Kay it's gonna be photoloaded rather than words, let the pictures speak for us hehe...
By the way, I hope this post will actually make you guys have the urge to go Perhentian for a getaway, so forgive me if it gets too wordy for some parts.
Explorers for this trip hehe...
Jingwen, Jieying, Kaixin, Jovial, Carmen, Weekee, ZhiYen, ZhengYi, LiYing, Sharon and HongFang
Thanks for the awesome memories...
1. Getting to Kuala Besut, Terengganu
We took a coach (Sani Express) at Station Putra (near PWTC) 10pm at night. The estimated time of arrival was suppose to be 6am in the morning. But... Our bus broke down halfway, in Bentong. Luckily there was a mamak store nearby for us to grab something to eat and drink. The replacement bus only came at 2am. All of us were drained and slept all the way. But it was hard to ignore how fast the bus was going. Probably because we were late on schedule, the driver was speeding all the way!!! There were narrow roads and it was almost pitch black in the night, can't say I slept really well.
2. Kuala Besut to Pulau Perhentian
Once at the Kuala Besut, we looked for our chalet, Samudra Beach Chalet's sales office and the person in charge arranged for a boat to pick us up at the jetty. All of us hopped onto the boat, put on our life jacket, and started dashing through the sea. Super exciting as it had been almost 4 or 5 years since I last went on a motor boat ride. The wind was beating hard against our face, u felt like it's gonna pierce a hole through our face. Then there was a few bumps and water splashing. But the best part is still the fact that u're surrounded by blue waves and green mountains around. The motor boat ride takes around 40 minutes.
And yea all our hairstyles turned into disaster in a matter of minutes...
3. Checking In at Samudra Beach Chalet @ Telok Dalam, Breakfast and Lunch.
We manage to reach our chalet by 10am, but our rooms weren't ready yet. The chalet people was kind enough to give us an empty room to put our belongings first so that we could go to other places before coming back at 1pm.
Our Chalet: Samudra Beach Chalet at Telok Dalam
It's run by a Malay family I guess, just like most of the chalets in Telok Dalam.
So we explored around Telok Dalam before officially checking in to our rooms....
Telok Dalam is more like the budget accommodation area, the chalets here are priced at the lower end range. Well there's a reason for that, the beach here is kinda less glam than other more popular beaches like long beach and coral bay. Long beach is awesome! and I'll tell u why later. Nevertheless, Telok Dalam is not exactly bad la, there's still some nice hangout spots, and the chalets and resorts range from luxurious ones to simple and nice ones...though it was kinda quiet during the weekdays, the place gets quite some vibe when weekend comes.
It was Thursday Morning so it was kinda difficult to find food along Teluk Dalam as most of the chalets haven't open their cafes yet. We had to ask the people from our chalet to find food, and he told us to come here:
B' First Accommodation and Cafe
Their menu was kinda impressive to be honest
All sorts of food from Ala Carte dishes to fried rice and quite a lot on the drinks menu as well.
HongFang and Sharon's (Love-Love) Nasi Pattaya
*geli* haha
Pineapple Fried Rice
The portion is real big, luckily i shared with Jieying
the price is quite ok i suppose...I mean it's a tourist site afterall, you can't avoid the extra 30% increase in price. I remember I paid like 11 bucks for this fried rice and also a Teh Ais (which is also very big glass).
After our breakfast-almost-brunch
We were walking along the Telok Dalam, trying to take in all the amazing view and enjoy the sunny weather.
Oh ya, selfies are a must.
and also Jumpshots!!
Omg my belly TT.TT
Next we had lunch at our chalet. Basically all of us paid for RM300 per pax for a 3 days 2 nights stay in Samudra Beach Chalet and this includes a snorkeling trip and 6 Meals: 2 Lunch, 2 Dinner and 2 Breakfast. So yea, I think it's really good that they had our meals covered coz it's not exactly easy to search for dining spots at this area. And I can tell you, they cook pretty well!!! Well good thing that we are fans of Malay food oso larr...so the meals are really okay for us. I really love the TomYam soup from our First Lunch.
4. Long Beach @ Pulau Perhentian Kecil
After our lunch we were kinda bored and we decided to head to Long Beach at Pulau Perhentian Kecil for some water splashing and sun bathing moments hehe...
