Pulau Perhentian Trip.
I finally gave my blog a makeover.
After learning some basic HTML and CSS coding in university, I did have thoughts of redesigning my blog. But it was just too much work. I also didn't have any ideas on how to change my blog's look.
But Blogger uploaded some new themes that fit the styles of blogs today, so I immediately made changes. It's more or less how I wanted my blog to look like so it works. I wish the width of my post was smaller, so I can give the illusion of me writing more HAHAHAH. I'm also going to use bigger pictures from now on.
I also changed the title of my blog, and I'm wondering if I should change my blog address.
This Pulau Perhentian trip happened in July 2017. It was after my final semester in university. We wrapped up our Echo exhibition and submitted our final year project. We were free.
You know there's always talks of going somewhere after you're done with all the work, and it happened among me and my classmates as well. The problem was we couldn't decide on where for so long. When we finally decided on Perhentian, we went to the island in just a few days after the decision. It was pretty spontaneous.
DAY ONE
It wasn't long till I find myself at Bandar Tasik Selatan at night, catching a bus with my friends. I think it took around five hours of a bumpy bus ride to reach the jetty. We had one of our friend's relatives to take us to the island with a speed boat. Boy, it was fun.
Our group was separated into three areas of the island, because while some feel okay to spend the nights at a campsite in the forest, others wanted a room with a proper bathroom. What we didn't realized that it was actually quite a distance from each other.
I was with the group that was staying at the campsite at Rainforest beach. When I say forest, it's really in the forest. We slept in tents and the bath area was made of leaves and wood. Did I mention it was open-air too? We were really one with the nature.
We decided to meet our friends who are at the other part of the island. We walked on a trail for about 15 minutes, where we see nothing but trees and the sea. I wouldn't walk this path alone or at night. Definitely not.
We reached Coral Bay and it was then we realized that we were very far apart from each other. If were to walk to Long Beach (where we agreed to meet our friends), it would take another 15-20 minutes of walking. We gave up and took a boat.
I think in general the sands around the island are very clean. The water is blue and I regretted not changing into my swimming wear. We met up with our friends and we just chilled under the hot sun. I had fried rice for lunch.
Me and my camping friends went back to the forest at 3PM to check in to our tents. We had to hike up the hill to get to our tents and they only provided a thin mattress to sleep on. It was still better than my nights in Taman Negara.
We returned to Long Beach again and I finally got to dip myself into the waters. I didn't spend a lot of time swimming, but I remember taking a nap on the beach, and boy it felt so good.
Before dinner, I went to the resort that my other group of friends was staying. They had a proper, clean bathroom and they didn't mind me using it. It's not that I wasn't comfortable bathing in an open-air-walls-made-of-sticks bath area, it was just, I had choices so I took the better one.
We made a mistake of sitting on the wrong tables for dinner. Apparently even though all the tables were set up together, different colored tables belonged to different restaurants. So while we experienced lousy service and lousy food, the table right beside us was enjoying barbecued seafood from another restaurant.
Things went south when it started to rain. At first it was okay, but it started to pour heavily and the waves started to get rough. We were wondering if we should wait for the rain to stop, or get on a boat now and head back to our campsite.
A man with his boat told us to leave immediately because the weather gets worse, but we were very afraid of the rough seas and it was pitch black. He got rather impatient and we were pissed too, but we got on the boat anyway. Did I mention that there wasn't any roof on the boat?
As we leave the island, it got darker and darker. The only source of light we had was the ocassional lightning in the far distance. Rain droplets hit our skin till we were soaked to the bones. I had no idea how the rude dude managed to navigate in the dark and in the rain. I had thoughts that I could possibly die that night, but I also thought how cool this story would be if I managed to get back safely.
We got back safely and hoped we would never see that man again. It was still raining at this point, but we didn't care, we were drenched. I changed into some dry clothes and retreated into my tent with a friend. There was nothing much we can do in this weather, so we slept.
DAY TWO
I woke up at 7AM. I think one of my friends cooked breakfast for everyone, and I had instant noodles. We ate our breakfast as we fought with giant mosquitoes.
A boat arrived at 10AM to pick us up for a snorkeling session. They were going to take us six different locations to snorkel and see different sea creatures. I was very excited even though I can't swim.
The first location was Turtle Point where you can see some giant sea turtles. It was difficult to spot one though, because they would always swim away before the boats could go near. The very kind uncle on our boat tried to help those who can't swim to get close to one by pulling our life jackets.
The moment I saw the turtle (waaaaaay at the bottom of the sea) I squealed in delight through my snorkeling mask. I think it was the first time seeing a turtle in a natural environment, a big one too.
I wish I had photos, but I don't. I don't have any photos of the animals. I'm sorry.
The second location was Coral Point, where we can see corals and fishes. I spent a lot of time there, swimming further and further away from the boat. It was just sooooo beautiful and such an amazing sight to see so many colourful corals and fishes. I think I can spend the whole day there if I wanted to.
