Grand Riverview Hotel Kota Bharu

... sat and i waited!! and waited and waited ... quite a boring day really ... however one good thing ... i decided to have some lunch ... so i asked for rice and pointed at the other stuff (ie egg in sauce chicken in sauce and other stuff in sauce) and said .. Spicy??? he said ... No ... so i had just the sauce form the egg one .. he charged me 1ringit!!!! dont forget 5.5ringit = 1 pound!!! so .. bargain lunch .. and so i had the same for tea ...

... restaurant for some brekkie and a catch up with Carolyn!!

Spend the whole afternoon soaking up the rays in the sea, this place really is amazing!! It's so peaceful compared to the hustle and bustle of Medan!!

When we head back to our accommodation to get ready for food etc we notice that all the local lads who run our accommodation have gathered outside our hut!! Hmmm we head for a shower and when we come out they are now ...

... much a Muslim community so women (and young girls) are dressed extremely conservatively... but I thought since we were going to a tourist resort I could get away with a bikini.......well this turned out to be a little awkward. We get to the resort and it was pretty deserted... we head to the pool area and the only other people there are 4 young Muslim women...... fully clothed....pants, tops, berkas...... in the pool. There was also a group of young Malaysian men in the shade sitting at ...

... mum coming round the corner and about to be 'found out'. It's a lizard, a large gecko really, and we had 2 of them living in our hut, so we became quite well acquainted over the few days we were there. Tomorrow it's up early and away to Tenah Merah, or, if we can make it in one day, Jeli. From Jeli the road climbs up, so that will be a hard day, but we think it should only take us 2 days from there. Laters

... the main land dock of Kuala Besut (we had to catch a taxi boat to the island boat!) Once we got the the mainland we shared a taxi to the town of Kota Bharu - (but again my Russian friends had done their research) when we got to the dock the taxi driver's wanted 70 Riggit, but we walked towards the bus station, the next taxi driver wanted 60 Riggit, but the Russian said to ...

... so loads of boats arrived with young locals ready to party. They were really loud and screaming in the early hours so Sean gave them an earful!


The next couple of days were dedicated to the beach. Our last few days doing nothing before starting real travelling again! Our hostel was showing the last Angelina Jolie movie in the restaurant (which was really good). Every night, they would play a different pirate DVD.! We ...

... which meant that we had quite a bit of time to kill before our next journey.. Just as well, it was time for breakfast and explore Kuala Besut a little.. Not surprisingly, with Pulau Perhentian's longstanding fame as a beach/island paradise, the jetty has pretty modern infrastructure.. looks like a marina leh! Further down from the main terminal building, there are a few eateries with the ...

... Khadijah market. Jeff liked the market and took lots of photos. I had a whiff of the fishy smell at one part and nearly puked. Now, everyone said I should go back. We did buy some keropok, dodol etc. I wanted to buy the salted fish but it was covered with those green bottle flies and decided against it. We were hot and tired and returned to the hotel. Afternoon was a faraway drive to Tok Bali Beach. We spent only 15mins on the beach having ...

... absence of Malaysian kites, we went searching for the ellusive craftsmen. Grabbing a bus heading northeasterly out of town, we followed their tracks, bloomin' big Malaysia 2007 signs pointing out the workshop, with no real sign of craft being undertaken the relief was they did accept Mastercard, VISA and Amex. Looking at them they were beautiful, however we quickly realised the odds of getting a four by six foot kite home were nill, we quickly left using no ...

... Long beach on Palau Perhentian Kecil (Small Island), said to be the party island. Maybe it turned into a party island later in the high season but for now it was good weather and only a few people who were looking for some relaxing times in the clear blue waters. People described this island as a place that Thailand was like 15 years ago, which means paradise. We found a shack on the beach with a great view and then hit ...