After the clean mountain air of the Cameron Highlands, we set off for the white sandy beaches of the Perhentian Islands. Our mode of transport for this leg was meant to be the trusty minibus all the way, although mysteriously we were dropped off at a hotel in the middle of nowhere to wait for half an hour for a coach (any ‘facts’ you receive from a travel agent have to be taken with a pint of salt!). The wait for the coach was however instantly compensated for when The Terminator started rolling on the coach’s DVD player – yes!!! After about 5 hours in transit, we arrived at Kuala Besut quay on the east coast of Malaysia, only a few miles from the Thai border. We hefted our trusty backpacks down the pier and winged them onto a pretty compact (and filled to the brim) speedboat for the next leg. Soon we left the mainland behind, bombing it at about 40-odd knots across the deep blue water toward Perhentian Kecil, the smaller of the two Perhentian Islands.
Fran, Rich, and a large hairy caterpillar on Rich’s chin on the bus
Leaving the rolling Cameron Highlands behind
Pretty serious sound system on the coach!
Headed for the quay
Full tilt across the Gulf of Thailand
We arrived at Long Beach on Pulau Perhentian Kecil, having dropped a few people off at the larger (and much dearer!) Pulau Perhentian Besar. We were met by an even smaller boat to take us to the beach, though we still had to wade the last few metres to shore with our rucksacks on our heads! Our accommodation for the next few days was to be Bintang View chalets, tucked between banana and coconut palms up in the hills behind Long Beach. Run by Finola, an Irish expat, and her Malay partner Joe, Bintang View is a collection of rustic stilted huts, each with a view through the trees out across the vibrant aquamarine bay – amazing! Our hut also had the unique benefit of a resident lizard who we christened ‘Dave’ – though initially a little fearful of each other (he was about 2 feet long!), we all got along just fine in the end (I was uber-impressed Fran managed to sleep with a reptile in the rafters)! He popped out at about 10 most mornings, returning in the evening for a nap in the rafters of our/his hut, sprawled over a beam with his claws and tail hanging over the side!
Safe, sound and soggy on Long Beach
View from our chalet out to sea
Bintang View’s delish restaurant
Me mate Dave
Perhentian Kecil has two main beaches – Long Beach (which is long) and Coral Beach (which has lots of coral on) – linked by a winding paved walkway through the jungle-clad interior. There are no cars and electricity is limited to night time (not as bad as Koh Phayam in Thailand though) so it retains a laid back, low key charm. That said there are also a few pretty good beach bars on Long Beach, some pumping until 3am! The budget stretched to a few glasses of the local ‘Monkey Juice’ – a sort of dark rum / moonshine hybrid – which was an enjoyable sunset beverage (not sure Fran would say the same!). Anyway, back to the Perhentians, the main attraction other than the white sandy beaches and warm sunny weather is the snorkelling and diving opportunities. The waters surrounding the island are incredibly clear and abundant with coral, fish and other marine life, meaning excellent snorkelling. After a day of spent exploring the island and checking out Coral Beach, we booked a day long snorkelling expedition. Setting off at a thoroughly reasonable 10:30am, our first stop was Turtle Bay. Though initially there wasn’t much to see, this soon changed when our guide spotted a huge green turtle – awesome! The photo doesn’t really do it justice but we didn’t want to get too close so as not to scare the poor little fella – not like the ‘orrible bunch of German brats who were hanging off one as it swam.
Probably the coolest looking stretch of road in the world (other than the M40 cutting near Stokenchurch!)
Slightly bizarre walkway through the jungle – felt like a racing track with the black & white stripes!
Coral Beach – Similar to Long Beach but with more coral!
Ramshackle bars on Long Beach
Almost our Dive Team…
The Guivers with all the gear but no idea
Turtle Power (reckon this one’s Donatello)
Next up was Shark Point - no prizes for guessing what we were spotting here. Though some of our group were lucky enough to see a small shark, we were too busy enjoying checking out the multitude of multi-coloured fish! In pretty much all of our snorkel trips, we were followed/surrounded by some particularly inquisitive zebra-striped fish, a couple of whom gave you a bit of a nibble if you stayed still enough! After that, we had Coral Garden where some electric blue lipped clams nestled amongst the forests of fascinatingly ornate coral, as well as a few sightings of the orange and white clown fish (or ‘Nemo’ for film fans!).
Spiky coral and a particularly colourful fish
Clown fish hiding in an anemone
Fishing for compliments
Fishy business
Excellent fish face!
Blue lipped clams
We also spotted a few enormous green fish – not sure what they’re called but we can safely tell you that they were indeed large and most definitely green! All this snorkelling was hungry work and a big feed at a local fishing village was very welcome! After lunch we visited another beautiful beach called Romantic Beach – a tiny cove from a picture postcard. I’m sure it would’ve been romantic if there weren’t about 10 other groups on the same excursion filling the beach! We had the opportunity to sunbathe which we took, though after a morning sizzling our backs under the deceptively cooling water we kept this to a minimum!
Big green fish – we’ll call it Biggus Greenfishus
Romantic beach – a whole lotta romance
Over the next few days we did some essential admin and a bit of relaxing in the sun (though it’s hard to relax as we’re always eager to explore everywhere!). Due to the Internet on the island being dreadful at best it took us almost a whole day to book our accommodation in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur online (both of which were surprisingly booked up) – frustrating but worthwhile! On our final full day, we explored some of the less visited tracks on the island. It was pretty tough going in the blazing sunshine up and down the scarily steep and slippery tracks (it had bucketed down the previous night) but the scenery was pretty special. A dip in the sea afterwards and a drink at the Black Tip beach bar rounded off a cracking five nights on this fab island!
Rumble in the Jungle
View across Long Beach
Extreme exploring!
We booked our onward travel and departed early the following morning, though we narrowly escaped missing the boat as Fran’s phone (which we were using as an alarm) ran out of battery! I’m typing this from another coach en route to the Taman Negara National Park – we’ve got about 2 hours left of a fairly epic 10 hour transfer by boat, minibus and coach from the Perhentians.
Burning it away from the Perhentians (some meaty 200hp V6 Mercury outboards – my bro will appreciate those!)
Fran, Rich and a small ferret living on Rich’s face
Still enjoying every minute of our travels, though pining for a larger selection of clothes and being able to unpack our rucksacks without worrying about how we’re going to pack them up again! Missing everyone back home lots too – look forward to speaking to/ Skypeing/seeing you soon! Love Rich & Fran x
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