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Published: July 17th 2009
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Since our last blog entry we flew back into Malaysia and spent a few days in Kuala Lumpur before then taking a 7 hour bus journey to Kuala Terengganu. We stayed one night in Terengganu (having the most amazing food in a local ’kitchen area’ which cost hardly anything!) before hopping over to the stunningly beautiful island paradise of Pulau Kapas which is just off the east coast of Malaysia.
After much reading and deciding I (Andy) came to the conclusion that I would like to spend my birthday on Pulau Kapas which is an unknown to both of us and also seems like the perfect place to relax and spend a week over my birthday. After getting up early and leaving the hotel in Terengganu we got to the Jetty in Marang and hopped onto a boat for the 15minute journey to Kapas and Gemia Islands.
After arriving we jumped off the boat and our feet were suddenly cushioned by powder white sand and water that was as clear as crystal. We were dropped off at the Kapas Beach Chalets, or “KBC” for short, which is where we had already decided to stay so we just threw our
bags into our room and headed for a dip in the sea as it looked just too inviting not to!
There really isn’t too much going on on Kapas, there are a few hotels and a few budget options all of which have their own restaurants and some gorgeous beaches to wander up and down on with your feet in the water. If you are feeling more energetic then there are a few hikes around the island which take you near or past streams and mini waterfalls, and a single dive shop on the island which can whisk you away by boat to one of the 20 odd dive sites around these two small drops of paradise in the south china sea. However, the main draw is the fact that it is so serene and relaxing which was just what we had in mind for a week or so, before we headed into Thailand and beyond, which due to visa restrictions will all be quite manic and busy.
We spent our days just reading books in the cool shade of palm trees and swinging in hammocks letting the sound of the ocean lapping against the shore lull us
into a relaxed state, whilst of course topping up our tans!
Andy’s Birthday!
A few days into our stay on Kapas it was my birthday and one of the first mornings we managed to have a lie in! After waking up, Lucy surprised me with a card and a very small present and even told me that after our stay on Kapas that she would be treating me to a night in the 5* resort and spa on the neighbouring island of Gemia Island.
The morning of my birthday Lucy and I went for a dive which was a very pleasant, even though the visibility wasn’t ideal. After we arrived back at our cottages and started chatting to some of the other travellers, the challenge was set for Lucy to see if she could create a sand birthday cake for me as there was no way of getting hold of an actual cake. We headed to another beach and restaurant for a nice lunch and when we got back to our cottages, Lucy managed to recruit a few other travellers who really liked the idea and challenge of making a cake out of sand and so the challenge
began……………… To see the results you will have to look at the pictures accompanying this blog!!!
The day came to leave Pulau Kapas and head off on the 5 minute speedboat ride to our 5* luxury for a day and night as my treat for my birthday from Lucy. After stepping onto the jetty we walked forward to see a baby turtle hatchery and looking across the hotel all the rooms seemed to be water villa’s on stilts! Much to both of our surprise, I wasn’t expecting any thing like that, we were shown through the resort to our room after enjoying our welcome drink of fruit punch. The room was stunning but was completely put to shame by the stunning views from our balcony which looked over the gap between Kapas and Gemia island. The room was absolutely gorgeous, so nicely finished and once the room price was converted into pounds we were stunned by the level of luxury that we were staying in for the price!!
Once we had taken about 50 photo’s between us of the room and view we decided to go for a wander around the island and try and locate the spa so
Lucy could treat herself to a massage whilst I caught up with e-mails and birthday messages! The setting for Lucy’s massage was absolutely breath taking as you can see from the pictures attached to this blog, and it was apparently well worth the £10 that was spent on the massage!!
In the evening we had a lovely meal and treated ourselves to a few cocktails taking in the surroundings we were in! (much different compared to what we have been used to over the last 2 months!!) We also decided that it would be stupid of us not to see Rich whilst we were so close to him so we decided that the next morning we would make the short trip up the east coast to see him on the Perhentian islands and surprise him for his birthday!!
Perhentian Kecil
After 1 hour 45 minutes by mini van and then 45 minutes by speed boat we finally reached the beautiful Perhentian islands and instantly realised how busy it was so knew it was going to be a struggle to find some accommodation for a few nights. After about 2 hours of traipsing around in the midday sun we
Nudibranch
P.Ocellata found out that pretty much everywhere was full apart from a 5* resort which only had their deluxe suites left…… as we both wanted to stay and celebrate Rich’s birthday with him we decided to take one of the suites for one night and then we would have to move on the next day as we couldn’t afford to stay for more than a night on our budget!! That evening we met up with Rich after having some food and spent the evening catching up and enjoying a few drinks!
The next morning we enjoyed the lie in available to us in what can only be described as a presidential suite! We headed to breakfast before we had to catch our ferry back to the mainland to continue our travels onto Pulau Penang on the west coast of Malaysia before heading north into Thailand and onto the next step of our adventure!!
Hope all is well back home.
Take care
Andy and Lucy
xxxxx
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Claire Rowland
non-member comment
What a birthday!!
Wowzers guys - what an amazing trip!! Looks like you had an amazing birthday Andy! Looks like you are in total paradise! Good work Luce on the cake making - looks good enough to eat!!! Missing you guys loads!!! Lots of love x x x x