GEM ISLAND, TERENGGANU 26-28 SEPTEMBER 2009
Gem Island or Gemia Island is situated in Terengganu, a state on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is beside the better-known sister, Kapas Island. The island is designated as marine conservation park and there is only one resort on the island itself. Doesn’t it make you wonder the oxymoronic idea of a resort on a marine conservation park? Beats me!
A couple of my wife’s friend from Hong Kong (coincidentally, H & K) called us up one fine day to tell us of their intention to visit on of the islands in Malaysia. My wife and I has been to Redang and Lang Tengah island before and has long wanted to try out Gem Island as we’ve heard from other friends that it is beautiful due to the fact that it only has one resort on the island, which is also synonymous to lesser pollution and unspoiled/ lesser spoil marine ecosystem.
After making arrangement and contacting the sales personnel from Gems Resort, we’ve got the quotation for 3D2N for twin and triple sharing water front villa at RM480 and RM500 respectively. This is a full board package which includes a return mainland-island sea transfer, 2 x 2 x 2 breakfast, lunch and dinner, 1-day snorkeling gear and marine conservation fee. So basically, that amount includes everything except for the transport from wherever you are to the jetty.
[Tips: One important note, the jetty you are supposed to be at is Marang jetty and NOT Merang jetty (Take note of the ‘A’ and ‘E’)]
[Tips: One important note, the jetty you are supposed to be at is Marang jetty and NOT Merang jetty (Take note of the ‘A’ and ‘E’)]
Restaurant and reception area. 
From Singapore, you just need to take a coach from Golden Mile complex which costs us S$90 per pax for a return ticket and the duration of travel is roughly 10-11hours (There are only night coaches, so you will be sleeping in the coach). IMPORTANT! Remember to notify them that you are heading to MARANG Jetty towards Gem Island, otherwise they will not send you to the right jetty. The coaches will make at least 2 stops for food and to answer nature’s call.
A traditional malay peasant food. The rice is cooked in coconut cream served with sliced cucumbers, fried anchovies, pan roast peanuts, steam dog-tooth tuna and chilli sauce.
Highly recommended! No one makes it like the malay in Terengganu!
For our Hong Kong friends, they took a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and transfer to another flight from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu and thereon a taxi transfer to Marang Jetty. It sets them back around RM75 for a one-way taxi transfer.
There is a local wet market around the jetty which sells plenty of local ground products such as veges, sea products, local tropical fruits and some cheap merchandise E.g. jeans, hair clips and what-nots. There are also local stalls selling local food and some immigrant food.
The boat transfers to Gem Island are available at 9am, 1130am, 1pm (not available on Fridays) and 3pm. The duration from jetty to resort only took about 15-20mins. The island is one that is stripped bare to the minimum. There are nothing happening in this place and if you are someone that must have discos, pubs and whatnot, this may not be a place for you. The resort has a spa facility though and the prices may not be fantastic but still reasonable. Other sea activities are snorkeling, diving, volleyball and canoeing. The management somehow makes it a point to preserve the area the best they can to ensure that in future, their guests would still be able to enjoy the diverse marine the way it is 10 years ago. The is a saltwater infinity pool but it seems like the last time they cleaned it was like… I am compelled to NOT guessing. On top of that, the pool is beside the baby turtles’ pool and it stank. None of us took to the saltwater pool.
There are 3 beaches on the island itself and if that is not enough for you, you could rent the canoe and make your way to the Kapas Island, which is a breath away. The rental rate is RM15 for the first hour and RM10 for the subsequent hours. There is also a swing at the main entrance and it is truly a very relaxing way to unwind. Picture this, you sitting on a swing while reminiscing the carefree life of your childhood with the warm ocean breeze caressing your cheek, scent of fragr ance in the clean air coupled with a breath-taking view of the endless horizon~ Without realizing it, we sat there for a couple of hours!
The bedroom comes with an attached bathroom, basin, wardrobe, a sofa bed (quite comfy), sea front balcony, rattan cradle chair, king size bed and a mosquito screen. The bathroom is equipped with a water heater. The room is air-conditioned and the management also provides a ceiling fan. Overall, the room is very descent, clean and tastefully decorated.
[Tips 02: For triple sharing, one of your room mate will have to sleep on the sofa bed albeit paying the same amount as the other two on the king size bed]
[Tips 02: For triple sharing, one of your room mate will have to sleep on the sofa bed albeit paying the same amount as the other two on the king size bed]
There is only one restaurant on the island so it might bore bad news to those that doesn’t believe in eating in the same location 3 x 3. The restaurant serves local, western and Chinese cuisine although they do have intercontinental breakfast consisting toast and marmalade (Huh?!?). The chef is a middle aged Chinese man and our gang complimented his cooking so it may not be such a bad news unless you are going to eat there 3 x 7 (O_o). There is a pool table there and guests can play for free. Oh, the reception office has a station for internet purposes so you may still access the web from that tiny little island, of course at a cost which I don’t bother to find out.
During our stay there, 1 day is cloudy while the other has low tide, so didn’t really do much but explore that tiny island. The marine life is truly healthy around here courtesy of the effort placed in by the resort management. While the tide is low, we could just walk through the water (avoiding the corals of course) and see a huge variety of sea life ranging from sea cucumbers, sea slugs, anemones and all sorts of life hard and soft corals. I didn’t notice any Crown Of Thorns Starfish so I reckon that is a good sign.
While the water is not blue like that of the Caribbean, it is in the hue of emerald during high tide and definitely beckons one to take a swim, which yours truly did. Unfortunately, it is also breeding season for the jelly fish and I was stung by those babies and mind you their stings are no babies. It took about 5-7days to fully recovered and the stings are extremely itchy on the initial 1-3 days. I even woke up in the middle of the night scratching myself crazy.
Gem Island overall is truly a great place for relaxation and is highly recommended. However, the price may not be cheap as compared to other islands such as Lang Tengah Island for as low as RM300 and Redang Island for even lower at RM280.
Oh, before I have forgotten, we witnessed a very interesting and funny incident on the island. One the second day of our stay there, 3 chinese girls from China checked in at the resort and 5-6 hours later checked out. Puzzled we started discussing aka gossiping among ourselves what is the reason of them doing so? Our guess are:
- They arrived at the wrong island… Not possible
- They don’t like the place… Possible
- The island is too quiet and not many hunks around… Impossible! I am there! Haha… yeah right!
While they are about to leave, we chatted and checked with the resorts manager Mr Hizam and guess which one is the answer? Drum roll please~~~ No. 3!!! Hahaha, or more precisely NO DISCO + NO HUNKS = NO FUN.
Hope you enjoyed reading the post and the photos.
**Note: All rights reserved. If you like any photos found in this blog or would like to engage me in any assignment, please e-mail me for more details at seage79@gmail.com.
This is great place
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