Stop Over Island

 

Perhaps it is the white sandy beach.. or maybe the crystal blue sea…  but whatever the reason, we love visiting this island over and over again… after all… it is not called Stop Over Island for nothing.

Malaysia, being a maritime country is 90% bordered by the sea.Facing the South China Sea, the east coast of Malaysia is blessed with awesome islands that is famous for its beautiful world class beaches… one of them is Perhentian Island.

 

 

According to the locals, back in the 19th century this island was nick named the ‘Station Islands’ where sea merchants will stop by the island as a station point when traveling the sea route up north. Hence the name ‘perhentian’ which means ‘stopping point’ in the Malay language.

You should know that there are two Perhentian Islands – ie Pulau Perhentian Besar (Big Perhentian) and Pulau Perhentian Kecil (Small Perhentian). Both are equally beautiful… one is bigger and the other is smaller… obviously.

Having stayed at Pulau Perhentian Besar before, this time we decided to stay at Pulau Perhentian Kecil.

There are many chalets to choose from in Perhentian, and it all depends on your budget. From a backpacker motel to luxurious hotels all you have to do is choose.

 

 

 

A good time to visit Perhentian is between March – August. The island is still open in September but the weather will be a bit unpredictable with rain every other day. During monsoon season, the island will be closed for tourist though the locals will take shelter in the central part of the island.

We love this island as it takes us away from the chaotic nature of our work but somehow we kept finding reason to bring work over… go figure.

 

 

Being an island that is not fully developed (all the more reason why we love the place)… you will find that electricity is a luxury. In some part of the island, electricity will be provided only from 6pm – 6am. This should not be a problem…. will it?

The long beach in Pulau Perhentian Kecil is famous for its crowd… so for a change we decided to go looking for an exclusive beach of our own and the beach we found was awesome!

From our chalet we decided to climb a small hill that leads to the other side of Pulau Perhentian Kecil. What began as a simple trekking turns out to be a 20 minute hike uphill and I began to wonder who’s bright idea was this.

As we huffed and puffed all the way up… we were blown away with the spectacular view that awaits us.

 

 

 

 

Apparently, you can access this beach via chartered speedboat… so I bet you can guess how we got back to our chalet… thank god there was phone signal.

 

Visiting Malaysia is not complete without experiencing the beautiful Pulau Perhentian.