Romantic Escapade at Tanjong Jara Resort

“Some place just looks better when you see it for yourself”. That was exactly what I said the moment I reached Tanjong Jara Resort last week. Being my first YTL resorts experience, I have only good words to describe a wonderful 3 days 2 nights experience in the ‘Unmistakably Malay’ resort.

Located 80 minutes from Kuala Terengganu, Tanjong Jara Resort was the destination for our 1st year anniversary celebration. Labeled by many as a high-class holiday destination, my other half and I decided to make use of the monsoon season promotion for us to get the all inclusive (flight + hotel + food) deal. After few rounds of email, we were all set for our romantic escapade during the Christmas Day weekend.

We were flown to Kuala Terengganu on Air Asia’s morning flight. Breaking on my habit of only flying the community airline, it was nice to have a pleasant flight on the Airbus A320 despite the high volume of passengers travelling on the Christmas Day.

We were greeted by a transporter who chauffeured us through 90km of road travel to reach Tanjong Jara.

Upon arrival at the resort, we were greeted by not one, not two but five staffs of the resort including the resort manager himself. Apparently the sound of this ‘gong’ alerts everyone of the arrival of a guest.

Immediately we were given wet towels and welcome drinks while our check-in procedures were being handled.

Overwhelmed by the service during check-in, I later found out that it is a common scene at Tanjong Jara Resort where guests are treated as super VIPs not considering of their nationality, status or room types. After check-in was done (within 5 minutes), we were personally ushered to our villa by one of the Japanese staff who was very informative at the same time friendly.

Our room 1207.

First impression.

The comfortable king-size bed which was not only prettily prepared but also spotless clean.

The view from our room. Sea view with nice monsoon breeze.

The bathroom and dressing area. Big enough to fit a king-size bed!

Every fine detail and every small amenity were prepared without even the need for us to request.

Throughout our stay, we only requested for one additional item which was a prayer mat,. Being ‘Unmistakably Malay’ and knowing that we are Muslims (from our name), I was hoping that prayer mat was made available upon arrival. Nevertheless it was promptly delivered to our room after the request was made.

Activities menu. Plenty of activities to keep the guests entertain.

Not only were we delighted by the luxury of our room, we were also amazed by the views around the resort.

Maintaining its original ‘kampung’ feel, Tanjong Jara Resort has its own permanent residence in the form of cute iguanas and lizards and many other floras and faunas.

Throughout our 3 days 2 nights stay we had plenty of delicious food at the resort’s two restaurants.

Breakfast at Di Atas Sungei – A semi-buffet with plenty of choices.

Lunch at Nelayan. A 3-course meal that can be selected from the menu.

Steamboat Dinner at Nelayan. A large-potion meal that can easily feed 4-5 pax

3-course meal dinner at Nelayan, where the appetizers were heavy enough to make us full! Delicious food! Satay and prawn fritters as appetizers, main meal and sweet dessert.

Not only we had 6 great ‘5-star hotel quality’ food, we also had fun being ‘confined’ inside the resort for the 3 days. As far as activities are concerned, we had a great time doing a mini jungle trekking known as Jara Hill walk. It was a guided tour going uphill and surrounding the resort with our lovely guide, Mr .Saharon.

Most of the time we simply chill out at the beach reminiscing our one year of being married while enjoying the natural monsoon breeze.

Of course cam whoring around the resort.

and a relaxing swim at the cool swimming pool overlooking the sea.

We were lucky to be there during the weekend where there was a special show known as Kampung Life experience.

Where demonstration on monkey plucking coconuts, sepak raga bulatan, local delicacies, congkak, silat, tomoi and wau were carried out live by locals for the resort guests.

It was a fun experience for us despite being a Malaysian

Our anniversary celebration was made complete thanks to a pleasant surprise. While making the reservation, I candidly told the representative that we were celebrating a special wedding anniversary day. I did not expect that it was captured into our reservation and the resort actually prepared our room for a romantic night while we were out for dinner.

It was a great experience and it is impossible to capture the whole journey in one blog post. On top of all the above features of Tanjong Jara Resort, I find the uniqueness lie on the great hospitality and privacy of the resort. Not only we had more staffs than guests, we also enjoyed total privacy to do whatever we wanted to do. On the night of our anniversary I actually went all the way of re-creating the way I proposed to my other half 2 years ago at the beautiful hotel area. The place was just so romantic!

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!