Day 18 - The trip to the Perhentians

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So once again we were up early. This was made extra difficult because both of us had only had a small amount of sleep. And for once I wasn't the only grumpy one in the morning - even Daniel had acquired that trait for a morning.We had the usual for breakfast (surprise, surprise) and then headed for the monorail to take us to KL Sentral and from there we were getting the shuttlebus to the airport.

This was an easy and quick journey and we were through check in quickly, through security and waiting for the flight, playing once again on the free WiFi..

The flight wasn't overly exciting*. AirAsia were good as usual and even the hoards of loud, shouty, bag laden tourists got settled fairly fast. I was sat next to a woman who was also reading her Kindle and we shared a laugh when we turned them off for takeoff and they showed the same 'off' screen.

Once we'd landed in Kota Bharu, we had to get an hour's taxi ride to the port for the boat to the Perentians. We wanted to stay on Kecil, the small island, but as the booking system for the chalets and rooms on the island is near non-existent, I was having a near nervous breakdown at this point. He was relaxed as per. So we walked to the taxi booking place and we managed to get a taxi with the Kindle girl (Mae) and a guy called Matt. It made it much cheaper, about 19RM (4quid) each.

When we arrived at the dock, we used the little travel agents there to book a room. We didn't manage to get the one we wanted, but managed to get a room with a fan at Panorama chalets. So I calmed down slightly.

Boat over was uneventful, but we did get chatting to a scouse lady called Suzanne and a french girl called Stephanie, which was nice, and when we got to shore, we all arranged to meet later for dinner.

We then lugged our bags to the chalets, which are OK for 95RM (19 quid) a night, if you expect very little luxury, a bit of a crap fan, a boiling hot room and a cold shower en-suite. The major benefit of Panorama though is the dive centre, which we clocked as we walked past.

We dumped the bags, changed into our swimmers and hit the immensely idyllic beach for a bit. The water was blissfully hot and not too deep. We messed around for a bit, almost burning, so headed back to land to put on MORE suncream. The girls walked past and we said they would be more than welcome to sit with us after which I went for another dip.

At around 6.30 we went back to the furnace, sorry, room to shower and change for dinner. Meanwhile the local mozzies had decided I was their tea, so I began to get eaten alive, even with 50% deet on! We then went to the Panorama dive centre to sign up for 2 days diving.

We grabbed dinner on the beach with Suzanne, Stephanie and Matt, and had a pleasant evening, even if the service was god awful! And then an early night was needed to build up some energy for diving!

*I, on the other hand, had an eventful start to the flight at least. No sooner had the landing gear been retracted on take off, the larger than average fellow in the seat in front of me fully reclined his seat. That crunching sound you can hear is my knee caps by the way. Is there any more blatant example of people's self centredness than the use of reclining seats on a flight with only 29 inch seat pitch, for a flight lasting 40 minutes? Either way, I handled it in the most mature way that I could think of at the time - I constantly kneed him in the back until he gave in and put his seat back upright.

Win. And apologies for the rant. Just everyone, please can you remember that when you recline your seat you're invading the space of the person sat behind you.

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