Archive for April, 2002
This place is GREAT! Ok, so when I first arrived, I have to admit that I was wondering is it was REALLY worth it to travel for 2 whole days to get here when I was already on a beautiful island…but now that I’ve been here for 2 days I am convinced it was well worth the travel effort. Where to begin? Yesterday was a GREAT day – I give it five stars on the round the world travel scale. We decided in the end not to do a snorkling trip because it was pretty rough in the sea, so Alex (the British girl) and I had some lunch and then decided to walk to the other side of the island to check it out. It’s about a 10-minute walk through the jungle to get from our beach to the beach on the other side. And quite a jungle it is. Firstly it was chock full of spider webs with GIGANTIC spiders as big as crabs, all sitting in their webs, waiting for the occasional innocent bug to fly through and get trapped for a little snack. Then we walked by an area with some rubbish piled behind the trees and I can tell you I have seen the BIGGEST monitor lizard I will ever see in my life. It looked like a crocodile. It was massive. Luckily he saw us and walked further into the woods. Sigh (of relief).
Onward.
We arrived at the other beach and immediately decided to snorkle when we saw how calm the water was there. After hiring some gear we set off around a cove to a small, quiet beach surrounded by rocks on all sides. The snorkling was incredible! The coral was beautiful. It truly was a coral garden, with literally the entire sea floor covered in coral. And I just kept thinking all the beautiful colored fish everywhere were like the flowers in the garden. Before long I saw my first bump-headed wrasse which is a gigantic blue fish with a big bump on its head. Later we saw a school of eight of them!! I mean, you actually feel small next to them – that is how big they are.
We followed the rocks around the cove and just as we were approaching the point to turn around, I saw a very big black-tipped reef shark coming right at me. I am guessing it was about 2 meters long. It was looking right at me! Yes, I was a bit frightened. I got Alex’s attention and then we watched it circle round us and come back towards Alex. Then it swam away and circled back for a second look. And we were the ONLY ones out there. Wow. After that we were just talking about the shark over and over again.
All in all it was a great snorkle with lots of fish, good coral, and actually a total of 3 reef sharks (I saw another 2 smaller ones on the swim back). We also saw a gigantic grouper that looked like a big rock – he was so big actually that he looked like he should have sunk to the bottom.
Last night we had a big group of people for dinner – about 15 or so, mostly all solo travellers, and one cyclist even – an American guy who’s been cycling SE Asia for about 6 months. He was happy to swap cycling stories. Then we met up with some young Malaysians from KL who are here on holiday and we were drinking’monkey juice’ with them. It’s actually the Malay version of Sang Sum, callen Arang Tum. Anyway it was cool to hang out with some liberal Malaysians and get their impressions on life. (It’s a very strict and conservative country here – if you are caught smuggling drugs you get the death penalty and although alcohol is not illegal, it’s very much frowned upon by the mostly Muslim society.)
Then, after that, by about 1am at this time, I suggested a night swim and to my surprise some people actually agreed! So six of us went out for about an hour and had a blast playing in the waves and enjoying the moonlight.
This morning it was raining but somehow Alex, Mannie and I got motivated to go on a snorkling trip and I am SO GLAD that we went! Turtle bay – 4 TURTLES! (my first EVER!) Shark Point – 3 black-tipped reef sharks. And finally the Rock Garden – 2 sting ray, 2 squid, many, many fish, 1 big puffer, 1 orange sweetlips, and get this, another 5 sharks! Talk about a great day. Yes, indeed, it was well worth the journey.
The resident spiders
Snorkling Beach (ie home of the shark)
Alex and I, STILL talking about the shark
April 29th, 2002
So I decided to go to more islands, but this time in Malaysia. I’m on Kecil Perhentian, which is a small island off the eastern coast of Penisular Malaysia. Just as the season is ending on Ko Lipe, it is only just starting here.
