[Photo by Xu Lin/China Daily]

My friends and I paid 30 ringgit ($9.20) a person to see one flower in full blossom and several round buds. The flower is also called "corpse flower" because it smells like rotten flesh. The odor attracts insects such as flies, and we saw several flies fly into the hollow pistils and not getting out.

For the second day, you can take a speedboat to the Kilas Wetlands to see forests on the water, crocodiles and the famous long-nosed monkeys on the trees. There are fireflies glowing in the woods in the evening, and you can have fresh seafood at cheap prices when you return to the town.

Our next destination was Pulau Mantanai Besar (the Big Mermaid Island). It's advisable to make a reservation because the island's capacity for tourists is limited. We stayed one night in a cozy cottage, and enjoyed both sunset and sunrise out on the beach.

During the day, the guide took us on a speedboat to a snorkeling spot to see the colorful fishes, starfish and corals in the sea.

Safe swimsuits and fins are available. It's better to take along one's own snorkeling equipment for hygiene reasons, because they are not sold on the island and the guides offer only shared ones.

We explored the magic of the underwater world freely, played with the clownfish and other fishes that you see in the Hollywood blockbuster Finding Nemo, and recorded those indelible moments with GoPro, a waterproof camera that can capture still photos or video through a wide-angle lens.

We returned to the island for a buffet lunch of local dishes in the open air and had a two-hour refreshing rest before heading for the next snorkeling spot.

Visitors stretched out on beach chairs or hammocks to enjoy the picturesque view of the coastline, swam, deep dived, and rowed canoes in the sea.