Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Heaven in Terengganu
And Pulau Perhentian was amazing!
I have made up my mind - striking off "rearing sheep on a farm" as an occupation when I retire. Now, only "retire by the beach" still remains, and it will be the one thing for which I will slog my arse off for the next 3 decades or so.Yes, retiring by the beach. I will build a cosy little hut there. And until that day comes, I will continue making my island pilgrimage on an annual basis, like how I have been doing for the past 3 years.
It being our virgin trip to Perhentian, I booked flights to Kuala Terengganu instead of Kota Bahru. How would I know the jetty was closer to the next state? So it took us about 70 minutes to get from the airport in KT to Kuala Besut, whereas if I had landed in KB, it would only require about 45 minutes. Thankfully the boyfriend didn't whine too much about this.
With help from Perhentian Sunny Travel, we booked our holiday package with ease. I wanted something whereby everything was arranged and provided for. We stayed at the New Cocohut Chalet, and despite it being nothing to shout about, it had the basic comforts which I need - a clean airconditioned room with attached bathroom.
With half a day left upon our arrival, we immediately hit the beach and spent the day lazing away under the sun and in the water.
We expected food to be crap because that's what you get when you book packages. On the contrary. We were well fed with at least 3 dishes for lunch and dinners!
Like all island resorts, the entire place exudes laziness. 
I mean, there isn't really much to do, and you can't hit the mall or watch a movie. So we eat, swim, snorkel, laze on the beach, and sleep. Heck, even cats have an easy life here!
The next day, we opted for an afternoon snorkeling excursion and Skinny Malay dude came to pick us up again, and this time we saw plenty!
I saw 4 huge-ass bumper heads swimming in a row towards me and I got scared for a moment. They looked like ugly italiano mafias. I saw a trigger fish and quickly swam as far from it as possible because they are nasty and they bite. Fins are good for kicking away jellyfish. Sharks were harder to spot but we saw 2 lurking around under the corals. They were about a metre long and absolutely beautiful. Turtles are aplenty this time of the year and we easily saw about 5-6 of them. They were BIG! And clown fish are just so damn cute! Skinny Malay dude went between the anemone and caught a clown fish between his palms. Dammit. I need an underwater camera.
We had a very windy ride back all the way to the airport in Kuala Terengganu. Yes, all the way. Wind was slapping our faces and messing up our hair during the speedboat ride back to the mainland.Then, because we arrived back at the jetty at close to 5pm, apparently, most cabbies are now getting ready to go home (what?!) and so it was harder to get a cab. We had to settle for a really, really old car. With no aircon. For like an hour's plus ride. More wind.
Like always, when we woke up on our last morning there, I told him, "You go ahead back to KL without me. I'm staying on." As always, he layan-ed and said, "Sure, lemme know when to pick you up from the airport".
Posted by Doreen at 10:57 am
