Lake Toba-Medan-Penang-Perinthians!

---

Back to the dirty streets of Medan and after a huge breakfast by the lakeside and a long wait for a boat pick up we started our journey across to the Perinthian Islands on the west coast of Malaysia. First of all we crossed the lake back to Parapat and with a better view of the “island” of Samosir. We spent much of the time figuring out where we had driven to on our epic moped trip 2 days before. Once in Parapat we were shoved onto a public bus with ample leg room and air-conditioning, but were soon told to swap to a different bus where Niks seat quite literally had no leg room so she had to become a gymnast and fold her legs over her head.! I also had a large box in front of me which also offered no space. 5 hours of this would have been hell, but an old lady with stained red lips kept us amused as she ate some leaves and within about an hour of the journey we changed places for a bit more room. As I previously mentioned, the public buses are known as “chicken buses“ for their “roomy” feel and tendency for livestock to be aboard. Well we can confirm this! We heard some clucking in the cloudy chain smoking haven and then spotted a chicken behind us between mine and Nik’s head!. We tried to get a good picture of it but with my camera wedged into my pocket by other passengers it was to difficult to keep getting it out! We longed for time to speed up and with bags on our laps and bladders ready to burst we constantly checked my watch every 5 minutes for the journey to end! Niks leg was also being tickled by the chicken man but she soon dealt with it by slamming her bag on his hand! Finally we made it to the Amplas bus terminal in Medan, happy to see its polluted, grubby and dreary streets! We took a motorbike and side car to our hotel and got charged a whopping 30,000 rupiah rather than the 3000 that we had expected! Excuse the pun but being in our hotel room with a loud sermon from a nearby mosque seemed like heaven compared to our bus ride! In the evening we had a bit of an Internet session because theres not much to do in Medan. Like true lazy westerners we had a McDonalds for dinner rather than walk 50 meters down the road for a better meal!!

Day two of our travel to the Perinthians, East coast of Malaysia. We took the ferry from Medan to Penang, Malaysia. We had to take a bus to the port which was very roomy, unlike your average Indonesian bus! Once through customs we soon boarded the ferry for what was an uneventful 6 hour journey with calm waters and terrible film and karaoke similar to the way to Medan! This time though it was a crappy martial arts film where everyone who died spurted out blood from the mouths! Terrible! Along the way we spotted a pod of dolphins glide over the water, this was far better than watching the terrible TV. The only other exciting thing was to eat lots of cake and I was a bit alarmed when we arrived in Medan and had to get to be tested for “Pig” flu, I thought Nik was going to let out that I had eaten her portion! We filled out forms and had our temperatures checked but got the all clear and were soon back in little India for a short walk to China town. We stayed at the banana guesthouse again and confirmed our onward travel to the Perinthian islands the following day. We had a nice street market dinner and then returned to pay for our travel but were very disappointed to find that they had now overbooked and we have to go via the Cameron highlands taking an extra 5 hours and wasting the day. The service was pretty terrible and the lady working seemed quite rude and didn't care that they had mucked up. Still what can you do! Hopefully the Perinthians will be a nice place to relax after a long days traveling.

Our next day started as it meant to continue... We slept through our alarm and then only had 15 minutes to get up, packed and get food for our 12 hour journey. We left Penang still knackered from our two days of travelling before and crossed from west coast to east coast to visit the Perinthian islands with a 5 hour detour in the Cameron Highlands because the Banana tour company messed up our ticket. We found the Cameron Highlands to be very beautiful with steep hillsides covered by jungle and a mosaic of greenhouses and plantations offer a unique yet scarred landscape. We had to wait at a hotel for an hour where I needed to pop a few imodium tablets...! Once we were off again we were told we would arrive at Kuala Besut (ferry transfer point) to catch the 4.30 ferry to the Perinthians. - so already an extra hour onto our extended trip. Finally we made it onto the speed boat ferry and sat towards the front to try to avoid getting soaked on the half hour ride to the Perinthians. This was a mistake..! The driver went ridiculously fast which consequently smashed the boat down on the choppy waves causing a great deal of pain on our arse and more worryingly lower back with every crash. the ride was so bumpy that the seats infront of ours came out of their slats. At first it was fun but peoples laughs soon turned to grimaces and moans of pain! There are two main islands on the Perinthians, like many on our boat we opted for Perinthians Kecil (the smaller one). We decided to stay on a secluded beach to the south of the island but were waved away because they were full. (Probably by the people who arrived on earlier buses!) The next and last stop was long beach, the one place we didn't want to stay at! Its beach was busy with boats, full of people and the beach huts were next to pongy polluted waterways which was a far cry from the quiet beaches we wanted to be on. So by half 5 we were ready to crash but reluctantly (due to past experiences on mopeds!) decided to hike through the islands interior jungle back across to the other beaches such as "Coral Bay." Finally we made it across and stayed at Senja bay resort, a bit upmarket but with good service, nice rooms and a free breakfast. - What we needed after free tough days travelling. Our room had a beautiful sea view balcony which we shared with numerous gecko's hunting for their evening dinner. Our final bad luck of the day was that our door handle broke, so we hungrily had to wait 45 minutes for it to be fixed before we could go to dinner finally at about 9.00pm. So perhaps it was spooky that on the 13th we had a very unfortunate day and we fittingly sat on table 13 for our late night meal!!

