Beachlife

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The journey from Cameron Highlands to Kuala Besut Jetty was an 8 hour journey in a minivan that holds 10 people. There were 10 of us plus 9 big backpacks! A bit of tight sqeeze. The start of the journey was not so bad, as i said before its really cool up in the highlands but after an hour so you caould feel the temperature creeping up as we got lower and lower. Luckliy for us, three of the girls were not going the whole way and that got us a bit of extra leg room but we were all happy to get out of there and on to the boat.

The boat was a Fast Boat - thats what it said on the front - and we had to choose which of the beaches on either of the two islands we wanted to get off at. We went for Long beach on Pulau Kecil (Island Small) as everyone we had spoken to so far recommended it. As we approached the beach the water looked amazing - pure crystal clear like warm bath water. It was boiling hot and for some reason i had decided it would be a good idea to wear my jeans (it was cold in the morning!). We didnt want to mess about so we went straight off in search of a place to stay and found Bayview Chalets. A nice Irish women shouted us over and took us up the hill to them. It was basic with shared showers and toilets but it was good enough so we put our stuff down, changed and hit the beach.

Long beach is nice, but not quite what we were expecting to be honest. It has been developed so that the restaurants and shops come right on to the beach and there are so many little boats all along the waterfront that it spoils it slightly, but the water is still really good and you can find a decent bit of beach at the end near the rocks. There are two main bars - Bubu's which is attached to the most expensive resort and Lila's. The first night we went to Bubus and had a few drinks, dinner and watched the fire dancers.

Next day involved lots of sunbathing, even throughout the cloud which came and went we managed to burn ourselves. Not much else to report! Second night there was a beach party at Lila's which was good fun. We bumped in to a guy who we had met at the highlands and had a drink with him. We got oursleves a Malaysian Bucket - a 35cl bottle of whiskey mixed with coke and red bull - which was v strong but good to get you going. Then we had another but with Vodka instead, there were some sorry states stumbling about with those on offer. They had a bonfire on the beach and had decent music - was good fun.

The next day was again spent on the beach recovering and reading our books. The weather was warm but not too sunny, and that night there was a storm and a power cut. Our chalet only had electricity from 7pm til 8am. When it didnt come on at 7pm we were thinking something was wrong, then the irish lady came around in the pouring rain to give us candles and to say that we would have no lights or fan til the morning. We also could not get a shower as they were outside and it was pitch black. After a few hours the rain slowed down and we went down to the beach with our torch but you had to walk through a little forest to get there. It was really quiet in the restaurants and we think that if people did not have a torch they would not get down to the beach as it was so dark. We had our tea then an early night, luckily the rain cooled the temperature down as without our fan we would have been roasting.

The next morning we were then told that there was no water, great we thought, no shower, and assumed it was the storm, but the lady confessed it was a blown fuse and she did not have any spare!! Although it was a pain in the backside it was also really funny and cosy just reading our books by candlelight and torch. We packed our bags and decided to go to the beach on the other side, Coral Bay. It took us 10 minutes to walk there through the forest and we found a nice place to stay that was quite cheap and a luxury compared to Bay View. The beach is very nice, quite small and lots of coral so not too good for swimming but good for snorkelling. The view was beautiful apart from a jetty that is being built on the right hand side of the bay which will completely spoil it once its completed. We stayed on this beach for 2 nights and it was a lot more relaxing than the other side, our chalet was on the waterfront so when we woke up you could just hear the waves and see the beautiful blue sea when you opened you door, it was lovely. The only downside was the restaraunt which was joined on it seemed to get everything wrong. Laurie ordered fried eggs which came out scrambled, the next day he ordered scrambled and they came out fried, we asked for coffee and they would be like-oh you want tea- it was really funny but frustrating also.

We decided to get a taxi boat to Pulau Besar (Island Big). We stayed at Coral View Resort, our rooms were basic but ok as we did not spend much time in them. As soon as we dumped our bags we went for a wander and walked across this really badly built wooden bridge but it lead us to the most amazing beach we have ever seen. Honestly it was like the beaches on the old bounty adverts, with hammocks on the palm trees, white sand that was like talc in between your toes and crystal clear water. We went straight to the water for a dip and it was so warm and even when we were quite deep you could see your feet at the bottom. It was quite windy and the waves were massive so everyone was in the water trying to ride the waves. We were getting pulled under and dragged back to the shore, whilst trying to hold on to our pants!!! Big Kids!

That night we found a restaurant where the food was sooo nice so just relaxed and had a few drinks. It is quiet on this side, nothing much to do in the evening. We had the worst sleep ever that night as our beds were so uncomfortable, sweaty and the pillows were like bricks. It was a relief when morning came so we could go for a nap on the beach.

We hired out snorkels after breakfast and swam over to the protected coral near the rocks, there was loads of it. The water is so clear and before we got to the coral we seen a long skinny fish similar to a barracuda, as we swam on we saw lots of tropical fish, nice coral and a shark. It was so scary i looked over and saw it swimming near and nudged Laurie giving him the sign for shark that we learned when diving. It did not stay in our sight for long and that was fine for me. After that i wanted to go back on land so we sunbathed for a bit then wend back in the sea. The second time in Laurie pointed to the floor and there was a huge turtle being cleaned on the sea floor by little fish. We shouted another couple over who who snorkelling nearby but the girl decided she would swim right up to it and scared it off. It was still amazing to see a shark and turtle in the same day just a few hundred feet from where everyone else is jumping waves and playing frisbee.

That night again we went for a nice meal and got a bit more drunk to help us sleep in the dingy room. It worked pretty well but we were still tired this morning when we set off back to the mainland. Neither of us wanted to leave, and we could have stayed longer but there are no cah machines on the islands and we only took enough money to last us 7 days. Hopefully we will be able to find another island just as nice before we get to Singapore so we can get a bit more beach time in before we fly home.

Tommorow we get the bus to Kuala Lumpur. Apparently it is really hot and humid in the capital but were going to try and cram in some sight seeing before we pass out. Until next time....

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