharshan for the recommendation of that restaurant.

Actually, I want to thank Dharshan who brought all of us together and suggested this trip, because we managed to strengthen our bonds and even got to know everyone's dirty little secrets and some bad habits, especially Zhun Keat's one. I shall not reveal it. Frankly speaking, before this Penang trip, I barely knew Dih Shuen. However, ever since the trip we became sort of partners in crime. I put "sort of" there because I'm still not quite sure whether I would willingly involve myself in any crime with her. She's crazy enough to do funny things and embarrass herself in the public,which somehow has the potential to become a crime. Personally, I would be the first one to extricate myself from the scene.

Back to the point. Even though I've been to Penang several times already, the experience with them was totally different, in a good way of course. Probably because we are all already 18 or 19 years old, and the perception we have was much more mature than before. We want to live in the moment more, which is why we stayed at each spot longer and absorbed the culture as much as we could before leaving that place. It's like we just threw away every single problematic college drama and savoured each moment in Penang. I realized that the older you are, the more you tend to pay rapt attention at little, intricate things, or things people normally would overlook. Dih Shuen, for example, collected a lot of copies of old posters in Penang.

Penang is a lovely state. We had the best time there. The locals were amiable and enthusiastic when recommending us where to go.  It was also our last trip before everyone else left to study abroad. Dharshan is in Canada whilst Dih Shuen is in the UK, and soon I am going to Australia and Zhun Keat to USA. We promised to go on a trip whenever we can. Till then, my friends.

Love, 

Lim Thong Jean

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