Vacation at Kapas Island

Well, let me share with you guys something about my last vacation with my best buddies to Pulau Kapas. First, for the person who is quite blur on what the hell pulau kapas is, or where does the island situated, let me help and guide you guys by telling a story about this island. Well, Pulau kapas or Kapas island is located in the Northern part of Malaysia in the state of Terengganu Darul Iman. journey from kl to the jetty is about approximately 7 hours since now here in Malaysia, we allready have a new highway that connects Kuala Lumpur and northern part of Malaysia which is called Lebuhraya Pantai Timur (East coast Highway)

how to go there?? aha.. a good question there. for a young traveler who likes to explore and try their own way, you are able to go there by:

1) Bus (you can search the ticket at Hentian Puduraya or Hentian Duta)

From Hentian Puduraya or Hentian Duta, there are buses company that provide an hourly journey servises from 10.00 a.m until 10.00 p.m such as Transnasional, Maraliner and etc. The bus ticket is roughly RM 48 plus minus for a single trip. Make sure that you told the bus driver to stop at Marang Jetty right before reaching Kuala Terengganu's town. For a better information, you are able to google the bus provider about their price, and schedule.

• http://www.plusliner.com.my
• http://www.maraliner.com
• http://www.nadi.com.my
  

2) Airplane

Based on my opinion, Malaysian airlines provides a trip here to Kuala Terengganu's airport and Air Asia as well. but from the airport, you have to take a taxi which might cost you additional amount of money about roughly RM 30 per trip to the Marang jetty and the journey will take 35 minutes

3) Car

From kuala Lumpur, you have to the exit Karak Highway which is located near Gombak. From there, you have to enter the highway (monitored by MTD Prime corporation) and keep your journey headed up towards northern until yyou arrive at the Jibor exit. There's a lot of signboard that will guide you until you reach Kuala Terengganu. and when you enter Kuala Terengganu, always head on to the town of Kuala Terengganu. Out of nowhere, you will find the signboard that will direct you until you reach the jetty of Kapas island (marang jetty).

At the marang jetty, what should you know when you get there??

• Make comparison between the ferry servicfe provider because the fare may be different from one another. and by doing this, it will help you to choose wisely which company serves at a lower rate and save you quite a big bucks!
  
• Go and ask the local people about this one store that is selling "roti canai". this shop is run by a local malay couple. the taste of their originally hand made doh is really fantastic! and believe me after you try it, u will order for a take away meal with you. *wink2*
• buy some mineral waters from the shop that u can find by walking distance there. since the island will be very2 hot especially during noon. your body will be dehydrated far quicker than u expected it to be. at least two big mineral bottle should be drink per day when you are there.
• keep your car safe by parking at the parking space provided. if the ask for a payment. consider yourself lucky because when the local people there say that they will take a good care of yours when you are not around, they really do. thanks to the brother who take a good care of our satria there for 3 days. the payment was quite cheap
• the most expensive price for round-trip ticket from mainland towards the kapas island is RM40 per person! dont be fooled by few peoples there. do make a check up on price from one shop towards another.
  

Wah! what a long description of guiding you on how to get there. :D now, let me tell you how about the island itself! the best part is coming~ haha i'm getting excited about it. nah just bare with me. haha XP.

Okay the journey started early morning roughly at 3.00 am when we departed from Petaling Jaya. we went there by using a car or Satria produced by Proton company. The journey to Kapas island was approximately 4 hours since we arrived a bit early at 7.30 to the exit of Kuala Terengganu. then from there we have to follow the coastal road up further until we reached Kertih where Petronas actually have a refinery plant there. Then meet up with my friend from utp (Petronas, university of technology) at Mcdonalds kertih.

After having a chat with teddy and done doing our business there (well teddy thank god ko da change gaya rambut yang aku cakap ala2 "****la" tu! haha ), we continue our journey back all the way to marang jetty. After 2 hours, we finally and finally and finally arrived there and buy the ticket for ferry. For three person it cost us RM 120 for a round trip ticket.

From the jetty to Kapas island, it takes 15 minutes. after 10 minutes leaving the mainland jetty, the water seems Crystal clear and the view getting better! its really unbelievable since most of the island in Malaysia, the water is like... the colour of Teh Tarik (contaminated 120%) but this is really something far different. the water in Pangkor Island also not as good as this place has! compliment on that towards the terengganu district department for preserving a good scenery where the tourist still be able to enjoy the beauty of Malaysia! and hey i've got the pictures of the water. see it for yourself! unbelievable~!

Okay. first thing after we arrived at the chalet where we are going to stay for the next two nights, we jumped into the ocean. the water is so intimidating and irresistible. seriously. we put all our stuff inside the room and headed straight to the beach about 300 metres from our chalet~ the white sand is amazing and it is fine grain sand! which is great! the water is so amazing and cool to! u can see the bottom while you are swimming. the corals also u can pick it up and bring back for a souvenirs.

But everything was not as smooth as we planned. the food there is quite tough for u to get. the price is double and only at certain place you can get it. and believe it or not, they even have a fixed time for serving the food! frankly to say, its stupid because we are tourist and we pay the food using our own money. so i believe that the consumer have the right in deciding when we want to eat and not controlled by the people who sell it since because we are the one who is paying for it. SO my advice is, do buy something from the mainland for u to eat. what i mean by purchase something from the grocery shop from the mainland is like a biscuits, mineral water (recommended! the water is so expensive there), Maggi hot cup, snacks, etc.

Well another thing that is really make me pissed off is that the electricity. they only provide the electricity after 6 p.m until 6 a.m. besides, for certain chalet, they only provides u with a fan and can u imagine that at an island, and it is 12 p.m. the weather is extremely hot but u have nothing to keep u cool down?? its like a contest of determining who sweat a lot in less than 2 hours. seriously do check or take an opinion from the people at the jetty about the best place for u to stay.

On the second day. the weather was not that good since it was raining from early morning until evening. we could not do anything there. SO, planned carefully and do check the weather before u plan to come here. the water is not that clear anymore since it was raining.

The third day came, and it is finally our last day there. we did all the things that we really want to do which is swimming again and again and again until 11 a.m. after check out from the chalet, we headed to the restaurant next to the chalet where we spend our 2 nights there for lunch. and thank god that we came just at the right time. sharp at 2.00 pm, we say goodbye to the island and headed back to the mainland. even though the weather was not on our side, yet we still enjoy our vacation there!

I'm quite sorry if the post does not contain much information but drop a comment if you want to know more about this place and i can give you advises on how to save your budget a bit for the trip there. and i hope that this post will help you guys a bit. have a good day then! :)

warm regards ~ :)