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Published: September 21st 2006
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We left Penang in the evening for a long, gruelling overnight bus journey to Kuala Besut (or so we supposed at the time). In general, I've been impressed by the quality of the coaches in Malaysia - you get plenty of space and they are well air-conditioned. I should have been able to sleep in them without too much trouble, except the road from Penang across the Peninsular took a winding route though the jungle and the hills, and the driver tended to hurtle around the corners, meaning I got thrown about too much. I got pretty cold too, as I'd only taken my old yellow Sarong with me for warmth (I bought a new one in Penang, by the way, with batik-printing chinese dragons on it, yelow on dark blue - it's nice) and the aircon was a bit too effective.
So I passed a mostly sleepless night on the bus, and when the bus stopped and the driver told all the westerners we had arrived (there were three Germans on board too) we bustled off into a dark bus shelter (approx. time: 5.30am). A throng of taxi drivers bustled around shouting Taxi! Perhentian, yes? After some very confused and
tired moments, we managed to discern that the bus driver had obviously got bored and decided to drop us of 20km from the place we got the boat from, in a place called "Jerteh" (very confusing when you've had no sleep, don't sperak the same language as the locals and you think they are saying "jetty").
So Jen knew we had to to go to Kuala Besut, and that's what the book said too. The accursed drivers hadc all agreed not to budge from the 20 Ringgit offered price (rip-off) and they insisted that it was the only way to get to our destination (obvious lie, but it meant we had no idea about where to get a bus to KB from or any info about it at all) so we ended up paying the fare, feeling pretty annoyed about it.
Getting thre boat to the island was more trouble too: the guys in the ticket offices in KB have all banded togetyher to boycott the slow boats out there 'cause they get twice as much from selling the speedboat tickets. We'd got an all-inclusive ticket in Penang to save money and had slow boat tickets. In the end we
ended up paying the difference and going on the fast boat, the only information we had being that slow boats are all but impossible.
When we got to the Perhentians I was tired, hungry, confused and feeling ripped-off. We spent the rest of the day doing nothing, Jen sleeping in the beach-hut and me sitting outside it reading my book. I cheered up a bit after lazing around though - I think I needed a rest.
Next day (yesterday) was spent on a snorkelling trip. First stop was "turtle point". there were basically a few turtles swimming around, but to be honest it was a little boring. They kept to the bottom and it was almost too deep to see them properly. I was still getting used to the snorkel and swallowed quite a bit of water too. Next stop was shark point. Now we were getting somewhere. Loads of coral and quite a lot of tropical fish. They swim right up next to you, just avoiding you if you make a grab for them. The guide lead us and pointed out sharks for us to chase after (smallish black-tipped reef sharks - they run fast when they see 7
humans coming after them). The other 3 places all had plenty of interesting coral, and I was beginning to master diving a little way, so got a good look at the deeper stuff as well as the shallow stuff. Saw a few manta rays and one huge eel.
Left the Perhentians early this morning - we figured they were too expensive. We took a bus over to Khota Bharu, in the northeast on Malaysia. Much more relaxed here, no feeling of people trying to rip us off. Back to paying 3 or 4 RM per meal rather than 6-8RM. Kota Bharu is nice. Very Malay. Tomorrow we'll look at the town a bit then take a bus to Kuala Terennganu, further south along the coast, which is a good cultural centre.
Quick note on Malaysian culture Malaysia is mostly populated by 3 main races. There's the Malay race, who run the state (only Malays are allowed in the army and government, I think) and are mainly Islamic. Then there's the ubiquitous Chinese (a significant proportion of any country's population, it would seem) and the Indians. It's very multicultural, with mosques and Hindu and Chinese Temples all over the place.
The Food Market in Kota Bharu
I've got two of these: it's pretty much all we went to look at over here. I think people generally coexist pretty well, given the cultural differences (the food springs to mind: Hindus have to abide Muslims and Chinese eating beef, Muslims have to abide Chinese eating pork, Chinese (probably) have to abide getting stick for having no qualms about their meat).
It's interesting visiting an Islamic counrty (Islam is the national religion). I've found it to be really educational.
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Sam_W
Sam Widdowson
Photos
Sorry no photo updates! There isn't reqally the time here. Next place I go, I promise I'll add more photos. I would have added more to the last blog, but the computer crashed and by the time I sorted it out we had to get the bus to the Perhentians. Love to all (missing my firends and family. And I've got a craving for Wensleydale cheese that I've no hope of satisfying for another 5-and-a-half months) Sam