There was a slight delay due to one of our colleagues was late for the bus. We had tried very hard to persuade the driver in order to wait for her. Otherwise, the bus would leave without her and she had to find her own way to Perhentian Island.
The bus journey from Kuala Lumpur was quite comfortable as this time we were traveling by e.Budaya 1st Class, VIP seating, spacious and comfortable. The driver, as usual, drove very fast. We stopped once in the middle of nowhere for about one hour. Usually the comfort stop is only for half an hour, God knows what’d happened, this time the bus was delayed.
We reached Jerteh Bus Station at about 5:30am (usually is at about 4:30am). Everyone was looking for the washroom but unfortunately the toilet was not yet opened. There were few "kereta sapu" (non-commercial private car) were waiting at the station and the drivers were offering the ride for RM5.00 per person to Kuala Besut. We rather felt that the fee for a 15-minute drive journey is quite expensive and we preferred to wait for the public bus that costs only RM1.20 per person. Not long later, a van driver came to approach us and offered us a ride for a fee of RM3.00 per person. As we were quite tired waiting and the price was not so bad, we decided to take the offer and there go our journey. The driver was driving quite fast like he was in Formula One race. The cold morning breeze blew to our face, freezing cold. To me, it was like a relief and I could feel that we were closer to Perhentian Island – My dream island.
Bubu Inn was not yet opened when we reached Kuala Besut. We had to wait at the nearby a small Chinese restaurant for a cup of hot drink, the 2 guys were there already. At the meantime, we were also trying to contact the staff of Bubu Inn via mobile phone. At one time, I was in front of the door of Bubu Inn, almost to bang the door to awake whomever inside, but I didn't because I don't want people caught me and sent me to the nearby police station. After a while, we managed to get the staff to open the door for us. We were then given rooms for washing up and rest till the boat transfer at 9:30am.
The sky turned bright. I brought my colleagues to cross the Besut Bridge (a rather huge bridge as compared to the small and tiny fishing village of Kuala Besut) and had our breakfast at the Malay restaurant that I visited last time. This time we bought beers and mineral waters from one of our colleagues' family operated traditional small drugstore next to the bridge on our way back to Bubu Inn.
Together with a young couple, we walked on a short distance from Bubu Inn to the jetty to board our speedboat. The boat journey was rather bumpy but we were quite enjoyed it. Upon reaching the shore, the rain started. We were then transferred by two small motorboats so call water taxis to the beach.
I rather felt irritated checking-in under such condition; I felt my whole body was sticky with wet shirt and sands stuck on legs, water dripping from my hair and the air was hot and humid. Luckily, it was not peak season and the rooms were mostly empty. We got our rooms without any delay. The guys were given a room on the top floor (2nd floor) whereas the girls were given the one on 1st floor.
Right after we settled down and tried to take a rest in the room, the rain stopped. Like usual, I don't really want to waste my time sleeping on a comfortable bed in the room while I could have done so many things out there. I decided to walk alongside the beach, to take some beautiful pictures and to observe how people spent their time at the beach.
The wind was still strong and the waves were still very rough. I could see people doing bodysurfing and few having sunbathing. The sky was cloudy and it was really not interesting. The beach was laid with rubbish that brought by the monsoon. I rather felt a little disappointed. Anyway, since I was here, I should take my own sweet time to enjoy the peaceful and relaxing moment here and forgot about the irritating and hassling working life at the office.
Lunch at one of the beachfront local wooden restaurants was wonderful. Under the shade of a beach umbrella, having local food and drink while enjoying the view of the beach, indeed, a very good experience. We did not have to worry about the time passed and we did not have to rush for our lunch, everything was on slow pace, what we could do was sit back and enjoy the lazy afternoon.
After the lunch, rest for a while, the beautiful sea was irresistible and we then jumped into the water and played with the waves.
After the shower, one of my colleagues would like to go over the other beach of this island. I led the way passing thru the jungle, going uphill and downhill before reaching Coral Bay. Amazingly the sea was calm there as compared to the rough sea at Long Beach (where we were staying at Bubu Long Beach Resort). The life here was much simple and quite.
The weather was not so good for a beautiful sunset here. We did not spend so much time at Coral Bay. We went back to Long Beach and took a rest at the beachside before dinnertime.
Our dinner was at another wooden restaurant slightly away from the beach. I guessed the food was nice as the restaurant was almost full with customers and all of them were Caucasian. The menu was rather more choices on western food than the one we had for our lunch. The decoration of this restaurant was really attractive; fishing net hanging on the ceiling, leaves on the wall, each tables decorated with straw mat and a small vase with flowers. The smell from nearby barbecue was our appetizer. The food was served in a generous portion. The dinner was really good and my stomach was really full.
After the dinner, we had a walk alongside the beach in the dark. We were wondering as why there were not much of people on the beach during daytime but most of the restaurants here were full of people in the nighttime. We returned to Bubu Long Beach Resort and my colleagues had card games near the beach. I was rather too tired and went to bed.
Unfortunately, one of my colleagues was snoring all night long. I didn't have a good sleep then. The next day morning, on 10 March 2003, the sky was cloudy and it was raining outside.
