Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

25 to 27 July - I reached Kuala Terengganu (KT) 10 hours after my horrendous journey across the East West highway. The bus which I took, took in passengers illegally despite ferrying the maximum number of passengers as allowed by the law and these “extra” passengers have to squeeze in the back of my seat which caused me to hv my seat upright at 90 degrees throughout the journey. As if that's not enough, the bus decided to breakdown halfway for 2 hours and we were forced to be stranded on a bus stop while waiting for a replacement bus.

I finally reached KT at 8.30am and I took a taxi tht cost me RM30 straight to the airport to meet my cousin. The domestic airport which only serves a few flights daily to and from Kuala Lumpur only was in my opinion too overdone but as Terengganu is the only oil producing state of Peninsular Malaysia, they have all the money to spend.

Upon meeting my cousin (possibly the richest one), we were greeted by our driver and we took a limousine to Tanjong Jara Resort, a privately owned 5 star resort by YTL about 60km south of Kuala Terengganu. Upon reaching we were greeted VIP liked by a loud gong along with hot towels and fresh fruit juice. I felt like a celebrity at that moment. It is the precise reason why we spent about RM5000 for a 2 nights stay there. They are really good in pampering you. This was the exact opposite from what I was experiencing the night before. :)

Staying in Tanjong Jara was indeed luxurious. I treated myself to a warm water flower (with dead sea salt) bath upon checking in and we spent the rest of the afternoon tucking into sumptuous lunch, swimming in the infinity pool and sunbathing at the beach. At night we ate our hearts out again. The 2 of us gobbled altogether RM480 of food for dinner. HAHA. We didn't eat like hungry ghost but the price of food there was exorbitantly high.The next day we went for a snorkeling trip to Pulau Tenggol about 50km from Tanjong Jara. I heard many people went to Pulau Tenggol especially for the scuba diving but as my cousin doesn't have a diving license, I accompanied him for the snorkeling instead. We saw clown fishes, corals, and 2 gigantic turtles however we didn't snorkel for very long because there were many jelly fishes in the area.

When we came back to Tanjong Jara it started to rain and we were forced to stay in our chalet until dinner. For dinner, we had steamboat. Food was just so-so but the portion was a lot and because it was still raining we were forced to have our steamboat at the same restaurant last night. For dessert, I tried the soufflé for the first time as it was highly recommended by my cousin. Again for this the bill came up to RM300

We left Tanjong Jara after the buffet breakfast the next morning and it was one of the best buffet breakfast I had with loads of selection and yummy pastries. This is the best meal I had in Tanjong Jara throughout my stay. I need to thank my cousin for the wonderful and luxurious time there in Tanjong Jara. If not for him, I would not have step foot on this most expensive leg of my journey as a backpacker.