"Day 1: 2 ..." a Pulau Perhentian Besar Travel Page by backpackerbaby

Before...
This will be a special trip - my first time to travel with another girl, my first time to be completely in charge of route planning, my first time to get on an overnight train in Asia, my first time to go to such an inaccessible place...

Worried?
YES!
I was afraid that my colleague-friend would not enjoy.
I was afraid that she would get bored on the secluded island.
I was afraid that there would be too much dead air between us.
I was afraid that we could not get on the right train.
I was afraid that we would miss the speed boat due to train delay.
I was worried about the safety of 2 girls travelling in Malaysia...

Now...
I can tell you that it's 101% safe for girls to travel around Malaysia, even on overnight trains.
I must say that we enjoyed our trip a lot, to the extent that none of us wanna come home.

I just back home today but already miss the island badly, so badly that I wanna plan my next trip there. Believe it or not?

We left HKG at 19.55 on 24 Sept 2004 to Singapore on UA869. We couldn't afford the tickets to any places in Malaysia. The ticket price difference between flying to Singapore and flying to any places in Malaysia is huge here. It's really ridiculous. Anyway, we're backpackers - poor in cash but rich in time. I chose a more time consuming but money saving way to reach Perhentian Islands: plane to Spore --> bus to JB --> train to Tenah Merah --> taxi to Kuala Besut Jetty --> speed boat to the island.

Our flight landed in Spore at around 23.30. The last MRT has gone. We took an airport shuttle, which was a comfy Mercedes 7 seaters and costed S$7 per head to our hostel. This time, I chose New 7th Storey Hotel near Bugis Station because it's the cheapest one in town. The online reservation rate was S$16 per dorm bed per night. The dorm room was great, just for 4 people with air con and TV. The most important point was, the hotel doesn't charge anyth' for luggage storage and allows guests to take showers when they come back to pick up the backpacks. How nice!!!

On next morning, I showed my friend Arab Street, Little India and Bugis Market before heading to Queen's Street Bus Station for the JB Express. Normally, it takes around 45 minutes to reach JB from Spore. However, traffic congestion is a serious problem at weekends. I was advised to allow 2-3 hours for this bus trip, so we left the hostel at around 13.00 after chatting with the funny staff Joseph. The queus for the bus was really long but apart from us, no other backpackers queuing. A 1-way ticket costs S$2.4. The seats were not comfortable but crowded and spaceless. I had to place both my backpacks on my legs, crowded, heavy and hot. It's not funny at all...

To our surprise, we used around 1 hour and 15 minutes to get here. It's a pity that there were no luggage storage facilities in JB Train Station, we couldn't walk around JB. After getting the train tickets I reserved online beforehand, we headed to JB City Square Plaza right opposite to the train station to chill out. What we needed were an air conditioned place with food. The plaza was larger than expected and with lots of shops. We started our plaza touring from the highest level. We were attracted by the prices of Genki Sushi there: the cheapest dish costs only RM2!!! Salmon sushi, eel sushi and the like cost RM4!!! It's really a great bargain to eat there when compared to HK. Needless to hesistate, we went into Genki, found the best seats facing the conveyor belt and got ready for tonnes of sushi!!! Unlike in HK, there were not many people in Genki. No need to queue for a seat and the waiters were fine with us even we spent more than 2.5 hours eating and chatting there. How nice!!

After this late lunch/early dinner, we walked around in the Plaza. Popular Bookstore was on the 4/F. It's the place where I found the cheapest mineral water (RM1 for 1.5L), though it's a bit funny to buy drink from a bookstore : P

haha, my biggest shopping was done in Watson's, where I bought several tubes of L'OREAL washing gel. It's not as cheap as in the duty free Langkawi but it's nearly about 60% of the prices in HK. How could I resist?

Suddenly, we were attracted by a strong smell of food. We followed the smell and found a bakery called Rotiboy which sold fresh baked coffee buns at RM1.5 each. Haha, that's our late dinner : )

Time really flies. After hanging around the rest of the plaza, it's time to go to the train station. I was so excited about the train ride. "Will we be fine?" ...

The train station was packed with people but I couldn't see any backpackers like us. They were locals, most were with lots of luggage, including bags of mooncakes. Perhaps they were heading to their homes in the north for celebrating the mid-autumn festival in a few days.

The station was so hot and poorly ventilated. The staff let passengers wait on the platform. Our berths (no. 13 & 14) were in coach 1. We just sat on the seat on that part of the platform while eating our rotiboy buns. Lots of mosqitoes there, which made me so uncomfortable and so itchy. I just kept myself moving on the platform - taking photos, walking here and there. Don't feel strange if you see me moving all the time on a platform, that's an implication of serious mosquito attacks!

