Hi All,
The journey from Cameron Highland to Pulau Perhentian Besar was
undoubtedly one of the worst journeys that we have had to endure in
almost 2 years of travelling around the globe.The journey was split
into 3 segments .The first segment involved a 3hr drive from the
Cameron Highlands in a minivan ,which we shared with two young female
backpackers ,who were from Sweden and Denmark, this segment was
pleasant and basically uneventful.We arrived at our lunch stop and were
advised that after lunch we needed to change minivans for the next leg
of the journey to Kuala Besut from where we would catch to boat to
Pulau Perhentian.The two 12 seat minivans were full this time but we
positioned ourselves in the front row of one of the vans with the two
Scandinavian backpacker close by us.I think that as soon as we left
the carpark we knew that we were going to be lucky to survive the drive
to Kuala Besut.To put it as politely as possible our driver was a
friggin idiot who in the not too distance future, unless we can somehow
persuade the powers that be to get him off the road, WILL kill or
seriously injury a lot of people.He broke every possible road rule on
journey multiple times and defied the laws of physics when it came to
overtaking .He did his best to intimidated other drivers on the road
with his high speed tailgating antics and his overtaking and
undertaking manoeuvres in dangerous situations were literally
breathtaking .We had so many near misses that it really was a miracle
that we weren´t involved in an accident and I think that that was
predominantly due to evasive tactics employed by other drivers rather
than our driver. The young backpacker from Sweden seemed to have bouts
of hysterical laughter from time to time so I guess the sheer terror
of the events were too much for her and the fact that she had a front
row seat didn´t help matters because she could have if she had had the
desire collected paint chips off numerous cars with little
difficulty.The crazy thing about this minibus ride from hell is that
none of us told this crazy son of a bitch to slow down .WHY? were we
all shocked into silence ? or just afraid that we were going to miss
the last ferry? We alighted from the bus relieved to be alive and
relieved that the ordeal was over only to discover all to soon that
the ordeals of the day were far from over.Enter crazy son of a
bitch´s mentor who we shall call Captain ´Moron´.The conditions on
the South China sea were choppy to rough and one would think that any
captain of sound mind would drive his vessel according to the
conditions but alas this was not the case. The ticket was purchased for
a speed boat ride and that is what we were going to get regardless of
our wishes. So off we ploughed pounding along in the swell with the
boat nearly getting airborne and the captain regularly mistiming
slowing for larger waves so that ourselves and our luggage were
drenched by the splashing water coming over the sides of the boat.
We had all been asked multiple times where were heading on Palau Besar
and it turned out that our 'resort' was the first for a dropoff. We
entered the bay and it was clear that there was no jetty for us to be
dropped. The captain stopped the boat about 400m from shore and told us
that there was no boat to meet us and waited. He seemed to call the
resort and told us that there was no booking for us. 'I replied that
there was a booking for us. Why else would we have come all this way?'.
His agitation kept on growing. He tried waving down boats to take us to
shore then started yelling at us saying that 'it was our fault that
other passengers were waiting!'. He drove over to a moored boat nearby,
rammed it, and told us to get out. I said 'are you trying to make us
walk the plank?' He told me 'F..k you get out' repeatably. The chop was
such that it was dangerous and of course a rediculous demand. Vanessa
said 'How do you expect us to get on the boat safely ?'. Other people
on the boat were telling us not to get off. He got crazier and angrily
said 'F..k you!' and reached for an object in a threatening way. I said
´are you trying to intimidate us´.We refused to get off the boat and I
said that he would have to take us back. He sped off in a reckless
manner out of the bay and we weren't exactly sure how this was going to
end. His next stop was on the other side of the island at a pier and we
decided it was probably a good idea to get off but another traveller
who had been to the island before said that the next stop was better as
there were taxi boats who would take us to our resort. So we got off
with him and I quickly got out my pad and pen and noted the boat
registration. The crazy captain was still yelling 'F..k you!' as the
boat pulled away.The othe passengers that had alighted from the boat at
the same time as us were not speaking endearing of the captain. I
suspect that he is not exactly the role model that Malaysian tourism
would desire to promote tourism in the region. I have to admit that I
was quite perplexed at the captains behaviour as it was quite clear and
agreed from the start of the boat trip that he was dropping us at our
resort. So now we were on the wrong side of the island. What to do? We
knew there was a track to the other side but didn't know where it
started. We asked one of the taxi boat drivers where it started and he
said a couple of bays over. Seemed too hard so we asked to be taken to
the resort. They seemed very reluctant due to the chop but eventually
one decided to take us much to our relief. The boat was quite small so
it was a bit of 'a cork bobbing in the ocean' but the driver was
responsible driving to the conditions and we arrived at the resort
without getting wet. It was a beach landing behind a protective coral
reef so quite straightforward and finally we got to the resort and they
did have our booking. A relief. The resort was quite nice and well
located to the beach in Flora bay.
I will be reporting the ferry captain to the tour company that arranged
the transport. It was disgraceful behaviour.
Bye for now,
David and Vanessa
