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The Perhentian IslandsWhilst I was lazing around in the Cameron Highlands, I talked to a few people who had heard of these islands off Eastern Malaysia, near the Thai border. Rumour had it that these islands were beautiful, and a great place for snorkelling, diving and sunbathing. I needed somewhere else to go before heading for Kuala Lumpur so I decided to check it out for myself.The Perhentian Islands are a big attraction of Malaysia, you see posters for them everywhere. Given their popularity, you'd think that getting there would be a doddle. Not to be - this is Asia, after all!! The nearest big town on the mainland is Kota Bharu and getting there Tana Rhata took 3 buses, one of which was an overnight one. I arrived in Kota Bharu at 5am. It was still dark and the world hadn't woken up (except for the ever-vigilant taxi drivers, of course, who were more than willing to take me anywhere I wanted!). I had a seat in a small restaurant and a cup of really sweet tea (they use condensed milk which, I suspect, has more sugar than milk in it!). To get to the islands you have to take an hour's taxi ride down the coast to a very small coastal town where the ferries leave from. Fortunately, I met a couple of other lost looking people in the restaurant and we headed down together. The roads to the ferry 'terminal' weren't exactly up to much, it was as if the workmen had cleared the vegetation and then given up. Now try driving along one of these roads in a beat-up BMW and you get an idea of how good the journey was! Still, we got there in one piece and bought our tickets for the slow boat to the islands (the fast one would have cost the equivalent of a couple of quid more!). The ferrys were in a similar state to the roads and the taxis (there's nothing like consistency). We got on board and sat around for about an hour while the crew tried to cram on as many backpackers as possible. Much to my dismay no-one fell in as they tried to get on board - would have relieved the boredom somewhat. Finally, with a great belch of smoke we got underway, slowly. As we approached the islands I was taken aback by how beautiful they looked. Unsurprisingly, the scenery was similar to the Thai islands that I had visited the week before. There are 2 inhabited islands in the Perhentians - Big Island and Little Island (no prizes for guessing why they're called that!). Little Island is the most popular one, whilst the other is more laid back. After a good few hours of trudging along beaches carrying my backpack we eventually found accomodation on Flora Bay which is on the Big Island. Accomodation consisted of the usual beach huts with a fan, although electricity was only supplied between 7pm and 7am. This meant that getting up in the mornings was no problem, once the fan switched itself off at 7am it soon got too hot and stuffy to be inside! While in the islands I decided to take a Scuba Diving course. Learning to dive was one of my aims for the trip, although I had planned to leave it until I got to Australia. In retrospect, I'm very glad that I did it in the Perhentians. Read about my diving course here. In between diving and sleeping I spent most of my time on the island relaxing in a hammock or on the beach (hammocks are a great invention!). The crew at the dive school held frequent parties and went to great lengths to supply beer. The Perhentians are dry islands (this part of Malaysia is quite strictly Muslim) - you can't buy alcohol in the restauarants, and there were maybe one or two outlets where you could get hold of the local brew (Tiger Beer. It had to be shipped to Coral Bay by boat from the bay on the other side of the island, the Small Island or even the mainland!!! Every time someone completed a dive course, a party would have to be held to celebrate. At some times of the year I think there must be more drinking than diving!! Other excuses for parties include full moon, sunset, sunrise, or the fact that there's a 'y' in the day! Kuala Lumpur was next on the itinerary. |