Date : 5-6th July 2019
Venue : Loko-Loko Campsite,Cotton Island
For a year, I have been searching for ways to go camping. If you always had the luxury of staying at 3-5 star hotels, you will finally lose the enjoyment and adventure of it all and want something more exciting and different. I finally joined Facebook groups relating to camping around Malaysia and joined along in their interesting conversations. I had good advice from an old-campers to just "do it and enjoy"
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Qhadija's 10th birthday was creeping around the corner. To be honest, I forgot about it until 2 days before Friday. Seeing that her birthday fell on a Friday ( weekend), I searched for Terengganu campsites and found one at Pulau Kapas or Cotton Island. My birthday gift for my eldest daughter was to go camping by the sea and look at the stars at night!
Before the trip I did tell the girls to clean the house a bit and mama would take them on a great trip. Little did they know that the trip was for Qhadija. The were whispering a lot after school and during lunch at the table. I guessed what it was about. They thought I had forgotten Qhadija's birthday.
ho ho ho. I suddenly burst out.. Ah! it's hard keeping a secret!
"Did you know we are going on a camping trip for someones birthday?" Qhadija beamed and smiled. She said she just wanted to see if I remembered her birthday :)
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I called around and found out the owner of Longsha Campsite, Pulau Kapas. Azhar sadly said that his campsite had 60 guest and was full. He called me after a few minutes and said that he had booked me for another campsite. Loko-Loko campsite. I was thrilled! I had the worst in mind but shook it off. This was our new adventure! everything was going to be fine!
That night I packed our stuff and checked by daughters outfit. We were going for 2 days and 1 night. We managed to fit 1 20 inch luggage bag, 1 hiker backpack, 1 small duffel bag, 1 bag for our Toto, small cushion and thick blanket and a big plastic container filled with our food and gas stove.
Tips on what to bring?
- mosquito ointment for insect bites
- fever meds ( just in case anyone got sick)
- insect repellent for those little zombies with wings
- portable gas stove ( the kitchen was open and for sharing with other campers),
- mosquito spray ( to spray in the tent before getting in),
- extra clothes for your children
- mattress ( we bought Toto, they did have some mattress for rent)
- a mini fan running on powerbanks
- a few powerbanks to charge our phones and fans ( electric was on at 7pm-6am to charge our powerbanks at the shared kitchen)
- you can bring a torchlight, we used our phones instead
- beach sandals
- towels etc
- food, salts,eggs, maggi, sugar, instant meals, 3in1 beverages, cooking oil etc ( there is no market or convenient store on the island, next door neighbours had a cafe. heard it was expensive)
- swimming suit, goggles , snorkeling equipment( you can also rent them out), swimming shoes( the corals are sharp).
- A little kind note for foreigners- sadly, it seems a lot of foreigners do not have a sense of clothes etiquette in a Muslim country. do cover up and avoid bikinis if possible. Malaysians don't tell you off for wearing skin revealing outfits and normally avoid looking at you out of sheer embarrassment, but we do appreciate if you wear modestly and respect the Malaysian culture. wearing short sleeve t-shirts and long shorts is acceptable.
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After a 1 hour and a half drive from Kemasik to Marang Jetty, we parked our car and called Azhar. For the return boat ride he charged us rm100 for 2 adults and 2 children.
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| Mr. Azhar who helped us find a place - beside a hat shop. we bought 3 hats for rm45. |
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| Pulau Kapas calling us |
The boat ride was a rough one but lasted for only 10 minutes. They didn't ask us to wear life jackets for safety but they did have a few life jackets tucked in their boat. This made me worried but we safely arrived at the island. There was another family on the boat who just went to the island for a day trip.
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| Sumaiya was feeling sea sick |
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| The windy, bumpy ride was like riding a roller coaster |
we finally arrived at beach paradise in a short boat ride.
surprisingly, we were the Only Guest! the owner said that Saturday and Sunday were nearly always full. we were lucky to come on a Friday.
( we lived in Terengganu and our weekends fell on a Friday and Saturday)
After our tent was up, our first activity was cooking our lunch. Qhadija was in-charge of cutting and slicing, Sumaiya was in-charge of washing the dishes.Papa was in-charge of of boiling nasi impit for dinner.
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| Come on girls!! let's make maggi! |
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| nasi impit ready! sadly our cooking oil fell on the sand and the top came off. luckily there was some left to cook dinner. |
The sun was blazing hot around mid-day. we relaxed around the tent enjoying the peace. hearing some Blackpink songs on Spotify and updating my Facebook (line celcom sampai dekat sini)
The children kept on asking when we will go swimming. my husband and I kept replying "sabar, panas terik ni, pukul 3 masuk ( be patient, the sun is hot, we will go in a 3" but around 2 in the evening, I couldn't hold back anymore, ran and JUMP into the blue SEA! Qhadija and Sumaiya were happily screaming excitedly behind me. we were already in our swimming suits.
THE VIEW WAS BREATHTAKING
we found out that the sea was full of fish! with delight sumaiya took some bread and tried to feed the fish. we had only a few slices of bread left and remembered that we had brought a Tupperware of plain marrie biscuits.
Some of the beautiful scenery of kapas island
After the biscuits were nearly finished, we met a nice lady who came to us finding her children. her children were far away and she couldnt see them.She suggested we were life jackets to see the fish.
and we did....
we swam to see the extraordinary view of corals, nemo, sea urchins, dori, giant shells and more sea creatures. sadly,we didnt get to see a turtle though or dolphin
at round 5pm the sky got dark and looked like it was raining
he quickly head out to dry land and got ready for the night
we all took a shower ( mind you! there was a lot of zombie with wings sucking our blood that night..not bats but mosquitoes)
we had our dinner of chicken and instant rendang with nasi impit
the children loved it!
and then rain fell and we comfortably snuck together in our tent watching a movie called I am Mother. about a robot who raised a baby human.
Our supper!
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| Our large tent under a tree |
