Perhentian Islands

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So I left the Cameron Highlands a couple of days ago and made a brief stop in Penang, which is an island on the west coast of Malaysia. Although the city was beautiful, I only stayed for a day and so I have not much to report. The buildings in Penang seem to have some Portuguese influence in their design and exterior paint work. To be fair I have never been to Portugal but the buildings seem to have a Mediterranean feel to them and I know that the Portuguese were one of the nations to colonize Malaysia. So I had a choice between visiting Langkawi or the Perhentian Islands for my first experience into the beach life of Asia. I asked the locals and they all said I had to go to the Perhentian Islands before I left Malaysia, so I was sold. I took an overnight bus from the west coast all the way across peninsular Malaysia to the east coast, it took about 6 hours. I lovingly joke with the locals who believe that it is a long bus ride to coast to coast in Malaysia because I tell them that it would take 60 hours to travel from coast to coast in Canada. So something came very handy on my bus ride that I had not expected to use on the bus and at all in Asia. My rain jacket!!!!! So no, it was not needed to keep some sort of water from falling onto me, it was used to keep me warm from the frigid temperature on the bus. The locals LOVE air conditioning to the extent that I started shivering from the extreme blast of artificial cooled air. For those who don't know me...I am Canadian which means that I do under dress in cool weather which has made me partially immune to the cold. Having said that, the first and only time I have ever used my jacket from Canada came while riding on a bus!!!!!! So I finally arrived in Kota Besuit which is the port town that takes passengers to the Perhentian Islands. When I arrived it was 3am and the first boat ride to the islands wasn’t until 7am, so I had a couple of hours to kill. Fortunately for me the Euro Football championships were playing and there is always a match on in the early morning, I think Russia was playing Poland. One of the locals gave me a ride on his scooter down to his little living quarters which had a TV, he had stuff to do so he took off for a bit and just let me sit in his place and watch the game. At around dawn I walked back to the harbor to wait for the boats to start leaving for the islands. At about this time dawn was arising and the familiar call of the rooster was being heard throughout the town. Strangely enough the rooster was up in a tree!!!! Now I wouldn't call myself city folk but I'm definitely not from the country and I didn't think a rooster or a chicken could fly high enough to reach to this high branch. I asked a local, he said they could fly enough to get up there and he had this look of pity on his face because I didn't know such a thing was possible.
Finally 7am rolled around and I found myself in a little rear twin-engine propelled boat and the ride only took about 30 mins to get to islands which are 9 miles of the east coast of Malaysia. On the boat ride I met a nice American and British couple who went to a part of the island that was more relaxed and reserved for the quiet types. I felt I had enough of quiet time so I tried my luck with Long Beach where there is a livelier crowd. Luckily for me a British mate named Rob was also there ad he informed me that there was a place that had a dormitory for a reasonable rate. Rob offered to let me tag along as he had some friends there that were holding a bed for him. Upon arriving on the island just before 8am, I was greeted by a lovely British girl named Gemma. Gemma greeted me with a warm hug and that classic simple kiss on the cheek that us North Americans are reserved in giving, she had also been up all night partying with the other group of people I would later meet. I didn't know then but I would soon be traveling with Gemma and her friend Margaret for some four weeks. After I checked into the dorm room, I had breakfast with the other dormers who had been up all night, most of which were leaving the island that very same day. We entered a healthy discussion of the various diseases one can pick up while traveling in Asia, along with their possible treatments. After the medical lessons at breakfast, Rob and I headed down to the beach to get some sun and enjoy the sun drenched warm waters of the ocean. It was like stepping into a warm bath a first and slowly turned into a refreshingly cool dip the farther I swam from shore. When I got back to the beach, some of the partiers had made their way down to the beach umbrellas and I soon found someone had drank some of my water which I just had purchased. When you're traveling with other backpackers, especially ones that are hung-over, you adopt the 'what’s mine is yours' mentality whether you