Paradise

It was a rocky 10hour bus ride to Kota Bahru; the driver seemed determined to spend much of the journey on the other side of the potholed road driving straight at any oncoming cars. We arrived in Kota Bahru - which we had thought would be a bustling town - at 5 in the morning and found a deserted little square except of course from the usual 17 taxi touts. We gave in to our tiredness and took a taxi to the jetty in Kuala Besut. Here we found many like us, all looking a little worse for wear after lengthy journeys from all over Malaysia. A 30 minute speed boat ride to Kecil (the smaller of the two Perhentian Islands) served to wake everyone up as if you didn't cling on for dear life, you'd be the next meal for the sharks of the south china sea. Having said that, it was one of the most beautiful boat journeys i have ever had - we approached jungle covered islands with the whitest sandy beaches while the sun appeared just over the horizon - it was amazing. And our stay on Kecil was only to get more beautiful. We stayed on Long beach for the first two nights - which was the "busy" part of the island and then we moved (by water taxi!) round to the other side of the island to Coral Bay for some (more) peace and quiet. The sunset on this side of the island was breathtaking and we also managed to do some snorkelling; or rather vix snorkelled like a pro and i thrashed about in the water desperately trying not to drown. It served as a lesson for me, as if i had not burnt myself so badly on the first day, we were going to do an introductory diving course. We will no doubt have the opportunity to do this again later in the trip, but i shall have to steel my nerves a little more! The 5 days we spent in the Perhentians were so relaxing and yet again, a complete contrast from our previous destination of KL. We met loads of other travellers who gave us loads of advice on what to do and where to go, and then we were off again, this time to the big city of Bangkok with Ian, a fellow traveller. The days of lazing on the beach, with a book in one hand and an iced frappe in the other were to be left behind for a while as we continued inland for culture, shopping and the true Thai experience.