We got to see some baby sharks at Shark Point, which was the third location. It took a while and some meat bait for the sharks to appear. They were pretty hard to spot because of their small size and dull colours, but I did saw one.
I decided to head back to the boat after I spotted one, because I felt uncomfortable with salt water in my eyes (I was wearing contact lenses). It was actually a good decision because I had the very kind uncle drag me back. The current was very strong so a lot of people struggled to swim back by themselves. We saw a poor dude swimming at the same spot for like five minutes.
Then, we had lunch at a local restaurant. Let me tell you this: all services at Pulau Perhentian are slow and the food is just very average.
The next location was another coral area. It was more beautiful than the first one and again, I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately, I accidentally touched a coral. I also got scared by a really big fish. Still, it was still a memorable experience. I wish I can go back there.
We just chilled and hung out at the last location, Turtle Beach. Unlike the name, there was no turtles. It was just a beach with really white sand and very clear blue water. We swam around the area and got close with sea cucumbers.
It was the end of the snorkeling trip and we were sent back to our campsite. It rained later during the day while I was walking to Coral Bay.
I spent my day stuck in my friend's room at resort till 8PM. I can't remember what I did there, probably taking a nap.
I had dinner with a group of friends at the hotel's restaurant. It was a buffet dinner and we had some ikan bakar. While the other group of friends went for drinks, I decided to stay at my friend's room for the night. It is something I regret, because the stories they told were hilarious.
I wish I wasn't that hesitant in doing things. I didn't get to experience lots of things in life because of this habit of mine. Gah, I'm just so dumb.
DAY THREE
After having breakfast, I met up with my tent mate and we walked back to the campsite.
We got back to our tent where we found a very drunk friend in it. We didn't know what happened to him until we heard the details from the others later. Let's just say some of my friends drank a lot. I'm afraid I can't share too much because my friends' dignity is on the line.
It was the last day at Pulau Perhentian so we started packing our stuff. We went back to the main land by boat and stopped by a friend's relative's resort for the afternoon.
Just like how we came, we took a bus back to KL. I don't think I managed to get much sleep, but the ride was much less bumpy compared to the first day.
---
Overall, this trip was an interesting experience. I wouldn't say it's good, but I wouldn't say it's terrible either. It's just a trip that is like no other. I experienced a lot of new things and went through some less pleasant ones.
I wouldn't mind going back to Pulau Perhentian again.
I heard that my friend said that the corals weren't as vibrant as years ago went she went there. In the future, it's probably gonna get worse. Pollution is real, dudes.
After learning some basic HTML and CSS coding in university, I did have thoughts of redesigning my blog. But it was just too much work. I also didn't have any ideas on how to change my blog's look.
But Blogger uploaded some new themes that fit the styles of blogs today, so I immediately made changes. It's more or less how I wanted my blog to look like so it works. I wish the width of my post was smaller, so I can give the illusion of me writing more HAHAHAH. I'm also going to use bigger pictures from now on.
I also changed the title of my blog, and I'm wondering if I should change my blog address.
---
I couldn't transfer the photos I took from my iPhone 4S no matter how much I tried, so I had to photograph them from the phone screen HAHAHAHA I'm so sorry.
This Pulau Perhentian trip happened in July 2017. It was after my final semester in university. We wrapped up our Echo exhibition and submitted our final year project. We were free.
You know there's always talks of going somewhere after you're done with all the work, and it happened among me and my classmates as well. The problem was we couldn't decide on where for so long. When we finally decided on Perhentian, we went to the island in just a few days after the decision. It was pretty spontaneous.
DAY ONE
It wasn't long till I find myself at Bandar Tasik Selatan at night, catching a bus with my friends. I think it took around five hours of a bumpy bus ride to reach the jetty. We had one of our friend's relatives to take us to the island with a speed boat. Boy, it was fun.
Our group was separated into three areas of the island, because while some feel okay to spend the nights at a campsite in the forest, others wanted a room with a proper bathroom. What we didn't realized that it was actually quite a distance from each other.
I was with the group that was staying at the campsite at Rainforest beach. When I say forest, it's really in the forest. We slept in tents and the bath area was made of leaves and wood. Did I mention it was open-air too? We were really one with the nature.
We decided to meet our friends who are at the other part of the island. We walked on a trail for about 15 minutes, where we see nothing but trees and the sea. I wouldn't walk this path alone or at night. Definitely not.
We reached Coral Bay and it was then we realized that we were very far apart from each other. If were to walk to Long Beach (where we agreed to meet our friends), it would take another 15-20 minutes of walking. We gave up and took a boat.
I'M SORRY
I think in general the sands around the island are very clean. The water is blue and I regretted not changing into my swimming wear. We met up with our friends and we just chilled under the hot sun. I had fried rice for lunch.
Me and my camping friends went back to the forest at 3PM to check in to our tents. We had to hike up the hill to get to our tents and they only provided a thin mattress to sleep on. It was still better than my nights in Taman Negara.
We returned to Long Beach again and I finally got to dip myself into the waters. I didn't spend a lot of time swimming, but I remember taking a nap on the beach, and boy it felt so good.
