James’ Beach Paradise Update

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The journey to Perhentian was every bit as long and difficult as we had been expecting. We left Langkawi on a ferry at 5:30pm and didn’t arrive at Perhentian until 8:15 the next morning. The bus journey took us along the Thai border passing through Alor Star as well as several other out of the way towns. The driver seemed to like to stop every hour or so and turn on all of the lights, just to ensure that we were unable to get any sleep. When we arrived at the bus station in Jerteh, we were dropped by the side of the road at a petrol station. The driver insisted that it was the bus station and let us unload our luggage. However he was trying to get us to pay his mates (waiting at the petrol station) to take us to the jetty. They soon gave up hope when they realised that we had already paid for our transfer and told us to get back on the bus, which drove us all of a mile to the actual bus station! On our arrival at Tuna Bay resort we were told the room would not be ready until 1:30pm so we sat ourselves in the bar and did not a lot!

Perhentian Besar is beautiful. The sea is like a pond and there is a living reef just off the beach at the resort. Our days here have been spent lying on our towels on the beach (as the guests have nicked all the loungers by 8am). It is very relaxing and very far from the real world. The internet is via satellite and is expensive so we have been pretty much cut off since our arrival.

We spent some time along the beach by Abdul’s Chalet as the sand is softer and less corally (Coralie?). It was a bit quieter here as Abdul only has a few chalets. We have managed to get through several books and top up the tan. The rest of our time during the day has been snorkelling on the reef. Pretty good but no sharks, not even a barracuda!

Tuna Bay Resort is very busy. The restaurant is huge, and after about 7pm completely full. This caught us out on our first night as we were relaxing in ‘Perhentian’s only cocktail bar’ not really paying much attention to the restaurant. Luckily the place next door is pretty good and does an excellent seafood BBQ. I ate the stingray last night which was sold to me as being ‘totally boneless’. This turned out to be a small white lie on behalf of the waiter, as stingray is quite possibly the boniest fish I have ever eaten - still tasted pretty good mind!

Tomorrow we are off to Kuantan. We catch the 8am boat from here and have the pleasure of a 6 hour bus ride at the other end. Our hotel here has kindly booked us on the economy bus which should be an experience! At least this time we will be travelling during the day.

Next stop Swiss Garden Resort………

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