In Perhentian!!

We went to Hentian Putra bus station (besides PWTC) to go to the East Coast area.

The bus to Jeti Kuala Besut (where the boat to Pulau Perhentian leaves) cost us RM 40, and we departed at 9:30pm to arrive in Besut at 5:30am. (If you get Mahligai Bus like we did, it will stop right in front of the Jeti place)

So-Young's first Nasi Lemak and Roti Canai. A must have in Malaysia. Eat up before getting to the island. It's cheaper to have breakfast in the mainland first.

We were lucky to get to know Kak Ita that later bought our boat tickets  (return tix for RM 70), and our snorkeling voucher (5 snorkeling spots for RM 40) . She told us about the differences between the Big and Small Perhentian Island, where the small one is better for backpackers as they have a wide choice of chalets and dormitories. Around this time of year (summer holiday  in North Hemisphere countries), you have to pre-book your stay or else you have to camp out on your own. We were lucky to have one room in Aubay Chalet (in Corey Bay) since we just crash the place without any reservation.

There are other places as well ( a room with 2 beds or a queen size bed),

• Senja Bay (they didn't have any rooms last time) - RM 100 per night with breakfast, 24 hours electricity, and Free Wi-Fi.

• Aubay Chalet (our chalet) - RM 80 per night, 12 hours electricity, VERY SUPER near to the beach (facing sunset) and very friendly staffs.

• Amelia Chalet - RM50 per night.

Others; there's so many other chalets out there, but it really depends on the availability. It ranges from RM15~ (for a dormitory placed further inside the jungle + the toilet and shower is outside and you have to share it with others if you don't really care it's okay).

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We just spend the whole day of our first day reading books and I was reading all of my notes to write my report... It was relaxing, but we were sweating hot since  the electricity only work after 7pm. T-T"

Around 5pm, we decided to take a look at the Long Beach (about 10 mins of walking in the jungle - there's a proper path) and it was just beautiful!! But yeah, I was the odd one out since there were many many mat salleh and perasantan mat salleh celups.

For dinner, we went to Amelia Restaurant has this BBQ set that cost RM15 including a small glass of lychee juice. Around the island, most drinks will cost about RM3 and a plate of a proper food will be around RM 8- RM 10. It's really easy to allocate your budget if you know how much things cost.

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You should bring 2-3 big bottles of mineral water, and a loaf or two of bread. Especially once you go swimming or snorkeling, you'd be starving in an instance. Just bring something to munch with you on the boat (when you go for snorkeling). Nuts would be nice.

Always the odd one out wherever I go.

 Snorkeling is something that you just HAVE to do when you're in Perhentian. It really doesn't matter if you can swim or not! You'll be wearing the life vest, the snorkeling equipment and the half-fin(?)- the thing that makes you feel like a fish (or a mermaid!).

 Our 5 snorkeling spots that I still remember,

•  1: Fish n Corals- MasyaAllah....... The fishes are just beautiful. There's like millions of them swimming around you. If only I had bread with me which I kinda did but totally freaked  out when they were like thousand of them swarming me. xP

•  2: Shark Point

 - saw a number of sharks swimming around me.
 - but totally freaked out when I saw a group of jelly fish and went straight back to the boat.. T-T" ( I had a horrible experience with them last time)

•  3: Penyuuuu!!

 - just follow the Penyuuuu and swim beside it! You can touch it if it comes to the surface, and mine DID!!
 - it was way huge than I thought it would be.

[lunch break in a village nearby]

•  4: Light House (breath taking view of the corals!!)

 - there's this small "Christmas Tree" that acts like daun semalu when you touch them.
 - Saw a Nemo family. A big one and a smaaaaall one playing hide and seek!
 - the differences in the layer of the water when suddenly you can feel it being really warm, or chilling cold.

•  5: Romantic Beach  (I love this place!!)

 

 - where I took my life-vest off and it felt really good to just swim on my own)

 - shallow water about 5 metres deep. The water was crystal clear!

 - played with gamat. Ewwwwwww =X

 - mencari (in search of) octopus!  and found one! and the way they 'blurted' their ink was just memorable!

 - sand white and transparent fishes playing at your feet.^-^

 - saw more sharks!! and more Nemo families!!

 # I panicked when my goggle got a bit foggy inside, and I swallowed too much of sea water when I laugh.

## I realized that when I'm panic or nervous, I laugh a lot. A LOT.

### When I was bitten by a snake back in Melaka, I was laughing all the way to the hospital at the back of the ambulance. and the paramedics got really worried and confused T-T"

#### I can't help but to laugh (or smile) if I'm being confronted - pastu they won't take me seriously. (syoganainaa..)

I guess that's about it.

All in all, I hang out with a Japanese guy, 2 Korean ladies that went there for scuba class (both on their own), my Korean mate (So-Young), Steven the hamsap scuba instructor and Hafiz one of the beach boys.

I would go back for more. I realize that I love traveling and SNORKELING!!

next stop, Red Sea!