Day 1 at Perhentian Island

I am amazed at the little personal gestures by the resort we stayed in. Everytime I call they always address me by my name as if I've stayed there a million times.

"oh cik Aida ke tu, ingat siapa tadi"
"ha cik Aida kan ni, we've confirmed your booking"
"cik Aida datang naik apa nanti?senang kami nak arrange to pick you up"

We were supposed to take the 10.30 am boat to the island, but we were late. A couple of times a girl speaking kelantanese called me to asked whether we were lost or needed help getting there. By the time we arrived it was 11.30 am. A pakcik in a scooter immediately followed our car, waving at us as we approached the resort's office. The pakcik was actually the 'parking guy'. He later showed my husband to the car park and took him back in the old scooter. We then proceeded to the board the speedboat at the jetty. The last time I took a speedboat to an island, I threw up once into a plastic bag (which later was also used by my also seasick friend who I shall not name..hehe..) and once again into the crystal clear seawater! So you can imagine I was rather nervous by the idea of another wild ride. But this time around, I was surprised by how pleasant the journey was. Dgn angin yg bertiup dan air laut biru yg tenang..pergh...Although I suspect the little travel sickness pills I took might've helped a bit. 25 mins of bliss later we checked into the resort.

"cik aida ye?" bisik bisik kat org belakang..'cik Aida dah sampai'
"semua org tunggu cik Aida sampai tau..."

  

  

They handed us 2 glasses of welcome drinks. My husband said 'wah mcm celebrity je yg sampai'. I'm puzzled though that they kept calling me CIK aida eventhough I had my arms around a tall, dark and bald man. The resort is full of mat salleh couples though so maybe they thought I was on holiday untuk berkelakuan sumbang bersama boyfriendku..ehem..me love a little controversy on the side. Me and my hunk of a boyfriend is then immediately seated for lunch. The room unfortunately wasn't ready yet. To my surprise the meal wasn't a buffet but was served on a table with my name on it, literally (although they spelled me Aida Azmi instead of Aida Azni). They started with the drinks, then out came the little dishes cooked in sauces we're both unfamiliar with. All served in record time and by smiling waiters/waitresses. Meal wasn't dissapointing but it was almost 2 pm i.e. snorkling time but the room still wasn't ready. We were determined not to miss the trip so we got changed quickly and left our luggage with the staffs.

Soon the boat came and we jumped in together with a group of mat sallehs. I was beginning to realise we may be one of only two malaysian couples on the whole resort. Kenapa org2 foreigners ni yg excited sgt nak cuti cuti malaysia ni? Aaanyway, the guide brought us to a pretty little area near big rocks and shaded by big trees. As we were approaching, we saw tiny little flocks of fish jumping up and back into the water in unison. Apparently thse ikan bilis were pretending to be dolphins. There were everywhere making the area looked serene and beautiful. Guide told me; "ni tak byk sgt ikan...lps ni nanti byk...." So just snorkel and saved our disposable underwater camera for the next spot. Turned out it was a good decision.

The next spot is full of friendly fishes! The guide gave us some bread to feed them and soon we were happily snapping pictures with them. Flash forward a few days yesterday we got the pictures developed and they were gorgeous! It was a bit of a struggle to take pictures with big goggles on but somehow the pictures turned out ok. The activity was..turtle spotting! the area however is close to..a dumpster! Apparently ppl at perhentian dumps all their rubbish in a floating platform in the sea! Each resort had its own dumping place and they stink! According to the guide the rubbish will then be taken by boat to mainland. As we circle the area trying to spot the turtles I was pretty confident most of us in the boat were thinking..you can't be asking us to jump in the water next to all this crap! Fortunately the boat drifted a little further away. Some of us spotted some turtles and we jumped in to look at it swimming. This was the last part of the trip and we then had to return to the resort.

Immediately one of the staff took our luggage and brought us to our room. The room is tiny, but is very neat and tidy with clean toilet and sheets. After prayer as we were getting ready to jump into the water again i realised that...there is no TV!!!gosh!! Can we survive??We'll just have to entertain ourselves with other things then ;) After tea (which was really indah khabar dari rupa) we went swimming in the beach in front of the resort. The top part of the beach had soft powdery white sand and the crystal clear water had a green-blue colour...aaah the stuff of heavenly dreams. However there were a lot of dead corals lower part of the beach so it made walking along the waves a little less appealing. My husband thinks our honeymoon in redang definitely had a better beach and I agree with him. Ironically this disadvantage is also an advantage, in a way. I will elaborate on this on the next entry..Day 2. My husband played beach volley with some boys on the beach and enjoyed it tremendously. Maghrib, we returned to our room, showered and get ready for dinner. At dinner again they served us with unfamiliar and yet delicious dishes. We then had a little walk on the beach under the moonlight and later retired to our room...what a wonderful day.

ok entry ni pun dah panjang. wait for more adventures in Day 2.