Blue Sand

Truly exhausted and walking back towards our room, I asked Cherlyn, “So how did you end up on that cliff? It cut my soles more than any corals did.”

“Mi told me that it was a piece of cake and halfway through I realized that he must have been joking. But having nothing else to do, I decided to carry on anyway. At least the scenery was really fantastic, I have never seen a more beautiful sunset.” She replied, without a trace of regret.

“Wow! That must have been some amazing sunset, too bad I only caught glimpses of it as I stuck my head out only towards the end,” I lamented, however quickly brightening up at my own wonderful memories, “but you’d never guess that the marine world was actually as interesting as what I saw. What we’ve been seeing the past two days paled remarkably in comparison!”

Unable to contain myself, I continued babbling nonstop about the three turtles that I saw up close, as well as the corals, fishes and I even told her about the frightening bit when we went too far out. As I described my encounters, Cherlyn’s pretty face changed into one full of regrets, “If I’d known, I would have gone! Especially since now I have as many more cuts on my feet too.”

I could understand perfectly her lamentations; in fact, I understood it even better considering I knew how much she had missed, but I said, “Don’t worry, we’re only 21, this is our first trip, I can’t wait till we next go on a trip again, just you and me!”

We both grinned at the suggestion and our tired spirits were rejuvenated again, so speedily as only possible in young, hopeful hearts.

Quietly then, we reached the recreation shack to return our snorkeling set, a little reluctantly. Quickly though, another object attracted my attention. My underwater photographs were ready for printing! As another man was already at the computer terminal selecting his own digital image, I informed the young man to look out for my photograph, which he could recognize easily as I was still wearing my striking blue bikini, and went back to the room with Cherlyn.

We were so tired that we immediately flopped onto the bed to rest our exhausted limbs. We agreed that I’d bathe first, and then leave the room to collect my photograph whilst she could take her shower, and then we’d both be ready to go for dinner.

Having paid 15 Ringgit for 3 digital photographs in a CD, I went back to the room, dressed in a black tank and floral wrap-around skirt, while, Cherlyn, likewise got ready to party. She had borrowed my bare-back shirt and wore her own blue mini skirt, looking absolutely gorgeous, accentuated by her new tan.

We went for a quick dinner, which tasted considerably better than the previous night’s burnt BBQ meats. After we ate, we strolled along the beach set against the darkening sky and gently lolling waves until we reached the More More Tea shop. We had promised Mi and Eddie that we’d meet them at 930pm to see blue sand, that was famously found on dark nights in Pulau Redang.

We arrived an hour early for the appointment and decided to check out the bistro above as we’d not visited it yet. It was lucky that we did, for we met Paul and his friends singing out their hearts upstairs!

“Hi! What a pleasant surprise to see you guys again!” Cherlyn called out to Paul, and walked over to their table at the far right corner of the bistro.


“I told you we were fated to be friends, we can’t escape even if we wanted to!” Paul joked while Ah Soon and Terence, who were seated at the outside of the round table, got up to furnish chairs for Cherlyn and I respectively. We laughed and all sat down to enjoy the Chinese song that was being sung by a middle-aged man a few tables away.

“Wow, this uncle is really first-rate, I salute him.” Paul commented with respect, and it was true that the man sang very well, with a perfectly melodious yet, deep baritone voice. We were all so impressed that we remain silently enthralled by his song, until the end whereby everyone in the bistro clapped heartily, complimenting the performance.

“So what are you two doing here?” Paul turned to Cherlyn.

“We are supposed to meet the guides downstairs to look for blue sand later, but we’re an hour early, so we just decided to come up here and take a look.” Cherlyn replied.

“Blue sand?” Paul remarked, and then sulkily continued, “How come no one decided to show us that? How unfair!”

We laughed, and I informed him cheekily, “That’s because Cherlyn and I are VVIP, and you’re not!”

“Where does it say that you guys are VVIP?” Ah Soon enviously enquired.

“Right here on our faces!” I chuckled and touched my cheeks playfully, adding, “Even the turtles I saw must have seen it, for I’m the only one who saw them!”

When our jovial jesting cooled off a little, Ah Soon turned to me and formally introduced himself, “Well, we did not really spend time to get to know each other this afternoon, so let me begin. I am Ah Soon, and I am a distributor of branded clothing to shops in KL.”

“So now you know that being our friends are advantageous! You can call Ah Soon any time and he’ll provide you stylish clothes at cheaper prices.” Terence exclaimed with a twinkle in his eye.

