Missing pictures from Perhentian

Been a while since my last post. First it was food poisoning and now I’m down with flu. Thank God for the wonder drug Afrin and Clarinase. It’s been almost a month since I last hit the gym. So, this weekend, I’m cranking up my engine.  Before I blog about Redang on my next post, I’ll upload some pictures of Perhentian that I didn’t have the last round. Getting out of office early today. Maybe it’s a good idea to check out “Sucker Punch”. Let’s see.

Sumptuos island dinner by CD SF Chong 

The Grandmaster and his PADI pros

Team PADI with Rastaman, young BOB

Quick lunch under the tree

Group shot after dinner at BuBu Resort cafe



Clear glimpse of the Supermoon. Coutesy of Chong Shee Mun@ Simon

Short wrapper on Coral Bay and Long Beach, Perhentian.

As promised, I'm posting more pictures of Long Beach at the end of this post. This is my second visit to Coral Bay and Long beach Perhentian. So following are my 2 cents worth observations.

There are many chalets around Coral Bay and Long Beach area. The one I stayed in was Shari- La resort. The place wasn’t too bad with air conditioning, hot shower and cable TV. However, I don’t think the price is cheap but as we all know, island prices are all inflated. Shari-La also has a café that provides some decent items on the menu and the café provides free wifi. There are many chalets along Long Beach and at one end of the white sandy beach you will find BuBu Perhentian Resort which looks really lush and cosy.

Perhentian is more laid back compared to other neighbouring islands, for example Redang which I personally feel is a bit too commercialized. However, there are pros and cons. So at the end of the day it boils down to your personal preference. As for me, if I want to spent some quality time with a loved one in Peninsular Malaysia, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, I would opt for Perhentian.

The breeze of Long Beach

Wine time

Lee & Infamous C

BuBu Resort beach cafe

White sands

Light my fire

BuBu Perhentian Long Beach

The spot we lost Mr.C

Will be leaving to Redang Island tonight. It's going to be a long drive to Merang jetty. So Redang, here I come .

Super Sleepy Moon

Day two was extremely hectic. Was up at 9 in the morning, had egg sandwiches and hot tea at Shari La café, walked back to my chalet 315 and happily slept.



Sleepy hollow

When I was up again, it was already 2, so I walked back to Shari La, had egg noodle soup this time with some mango juice, looked out the beach for a while and went back to my room to sleep again.  

 When I got up for the third time, the evening was perfect. Washed up and headed to my friend Segram’s internet and beer café in Coral bay beach. Popped in some beers with Segram and his friend and voila! We yakked about almost everything on the planet. Feeling satisfied with the evening, I joined my earlier group for dinner at Bubu Resort Long Beach. 

Decent dinner, the sky was brightly lit up as we took some pictures of the Supermoon effect on Long beach. As we walked out to leave, heavy downpour started, so we had to take shelter in BuBu café again. 30 minutes and the rain disappeared. I got back to my sleepy hollow, turned on the TV, watched Drag me to Hell, Labour Pains and one more movie which I couldn’t remember as I must have passed out. Such was my hectic super sleepy moon day.  

View outside my room 1

View outside my room 2



Breakfast



The Good Beer Guys (GBG's)



Long Beach on Supermoon



(more Long beach pictures later) 

Wreck dive, squid Sambal and Long Beach

My day on the island started with assisting another fellow Instructor with his students. We were dropped off at a site called Vietnamese wreck. Despite the name, the wreck underwater is actually a US twin-screw landing landing craft which sank in 1976. Rich with marine life mainly schools of Barracuda and snappers, the depth of the dive site is around 24m. The current was quite strong until you pass the 20m mark.



Shari La's Teh tarik



Once out of the water, I had this nice cup of hot “Teh Tarik” (milk tea) at Shari La Resort, which is located on the higher side of the island overseeing the Coral Bay’s white sandy beach along with its jetty.

Later in the evening,  S.F. Chong, Perhentian’s only Platinum PADI Course Director invited me and a few other divers to try out a local dish called “sambal Sotong” ( squid slices cooked in spicy sauce) which was outrageously good. In fact, it was the best squid sambal that I have ever tasted.  The food was so good that the stomach once again proved mightier than the camera.  Sweat of joy oozed out from my cranium as I savoured the decently spiced “Sotong” ( squid in Malay).  Finally, we had the usual after food photo and trash talk session as the day came to an end.

View from Shari La

But as for me and the infamous Coral Bay Dive Master, we had Long Beach planned out, which is like a kilometer plus walk across Coral Bay to the other side of Pulau Kecil. One of the Open Water Student tagged along, so as others were retiring to their Chalets, we headed towards the forest bypass to Long Beach for some ocean breeze and wine.

Long Beach is just a small white sandy stretch but its beauty lies in the fact that the place is not heavily commercialized like many other islands that I have been to, which gives it a little magical touch of its own. Furthermore, it was full moon yesterday and the beach was enigmatically lit up by the moonlight.   We sat down at BuBu Beach Resort for some Australian Shiraz backed by the sounds of crashing waves, blowing winds and some trance music as Calvin kept us entertained.  Finally, it was time to go, so Lee and I left our beach boy behind (had to) and walked backed through the forest to our chalets in Coral Bay. 



Infamous for a reason







Coral Bay, Perhentian

I am at Coral Bay, Quiver’s patio as I'm typing this. The bus ride wasn't too bad. Dreamed about Darth Vader but later woken up by the snore of a joker next to me. Overall the trip was pleasant. Calvin, the infamous dive master received me on arrival and informed me my room has been sorted and  that we will be diving at Vietnamese wreck shortly. Another Instructor wanted a helping hand with one of his student. So, there you go. This is how my day is starting.

View from Quivers

Perhentian Island

I will be off to Perhentians tonight.  Getting a bus from PWTC Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Besut jetty where I will board a ferry to Paradise. Not been on a bus for a long time and RM 44 for a one way trip sound decent but we will see. Hope there is sufficient leg space for me.

The Perhentians consist of two Island i.e. Perhentian Besar and Perhentian Kecil. The last time I visited Perhentian was during the monsoon season and Island was practically deserted. This time it’s the start of the dive season. I will bring my SLR camera and maybe even my handycam.  Soon we will see what this Island has to offer.



Photo taken by Platinum PADI Course Director S.F.Chong