Pulau Perhentian Kecil,
Terengganu,
Malaysia
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Time to catch up again!! After Georgetown we got on a bus that would take us over to the other side of the peninsula..... lots of beautiful jungle along the way. It was all a bit odd though... there isn't a bus that goes direct to Kuala Besut... the jumping off point for the Perhentian Islands... even though we thought we were on one that would get pretty close.... eventually we got talked into getting off the bus part way and taking a taxi the rest of the way.... I think it is all a big scam... but we made it in time to Kuala Besut to take the last ferry. We had done a little research and decided to stay on the smaller of the two Perhentian Islands (Perhentian Kecil)... it is advertised as having a lot more budget accommodation than the other island. The boat we took over was a very fast speed boat... and unfortunately we were sitting right in the front so it was a very bumpy ride.... but we did make it safe and sound. Once we got to the island..... we had to take a taxi boat from the speed boat which couldn't take us all the way in to shore....another scam i think as of course you have to pay the taxi boat as well! We arrived onto 'Long Beach' which certainly looks to be a backpackers community... a long white sand beach with huts and other shabby looking accommodation all along it. The beach is actually beautiful and the island is all jungle... so an amazing sight... the water is the most incredibly blue clear loveliness that we have seen so far. Amazing visibility. We started the usual rounds to find accommodation.....but were starting to get a bit worried as everything was at least double what their advertised prices in the guide books had been... so where we were expecting to pay a max of $10 per night.... most places were at least $30. Out of our budget for sure... but we were already there and needed a place to sleep so we searched far and wide. In some of the more jungly areas there were some hideously huge spiders... the size of your hand or bigger.... which was pretty comical for me since they are probably Luc's least favorite thing... and they were all over the place! We eventually settled on a place that seemed way overpriced but relatively less nasty then some of the other options. This island is seriously ripping people off though.......the standard of accommodations is incredibly low... pretty disgusting in places yet they are charging more than double what you would pay in a nicer place in Thailand. So... we decided two nights was all we could afford on this little paradise island and decided to make the most of our only full day there. We chartered a little taxi boat to take us out snorkeling for the afternoon the day after we arrived. We had three stops... and all three were some of the best snorkeling I have ever done. The first stop.... we swam with a huge sea turtle.....so beautiful. Luc got a couple pics on our underwater camera..... right before our underwater camera decided it wasn't waterproof and became toast. A HUGE disappointment as it was not cheap and would have been nice to have for the rest of the our journeys..... but hopefully will be covered by warranty. But....turtle pics are still intact I believe. From turtle point we went on to snorkel with some sharks!!!!! They were actually pretty cool.....if not extremely intimidating. They were black tip sharks of some kind... reef sharks (I think no bigger than 1.5 meters) but they certainly look a lot bigger under water. We kept our distance and let them get on with swimming past us.... but it was very cool to see them......saw tons of very cool fish at this spot as well. Amazing bright colours and the visibility was so good... completely clear! From the sharks we went on to a coral area and again saw many many lovely fish, many different varieties of coral. Some of the fish we saw.....i think... included trigger fish, parrot fish, barracuda, puffer fish...... hmmmm I don't know, there were so many! It was an amazing day though.... almost made up for the accommodations being such a rip off!!!!So that was our Malaysian Island experience... the next day we got back on a speed boat (sat in the back this time) picked up more people at other spots on the island... passing many of the local fishing boats along the way.... and then headed back to the mainland.
Comments
great travels
hi Heather, it is great to read all your news. your photos are wonderful. It is a great way to travel for us. Please continue to have a wonderful time, say Hi to Luc. We are going to Long Beach Lodge this weekend, good rate thanks to you, you left a great impression..... naturally. Wondered how hard it was to set up a travel blog, followed a few instructions, lo and behold Mummy MacLeod now has her own travel blog!!!!! Have to figure the photo part though!So will be posting our travels. Not long till we go, can't wait. Lots of love to you, Anne xxxx