How to get there? There's actually plenty of Water Taxi services at Telok Dalam and many of them will approach you and offer to take you to different spots between Pulau Perhentian Kecil and Besar. This includes trips to the snorkeling points and all the pretty beaches (Coral Bay, Romantic Beach).Important tip here, the price is negotiable!!!! For us, we paid RM25 per pax for a RETURN fare to Long Beach while the original price is actually RM25 for ONE-WAY! (Take note that they usually quote their price for one-way transfer)
And so we hopped onto the motor boat again and arrived at the beautiful Long Beach!
The sea here is significantly much clearer than Telok Dalam. I'm not lying if I say I can see the fine wrinkles on my toes. Besides that, the sand here is just so damn nice to step on. Soft, powdery and cooling. Moreover, the atmosphere here is definitely livelier. Lots of people especially angmos, playing at the shore, some getting suntanned, some reading a book(like seriously?)....Well everything was just fun, but calm, once we reach there, we immediately turned the place into pasar malam hahahahha
Bet some of the tourists hate us...But we really can't help it, the place is just too too too beautiful!! Snapped photos like crazy, splashing water, lay down at the shore and let the waves hit us hard.
Let the photos do the talking:
btw, the place that my friends are sitting on...they actually charged 10 bucks for you to use these lounges...
Had small yumcha session...
and had a refreshing coconut water!! (RM 7)
LOL the best part of the day...turn kaixin into sand mermaid!!
Shine bright like a diamond
and that's me! enjoying the Sun...
5. Stargazing
The motor boat owner returned to take us back to Telok Dalam at 6pm.
Washed up and had dinner. After dinner, we went for another walk along Telok Dalam. Sorry I don't have many photos, but I can assure you the night time tells a different story. Most of the chalets are beautifully lit, with twinkle lights and you can see some people just sitting down and enjoying their drink. But the best part of the beach at night: THE STARS!! I wished I could show you guys what we saw that night, loads of bright sparkling stars. Sue me if I'm acting like a kid who havent seen a star before, but I really forgot when was the last time I saw so many bright and densely starlit nightsky. Everything was dark except the sky, you can hear the sound of the waves clearly and when you lift your head to see the stars, you could feel the cool breeze brushing on your face. It's a really nice experience.
see everyone enjoying under the night sky
LOL no idea what were these 2 doing...
6. Snorkeling
It's our second day at Pulau Perhentian. And here comes the MUST DO activity when you visit a beach island like this...Float Dive!!!! lol sorry I mean Snorkeling!! Gosh it was one awesome experience. I can't swim and God knows how much fear I have whenever my feet does not touch the ground. I thought I can handle it at first, coz there were many times I dreamed of myself floating on the sea (k i know u will say dreaming and reality is different). But turns out it's still damn hard to overcome my fears. One of the instructors was really helpful and told me to relax, but I just couldn't, the moment m feet kicks off the ground, i'm struggling to put my feet back on the ground again. What to do? My friends were so kind that they held my hand all the time as we move to the deep areas. About the goggles, hehe Thank God I'm actually quite comfortable with it, though I thought I will stop breathing in water, but it didn't take long for me to put my whole head into the water. But still, I just didn't like the idea of floating. I felt kinda guilty in the end, coz my friend can't have her hand free. So I told myself, I must let go. And yea, the moment my friend left, gosh it was scary haha...but once u struggle, you immediately adapt and found the solution.
So yea sorry for my long story, but what I'm trying to say is. There's really no need to fear afterall. And in fact what I realized, the more you fear, the easier for you to get hurt. I had multiple cuts on my feet as I was struggling to touch the ground but the seabed is nothing but covered with sharp corals and stones.
Moving on, the boat stopped at four different spots for snorkeling, each with a special spotlight. For the first one, it was a place with the most beautiful corals and crystal clear water. By the way, it's only for the first spot that they actually let you start at a shore first, so that we can learn how to float at the more shallow water. For the next 3 spots, you go straight into the water from the boat, so yea luckily I learned how to overcome my fears. If not, I don't think I would go for the next 3. Then next spot, Turtle Bay, a place where you could see turtles actively moving around. But emo me, I didn't really see the turtle while most of us saw TT.TT Next, another spot with clear water and lots of colorful fish. Yeap the one where you can feed and the fishes will come in like woodpeckers haha...Finally, the Shark Point where black tip reef shark is frequently seen. But unlucky for us I guess, we didn't see any. But it's still a beautiful place, lots of coral reef and it's actually pretty shallow, so you could see the coral reef population up close and find other aquatic life hiding around it. The snorkeling tour takes around 2.5 hours.
