The Perhentian Islands,
off the northeast coast of Malaysia
Unfortunately once we had arrived on these highly recommended islands the stress of our 2 day journey didn't evaporate. We were the last people to arrive on the larger of the 2 islands, it was late and there wasn't much accomodation to chose from. The room prices were high compared to Thailand so we had to take a very basic hut for 15 quid, bit of a jump from 3 quid a night for essentially the same thing, except in this one the drainage pipe from the sink ended 2 inches from the floor. This meant that every time you cleaned your teeth you ended up with spittle on your toes - nice, minty.
We stayed there 2 nights established that we really were now fully fledged backpackers and moved to the smaller of the islands, also known as the less posh one! We had wandered the coastline of the larger islands and had come across a few beautiful bays complete with very exclusive resorts. But when the man behind reception doesn't even consult his book before telling you they have no rooms, you begin to wonder if you have taken on the backpacker look, even in your bikini!
We took a boat across to the other island, probably 100 meters away, and checked out Long Beach - the mecca of backpackers in the area. They were right, we were wrong and we moved there the following day. We were lucky though. This was probably the busiest time of the year, August and just before the weekend of Malaysian Independence Day - clever! We took what we could get and lucked out. A half decent hut complete with wardrobe, not that we used it - old habits die hard. Dinner was included in the price, we of course automatically assumed it would be rubbish, we were wrong. We even heard reports that our restaurant was where people went if they wanted a nice meal on this beach - result. We ate there every night!
The people we met also raved about the diving on the Perhentians, so we of course tried it out. Visibility was much better than in Koh Tao, and there were promises of turtles - which I personaly would be far more excited about seeing than a shark (and infinately less scared!) We had six fantastic dives, on one we were alone with our guide and as soon as we went under were surrounded by huge bumphead parrotfish. These are usually brightly coloured smaller fish which go around eating the coral and crunching on it so you can hear them. All 35 of these though were massive and we just floated for about 15 minutes watching them eat, and poo. So essentially floating in bumphead parrotfish sh*t! It was an amazing site, even the guide was really excited. But despite this once in a lifetime experience I was still gutted not to have seen a single turtle. I did however see my first shark. OK so it was only a small bamboo shark asleep under a rock, but a shark nontheless.
Aside from the diving we really did very little. Lazing on the beach and eating filled our days. We didn't even have a drink. The islands being Muslim meant that alcohol wasn't readily available. So we had 5 whole nights without a single beer, quite possibliy the longest Mik has gone without alcohol since he was 13! We heard rumours there was going to be a big party for Independence Day and as we saw crates of beer being smuggled into the restaurants we figured they were going to go for it big style. And they did. We found a shack selling half bottles of vodka for 4 quid sat back and watched the party take off. They had live bands (I use this term loosely), fire eaters, games and fireworks. The locals also had their fair share of beer and the next day many were incapacitated. I'd like to be able to tell you that we faired better, but we didn't. The 4am finish (after having to put Mik to bed) meant we didn't wake until midday and even that felt too early. Too hot to sunbathe so we ate! No pizza though - the pizza chef was still in bed with his hangover!
Having learned our lessons the hard way, we decided to be a bit more independent about our journey to the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur (KL). We booked the boat and got ourselves a cheap flight from the mainland to the capital. Boat left on time, had to wait a few minutes the other end for a taxi but he then took us to the town of Kota Buru where we would catch our flight. We had some time to kill though so unsurprisingly decided to go for dinner! We went to a canteen style chinese restaurant and had one of the best meals we'd had in a while. Oh and Mik spotted the bottles of guiness and had a large one, at 8% alcohol this meant he was a bit tipsy by the time we got on our flight!
Arrived in KL, it was nearly midnight so we caught a cab - for 10 quid - ouch. Arrived at our 3* business hotel which I thought had been overindulgent to say the least and spent the first 20 mins in our room cooing over the freebie toiletries, the mini-bar, the curtains and 24hr electricity! It suddenly struck home just how basic our acomdation had been up until that point and we loved every minute of our short stay in this fancy hotel with pool and free American buffet breakfast. Reminded by the beef bacon and chicken sausages that it still wasn't quite like home!
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