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“...blinding white sand and crystal clear water...” |
Did you know that Malaysia is one hour ahead of Thailand? I didn't, until I missed my bus to Kuala Besut, the jumping off point to the Perhentian islands. No problem, there was another one in a couple of hours but I was annoyed at the delay for such a stupid reason!
After a 30min speed boat ride I arrived on the island, to be greeted by blinding white sand and crystal clear water, it is SO beautiful. I got myself the cheapest bungalow on the island - nestled amongest coconut trees on a hill overlooking the main beach of the island. My bungalow was a wooden shack, without electricity except for a light bulb that glowed from 7pm to 3am, which I eventually figured out how to turn off by unscrewing it. I loved staying there, didn't even mind the trek to the rudimentary bathrooms through the coconut trees.
There are two main beaches on the island - long beach where I stayed with a handful of restaurants and a couple of bars, with long stretches of sand between them, and coral bay which was quieter, smaller and more cramped on the beach, but good for snorkelling and watching the sunset while eating freshly cooked roti yum! A 10 min walk through the jungle on the island connects the beaches, with big lizards on the path.
While on the island I did my advanced open water diving course, it is so cheap diving there I thought I might as well. Again i had the instructor to myself, lucky me. The advanced course consists of 5 different dives. I did a "peak bouyancy performance" dive, where I had to do somersaults under the water, float upside down and do head spins, swim through hoops and hover with just my nose touching a bar to show that you have control under water. I couldnt do everything properly, but my instructor said I had excellent bouyancy for someone on their fifth dive, so all my worry about it in Ko Tao was in vain! I did a deep water dive to 30m, which is a strange feeling descending into water where you can't see where you are going. I did a wreck dive around a container ship, and a drift dive (with a current) looking for sea horses along the sea floor, as well as a dive to practice navigation skills.
I went snorkelling off the beach on one afternoon that I wasn't diving and also went on a snorkelling tour. The snorkelling tour was amazing - ironically enough I saw much more interesting stuff while snorkelling than I have diving! First of all we went off in search of turtles, when the boat driver saw one he would yell at us "quick, jump, over there" and we would pile out the side of the boat kicking each other in the face in an attempt to see the turtle. I missed out the first couple of times, but then saw 4 or 5 - chasing them on the top of the water while they swam along below, I felt a bit sorry for them but I was so glad to see them finally! Then we went to a place to see sharks - harmless ones ofcourse - I saw about 10 in all. Then some amazingly colourful coral sites, where I saw a blue sting ray as well as hundreds of fish. It was very cool.
When I wasn't in the water I met some lovely people, and shared a few buckets (one bottle whiskey to one can of coke and one can of redbull, leathal), but mostly had quiet dinners on the sand with newly met friends. Being a girl travelling alone on the island it soon seemed like all the local lads knew my name - "where are you going Keren? Are you going to party tonight Keren?"
It was with a very heavy heart that I left this beautiful place, but I had already stayed more days than I had planned and it was time to go to the jungle.
previous travel blog entry
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