After my initial plan to visit Indonesia flopped, the idea was introduced to drive to the East coast and visit an island. It wasn’t long after that Pulau Perhentian was suggested and chosen. Having had an interesting experience with Pulau Tioman, I was less than eager to go, but decided that I had to eventually face this prospect again, if I were to fully enjoy my time here. So with the decision made, we roughly plotted out the route which would have us leave KL at 5am and head due east to the city of Kuantan. From there we would travel north along the coastal road up to the city of Kuala Terengganu, or KT for short. Since the public holiday fell on the friday, we would have three days to spend on this trip, two of which would be spent on the island.
In the days leading to this holiday, when casual conversation would bring up my plans, several people laughed and called me crazy. Their argument was simple, why would you risk going to an island on the east coast during monsoon times, when the choppy waters restricted boat activity, and those that did sail, caused the passengers to throw up en route. I laughed the warnings away, but secretly I was more scared than before.
The journey on Friday morning was eventless, but that may be because I was asleep for most of the initial journey from KL to Kuantan – it was 5am after all! We reached Kuantan just as the sun started to rise, and the clear sky greeted us. At this point, I was far more relaxed about the possible impending monsoon and enjoyed the car journey. As part of my pitch towards the road trip, I bought several bottles of wine – two screw tops and two corked – however, it soon became obvious that none of us had a corkscrew. “Nevermind,” we thought “we’ll get one at the port.” Little did we realise that due to this weekend being Hari Raya, none of the shops on the east coast were open for business. To pardon the pun, we were screwed.
Still, we pressed on towards KT by which time it was getting close to noon. Forgoing lunch, we continued to the ferry port town of Kuala Besut, which was another hour north. The idea was to get to the island while we had the glorious clear skies, then find some food. As we left KT, the heavens opened and my spirits dampened. I was convinced that the boat ride would be disastrous, but with nothing else to do, we went ahead.
I always joke that Someone Up Above love’s me. Whatever the reason, as we approached Kuala Besut, the clouds parted and before us was relatively clear waters. As we parked, one boat captain came and rushed us towards his boat, which was just shy of the three passengers it needed to take a full load. We happily complied, jumping onboard and sitting down as the boat floated out of the harbour. Looking around, I noticed that several of the passengers had life jackets, and took note of where they were being held. But for the time being, I was content to enjoy the sea breeze as we sped up towards Pulau Perhentian Kecil.
The waters were not as calm as I had first thought, and after 5 minutes, the boat was bouncing off waves as it headed straight to its destination. The hard seats did nothing to help the journey, and finally after 40 minutes of this, we came across the jetty for our resort. Ascending slowly up onto the jetty, I kept having flashbacks to Pulau Tioman, but I need not worry. This time the waters were crystal clear and calmer. Once I was safely on dry land I relaxed, we were here, and I didn’t have to face the thought of the boat ride for another two days. Time to hit the beach…