like it or not. That night, those who remained in the dorm took it easy and rested their throbbing heads while Rob and I enjoyed some of the island food. There is a mix of local food and western food that caters to the international crowd that flocks to the island from spring to early fall. That night I slept amongst ten other backpackers and a couple of Geckos who ranged in size but maxed out at the length of my forearm. In the morning I started to scope out what the island had to offer in terms of activities which pretty much were sun bathing, snorkeling or SCUBA diving. I always had been interested in SCUBA diving since I was a kid and my mom would bring home her diving gear and it would be sprawled out over the bathroom. I figured that diving in Asia has some of the best and cheapest spots in the world, so it would probably be a good idea to get my PADI certification sooner than later. Throughout the island there are many dive centers considering the actually size and population of the island. I found myself talking to a Canadian at Turtle Bay Divers who fairly easily convinced me that I should try diving and then take the PADI course if I liked it. Then next day I went for a practice dive (nothing below 5 meters) and for the first time since birth, I took a breath underwater….an exhilarating feeling at first. I was hooked and over the next 6 days I ended up getting my Open Water Certification and my Advanced Certification which allows me to dive to a depth of 30m. Although I spent a bit of money getting the courses finished, I was happy to pay it because so many people I met have their certification so it’s a great way to share the experiences of underwater adventure.
One of the travelers that I met was a German by the name of Matt who had been traveling for almost a year and decided to settle in the Perhentians for a couple of weeks. Matt liked the Island barbeque food as much as I did and equally enjoyed the Euro Football matches that kept us late into the evening. Matt and I would watch the early morning matches while I would study my PADI courses and he studied his algebra equations which would help him get back into school. We studied, watched some of the match and would discuss German football which always ended into talking about Podolski, who has a gifted foot but a simple mind. Sometimes when we drank too much throughout the night, we would get into silly conversations about mosquito coils and how to say insulting things in German. I hope to meet him again in a year when I travel through Europe. I might have a place to sleep in his cellar during Oktoberfest where he will help me speak with the locals and pick out the fashionable lederhosen.
I only planned on staying on the island for 2 days which easily turned into week. I met some amazing people, both backpackers and locals, who I still think of often. Most of the people I met in the dorm at Mohsion’s ended up leaving the day that I did with the exclusion of Matt. It was at this point that I tried finding other people who were looking to get back to Kuala Lumpur. There was a British fellow named Nate who had been living on the island for the past three months, working in one of the restaurants for free room and food. Nate’s traveling visa in Malaysia was running out so he had to leave the island soon and we both found out that we could make our way together. It helps to travel in pairs to split costs and exchange company. So Nate and I left the island together and made our way to the train station in Kota Bahru. It turns out that it cost about $2 CAD more to get a sleeping birth on the train than to travel by the frigid bus to KL. This is the end of my Perhentian journey but it was the beginning of a month long travel expedition with Nate who the locals affectionately call Panjang which means ‘long’…..

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Photos

Sitting with Benny
There is much discussion as to whether Benny is a Sea Eagle or a Seagull or if there is a difference between the two..

Long Beach
aka Pantai Panjang....home sweet home for one week

Gecko!!!
they really do sound like they say 'Gec-ko' when they sing....

Under the Sea !!
Training for SCUBA....most people do it in a pool...my pool was the ocean.... nice

Feastin' Time
I had the barbequed blue marlin....just amazing !!!

Awas !!!! (Caution)
Its true what the sign says....more people die from coconuts than from SCUBA diving

Watering Hole
Great fun here...met many nice people, cops came and took the booze away one night....the fuzz are always the same party crashers

What I called home for the week...
Mohsions....cool place. Where I met the girls, Nate and a Canafian girl who lives on the island. Memories...memories

A View to a Kill
to kill for that is...this is where I studied for my PADI course....

Our Last Night
Great times with great friends....miss you all very much !!!