Warning ahead, our photos are kinda, i mean super UNGLAM
k at first I didnt know I was the one in the photo
fishieeees
Our little dolphin Kaixin hehe
The Nemo Fish
The guide took us to this freshwater pond after being heavily immersed in saline solution LOL
Just a place to freshen up and wash off the "sticky-ness" from seawater
With dear Kaixin
lol black and white haha
wif darling Jingwen!!
Back to the chalet, we were exhausted. Now I understand why swimming burns the most calories. Effing tired. And my whole body ached when I woke up the next day LOL
7. Evening of Telok Dalam and Nightlife at Long Beach
We spent our afternoon sleeping after the tedious snorkeling. Woke up in the evening to enjoy the beach. Yeap you might wonder why are we always walking along the beach. But trust me, that's one of the best things to do. You'll never get sick of it.
Anyways we were suppose to meet up at a place but this four girls went out early and go atas place to relax....so syok haha...
4 ladies enjoying their hi-tea at Flora Bay Resort
It's great to sit outside in the evening since it won't be sunny and you can have a good view of the beach and evening sky.
as evening comes, the sky turns into a shade of azure
everything looks calm here...
After a BBQ dinner at our chalet (as in they serve BBQ food not we BBQ ourselves), once again took the Water Taxi to Long Beach again. I think it's better to book the water taxi early and negotiate the prices first. This time we met another water taxi "driver" haha, and he offered us RM25 for return fare as well. Taking the boat at night is a whole different experience as well, everything is pitch black when you stare in front and when you look at the sea beneath you, it's like one dark pool and you have no idea how deep it is. But of course, you can enjoy yourselves by feeling the cold wind rush and also stare at the stars above. It's really exciting hehe.
Long beach was crowded, like really. There's lots of people, chilling out at the beach bars where you can grab a mat and sit on the beach around a square table, very cosy, great for friends to chillax. Most of them were smoking shisha like a boss weih LOL There's also some interesting performances to look out for, we saw the fire performance, dance performance...and there's sort of like an open dance floor as well. In short, it's bustling with nightlife! The atmosphere is really vibrant, and you wished you could join the party.
Oh yeahhhh one way to know if you reached long beach, check if you can clearly see your toes haha....
by the way, not many nice photos, coz I suck in night time photography.
By the way, the sand is just awesome to step on, notice that all of us took off our shoes??
Yeap the sand is like fluffy flour haha...
Terrible...
if u see a mamak with this table number tag, just leave
Mango Smoothie and Fried Snickers, RM9 each
I was kinda surprised that almost all the restaurant and cafes that we went in Pulau Perhentian sells Fried Snickers, and I wondered why, so I decided to order one. Well it's okay la...nothing special, just a crunchier and warm version of Snickers. But for some reason, I think having the Snickers served warm felt less sweet.
Mango smoothie was nice though!! Sweet and tangy flavor, it's exactly what you want when u're outdoors.
We were just chatting, laughing, teasing and talk loads of some nonsense. Talked about our snorkeling experience most of the time, reminding how some of us were so coward haha and some were just too steady.
And there goes our final night at Pular Perhentian.
8. Last Day Photoshooting at Telok Dalam and Lunch at Flora Bay Resort
Woke up and had breakfast at 8am. I like how they always serve Keropok with breakfast hehe, can't get enough of it. After that, packed our belongings, checked out and left our stuffs at the counter since we're only going back to the main land in the evening.
The weather was lovely and as we hoped for, the sun was shining brightly and gave the sea a glowing blue tone. Great opportunity to snap photos like there's no tomorrow hehe...
One of the must-do when you're here, lie on the swing and close your eyes. Pure relaxation.
Most of the photos above were taken at an area around Flora Bay Resort
It's one of the more luxurious accommodation that is available in Pulau Perhentian. You can see most of the guests are angmohs and their restaurant serves a wide range of food from western to local. We had our lunch over there and spent the rest of our afternoon sitting down, looking at the sea and trying to believe that we're about to leave this beautiful paradise.
Here's some of the food we had in Flora Bay Resort...
Refreshing Water Melon -- RM7
Nasi Goreng USA
Forgot what this is...Seafood fried rice I think
Fish and Chips (RM14) for me
Yeap you're looking at the "Fish"
More like Fish bites and Chips lol
But it taste okay la, you can't go wrong with this.
Next, the thumbs up-ed dessert.
Pancakes with Vanilla Ice cream!! (RM8)
Yeap to my surprise this is actually quite yummy. The pancake has a very fragrant scent of eggs and vanilla essence, and it's slightly crunchy on the outside and super fluffy and moist inside. Together with the ice cream, it's very refreshing to have it while we're under the hot sun.