Before dinner, I went to the resort that my other group of friends was staying. They had a proper, clean bathroom and they didn't mind me using it. It's not that I wasn't comfortable bathing in an open-air-walls-made-of-sticks bath area, it was just, I had choices so I took the better one.
We made a mistake of sitting on the wrong tables for dinner. Apparently even though all the tables were set up together, different colored tables belonged to different restaurants. So while we experienced lousy service and lousy food, the table right beside us was enjoying barbecued seafood from another restaurant.
Things went south when it started to rain. At first it was okay, but it started to pour heavily and the waves started to get rough. We were wondering if we should wait for the rain to stop, or get on a boat now and head back to our campsite.
A man with his boat told us to leave immediately because the weather gets worse, but we were very afraid of the rough seas and it was pitch black. He got rather impatient and we were pissed too, but we got on the boat anyway. Did I mention that there wasn't any roof on the boat?
As we leave the island, it got darker and darker. The only source of light we had was the ocassional lightning in the far distance. Rain droplets hit our skin till we were soaked to the bones. I had no idea how the rude dude managed to navigate in the dark and in the rain. I had thoughts that I could possibly die that night, but I also thought how cool this story would be if I managed to get back safely.
We got back safely and hoped we would never see that man again. It was still raining at this point, but we didn't care, we were drenched. I changed into some dry clothes and retreated into my tent with a friend. There was nothing much we can do in this weather, so we slept.
DAY TWO
I woke up at 7AM. I think one of my friends cooked breakfast for everyone, and I had instant noodles. We ate our breakfast as we fought with giant mosquitoes.
A boat arrived at 10AM to pick us up for a snorkeling session. They were going to take us six different locations to snorkel and see different sea creatures. I was very excited even though I can't swim.
The first location was Turtle Point where you can see some giant sea turtles. It was difficult to spot one though, because they would always swim away before the boats could go near. The very kind uncle on our boat tried to help those who can't swim to get close to one by pulling our life jackets.
The moment I saw the turtle (waaaaaay at the bottom of the sea) I squealed in delight through my snorkeling mask. I think it was the first time seeing a turtle in a natural environment, a big one too.
I wish I had photos, but I don't. I don't have any photos of the animals. I'm sorry.
The second location was Coral Point, where we can see corals and fishes. I spent a lot of time there, swimming further and further away from the boat. It was just sooooo beautiful and such an amazing sight to see so many colourful corals and fishes. I think I can spend the whole day there if I wanted to.
We got to see some baby sharks at Shark Point, which was the third location. It took a while and some meat bait for the sharks to appear. They were pretty hard to spot because of their small size and dull colours, but I did saw one.
I decided to head back to the boat after I spotted one, because I felt uncomfortable with salt water in my eyes (I was wearing contact lenses). It was actually a good decision because I had the very kind uncle drag me back. The current was very strong so a lot of people struggled to swim back by themselves. We saw a poor dude swimming at the same spot for like five minutes.
Then, we had lunch at a local restaurant. Let me tell you this: all services at Pulau Perhentian are slow and the food is just very average.
The next location was another coral area. It was more beautiful than the first one and again, I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately, I accidentally touched a coral. I also got scared by a really big fish. Still, it was still a memorable experience. I wish I can go back there.
We just chilled and hung out at the last location, Turtle Beach. Unlike the name, there was no turtles. It was just a beach with really white sand and very clear blue water. We swam around the area and got close with sea cucumbers.
It was the end of the snorkeling trip and we were sent back to our campsite. It rained later during the day while I was walking to Coral Bay.
I spent my day stuck in my friend's room at resort till 8PM. I can't remember what I did there, probably taking a nap.
I had dinner with a group of friends at the hotel's restaurant. It was a buffet dinner and we had some ikan bakar. While the other group of friends went for drinks, I decided to stay at my friend's room for the night. It is something I regret, because the stories they told were hilarious.
I wish I wasn't that hesitant in doing things. I didn't get to experience lots of things in life because of this habit of mine. Gah, I'm just so dumb.
DAY THREE
After having breakfast, I met up with my tent mate and we walked back to the campsite.
We got back to our tent where we found a very drunk friend in it. We didn't know what happened to him until we heard the details from the others later. Let's just say some of my friends drank a lot. I'm afraid I can't share too much because my friends' dignity is on the line.
It was the last day at Pulau Perhentian so we started packing our stuff. We went back to the main land by boat and stopped by a friend's relative's resort for the afternoon.
Just like how we came, we took a bus back to KL. I don't think I managed to get much sleep, but the ride was much less bumpy compared to the first day.
---
Overall, this trip was an interesting experience. I wouldn't say it's good, but I wouldn't say it's terrible either. It's just a trip that is like no other. I experienced a lot of new things and went through some less pleasant ones.
I wouldn't mind going back to Pulau Perhentian again.
I heard that my friend said that the corals weren't as vibrant as years ago went she went there. In the future, it's probably gonna get worse. Pollution is real, dudes.
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