I left Ko Lipe the other day and got as far as Hat Yai which is the biggest city in Southern Thailand. Between a minivan ride to the border, then 2 taxis and a boat ride, I knew I’d never make it to the Perhentians in one day, so I decided to take advantage of being in a city and spend the morning shopping, running errands and doing email, then take the minivan to the border and try to get on the morning boat the following day.
All was going well and I got on the 3:30pm minivan for the 4-hour ride to the Thai/Malaysian border. I was the only foreigner on the ride – me and 10 other Malays. Malaysia is actually one hour ahead of Thailand so we wound up getting to the border at 9pm (8pm Thai time). It was already dark and after I went through Thai immigration I had to walk across a no-man’s land/bridge to get into Malaysia. I definitely felt like I was in a Russian spy movie as I walked across that bridge by myself in the dark.
After I got through Malaysian immigration, I looked for any transport heading to Khota Bharu, a town 45 km from the border and my destination for the night. Well, the last bus was at 6:30pm and there was NO ONE else around to share a taxi with me. I hung around for almost an hour, waiting to see if anyone else would show up to share a ride and hoping that someone passing by might just offer me a lift, but in the end I wound up taking the taxi alone and sucking up the full cost of a four-person ride ($10 US total).
In Khota Bharu I found a guesthouse and set up a taxi and boat ride to the Perhentians for the next day (yesterday). Luckily there were 3 others from the guesthouse headed down there so we shared the taxi – it was me, Alex from the UK, James from South Africa, and Manuel from Germany. All very nice people. On the 2-hour boat ride here, Mannie and I decided to try to share a bungalow because the cost of lodging on these islands is quite high when compared to Thailand ($10-12/night instead of $4-6).
When the boat arrived, the four of us set out to check out a few places and find a good place to stay. We were feeling a little disappointed at first because everything was pricey and not even that nice, but then we found a place at the far end of the beach for 20 Ringit ($5) so since we are sharing it’s only $2.50 each. We’re staying on Long Beach here on the Kecil island, which is the smaller of the 2 Perhentian islands. It’s a metropolis here compared to Ko Lipe – they have music, movies at the restaurants at night, ice cream (ie freezers), chocolate, books for sale and rent, and a few shops to but sarongs and sunblock. Of course if you just arrived from Philly it would look like a deserted island, but for me it looks pretty busy. There are about 10 bungalow resorts and 5 dive shops on this beach. The thing that is most different for me though is the surf – there are actually waves here – and rather big ones too! In Thailand there is absolutely no surf whatsoever so this is quite a change. The waves here actually get so bad that they don’t even run boats at all between November and May. I don’t know how good the snorkling and diving will be as a result of the surf but we will see. This is apparently an area with a large sea turtle population so I am really hoping that I see some!
Last night the 4 of us had dinner at one of the restaurants on the beach (fresh barracudu BBQ for them, veggies for me). While we were eating a girl came up to me – Shona, a Canadian girl whom I had met back in Nha Trang, Vietnam in February! We could not believe that we were running into each other again! What a crazy small world it is sometimes. We spent some time catching up on each other’s travels since we last saw each other. She’s heading to New Zealand next week for a few months so maybe I’ll see her again (we have exchanged email this time!).
Anyway I am hoping to get on a snorkling trip today but I’m worried that the surf is too rough again. If not it will just have to be a reading books, laying on the beach, swimming, and relaxing type of day…not a bad alternative I know!
Dont worry, be happy…this is how the locals do it
The view from our bungalows
Kecil Perhentian, Long Beach
April 28th, 2002
Well, it’s going to be difficult, but I am leaving Ko Lipe today. There is a 2-hour speedboat back to the mainland which leaves at 2pm. It’s been a good time, with good people, nice beach, and great snorkling. My bungalow was right on the beach and I have been easily passing the days on my porch in my hammock. There’s definitely lots of wildlife here and I didn’t ever have to leave my bungalow to see it – first the scorpion, then 2 gigantic spiders, 2 big monitor lizards, a bat, and last night, a snake! (The scorpion, by the way, commited suicide the day after I first saw him…I found him the next morning drowned in a bucket of water in the bathroom. I scooped him out to show the guys then gave him a proper burial by placing him on the root of a tree next to my bungalow and I watched as the ants surrounded him and carried him away.) Luckily all the beds have mosquito netting so at least you have a barrier between you and THEM.
