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Published: March 25th 2006
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(Kev)
Its been about two weeks since we last updated the blog. during that time we have visited, Panang, the Perhentian Islands, Trang, Ko Mok, Au Nang, and the place we are now…Bangkok.
We took a ferry from Medan to Panang. the ferry was supposd to only take about four hours…(but not surprisingly) it took much more than that (closer to 6 or 7). However the time was not a factor because I had a Robert Ludlum book that preoccupied me for the whole time. We arrived in Panang around sunset. I immediately felt a sense of peace, resulting from a combination of being able to breathe again and having the sense of claustrophobia removed that had engulfed me in Medan.
Panang is a pretty city with lots of atmosphere. it actually reminded me a little of Victoria. After three or so days in Panang we crossed the mainland of Malaysia and went to the Perhentians.
We took a speed boat out to Kecil Island and settled at a place called Long Beach. This place was true paradise; beautiful scenery, sunny with an ocean breeze, and crystal clear water that stretched for miles. Because the island had no ATM’s
we only stayed here until or Malaysian money was about to run out which just so happened to be about three days. My favorite part of the Perentians was snorkeling, I saw sharks, sting rays, and all sorts of beautiful fish and coral.
Once we got back to the Malaysian mainland we crossed the border and left Malaysia for the final time (we've entered the country 5 times on this trip). We crossed the border into Thailand and ended up in a place called Trang. Trang is a gateway city to numerous beaches in Thailand, but it also was an excellent place to sleep! In Trang I probally had the best sleep I have had in months. After a couple great nights of sleeping we left for the Island of Ko Mok.
Ko Mok has a rugged beauty, it is lined with cliffs, encompassed with lush trees, and surrounded with deep blue/green water. The most amazing part of the time in Ko Mok for me was kayaking. On sabbath we kayaked around the island and dropped in the water to snorkel when we got to hot. The cliffs that surround the island set a great atmosphere, and paddling
out in the sun never gets old. When we had circled the majority of the island we heard a storm begin to rumble of in the distance. The rain clouds came closer and closer, and sound of crashing thunder became more distinct…then in moments the rain was on us. It rained hard, but it was fun, we found some shelter in a cave and before too long the rain receded to a mere drizzle.
We kayaked in the drizzle for awhile and then came to another cave, this one looked much bigger. We approached the entrance, and then kayaked into the tunnel cautiously. before long we were paddling in complete darkness. The wind that came into the cave created a deep rumble (reminiscent of scary theme park rides) adding to the all ready dark ambiance and to the expectation of what awaited us at the end. Before long a glimmer of light lit the way to another passageway, this exit lead to a secluded beach, completely surrounded by cliffs. My first thought when my kayak hit the sand was, “Pirates have been here” and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if once upon a time…they had. It was a
perfect day of kayaking, and we had the perfect end, a little Pad Thai and a banana shake.
(Matthew)
ahhhh....finally, no more Medan. it was a welcome relief to leave that mess behind us. plus i was looking forward to being back in Malaysia. we reached Penang. It was interesting to be in a place that we had only seen from afar, since it is on an island just off the coast of malaysia. there's even a bridge connecting it with the mainland. the city caught me off-guard. it's huge. in fact, Penang is the second most industrious city (after K.L) in malaysia. it's a fairly old city and has tons of cool architecture. it was a nice place to catch up on some sleep and internet, since there's little or no internet access in indonisia. we only stayed for a few days and then headed across to the east side of malaysia and the perethian islands. after an all night bus ride and a boat ride when we got there, we reached the island we stayed at. i was so tired. and then we had to walk the beach up and down till we found a good
spot to stay.
but we did and it seemed like a good deal. the only problem, as i later found out, was that one of us had to sleep on a matress on the floor. this would have been fine if it weren't for the mosquitos. grrrrrrr....that first night was hell for me. kev and dust got a nice mosquito net but i was up all night and had tons of bites in the morning.
i don't remember much else about our time there except that we went snorkling and that was really awsome. i saw sharks, a stingray, giant sea turtles and tons of coral. it was a blast. if i had been more rested, it would have been even better. we left there and headed to Trang. we were so tired and our room was awsome. we all slept like babies. Trang is a nice laid back city. i enjoyed our time there, though we didn't really do anything but read and do stuff online.
we left Trang after a couple of days and headed to Ko Mok. we had to take a minibus and then a ferry. the ferry was packed. there were tons
of people down below and all kinds of cargo. it was riding really low in the water. every time we hit a little wave it would splash over the front. once we reached the island, we saw some awsome looking places on this really nice sandy beach with lots of palm trees. we tried to follow the road and ended up walking on the beach to get there. when we got there we realized that there weren't any people staying there and then we saw that they were still building the place. turns out, it's not set to open until august. sigh...it looked perfect. so, we had to walk the 2 km or so to the other side of the island. the people there looked really poor and i was starting to wonder if there would be any good places to stay. but on the other side of the island, there are tons of little resorts and we found one we liked. we rented snorkels right away and went for a few hours before it got dark. the water wasn't as clear as at the perenthians but it was still a lot of fun.
the next day we rented
kayaks and took our snorkling stuff with us. it was a blast to be able to paddle to wherever we wanted and then get in and see what there was to see. kev mentioned the cave. there were actually tons of smaller impressions in the cliff walls and it was fun to explore them all. at one place, the snorkling was really awsome. there were underwater walls with tons of fish and corral. i even saw a lionfish (they're poisonous but beautifully exotic looking). i found a small underwater cave and swam through it. it turned out not to be such a good idea cause it was barely big enough for me to fit through and i got a little cut up on the coral. we had a great day. but i burnt the tops of my legs really good.
after a few days at Ko Mok, we headed back to Trang and then to Bangkok. it took us over 14 hours of traveling but we made it. anyways, hope you guys are all doing well and enjoying the pictures.
talk to you later,
matthew
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Jason
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One quarter down
So you've made it for about 2.5months. Pretty sweet! Spring Break is all the break I'll be getting but it will have to be good enough. Hope your guys skin isn't leather when you get back from all the burning. And Dust... what up? To lazy to write this time... or it just seemed like you'd be repetitive. Keep on, keepin on.