As usual I'm behind writing the blog, which drives me mad, so I am going to fill you in on the high-lights and low-lights of East Malaysia.
What a dive! - we arrive at a place called Cherating, we have read it's just a beach area and not a lot more. We get off the bus a little too early, so are not in the village area, but we find a basic room anyway, very near the beach! It is not that cheap considering the state of it, but we have had basic before and they are generally okay.
In the evening we can hear really bad kareoke being sun. We head to reception to use the internet, so Matt pop's his head around the door of the bar, where the "music" is coming from. He makes a very hasty retreat, he has only had time to glance around the near empty room, when a 'young lady' approaches him and as good as asks him if he is looking for a 'good time'!!! At this point we decide not to stay here for a second night!
'Lake Kenyir' - is going to get a page all if it's own, it was sooo bad!!
Sat 8th Sept - 'Perhentian Islands' -
Fabulous - no cars, no bikes, no roads, in fact. Just sand and jungle! We are in heaven.
We arrive on the larger of the two islands, as it is the quieter one. The smaller island is where the 'youngsters' go. (We did get a boat taxi there for the day and were glad we hadn't stayed there, there was a lot of litter and although the beach may have been better, the snorkeling wasn't as good).
We stayed at a place called 'Mama's'. A family run business, that had been going for 25 years. We get a basic room for 14.00p a night (fan and cold water only!) and breakfast is not included, but it was still good value. There is nothing to do here other than snorkel and read, and we did hire a canoe for a couple of hours one morning, which would have been much more fun, had my back not started to play up, a few days earlier!
The snorkeling is pretty amazing here. The sea is a lot easier to get into then when we were on Gilli, as there's not as much dead coral on the beach. We saw two turtles and a small reef shark, plus hundreds of other fish and some really lovely coral too! I think the parrot fish are my favourite.
We met an Australian lady called Lynda, who has traveled extensively, so we got lots of useful information from her for our onward journey and we ended up travelling to Thailand with her. You can read as many guide books as you like, but there is nothing better than having a chat with someone who has been there!
We end up staying in this island for 9 days, maybe it was two, to many. I think Matt was going a little stir crazy, we had both finished our books and couldn't find one english one in the book exchange shops (they were ALL German! - books that is.) We both read a biography which was brilliant,(sad, but brilliant) about a man who lost most of his family in the war in Cambodia. It is really hard to believe that, a, we will be there in a couple of months time and b, it was only in the 70's that this was happening. As Matt pointed out we were playing in our paddling pools, with not a care in the world! It's a must read! (I will put a photo of it on the site, so you can keep an eye open for it).
Monsoon comes a few weeks early and we have some amazing storms. If you are going to get caught in one, make sure you are near the ONLY bar on the island!! (The island is mainly Muslim, so none of the restaurants served alcohol.)
A big thumbs up for the Perhentian Islands!