The next day we enjoyed our free breakfast on our balcony then spent the morning relaxing and unwinding from 3 days of travel as well as utilizing a warm shower! Nik also gave me a haircut and worryingly snipped away after I had shown her the technique I had seen used by hairdressers back home! Nevertheless she did a fine job. We then had some beachside lunch before snorkeling just off our beach, Coral bay. The snorkeling was great due to a small reef providing hospitality to an array of color, size and shapes of fish, it was cool to see a parrot fish about 1m long bash its beak together and guard its territory against smaller fish. We also chilled on a pontoon out in the bay before exploring the underwater world again where we watched nemo fish play in softer corals. A nice sunset threatened behind some thick clouds edging along the horizon in the direction of mainland Malaysia as we ate another beachside meal and watched a film at our hotel. A well need relaxing day.

15th May - Snorkeling with Sharks Turtles and Stingray!!
Today we took a snorkeling trip around the Perinthians. It was the best snorkeling trip that we have done so far with far more in display than what we had seen in Thailand and it easily made up for our 3 days of travelling to get to the East coast. We left at around brunch with our impressive guide who was modestly named "Geoffrey" and headed by speed boat to "shark point," another fancy named location, but unlike in Thailand, this one lived up to its name! Our guide took to the waters with us to point us in the right direction! He found us a black tipped reef shark probably about 1m in size which glided across the seabed. I always wondered what I would do when I saw a shark and my immediate instinct was to use my broken and floppy flipper to swim as fast as I could to chase it! Perhaps its size and depth gave me more confidence! We saw a total of 3 reef sharks blending in with the deeper waters as well as a delicate looking swordfish and a diverse display of marine fauna. We were already impressed with what we had seen and soon jumped in at another location for a swim with shoals of fish around yellow, blue and green hard coral. Whilst Nik and I swam together we also spotted a black and white sea snake! We steered well clear because we knew it was poisonous! Our third stop was to swim with turtles! Our guide slowed the speedboat to a subtle chug in the strait between the two main islands and peered into the water in search of the dark shadow of a turtle. We spotted one and dived straight into the water to watch it as it relaxed on the sandy seabed. It was brilliant to see but unfortunately the water was rife with sea lice (invisible baby jellyfish) and Nik was stung on her lip causing alot of pain so she got back on the boat. I then found a larger turtle swimming at low depths and dived down for a better look at its intricate markings. We spotted two more back on the boat as there prehistoric like heads broke the surface water for some air. We both jumped in again to swim with another before it rapidly accelerated away. We had lunch at a fishing village fully content with our incredible underwater experiences and slightly tired from a long morning swim. Yet there was more to see in the afternoon and our next stop was a lighthouse off the coast of coral bay. This beautiful reef was inundated with shoal upon shoal of fish taking refuge in the shallower waters. We dived into "tens of thousands" of fish swimming around us. Nik and I tried to stick together but with so much to see we soon split because it was too difficult to focus on the same thing with so much life floating around us! The highly biodiverse reef offered an array of species to watch and I dont think we saw the same sort twice! We particularly enjoyed hovering over blue and pink clams enjoying the gentle ocean current whilst we watched a shoal of sword fish looking poignant in the water! Our final stop was at "romantic beach" and it was exactly what it said on the tin. Even though much of the coral was dead we arguably saved the best location until last. We floated over a sandy region of the bed were Geoffrey located a small stingray which was attempting to camouflage itself. It swam away like a UFO with its skin flopping through the water and beady eyes looking in all directions. After finding one or two more stingray we swam along the bay walls and found a couple of sharks lurking mischievously before they soon swam away. The peace de la resistance was when we located a large turtle complete with yellow fish hitching a ride on its back. It was amazing! I swam directly above it making the same effortless strokes to mirror its speed. The trip was so good that Nik warned me not to be too disappointed by the Great Barrier Reef later on in our trip! We relaxed for the rest of the day on our beach and after the incredible underwater world wet our appetite for more fish, we ate a seafood dinner before chilling to a film. An amazing day.

The following one we intended to visit a few nearby beaches but instead took advantage of our hotels beachfront sun loungers and the calm, luring water of our bay. Nik had been eyeing a fish barbecue for the past few days so in the evening we splashed out with a king fish and a lobster for our final meal in the Perinthians. just about ready for the jungle again at Taman Negara.

---