My island paradise

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Well well well.

Its been a while since I have written and I trust this email finds you all well. So as you can see by the title of this email I have been on the Perhentian Islands for the last 2 weeks. I only really went there for 3 days or so but it was nice and i met some cool people so I decided to stay a bit longer. The Perhentian Islands are 2 tropical islands just off the North East coast of Malaysia. Taking around 45 mins by boat to get there. Comprised of 2 islands Pulau Besar and Pulau Kecil they are apparently Malaysia's 'showpiece islands'. Both islands are similar with white sandy beaches, turqoise-blue water and jungle fringed interiors. Completely undeveloped with no cars or high rise hotels. The only complaint I had was there was no ATM's at all so getting money was a bit of a hassle and involved getting a boat over to the mainland.

I opted for the smaller island of Pulau Kecil. I had heard it was the cheaper of the 2. I also heard the big island was a better option for couples and families due to the
Viw from Accomodation
slightly higer standard of accomodation.

You get to the islands by speedboat which takes around 45mins. Once you get close to the island you then have to change from the bigboat to a smaller boat, known as a 'taxi' which takes you almost to the shore for the sum of 2 ringgit. Its no mean feat changing boats with a huge backpack on your back I can tell you. Once there I managed to meet a few people and we hired a room for 4 people for the measly sum of 3 pounds each a night. I stayed in a place called Moonlight situated on Longbeach which was full of backpackers and people like me on their own. I also bumped into a couple of famililiar faces. 2 guys I had met in both Singapore and in Taman Negara. I quickly realise that I was really going to like this place. The first morning I got up pretty early and headed to the beach. When I say headed I mean I walked out of my room and onto the beach. It was already pretty hot and I decided I would go for a swim. The water was always a
Ouch
pretty constant 30 degrees which was lovely. I spent the whole morning and early afternoon in the water underneath the blazing sun. At about 3pm I got out and started to feel that familiar hot sensation under my t-shirt and knew exactly what I was in for. I was so so sunburnt it wasn't even funny. As the day went on it got gradually worse until it was so painful and I felt so ill that I could do nothing but lay under a fan in my room in the dark. i was shivering sweating and felt so sick. I wasn't even the worst, there was another girl in my room who was in sch a state we were considering a trip to the local doctor wherever he was based. But she got better. The next day I got up and the pain had't gone. In fact a whole layer of blisters had appeared. I spent the next 2 days hiding in the shade of my balcony getting bitten by mosquitos and generally feeling very sorry for myself. If you actually click on the image of my back you can see the blisters.

On day 3 the pain had
Skin
gone and a few layers of skin started to peel off. Literally a whole of my back came off in about 6 hours and some of them were about about 4 inches long. It was then that the prickly heat set in and it felt like somebody was sticking little needles into my back. By the time you try and scratch it, its gone and moved to another place. Day 4 I was feeling much better and apart from the meal the mossies had made of my feet decided to start my PADI open water course. I paid around 125 pounds for the course which is one of the cheapest prices in the world apparently. I learnt with Sunny and friends at Sunlight divers which was handily attached to my accomodation. The course was good fun and took around 3 days to complete. It included 4 open water dives as well. I enjoyed it so much I started the advanced open water course the day after which was alot more fun and I had less studying to do. On the advanced course I got to do a wreck dive, a night dive, a deep dive and I had to navigate
Eagle landed on the beach
on one of the dives. I saw so much sealife it was great. I swam with turtles, sharks triggerfish, parrotfish and barrcuda. During the wreck dive I saw Scorpionfish(very poisonous), Lionfish (also very poisonous) and huge schools of about 200 fish. The wreck had been down there about 7 years and was teaming with life. There was even an airpocket where you could come above the water whilst about 20 metres down although we were advised not to breath the air. On the night dive we saw a huge ball of about 300 Catfish Eels moving past us in the torchlight which was very cool. Obviously I passed with flying colours and can now dive to a depth of 30 metres and dive as many wrecks as I like. I think the correct title is Super Dive Man. All in all I did about 10 dives and I was hooked but exhausted, so I spent a few more days doing nothing and swimming in the sea in the late afternoon. I am definitely going to do plenty more diving along that way.

