The Start of Paradise..

  Pulau Perhentian Kecil, Terengganu, Malaysia
Thursday, June 5, 2008

Are We There Yet??

As the fast craft approached the islands, you could feel the excitement onboard simple soar.. camera's were whipped out and and commenced their rapid firing (What to do, only Asians on board! - self included.. hee..). The fastcraft first approached Perhentian Kecil from the Southwest where we caught a glimpse of the isolated Watercolours Impiani Resort on Impiani Beach, followed by the Perhentian Village shortly after.. All images of a rural settlement were quickly dispelled, as the town looked pretty modern..

Perhentian Village

with concrete, multi-storey buildings and a new jetty.. looks like the revenue generated from tourism has been put to good use eh.. These people must be quite lucky.. having paradise at their front yard whereas others have to travel more than 12hrs by coach to visit.. tsk!

The Famous Moshin Chalets

Crystal Clear Water!

As Long Beach came up in sight, the first thing that struck me was its blinding stretch of white sand from afar.. a prequel of more good things to come.. The fastcraft pulled up on the beach right in front of Bubu Resort instead of using the new jetty.. and whilst waiting for the rest of the passengers to disembark, we soaked in our beautiful surroundings.. the water was soooo clear that you could see all the way down to the bottom.. and the water was so clean there were even fishes swimming under the boat! I think both Mel and Ren must have felt that the agonizing bus journey was worth it! Hehe..

Warm Reception At Bubu

Once again, the moment we stepped on shore, another plethora of photo-snapping occurred.. but who can blame us for being so excited! Everything was perfect, the sun, the sand and the sea! Don't join the Navy, come to Perhentian! Hahaha.. Once the initial excitement died down a little, we made our way to the seafront restaurant where we were given a short briefing by one of the interns, Marvin (soon to be my new lil bro). Settled some administrative stuff and he arranged for an early check-in for us! How lovely! Good thing about interns is that though they may lack professionalism in certain areas, they make up in terms of service! Yay! Had another presentation by one of the diver instructors from the shop just along the resort on responsible diving and the marine life at the Perhentian Islands.. I like this soft approach on sales.. if I had the time and money, I would definitely go on a trip with them!

What Paradise Looks Like

Mel was commenting that the pictures in the Bubu Resort brochure is truely as they are.. without any help from photoshop.. I truly agree!

The (Really) Normal Room

Take example this pic we took while waiting for our room.. Truely beautiful ain't it!! However, there was one exception.. the pictures of the rooms.. I heard from Marvin that the pics used were of the Honeymoon Suite.. here is the picture of the true normal rooms.. just two queen size beds, a dressing table and a bedside table..

Newly Renovated Toilets!

and concrete floor.. with lots of sand.. not really good value for the price you pay.. but the only consolation was the renovated toilets.. now tiled with a nice, slightly fresher look..

View From Room 201

And the view from the balcony was.. not too bad.. it was a corner room so we could see the sea from the side of the balcony.. though the view was a little blocked, but we are easily pleased, so no complains on that!

Yummy Lunch At Panorama Cafe!

The girls napped a little.. much to my annoyance.. cos I was hungry.. AND, the sun and the sea were calling out to me.. haiz.. but anyway, they didn't nap long and soon, we were having a fantastic lunch at the Panorama restaurant just further down Long Beach.. Mel's and Ren's burgers were HUGE and yummy! My fried rice was.. ok.. darn. But the dinners at Panorama were much better.. plus they have movie screenings then too.. and the beef tacos.. MMmmmmm! Um.. ok, that's another story..



So after lunch, we hurried for snorkelling at the house reef just north of the new pier.. and despite the construction of the pier, the water was still so clear and there was an abundant of marine life! Swam among schools of small fishies and if you don't move and just float, they will come near.. one even nibbled me!! The house reef seemed pretty much alive to me.. brimming with live corals and a variety of fish.. Simply excellent! Perhentian has done a good job protecting its treasures!! Keep it up!! I really regretted not getting an underwater camera, so I guess I'll can only make do with these lovely pics of Long Beach.. Which is good enough la..

The Water Looks Inviting!

Long Beach