Welcome to Malaysia!
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
Add comment April 28th, 2002