Perhentian Island

Liong came out with the suggestion of a trip to Gunung Tahan few months ago but we thought why wanna torture ourselves like that. As crazy as it was, the original idea of having a trip among us schoolmates didn’t fade away – we went Perhentian Island instead.

We spent three days and two nights at the Long Beach of the small Perhentian Island. What an awesome place to be.

After a drive to the Kuala Besut jetty, we took a 15 to 20-minute speedboat ride to get to the island. I took a video using a D90 when we were on the speedboat.

What you might feel when you’re on board of the speedboat would be:

1) strong wind, but certainly not strong enough to blow you away;
2) tiny eyes, because of the wind, so it’s better to bring your shades along, and;
3) a bit of buttock-ache, because as the speedboat hits the waves you’ll go up and down a little :P

As the speedboat approaches the shore of the Perhentian Island, you’ll be greeted with crystal clear waters that will make you go ‘Awwww...’

Apart from that, everywhere you view will look as panoramic as what you’ve seen in postcards or probably on the Internet. That, my friend, is the moment when you’ll keep repeating the word ‘awesome’.

Now say: Awwwwwweeeeee...

...some!!

Model not included :P

On our first night there, Germany was playing against England in the Last 16 of the World Cup. Foreigners, mostly backpackers, who were there gathered at a beach side restaurant to watch.

It was quite an experience to watch the football match with them. There were Germans and English there and we Malaysians don’t know nothing just sat there with them, watched the game with them and cheered when either team scored.

When England was losing, the English looked and sounded disappointed. ‘Come on, England!’ they shouted, ‘Come on, boys!’

For Malaysians, if the national team were to play in a tournament and were getting trashed, we might have gone ‘Oi passing bola lah bengong main bola bende gitu macam budak skolah rendah kalau aku main dah score brape butir goal doh weh!!’

It’s okay if you don’t understand, but it’s certainly very true :P

We got to know a German couple who were there too for holiday. They’ve travelled to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and then Malaysia. Since it’s already almost a month since we last met, I guess they’re probably somewhere in China or Japan already.

Constantine and Rebecca from Germany. Too bad we didn’t get their Facebook contacts.

The night life at the Long Beach is awesome. (Yes, I’m repeating the same word.)

Approximately 45 footsteps away from our accommodation there’s a place like a bar, or might I call it a beach bar, where drinks (yes, alcohols included) are served to the visitors and people can sit down on the carpets provided, drinking and chit-chatting, while being entertained by the live band.

The place is as lively as Zouk KL at night and Kampung Cina KT at day. But bear in mind that the alcohols there don’t come cheap. Yes, there is Shisha and it costs slightly more than in mainland.

That’s not it, I was told by one of the beach boys that it could be even livelier when there’s a beach party at the other side of the beach, but too bad it happened the night before we arrived at Perhentian Island.

On the second day we went snorkelling around the island. There were 4 snorkelling spots and we dropped by the village, where the locals live, for lunch.

Basically snorkelling is all about getting wet in the sea to me. Since I’ve been to Redang and Perhentian a couple of times, the corals and fishes weren’t really something very special to me.

In fact, if you were to compare the corals few years ago and the current ones, you’ll actually realise that it has changed from the better to worse. Probably because of all the pollutions and whatnot.

But still, it’s an amazing experience to have such a close view of the sea creatures. Especially when the schools of fishes that surround you in the water as you feed them with bread. Awesome experience, I must say.

One thing that worth most is the chance to view sea turtles.

At the turtle spot, we were lucky enough to get to see one. A huge turtle was feeding on something (I don’t know what) at the bottom of the sea, it wasn’t very deep of course, and it came up to get a couple of breath before it left the spot.

The sight was plain awesome. Believe it or not, the turtle was within my reach as it swam up from the bottom but I didn’t touch it. I don’t know why. lol.

One reason why I enjoy travelling: the chance to relax, even on the water. =)

Another interesting picture to share is the dark clouds that came covering the skies of the island after our snorkelling trip. It was almost evening and whole place turned dark and it looked as if a storm was on its way.

Apparently the clouds were just passing by because it ended up without rain.

The rest of our time were spent hanging out at the beach or at the bar with some backpackers who were very friendly even though you don’t support their national team in the World Cup.

En route to Kuala Terengganu we dropped by at Batu Rakit beach for some fried squids and keropok.

The squids were good.

The scenery was genuinely awesome.

Nothing beats the awesomeness of the mother nature.