A few good nights out were had and there was a very chilled out bar just along
Abu - Resident Monkey
the beach called The Beach Bar, must have taken hours to come up with that one. The 2 guys who run it were called Karim and Maku and they literally built the thing from the ground upwards. The total cost of building it was 1000 ringgit or about 15 quid give or take. They were pretty funny and have managed to operate undetected without a licence for the past 2 years. One of the nights out led to probably the most embarrassing incident of the trip so far. We got back from the bar at about 2am and i had had a few but not too many. I remember getting into bed thats for sure. Anyway, the next day I woke up and everyone was being a bit distant towards me. I couldn't work it out. I overheard some kind of conversation an from the tone could guess they were all finding something very funny. i wondered if it was about me but then dismissefd that though as paranoia and I got on with my day. It wasn't until later that day when I spoke to this guy Will who was in the bed next to me I found out
Spider in the trees
what had happened. He said to me I have to tell you something mate, you took a leak in the corner of the dorm right next to the top of Meryl's (a girl in the room) bed, right where she was sleeping. I was so embarassed I thought it was a joke. Nobody was bothered at all and thought it was really funny. I didn't at the time and just couldn't beleive it. I put it down to the fact I was in a strange place and at the time I thought there was only a bathroom outside the room, turns out there was one at the end of my bed. I now had to set about finding Meryl which wasn't too hard and apologised to her. Very very embarassing, but she was very sweet about it. In fact I dived with her a couple of times after as we were both doing the advanced course. As she left she said she would never forget me, I bet she won't. So that was that.

There was also another bar that was open pretty late called The Palm Tree. This was basically a place swarming with malaysian men who were chatting up all the western girls and doing a good job of it. One night there was a big excitement just as the place closed. Around 50 police turned up from the mainland with intention of drugtesting people who had been in the club. Tourists were told to go back to their rooms, but they proceeded to test all the local men's urine and then carted about 40 of them off in cuffs. It seemed strange to me that they were only after locals. Obviously being a good boy I wouldn't have had to worry about that anyway. The night after that The Palm Tree remained closed, as all of the staff had been involved in the arrests and couldnt make it back to open it. Apparently if you have a small amount in your system they let you go after a few days. If you have lots and appear a regular user, you automatically go to a rehab centre for 2 years where they wean you off whatever substance you are into.

I really didn't want to leave the Perhentian Islands and as I have found with the rest of Malaysia the local people were nothing but friendly towards me. I kept saying I was gong to go, but then woke up in the morning and decided to stay just one more day and play marathon games of monopoly or just lie in a hammock all day. On the last day it really was time to go so I booked a bus ticket to Penang leaving the next evening. So I was definitely going this time. I left the island at about 4pm and felt a bit sad to be leaving. I got the boat back to the mainland and had to wait a few hours for my night bus. The night bus was pretty rubbish really and took about 9 hours. I was sat next to a Malaysian guy who liked to be called Sean. He was very funny and really interested in hearing about London. Which was nice in a way, but I just wanted to sleep. We stopped about half way to Penang and i wasnt having a hot drink or anything. I think he thought i must have been poor or something and he insisted on buying me a hot chocolate. He didn't have much money himself as he told me he owned an internet cafe with one pc and seeing as though the going rate for internet cafes here is about 50p an hour I thought it was a nice gesture.

I am now in Penang and the first night spent the night in a luxury hotel complete with spa and swimming pool etc. It cost about 15 pounds for the night as well. it was nice to have air con and allow myself to de sand from the beach. Tonight I am in a normal guest house. Which I have to say is probably in the worst part of town. Lots of hookers everywhere and generally not a nice vibe about the place. The day after tomorrow I head to Langkawi which is another island just off the north west coast of Malaysia. i will stay there for a few days and then catch a ferry into southern Thailand. Incidently I have extended my stay in SE Asia. I am now going to Thailand for a month or so, then heading up to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. It may not be in that order I haven't decided yet.

Anyway thats about it for now. I hope everybody is well and it would be cool to hear from you all. I tried to upload more pics but my camera ran out of battery. I will add the rest next time I write a blog

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Comments

[Mum]

Hi Jay, well you are having fun and it sounds so friendly. I couldn't stop laughing about the peeing incident, somehow I don't think I would have been amused! Well done on your diving advanced. I expect it is wonderful seeing all the sea life. Just keep away from those dirty hookers! Keep safe. Love U lots Mumxxxx

[SteveInLA]

Still Can't......
Hold your drink pal, nothing changes there then!!

[lee]

lightweight
it could have been worse you could have shit on her pillow buy some sun cream you pasty ginger sunburn is never worth it