Finally to a beach!

Up early again for an 8am bus to the Perhentian Islands, located off the northeast coast of Malaysia.  We actually took off around 8:15 due to two Brits who had just a bit much to drink the night before and woke up at 7:45 (as they all told us quite loudly).

Finally off, we headed to Jerantut, about an hour and a half away.  A stop for gas and then to the mechanics as the bus had faulty brakes (great!) and so we ended up switching to another bus.  On the second bus we ended up heading to the Tembeling jetty, which was where we had stopped off to pick up our permits on the way to the park.  Not sure why this detour that ended up costing us an hour (20 mins there, 20 mins break and 20 mins back).  On the road again to Gua Musang (where we had taken the very late train from on our way to Taman Negara), this time stopping for lunch and switching over to two very packed and warm minivans.  Hours later, we finally arrived at the jetty at Kuala Besut.  It was here that Melina and I parted ways, as she was heading onto Kota Bharu (my next destination after some beach time) and then onto Thailand.

After hanging around at the jetty for some time (definitely a lack of communication as to why the long wait), we boarded our speedboat via a very precarious way.  There were no steps, just a concrete slope that was interesting to navigate sporting a backpack and carrying my day pack.  However, safely on the boat (although the guy that sold me the trip to Taman Negara had told me that the boat I was on capsized a lot.  Of course, I think it was all a story to get me to buy a ticket from a company affiliated to his!) the trip was about 30 minutes long, much to the chagrin of one of the Brits who I still think wasn't feeling well from the previous night's activities.

The Perhentian Islands consists of one smaller island, Kecil, with two main areas, Coral Bay and Long Beach (where most of the backpackers head to because it is cheaper) and a bigger island, Besar that only has a handful of accommodations on the western coast.  I chose to stay at Besar (I know, it says Kecil for my posting, but Besar wasn't an option) given how hard it was to find accommodation (I had heard stories of travelers once getting to the islands, running to find a place to stay, I wanted none of that!).  One thing I hadn't realized until getting to Besar is that there is no jetty to embark.  Instead, a smaller boat sees the waiting speedboat, then comes to pick you up.  Thankfully the waves were not too rough, so navigating from one boat to the other wasn't too bad.  Finally, after 10 1/2 hours I was at the beach.

My room was in the front of a three room chalet, facing the ocean, although a little too far back to really appreciate it.  For dining, there were only restaurants attached to each resort.  The first night, I chose to stay at my resort and I must say, had an excellent Malay cream curry, the best so far.  This was definitely reflected in the prices, at least 2 to 3 times as much as I had been paying before (but still cheaper than eating in the States I might add).

My first full day I decided to just chill on the beach, but to my surprise, I really didn't see anyone else hanging out.  I figured that most folks were on snorkeling or scuba trips.  I tried to hang out in the shade as much as possible and with sunblock of 55 on I still managed to burn the top of my chest and shoulders :(  Around 6pm, I heard a knock at my door and was very happy to see Monique, another German I had met on the way to Taman Negara, although I didn't see much of her there since she was staying at a different hostel.  She ended up in a room in the chalet next to mine that was pretty awful compared to mine.  We found out later that they were in the middle of renovations and ran out of time to finish every chalet before the high season started.

Monique was on her last two weeks after traveling since April and before then, working in Australia for 6 months in order to improve her English.  It was funny, I think I was taxing her brain from having to talk so much English that at one point, she started talking to me in German.  Not understanding why I had a confused look on my face, she continued on, in German.  Finally she caught on :)

We ventured up to the northern part of the beach only to find a much better beach around the bend.  So that is where more people were probably hanging out during the day?  After a so-so dinner at the Coral View Island Resort and being kicked out because they were closing up (it was only 10:30) it was a blessing in disguise, because no sooner than getting back to our chalets, a tremendous thunderstorm ensued (something I definitely miss about being out in San Francisco).

Up the next morning and meeting at 10, (late for me, early for Monique!) after breakfast, we decided to rent a kayak in order to explore around our island.  With Monique in front and myself in the back, we took off south.  After about 45 minutes or so, we made it to our first destination.  We got off at a very remote beach and while I stayed in the shade, Monique took off to do some snorkeling.  As I was sitting there, I suddenly heard a fit of giggles coming through Monique's snorkel.  I found out once she got back, that Nemo (as she called the fish) had bitten her, she believes because the fish was protecting its young.

Back in the kayak again, we headed back up north for about an hour or so.  Definitely took us a little longer due to how hot it was and the breaks we kept taking.  We made it to beach we had seen the night before and opted to try a new place to have lunch, the Perhentian Island resort - definitely the more pricier option on the island.  After being shot down about 4 times when trying to order lunch, I finally settled on fried rice with satay chicken.  We had thought about having some ice cream for dessert, but once again, I was shot down - only strawberry ice cream was available and as most of you know, if it isn't chocolate, I am just not interested!  I guess when you are on an island, you are subject to when the deliveries can make it.

So, off again in our kayak.  However, this time it wasn't so easy getting off the beach.  We had to get into the kayak in knee deep water, which proved to be a little interesting and then once in, the waves kept crashing over the back of the kayak, flooding it.  Deciding that we should probably bail out the water before continuing, we headed back to the beach, only to almost capsize as we tried to get out.  Laughing at how stupid we must have looked, we managed to get most of the water out before trying again.  Our second attempt was better, but we still took on some water.

We continued to head north, over to a secret beach we had been told about, that really wasn't much of a secret given how many people were there.  Coming in to the beach, we had another disastrous landing.  Monique eager to get out and to pull the boat up to the beach, forgot that I was still in the back trying to get out.  Needless to say, I ended up completing falling in.  Once again, we were laughing at our miserable attempt.  Thankfully a guy took pity on us and helped us get our kayak out and finally get all the water out that had accumulated.

This beach was amazing.  Monique took off again to snorkel and although I had wanted to stay out of the sun, I couldn't resist the absolutely amazingly clear, warm water. Hell, I was already soaked!  You could see so easily the bottom of the ocean that was just pure sand, except for the odd roc here and there.  Now this was heaven!

Finally it was time to call it a day, we were already exhausted from all the kayaking we had done, and still needed to get back.  The trip back was definitely a bit slow, with our hands hurting from all the paddling and backs a little sore from the very unpadded seats.  Once back around 5:30, Monique tried snorkeling around our resort with no luck as the tide was too low and there was too much coral (unfortunately, so much of it dead.  I guess they don't believe in conservation).

I had debated about staying another day to go on a snorkel trip, but after hearing about all the dead coral and how sad that would make me to see it (there would be plenty of opportunites to snorkel in Thailand) and from not only my shoulders being burnt, but now the front of my legs, I decided that it was time to move on.  Plus, it was quite expensive to stay on the island and had an idea of something I wanted to do in Kota Bharu which meant leaving the following day.  So, one final dinner with Monique at our resort (the food was the best on the island), and I was to be off once again at 8am.