On the Train
The train was not as full as I expected, perhaps it's really a low season. Ger let me take the lower berth. I just lied in my bed the whole night after laying my sleeping bag. The air-con was not as cold as I expected but I felt more comfortable on my sleeping bag : )
You can never imagine how great the vibration is on the train unless you take a ride!!! At some locations, I could feel the train's turning even I was lying in my bed.

The train was really slow. At the beginning, I always checked with my printed schedule when it arrived at a station. It's always late! "Can we arrive in the jetty before 11a.m.?!" This question came into my mind whenever the train arrived at a station. Right, I couldn't sleep well that night. It's not the problem of the bed but the speed of the train.

I 'got up' at around 7a.m. the next day. What I mean is sitting in my berth instead of lying in it. The sky was grey and cloudy, like my mood but I did appreciate the view outside the window. We came across several large rivers, several white cliffs, several small villages and all the way lush areas. These were the bonus of my train ride. I'm sure I couldn't have seen these if I had taken a bus, right?

Who says there is no miracle on earth? The further the train went, the clearer the sky became. The sun got out of the cloud and shone through my window. My mood recovered - yeah, it's my holiday!

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Next station is Tanah Merah." We got our backpacks ready after this announcement but there seemed nobody getting off with us as we walked towards to the exit.

"Is it Tanah Merah?" I asked the man blocking the exit when the train stopped. "Yes, yes." And we jumped off, we really jumped off, not onto the platform but onto the ground next to the railway. Some locals were waiting for us. They were taxi drivers. The only way to get to the jetty at Kuala Besut was to take a taxi - the transportation that I seldom use. With my strong bargaining skill, we paid RM40 in a so-called air-con van. It's already 10.30a.m. when we got into the van and the driver said it would take 45 minutes to get to the jetty. 'Oh! Our speed boat!!!" I felt like being in the Amazing Race, always asked the driver to drive faster...

We finally arrived in Kuala Besut at around 11.20a.m.. Someone brought us to the reception office of Tunabay Resort. We're quite lucky that day because the speed boat was still waiting for us and a Danish couple. When the resort staff was dealing with the Danish couple, I went to the store next store to hunt for some food and water. Hmm, I found a delicious sweet corn ice-cream bar there! Don't feel strange about me taking ice-cream as breakfast, it's just my style ; )

Apart from the ice-cream, I also picked some biscuits and some water. The boy at the cashier said someth' I didn't understand when I paid and a funny conversation followed.

"Pardon?", I said.
"Oh! You're not Malaysian?", said the cashier. At the same time, some other guys of the shop gathered around me.
One of them said, "Ah, I thought you are Malaysian."
"Ha??? Me? No no no, I come from HK."
"Oh? HK?"
"Yeah, we speak Cantonese. You too?"
"No no, just Mandarin."
"That's ok. Ne hao."

They were the first group who thought I was Malaysian. It's really quity funny. When I was in Bangkok, the locals spoke with me in Thai. When I was in Malaysia, the locals spoke with me in Malay. I'm quite localized, ain't I? haha~

There were just 4 guests on the speedboat: me & Ger plus the Danish couple. The weather was so beautiful, blue sky with sunshine, clear water with small waves. I couldn't believe my eyes. I never realized that water could be that clear and that blue.

The sea was classified as calm according to the local standard but there were some big waves at several moments. We understood why the resort was so strict on the time table of the speed boat. It's an exciting yet safe ride. On our way, we saw a slow boat moving slowly on the water. If you don't mind the small difference between the ticket prices, choose a speed boat!

We arrived in our resort after 35 minutes. There were already some staff standing on the floating pier waiting for us. The pier was lovely, simply composed of several plastic buckets and several pieces of timber tied together by some ropes. The weights of the staff made the pier fold in a zig-zag form, kinda funny ; ) It's nice that one of the staff offered to help me take my backpack, otherwise, there was a high risk of me falling into the water.

I brought along Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven with me and I found it funny to read this book on this Heaven on Earth!!!

The first person I met was Kamaria - the receptionist of the resort. She was cheerful and nice. She assigned Room 19, which was just a few steps from the restaurants and another few steps from the beach, to us. After refreshing ourselves, we were ready for lunch. The first lunch was not impressive - typical Chinese cuisine but the portion was huge - 3 dishes for 2 girls. I didn't take any picture of that meal as my heart was lost in the sea. Looking at the beautiful water while eating, I really wanted to leave my meal and jump in. Wahaha...

We snorkelled at the House Reef of Tunabay after lunch. This was my first real snorkelling - I was amazed by the underwater world. It seemed that all fish had swum over to us. Believe it or not?