Blogs from Perhentian Besar, Terengganu, Malaysia, Asia - page 10

Short and sweet one here as I’ve got so far behnd again that it’s just too daunting to write in depth. =================== We finally left Phi Phi on the Monday by boat, which would eventually take us (by bus across the country) to the Malaysia Pulau Perhentian islands. Without breaking tradition, I was very hungover from the “goodbye” celebrations the night before and as such, I fell asleep on all modes of transport we took to reach the islands. After a long-endured bus ride to the border, and a stay at a random hotel before we could cross in the morning, we finally walked into Malaysia and said goodbye to Thailand for this journey. Via taxi and an extremely bumpy, wet and painful boat ride, we finally reached the islands (Perhentian Kecil (small) and Perhentian Besar ... read more

Moving from beach (Tioman) to jungle (Taman Negara) I was forced to stop in the less-than-touristy city of Kuantan, apparently some distances really are too far to travel in a day, despite what look like teensy distances on a map! Kuantan was alright, though rainy, but it was quite obvious that it doesn't receive the same number of Westerners as other places... I'd gotten used to be being invisible, and suddenly I was once again being stared at, and the recipient of compliments, marriage proposals, and less polite advances from the groups of young men which apparently make up the entire population of the city. Oh well, it was flattering(?) and I had a stranger buy my dinner at the local restaurant I'd visited - I'd thought he was staring because my method of eating with ... read more

When we arrived in the Perhenatian islands we were amazed at how beautiful they were. We were staying on the smaller of the two islands called Kecil island. The sand is whiter than white, the sea is so blue you can see all the fish without even putting your head in the water and the weather was brilliant. Liam did a 3 day open water diving course with Phil and Karl and they all really enjoyed it. They had to do a bit of learning but it was well worth it he said! They saw sharks, turtles, stingrays etc. So now Liam is a certified diver. I spent most of the time on the beach and learned how to snorkel with Jenny. There are lots of fish close to the beach so we didn't have to ... read more

As we were waiting for the night train to the Perhentian Islands to leave KL Sentral, we came to talk to a young man sitting beside us. He turned out to be an Indonesian currently working in London and was on his way to a beach holiday with his fiancé. He was very nice and refreshing, and when we left for our platform we told him goodbye in Indonesian, which left him quite surprised. We could only get to the platform and on the train half an hour before departure, the platform was closed up to that time. Trains in Malaysia are comfortable and always on time, but the network is not very extensive. There are actually only two lines, one on the western side and another one on the eastern side, whereas these lines run ... read more

We arrived on Perhentian Island in Malaysia in on June 17th . I was here about 6 years ago, and Scott three, and it's still an unspoilt paradise I am glad to say. Have been doing a lot of snorkelling, which has been great. Great, that was, until we saw a shark today! We had walked over to a deserted beach and I had seen it in the shallows, soon after entering the water. I then saw it again in the distance, just a scary outline. Finally, we saw it very close, about 15 feet away!!! That was enough for us - we were out of there quite quickly and now feel scared to go back in, eve though everyone assures us they are completely harmless. June 30th I just spent last night in the "accident ... read more