PERHENTIAN ISLAND : birthday with strangers at a deserted beach

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I have 3 very very best friends and what is more fun than to have a trip with them!!! They are Teyha, Ieien & Ain. Since we were all 21 years old in 2010, we really felt that its time to celebrate freedom by having our own vacation trip. We all agreed on going to Perhentian Besar Island in Terengganu!!!!

21st May 2010
We were all very excited about the trip and has gathered in my house to wait for our best 'boy' friend, Zhafran to send us to the bus station. To go to the east coast of Malaysia we will have to take a bus at Putra Bus station. I am a proud Malaysian but I've never been to the east coast myself...it was my first time. The bus we took was Mahligai bus and we depart around 10.30pm although it was supposed to be at 10pm. Its a 8hours ride and lucky us the bus took the Kelantan route instead of the Kuala Terengganu route. They don't have any highway in kelantan route so it was very interesting looking out at the window especially when the bus passed by Gua Musang ( a cave) although its a bit dark..hehehe.

22nd May 2010
We arrived in Kuala Besut bus station which is the exact stop of the Kuala Besut jetty. It was 6.00 am and it was still dark, luckily there was a mamak stall which runs for 24hours. We settled down and had our breakfast and just wait until 8 am. It really felt so good just to sip the air of the remote fishing village nearby.

Around 8.30 am the office of the chalet (cocohut) that we've booked opened. We've still got some payment to settled and off we went to the jetty. The weather is not on our side..it was very cloudy when we walked towards the jetty and it starts to rain as soon as we were boarding the speed boat. At the beginning we were so high with joy and just start screaming happily but towards in the middle it just went bad. It rained heavily in the middle of the ocean and you could just imagine the wave. But anyhow we survived =) and arrived in Perhentian Island 30minutes after. It was still rained heavily in the island and we waited for a few minutes before we were brought to our room.

Believe me, it was surreal. The chalet were on the side of the cliff and the view was spectacular. We hang our cloth and got changed and awhile later, the sun showed up. Beautiful!!! We went to the restaurant to have our lunch and it was soooo good!!! We were told that we are going for a snorkeling trip at 2.00pm and so before the boat arrived we just hang around at the beach and keep on chatting and taking pictures.

As promised, at 2 pm the boat arrived. Not one of us know what we've been signing up for because not one of us had ever snorkel before. I was a bit scared because I'm just afraid of the fish and they were like thousands of them waiting for you. hahahaha... anyhow, we all manage to get into the water and it just took my breath away. I really wanted to cry looking down to the beautiful coral and fishes below you. I felt like a mermaid swimming with the colorful fishes and they were all very gentle. I was also allowed to drive the boat. We really had a great time! Around 6.30 pm we arrived at the chalet and were served with lunch around 7.30pm. At 8.00pm we were all fall asleep because we were so tired!

At 9.00pm I woke up and I tried to wake the rest but they were just too tired to even open their eyes. I decided to just walk at the beach alone. Time is just too precious when you are on vacation and to waste it on sleeps is just sad. I found a nice spot at the beach and just sat there alone listening to my ipod. A few moment later, A guy came up to me. He was actually the snorkeling guide that took us for the trip just now. He called himself by the name of chilly. We had a little chat and he asked me whether I am interested on following him to search the blue sand. I was so interested in the blue sand that everyone was talking about since I arrived at the island so I agreed. Yah, what the hell...I'm in vacation for god sake. I shouldn't be scared of exploring!

For a second, I doubted on following him exploring the island for just the two of us. The fact that I am a girl and I'm very petite makes me extra careful but luckily he also invites a Chinese couple to go with us. I'm relief. So we walked along the beach while chatting. chilly told us so much about the island and it was so interesting. A few minutes later we arrived at an abandoned stairways leading up to a forest. It was so dark but I just put my faith on Chilly and just embraced the walk. Then we walk down another stairways and magically we arrived at another beach with an abandoned chalet. There were no people there and it was so quiet. And then we continue walking until we arrived at the second stairways and the same thing goes again. And we finally arrived at a very deserted beach. There were nothing there. Its just you the beach and the forest behind you. So surreal!!!!!

We hang out at the beach near a pile of massive stone. Chatting and drinking celebrating the couples anniversary and for a moment, I just thought of something. Tonight is my FUCKING BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!
And none of my friend were there to wish me, I even forgot about it myself! I felt a bit sad that I was alone on my birthday but at precisely 12am Chilly ran over to me from the beach and quickly put a glowing yellow sand on the palm of my hand. It was the blue sand!! I was in shocked. Suddenly Chilly and the couple screamed a hell of birthday wishes to me. I was so happy and I really can't express any words on how I felt at that moment. CELEBRATING BIRTHDAY WITH STRANGERS ON A DESERTED BEACH?!!! Well what do you know huh?!

Then, we went back to Tuna beach and hang out at the jetty to give some treat for the fishes and to look out for squids. Around 2.00am my friend Teyha called me in panic asking where am I and am I okay. I calmed her down and ask them to come down and hang out at the reggae bar. Only half an hour later they came down and the bar had already closed. I bring them to the jetty and we just chatting and hang out until 4am and went back to the room and finally had my rest!

23rd MAY 2010
We woke up at 8am. I get my shower and gear up for the day at 8.30am. I waited for my friends to get done and it took them so long that I decided to go out first. I walked along the beach alone and just taking my time to really digest all this unbelievable scenery into my mind and memory. i really love it here and I really don't want to go back. Awhile later, my friend catch me up and I bring them to the beach that Chilly showed me last night. Since it was nobody there and we were all in a crazy mood, we just took our cloth off and finally in our bikinis and swam with all our heart. We really had a great time that morning. At 10am we headed back and had our breakfast, it was a birthday breakfast for me and it was really spacial to have it with my best friends. We then went back to our room and packed our things and ready to go back to Kuala Besut. The boat arrived at 12.30pm. We said goodbye to Perhentian Island and I promised myself to once go back to the Island again.

Around 1 pm we arrived at Kuala Besut jetty again. We are heading to Kuala Terengganu now. We asked the local people and they said that we had missed the bus and would take us hours to wait for another one. So we decided to take a bus to Jerteh and from there we will have to take another bus to Kuala Terengganu and that was exactly what we did although we had a hard time confirming on the bus stop. We kept on changing for the place that we should wait for the bus and it was hilarious to cross the road over and over again because we were so confused.

We finally arrived in Kuala Terengganu around 4pm. It took us 2 hours bus ride from Jerteh to Kuala Terengganu. We then walked to Pasar Payang ( a local market famous for its craft) but it was about to closed so we walked along the town to get some food. We stopped by at a stall and had delicious charkuew teow! After we were all fulled we then went to an expo at the Dataran Kuala Terengganu and bought our selves some bundle clothing ( used clothing) RM10 for 3 pieces of cloth. Good bargain!

At 8am we decided to get into a funfair and to tried out one extreme ride and indeed we did. It was terrible. The ride turns us up and down and I really felt sick and I did vomit at the end of the ride. Laugh at me, sure! hahahahaha. We also did managed to take a ferris wheel ride before we headed to the bus station at 9.30pm. The bus depart at 10pm and we were all fall asleep as soon as we get into the seat. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 5.30am. Happy Ending!

I managed to took some pictures using both digital & film.. Do enjoy them!

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Photos

love
taken by holga - chrome film

Tuna bay jetty
taken by holga - chrome film

tuna bay
taken by holga - chrome film

fun fair in Kuala Terengganu
taken by holga - chrome film

confused
waiting for the bus merely 1 hour

On the bus
Finally on the bus to Jerteh. It was fulled with school kids.