Chocolate Pancake with Vanilla Ice cream (RM8)
similar to the previous one except the pancake has a rich and sweet chocolate taste. I prefer the vanilla and eggs scent though. This one was too heavy, and it has more moisture and denser inside.
Indoors
Outdoor seating
much better and cooler than the indoor ones
and most importantly SEAVIEW!!
Tupai (squirrel) running around all the time!
And just like that, 4 hours passed and we left Pulau Perhentian at 4pm in the evening.
9. EXTRA part: Evening and Sunset at T Cafe, Kuala Besut.
Our bus back to KL departs at 8pm so there's like 3 hour spare time for us in Kuala Besut. Therefore we decided to just walk into a cafe and chill over there. I was kinda worried that we can't really find a suitable place to hangout, since most of the shops there are like small restaurants and for some reason, not all the shops were open. Luckily we found this T Cafe, which is actually a mamak restaurant, similar to Kayu. The moment we stepped in, we took over all the power plugs and use the chairs to put our luggage, like a boss sia. At the meantime, some of us went to shower at the public toilet, it costs 1 buck if I'm not wrong and according to them, it's clean and has hot water.
I had been craving for spicy food eversince I got back and I got to eat all my Malaysian Mamak Faves over here.
Ramli Burgers arrr!!!!
The all-time favorite: Teh Tarik -- RM1.40
Roti Telur-Bawang -- RM2.30
my first time trying this combination of roti telur and roti bawang
it's nice!! savory and mild sweetness from the onions. Love it!
Sup TomYam Campur -- RM5.00
omg this tomyam sup is damn worth it weih!!!
Got sotong, chicken and plenty of veggies
and the soup itself is enough to make you chug in one big bowl of rice!
Burger Ayam Special for Kaixin and Jovial
Looks delicious
and so we decided to order...
Burger Ayam Cheese Special -- RM4.00
damn delicious! If i'm not wrong, they had mango slices inside which gives the burger extra crunch and also tang. The combination of mayonnaise and the black sauce was just awesome and cheese to further enhance the rich flavor! OMG mouthwatering now...
Something random hehe, after our meal, it's sunset, and you can see how the sky turns into pink and blue cotton candy. Me and jingwen decided to follow the coastline and find the best place to capture some photos....but end up reaching a dead end before this mountain of sand. Nevertheless, the view is still beautiful.
夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏。
Act emo haha...
And that pretty much sums up our journey at Perhentian Island. Loads of fun! Beautiful sights, can never forget the blue sky, crystal clear water, soft white sand and lush forests on the island. I really wanna encourage people to go there, so I hope this post helps you guys to plan a trip over there. Erm, in total, I guess I spent around 500 bucks for this 3days 4 nights trip. (The chalet package, the bus fare, meals and even souvenir hehe)
Here's some links:
Samudra Beach Chalet: http://www.samudrabeachchalet.com/
Flora Bay Resort: http://www.florabayresort.com/Pulau Perhentian's Info Site: http://www.perhentian.com.my/
Some tips for you guys:
1. Bring SUN BLOCK!!!! Yeap thanks to my dear friends who are willing to share their SPF130 sunblocks with me, or else I'm pretty sure I'm roasted.
2. Go at Off-Peak period, you can save more money!
3. Must BARGAIN!!!! Especially if you are a foreigner, it's almost for sure that they will charge you higher price for everything.
4. Bring some card games or board games or volleyball. Just in case you and your friends are bored, you can play them at the tables along the beach and there's 2 volleyball court at Flora Bay.
5. If you have the extra cash, Long Beach is a better place to stay.
Lastly, a big shout out to my dear UTAR GE gang for making this trip happen. And more, making it so awesome and memorable. I'll never forget the moments. How you guys made me laugh, How we can just tease each other, how crazy and energetic you guys are, How generous of you to borrow me shampoo, toothpaste, sunblock coz I brought nothing, and of course, how you guys held my hand during snorkeling and told me to relax. Hope the next trip comes soon!!!
Last lastly hehe....I HEART TRAVELING!
#pulauperhentian #islandgetaway
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ReplyDeleteHow is the food served by samudra? Is it set or a lot of dishes? Is the bbq dinner okay?
ReplyDeleteVery sorry, did not see this comment! The food is in buffet style with several dishes and soup. Tomyam soup was great. The BBQ dinner was made by the crew as well, can't say it's very good or special though.
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