The whole island is getting ready to close up for the rainy season – the boats back to the mainland will stop running on May 21rst. So most of the restaurants (all 4 of them) are running low on supplies – no yogurt, no cheese, no banana, etc, etc, depending on the restaurant. And the rain is getting closer – every night we have had the most amazing lightening storms out at sea. Sometimes 3 or 4 at the same time in all directions.
In the evenings we’ve been going over to Pooh Bar for a few drinks and laughs and then heading to the beach to watch the lightening shows. During the day I’ve been dividing my time between the hammock and the beach, either laying in the water with Matt and Jim or snorkling at Porn Beach and Pattaya Beach on the other side. The snorkling right here has been great – I’ve seen a spotted sting ray, one moray eel, a lobster, and many, many fish. I made the mistake of showing the guys how to pick up a sea cucumber and since then have been witness and victim of many sea cucumber fights in the water.
‘ BLOODY HELL, that sea cucumber is MASSIVE!’
‘I am COM-PLETE-LY WANKERED!’
‘Do you want to walk home? Well, I suppose I can TRY.’
‘I’ll have 2 more brownies IMMEDIATELY.’
Too much fun. The Irish girls left 2 days ago on their way to Singapore and then Perth, Australia. Matt and Jim (the Playboys) decided enough with the rehab and are heading straight up to Ko PhaNgan for the Full Moon Party on the 26th. So much for a quiet island with no partying for the next 2 weeks! I may be seeing them again on Ko Samui because I’ll be heading up there myself to meet 2 friends from Philly who are coming to visit (yeah!).
So once I get back to Satun today I’ll decide where to spend the next 10 days before going up to Ko Samui…somewhere in Malaysia yes, but where, I dunno yet. That’s what I love about this trip so much – I’ll figure it out when I get there!
The UK Playboys, Jim and Matt
Are you sure you know how to use my camera?
My roomate the spider (in the bathroom)
April 25th, 2002
I could get used to this place. Such a small island, Ko Lipe, with no roads or cars or Starbucks (yet). The only way to get across the island is by longtail boat or by walking through the jungle on a 1 km long path. The water is perfect. Yesterday some of us got together to go snorkling for the day. It was great – 3 good spots plus a long break on the beach, all at our own pace since we were the group, so to speak. Nice coral and good fish too. We had 7 people total – me, Tom (from the UK, he’s been travelling for over a year and teaching English in South Korea), Sharon and Maurienne (from Ireland, travelling for 3 months so far, getting ready to go to Perth, Australia to work), an English couple who’ve been travelling for 10 months, and Adie, another English bloke whose been travelling for 9 months.
We arrived back at Lipe for sunset and then all went to Pooh’s bar later for drinks. There are only 2 bars on the island and Pooh’s is the better of the 2 so pretty much everyone goes there. There were about 20 people or so in total at the bar which is quite a crowd for Lipe. It was a very fun time!
Today I hung out at our beach, Porn Beach. Yes, that’s what it’s called, but in Thai porn means good luck or lucky. Most Thais don’t even know what’porn’ means in English. So I’m staying at the Porn Resort on Porn Beach which is pretty funny I guess. I hung out today with the Playboys – Matt and Jim, just laying on the beach in the shallow water, swimming, and reading my book.
Oh, and I almost forgot, when I got home last night, there was a scorpion on the floor in my bathroom. I missed stepping on it by inches apparently because when I sat down on the toilet I saw it right in front of me, already in the striking position! A bit scary! I managed to get him to scurry off but it was hard getting to sleep knowing he was still in my room somewhere! All in a day in Thailand, right?
The main highway on Ko Lipe…
Big night out at Pooh Bar
Heres the scorpion (the day after)
April 20th, 2002
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