My road to riches

Date: 11th Feb - 14th Feb 2006

Got there by flight (Air Asia). Reach the island at about 1130 am. Rented a Mazda Premacy for RM 100 a day. Participants include Roach, Hobbit, Lampost, Jojo, Chewy and yours truly.

Day 1
Daft stuff. Padi Terbakar was wholy stupid, Galeria Perdana was boring (i didnt go in), Telaga Air Hangat was stupid. The only highlight of the day was the decent hotel (City Bay View) that was cheap and nice, and also the Bat Cave tour. Bought lotsa booze (A rum, tequila, carton of carls, and 3 sprites for RM100!). And drank and be marry till late. I had about 7 shots of tequila, and rum and carls as well. wow. No to forget the really wonderful experience of feeding ray fish at the fish farm as well… and that 50kg garoupa.

Day 2
Slightly better than the first day, although i woke up with a massive, massive, mother of a hangover from the previous night binge. Went to the Cable Cars for RM 15, that was really awesome. The bridge on top of the mountains were spectacular, which was like 700m above sea level. Remember to check out the pics when i post them later. Wanted to go kart, but the party wasnt up to it. The rest of the day was spent shopping and hanging around the island. Not to forget the forgertable Temurun Waterfalls… the hike uphill alone would kill all the mood before u reach it.

Day 3
Supposedly the big day where all the sea activities takes place. Took an Island Hopping tour for RM 38 per person. went to the Lake Dayang Bunting which was really really beautiful. We played banana boat for RM 12 per person. on the first flip, my life jacket was detached and my goggles which cost me RM 80 sank 30 meters into the depth. FARK! and also on the first flip… Roach’s head collided with hte right cheek of hobbit… both described the experience as hitting a rock. Hobbit had a swollen cheek (ala getting wasted by Holyfied) for the rest of the day.

Next was the Jetski at Lanai Beach. For RM 110 for 30 minutes, costly but fun if u never tried jetskiing. Its like moterbike on waves and getting swung out of the bike when taking turns at speed is fun too… the swimming back to the ski part is tiring tho. Didnt try kayak and parasailing…. sigh, major dissappointment.

Summary
BEST ACTIVITIES

• Cable Car (RM15)
• Tasik Dayang Bunting (RM 38, part of Island Hopping package)
• Jet Ski (RM110 for 30 minutes, Lanai Beach

SO SO LA ACTIVITIES

• Duty Free shopping
• Driving around the island
• Fish Farm, Bat Cave, Eagle Feeding and Mangrove Tour (RM 27)

BORING AS A CAMEL ACTIVITIES

• All waterfalls
• Hot Spring
• Padi Terbakar
• Makam Mahsuri
• Galeria Perdana (RM5)
• Underwater World (RM20)

MISSED BUT WORTHY ACTIVITIES

• Go Karting (RM35 for 10 laps)
• Para Sailing (RM 60 for 15 minutes)
• Kayak (RM35 for an hour)
• Pulau Payar Marine Park Snorkelling (RM90 for entire package)

Here is some tips for all of you. Always negotiate, the listed prices are meant to blood suck tourists and gwailos. Malaysians will always get a much better price. For example, Malaysian is eligible for all prices listed as CHILDREN prices… if u r really good, the price can be negotiated further. We also rented a car listed RM 250 per day for RM 100. Remember to haggle a lot.

I will post the photos as soon as they reach my eager hands. till then, adios.