Our breakfast at Bubu Long Beach Resort was rather simple; toasted breads with butter or jam, two sausages, two slides of pancake with honey, some baked beans with tomato paste, coffee and tea. We were sitting and chatting at the restaurant to enjoy a relaxing, peaceful and beautiful morning. Later in the morning, one colleague of mine and I had our sunbathing on the sundecks. The sky was still very cloudy, not much of sunlight. However, we still could feel the heat.
Time for lunch was a headache to choose which restaurants to dine. At another two storey wooden restaurant with wonderful decoration we had our simple lunch. The lampshade was like a bird net, the ceiling decorated with fishing nets and some beautiful plants in front of the restaurant. However, the food was rather too oily. I had a stomach upset after the meal.
In the late afternoon, after the shower, I brought a book and went down to the beach sitting on a chair beside the restaurant under the shade. I started my reading with the music from the sea and the fresh natural air condition from the sea breeze. Whenever I felt tired, I just put down my book and closed my eyes to enjoy the peaceful and relaxing moment there before I continued my reading. It was a wonderful late afternoon!
The beach volleyball match where the team members were the guests and staff was just started at the side of the resort. Interesting! Watch them playing while waiting for the sunset and dinnertime. At night, we had ghost stories while waiting for our dinner to be served. It was rather a long wait for our dinner, nobody knows what had happened but it took more than 45 minutes to prepare our dishes. We were almost starved to death when our dinner was served and the food was really tasty (maybe we were too hungry)!
We hung around the bar and restaurant area at Bubu Long Beach Resort that night, playing cards, chatting with the staff and listening to one of the staff playing guitar...
Another annoying night with snoring all night long, I had no other choice but to tolerate. Just to wish the time passed faster.
Early morning, on 11 March 2003, another cloudy sky, walking alongside the beach playing with the tiny small crabs running all over the beach, listening to the sound of waves and enjoying the cold sea breeze. What a quite and peaceful morning! Later, another simple breakfast we had. We were sitting at the restaurant till the checking-out time to catch the boat ride back to mainland at 12:00pm.
Due to the rough sea at Long Beach, we had to cross the jungle and walk over to Coral Bay to board our speedboat. There was light rain while we were crossing the jungle. With bags on our back, raindrops and sweat on our face, unwillingly we left Long Beach and walking thru the jungle. Rain stopped when we approaching Coral Bay. God knows what’d happened, our boat was not ready. About an hour later, we boarded the speedboat via water taxi that cost RM2.00 each passenger. However, due to incorrect number of passengers that the boatman supposed to pick up at Coral Bay, he had made several phone calls and waited at the Coral Bay for quite some time and later drove the boat to the Fishing Village tried to look for the two missing passengers. Finally, we had to go without further delay. The sea was rather rough and it getting worst in the middle of the sea. The boatman was trying very hard to avoid the rough waves... The waves attacked from all directions... The sky was turning dark a heavy rain might come anytime... I was really worried and nervous as I could sense something unpleasant might happen, I started chanting (Buddhist practice) inside my heart so that nothing bad would happen to us... Sometimes the waves even higher than the boat and almost swallowed us... A wave attacked us suddenly and splashed us to wet before reaching the mainland... At last the boat escaped from the waves and sped into the river mouth where it was protected by groyne. It was really a relief... We were wet and cold...
You may imagine as how dangerous our situation was as I was told later that no fishermen were allowed to go to the sea for fishing that day, due to rough sea. We were just escaped from the hands of the devil of death.
After washing up at Bubu Inn, the Innkeeper showed us the nearest and nicest Chinese restaurant for our late lunch. Due to the rough sea, we were late for the onward itinerary, we were supposed to move on to Kota Bharu but then we decided to stay put at Kuala Besut and would take the express bus back to Kuala Lumpur from the nearby town, Jerteh. We were lucky as the bus tickets were almost sold out.
After the lunch, we walked around and to have a closer look at this fishing village. We then rested underneath a big tree near Bubu Inn till a sudden rain poured in the evening. We had no choice to leave Bubu Inn in the heavy rain in order to catch the local bus to Jerteh; there won’t be any local buses after 6:30pm. There was only one big umbrella available at Bubu Inn. We had to take turns to fetch our members one-by-one from the Inn to the bus stop opposite. However, buses that came were not going to Jerteh but Pasir Puteh. We then forced to take the taxis and move on.
While we were having our dinner at the open-air hawkers center opposite the main bus station of Jerteh town, the heavy rain poured again. The rain seemed like following us everywhere we go. Luckily, it was a short one. The bus turned up quite punctually at 9:00pm.
We had a cup of hot drink during the comfort stop in the middle of nowhere after 12:00 midnight. The cost of a cup of hot drink here was about 50% more than that of in Kuala Lumpur. Expensive! We had no choice cause the air condition in the bus was rather too cold. While we were in the sleep comfortably, God knows what’d happened the bus stopped at the roadside, and suddenly the bus driver asked us to move to the other buses. We were then divided into two different buses to fill up the empty seats whichever we could find. Nobody voiced out the dissatisfaction, as everybody was really tired of the bus journey and just followed what was instructed and wished that we could arrive our destination safely and timely.
Without knowing the bus was already entering Putra Bus Station Kuala Lumpur. Quickly we got down the bus and waited for the other bus to arrive. Later at about 6:00am, on 12 March 2003, few of us walked to the nearby LRT station to take the earliest LRT back home. I continued sleeping at home cause I was really exhausted.
Yoke Ming
6 Apr 2003
[View Perhentian Island Photos]
