Do as the locals do... Relax!
Pulau Perhentian Kecil,
Malaysia
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Another beach, another day. Life is so different on a Malaysian beach than a San Diego beach. Everything is in slow motion, no one wears shoes and monkeys are regarded as pets. Tranquil, but 6 days was our limit before we started to get bored. The only thing missing was night life.
We showed up in Koala Besuit at around 6am and took a taxi to the Jetty to catch the 7am ferry. The skies looked treacherous from shore, but that doesn't stop the ferry driver with the wild look in his eyes. A sweet Malaysian woman grabbed a bunch of plastic bags for everyones stuff and said, "Hold on, OK." Always refreshing words. About halfway between the mainland and the island was a dense patch of haze which I determined to be rain. Once we got closer you could see it hitting the water and then all of a sudden we were soaked to the bone. Lightening and thunder were crashing all around us and Rory and I were laughing hysterically about the chances of us getting hit by lightening. Water and lightening rules must not apply here. In about 5 minutes we were clearing the other side of the rain clouds and the sun came shining down. In another 10 minutes we were blown dry and pulling up to Long Beach. A good start to our first day.
Once we settled in to our comfy chalet, we hit the beach for some good eats. Every place on the island served these fancy fruit and ice shakes that were delicious and ever so satisfying. They even had a snickers shake, but I never tried it. Very stupid.
The next 6 days were full of beaching, sleeping, reading, eating, snorkeling, diving, more eating, etc. Unfortunately here, there is no duty free beer so the price was a bit steep and only 2 restaurants carried it. Accordingly, we barely drank. At night our only option was watching a movie at our hostel. Last night we watched Perfume. Ugh - worst movie ever. Although, if the perfect perfume, made out of the oils of pretty girls, can cause an entire city to have a freak orgy, then maybe I'm interested. But I doubt it.
Another terrible movie, Good Luck Chuck. Dane Cook is not funny. Although it did remind us of a friend we have named Charlie. He must be good luck too because we recently were sent an article about the engagement of the girl he hooked up with at our wedding. Way to go Charlie.
During one of our lazy days we decided to catch the sunset and met an American on our way through the jungle path. JP, only 25, has lived in Malaysia for 3 years now and is a host on some Malaysian morning show. He talks about popular current events, celebrities, and world issues that are geared towards a young adult audience. His girlfriend is a Malaysian woman, Samira, only 23, and a producer for the network. She got him the job as an assistant and within weeks they put him on TV. What luck. We're still waiting to catch his show on cable, but from when we hear, he's a pretty well-known and loved celebrity here. It just goes to show that life goes in all different directions when you least expect it.
Which reminds me, has anyone heard of Dengue Fever? Apparently there was a person on our island who had it and they had to spray the entire area with mosquito gas. Of course this happens the day after I noticed this extremely annoying and rather itchy rash all over my lower back, ass and thighs coupled with a high fever. Rory still laughs at the look on my face when the hotel staff told us what was going on. I was sure I had the Dengue. I was frantically running around asking people if they knew the symptoms and screaming for a Doctor. I mostly looked like a crazy woman and nobody had anytime for that. I was basically told to relax and see what happened. Reassuring. As of today, I still have the rash, but no fever. At this point I believe it's probably just a case of heat exhaustion and heat rash. But I'm keeping my eye on it.
Tonight we splurged on a RM100 ($30) hotel room with a nice bathroom, A/C and cable TV in Jerteh before we catch the morning bus to Penang. Then it's off to Bangkok and ping pong shows galore!
