Pulau Perhentian Kecil,
Terengganu,
Malaysia
Sunday, August 3, 2008
We took a long overnight bus from Singapore up the coast to the Perhentian Islands which we had been highly recommended by some french guys we met in Australia and really liked the look of. The bus journey was really cheap and pretty good, we did however have to wrap up in all the clothes we had in our day bags which amounted to a raincoat and a flag for me, because the air con was ridiculous. We also got served some wierd dinner, cakes which were green and looked like sponges and doughnuts with spicy tuna filling. The border crossing to Malaysia from Singapore was hilarious, it took ages to get through the Singapore side, there were about 2 passport control officers and about 300 people queueing, however the Malaysian side was stupidly fast, none of our bags were checked, our passsports were only checked because we noticed we were walking through the Malaysian gate and moved to the 'others' gate. The guy on the Malaysian passport check gate was playing online snooker on his computer! Not at all bothered. Anyway we arrived at about 5 in the morning at Jerteh, slightly wet due to a dripping fan above us and with no Malaysian currency. A taxi driver was conveniently waiting for us, as they always seem to be, and showed us where the cash point was. We met a couple of german girls who wanted to go the the Perhentians too and shared the taxi to the port at Kuala Besut, passing about 20 Mosques on the way, they are huge, magnificent buildings and its so surprising when the houses and shops look so shabby and poor. We got some breakfast at a funny little cafe and booked our ferry. It is so nice to be back in a country where your money goes further again. Pancakes and tea and smoothies for breakfast in this place cost about a quid. The island we chose is Perhentian Kecil (Small) as apposed to Besur (Big). Besur has more resort-like complexes and is generally more touristy, Kecil has no roads and the only accomodation is huts. It was beautiful, the kind of island you don't ever think you would ever actually get the chance to go to. The ferry (max 10 ppl) stopped at Coral bay, the smaller of the two beaches on the island, accomodation is available on both and we weren't really bothered where we stayed, I think we just decided to get off at Coral bay because we stopped there first and it was so amazing! The beach and bay are dotted with little fishing boats and water taxis and the tiny white beach boasting 3 restaurants, one dive hut, and about 5 accomodation options. We found a hut for 65 ringits a night, so about 10 quid, set about 20 metres back from the beach in the palm trees. It's more expensive on the island than on mainland Malaysia but we were still surprised at how little money we spent. The walk across to Long Beach is about 10 minutes through the jungle, and although it is a nicer beach and the sea is an insanely blue blue, we preferred our quieter side of the island and only really went across in the evenings. We met a group of german guys and 2 english girls and had an awesome 5 days on the island, mainly relaxing and reading and sunbathing and snorkling and eating. The weather was amazing, hotter than we have experienced since Central America, really lovely. The sunsets across the sea were so cool. The first day we got there Calum and I hired some snorkels and went around the rocks at the edge of the bay, the variety and number of fish was amazing, the water was still only a metre or so deep, it was awesome. We sat on the big rock at the end of the point and i decided i would swim round to see if there was a beach around in the next bay. I swam about 20 metres around the rock and the sea got a bit deeper, some pretty big fish were hanging out down there and I went round one more rock and suddenly found myself about 10 metres from a shark about the 5 foot long! Although it bolted faster than I did, it was only because he could, I came flying back to the rock shit scared, I was laughing but also shouting shaark which made Calum absolutely leg it back to the rock, he had no idea what was going on haha. It was such a rush, its silly but just because a big fish looks exactly like your steriotypical shark, you suddenly get scared. We decided to swim back round and Calum caught a glimpse of him too and we swam away pretty fast again. Later we found out that black tip reef sharks are not at all dangerous but also not usually that large around the bay, so we were pretty proud of our sighting.
The next day we went on a snorkling trip with Jeffrey, a guy who worked in the restaurant next to our huts, his mum owned it and he grew up on the island, as we were his friends he gave us and the girls 'special price'. It was so cheap anyway and we saw some amazing fish. At 5 different snorkel points we saw more sharks, loads of amazing fish including clown fish and angel fish, clown fish are so sweet. Blue spotted Sting rays, and my favourite the turtles. Swimming about a metre above a huuge turtle, at least a metre in length, was one of the coolest things I have done. It was a superb experience, following the turtle as it slowly flapped its way forward, not particularly bothered by being followed by 5 snorklers. We dived down and had amazing views of it front on as it fed on some weeds on the sea bed, and then saw its head bob above the surface for air every 5 minutes or so, we followed him for 10 minutes or more, they are incredible creatures, so gentle and peaceful.
That was the highlight of the past few days, but we did some other cool stuff, hired our kayaks and paddled round a few bays to 'romantic beach' it was like a paradise beach. No people, nothing but white sand and turquoise sea and a steep rocky cliff behind, we chilled out in the shallow water with Hannah and Emily for a couple of hours, just enjoying the place.
We played a few games of beach volley ball with Jeffrey and his mate, got too hot. Had one really cool evening watching a storm approach, more lightning than i have ever seen illuminated this dark cloudy backdrop repeatedly for about an hour or so before the winds picked up on the beach and we had to run to the huts as the rain started falling haard.
We ate some awesome food on the island too, fresh mangoes were honestly the best fruit i have ever had. Noodles in ridiculous amounts and in many different combinations with veg and fish and chicken. Barbuqued King Fish was awesome and Malaysian Lassis (kind of yogurty milkshake things) were also great. Monkey Juice is the only available alcohol on the island and pretty overpriced because alcohol isn't very readily available in Malaysia, being a Muslim country,good stuff though.
We left the island this morning and it was an awesome break, so nice after Australia's hassles and prices and average weather.
