Blogs from Perhentian Besar, Terengganu, Malaysia, Asia

Over the course of the week, many members of the party succumbed to various ailments. They were dropping like flies and I, the forward thinking person that I am, felt confident that I could escape the bugs in my self-imposed quarantine on the verandah. Dean and Obie, both not quite a 100%, soldiered on to eventually complete their PADI course (with a healthy Eleanor in tow). Seeing sharks, moray eels, thousands of fish in formation and lots of other marvellous sights will forever be captured on Obie's 'GoPro'. Stayed tuned for viewing times at your nearest loungeroom. The Stitt's man-cave may provide the best atmosphere, so the footage probably won't have to go on tour. The heat didn't let up for the entire week. I spent much of the time hiding in the shade and ducking ... read more

The first day passed quietly with a bit of swimming, snorkelling and snoozing. It was a glorious day, weather-wise, literally the calm before a storm. Around dinner time (yes, early for you Europeans, Asians and, well, any country not influenced by those hungry British settlers), the atmosphere was stifling with not a breath of wind. Then, as soon as we'd eaten and retreated to our room for the evening, the wind whipped up and the rain came pouring down. Wonderful. The next morning we went for a stroll down to the 'point'. Passing beaches polluted by rubbish, it wasn't a nice walk by any stretch of the imagination. However, the cove at the end was beautiful. No litter and pristine water. Eleanor wasn't impressed and stormed back by herself. Teenage mutant ninja tantrum! The O'Briens arrived ... read more

If the fact that we were in Malaysia was a surprise to us, even more so was the fact that we spent around 10 days on the Perhentian Islands, two small islands located off the coast of Western Malaysia. We made the definitive decision to set course there when an old friend from Poland, who was now training English teachers in Malaysia, let us know that he was going scuba diving there for the weekend. We hadn’t seen him in around 10 years and, since we were planning on obtaining our scuba certificates anyway, though the initial inclination was to do our certificate in Thailand, we wondered if there was a good reason not to visit the islands. Unable to think of one, we caught a night bus – in my opinion, the best we’d been ... read more

Phew, Singapore was amazing. Just before we left we visited the offices of the Urban Redevelopment Agency. This is the body responsible for the future development of the place. They had invested loads into informing people what's going on and why, models, maps, interactive computer stuff. They are building up, building out - 20% more land through reclamation and building down, as far as 150 metres. Just got to go back in a few years to see it all! To get the train to our current location we had to start the journey on coach, to get back into the first town in Malaysia. Doing that saves lots of dosh because of the way train tickets are priced. A 50 Ringet journey in Malaysia would cost 50 Singapore Dollars if booked and paid for in Singapore. ... read more

Da das Kanufahren vor einigen Tagen recht entspannt war, mieten wir uns bei strahlend blauem Himmel für 15RM ein Kanu. Inzwischen haben wir unsere Paddel-Technik leidlich verbessert, Aaron sitzt in der Mitte und so kommen wir gut voran. Über Korallenbänke fahren wir entlang der Südwestküste von Perhentian Besir und machen Stops an verschiedenen menschenleeren Stränden. Einen Teil der Strecke schwimmen Annet oder ich, ein ganz guter Ausgleich zum auf die Dauer etwas unbequemen Kanu. Aaron füttert die Fische mit Bananen und Toastresten vom Frühstück. Die Toastreste schaffen es normalerweise nicht bis zu den Fischen und werden den Zahmen Kaninchen in unserem Resort verfüttert. Wir sind uns nicht ganz sicher ob die Kaninchen Teil des Speisezettels der Echsen sind, solange wir da waren schien es ihnen aber gut zu gehen. Nach dem Mittag kommen wir am „Fish ... read more