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Showing posts from September, 2015

The last leg of our road trip - 20-21 Aug 2015

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We didn't want to leave Perhentian Island! It's unanimous. We're talking about coming back again, hopefully next year. We've a short walkabout at the villages nearby Kuala Besut before we continued our journey on the East-West Highway. Kuala Besut used to be a thriving fishing village, but now it's more well-known as a transit point to the East Coast islands. 'Keropok lekor & losong' - the local delicacies you will see in every street and corner. You must eat it when it's hot, together with the local chilli sauce! A common backyard industry - fish crackers. Tis local snack is popular here, like what potato chips are to the Westerners. The villagers were very friendly and they're not in a hurry to finish off their work, always have time to entertain our curiosity and questions. Traditional boat-building in progress Using simple tools and machine, the locals made the boats by hands, with the knowledge passed down from gen

Rainforest Camping Perhentian - 17-20 Aug 2015

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This was our family's 1st camping trip in tents together! 1st trip for the boys to the East Coast island. We have booked a few tents for camping at the newly opened Rainforest Camping at Pulau Perhentian Kecil. We arrived at the Kuala Besut jetty late, at almost 4pm. We parked our car with SafePark Holidays cos they offered us a covered, secure parking lot. Boat tickets to the Perhentian island is RM70 (return) per pax and RM5 each for Marine Park fee.  We're anxious to get to the campsite before any change in weather. The sky was more cloudy by then and a bit overcast (let's hope they got the weather forecast wrong). First sight of the Campsite, with its own private beach against the backdrop of the beautiful blue sky. The front of the campsite. The huge tent was occupied by the staff and volunteer workers. Our tents. We have 3 tents, and they're all on platforms, in the rainforest. The tent comes with two airbed mattresses and pillows e

Pit stop at HaiPeng Coffeeshop, Chukai 17 Aug 2015

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I'm writing as a form of therapy to escape the overload of bad news on the state of our nation and my incessant cough that's aggravated by the haze. I missed the blue skies and fresh air at Perhentian Island. Is it only 3 weeks ago we're holidaying at Perhentian? Feel like so much longer. We haven't been to the East Coast like for more than 7 years. And we almost didn't make it last month. The weather forecast was very discouraging and there're a few ferocious tropical storms in the region. We picked up Samantha, my sister at 6am and the journey to Kuala Besut jetty took us almost 9 hours! Honestly, I thought that it's really a bad idea to cram 6 people in a car with so many baggage. I am one who didn't like to do things outside my comfort zone. A nervous freak. And when I stretch myself, I always gain much, much more... Pit stop at Hai Peng coffeeshop @ Chukai, Kemaman One of the few remaining coffeeshops run by the Hainanese Wong fa