Cherlyn nodded and introduced herself in turn, “I am Cherlyn and I’m still studying in KL, at University Putra Malaysia.”

Paul nodded and turned to look at me so I took the cue and said, “I am Elaine and I’m also studying, in the National University of Singapore.”

They were astonished and Ah Soon excitedly asked me, “So you’re smart! What are you studying?”

Being not too brainy and yet somehow managing to get into the medicine course at NUS, I always felt slightly embarrassed to admit to this, so I shrugged my shoulders teasingly and said, “That’s my secret, and it’s nothing to do with any of you. Cherlyn’s an engineer!” I quickly shifted the attention back to her.

“Wow! We’ve got an engineer here. I am a mechanic.” Terence, seated to my right, shyly informed us, “So what about you? Come on, don’t be so mysterious.”

“Yeah, and you can quietly whisper the answer into my ear. I’ll be discreet, I promise.” Paul said in turn.

I laughed and continued to smile without giving it away.

The tune of “Waves Blossom” by Richie Ren came on the karaoke screen and Paul picked up the microphone and handed the other one to Thomas, and they started singing the song with childlike joy.

It was a familiar tune to all of us, being written for the show “Summer More More Tea” which was filmed in this very hut where we were at. The music is vibrant and the lyrics speak of youthful days at the beach, being carefree and fun. Yet, one day when all the young become old and wrinkled, it would just be enough to be at each other’s side, reliving the days when the end seemed infinitely far away.

I thought it very apt to select this song, and yet, the barmaid must have heard this a million times, for I’m sure every young person who came here will likewise have chosen this song.

“I bet the barmaid must know how to sing this song by now, even though she’s Malay.” I pointed out to Cherlyn.

“I’m sure. People must be singing this a few times a day everyday.” Cherlyn agreed, shaking her head, pitying the poor barmaid.

Too soon, it was time to leave them again. We stepped down the wooden staircase and saw that Mi and Eddie were already waiting for us at the benches outside the hut. Waving, we greeted them warmly.

“Are you both ready to search for blue sand?” Mi asked, getting up from his seat.

They brought us across a bridge made of planks connected by bamboo, about 100metres above a chasm in the mountain on the right of the beach, to a small plateau which housed another series of chalets belonging to a different hotel. The hostels here were simpler and less luxurious compared to the Laguna Resort, but the Sports House offered a comprehensive range of diving courses. I guessed that this is the choice hotel to stay in for diving packages to Redang Island.

On reaching the other side of the plateau, the land sloped down to a small white sandy beach, surrounded on both sides by orange rocks that rose gently at first, and then abruptly vertical to enclose the small bay in a secret ravine on the other side of the mountain.Squatting down at the edge of the water, Eddie reached down beside a small orange boulder and swept the surface sand with his hand. I immediately spotted a blue glow, as big as a grain of rice, but beautifully luminescent in the shadow of the rock. He picked up the blue sand and placed it upon my receiving hand. I examined the blue grain curiously; amazed at the fiery blue light that was given off by this tiny organism.

What is this thing actually? Is it a weed or an animal?” I asked.

Mi explained, “It is actually some sort of sea insect that is washed up on the shore. We are not lucky enough today, because the moon is shining brightly. When the nights are dark, one sweep of the hand will uncover millions of these bugs, and you will see a mirror image of the night sky, except that the blue stars are more brilliant, much bigger and truly spectacular.” He added with an admiring tone.

I watched the blue light grow dimmer as I held the translucent insect in the palm of my hand carefully, but no matter how careful I was, the beautiful animal slowly extinguished in the air. All that is left is a dull gray grain, soft and easily compressible. It had died within a minute of being dug up, unprotected by the wet sand below.

An unexpected sadness overcame me suddenly as I thought about all those lights that were extinguished whenever the sand were swept away to show tourists the blue animals, and the countless more that would continue to be killed in future, relentlessly. The fact that humans were selfish to the point of killing for entertainment struck me as I recalled the extermination of all the species that Mother nature originally affords, that had already occurred up to this point. This was painfully obvious on this day especially for I had only just begun discovering the magnificent bounty of nature, and yet knowing that one day, these too might one day be only graveyards.

All things will pass. I sighed. However, not wanting to miss a single moment, I perked up immediately, for even now is a passing moment anyway.

“Let’s stop digging, I’ve seen enough.” I suggested to Cherlyn and Mi who had found another three such grains. I pulled at Eddie’s sleeve and stood up, “It’s too bad that we can’t see them in their full glory today, so let’s do something else.”