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If I told you that it took us 1 bus to a nearby town from the jungle, where I only managed 1 hours sleep before our 3am train which took 7 hours, then another 3 buses, a 40 minute speedboat and then a 2 minute taxi boat to reach the smaller of the two Perhentian islands, you'd think we were mad (or skint, but doing it this way saved us nearly £30!) After our stint in the jungle though, this was definitely paradise. Palm fringed white beaches with clear turquoise-blue sea. Just what we needed as a reward for our 'roughing it' in the jungle.
The journey wasn't fun, don't get me wrong. The speedboat was pretty fun though. For about 15 minutes anyway until we got out to sea and it was a little choppy. You were thrown around like a rollercoaster, completely thrown up into the air. Both journeys there and back had crying kids on them, it was a little scary!
After trying kway teow for the first time (fried noodles in a lovely unidentified sauce) we fished about for a deal on accommodation. It wasn't happening. We ended up with a £12/night wooden hut which was scorching in the day and only had electricity from 6.30pm-8am. It had air con which didn't produce cold air and the shared outside toilets and showers were pretty grim. Still, we had arrived for a relaxing few days and the huts were set in a garden inhabited by monitor lizards including a giant probably as long as me!) On our first full day we lied half under umbrellas on the beach, played in the sea and got sunburnt.
On our second day we booked a snorkelling trip. It was advertised that you'd definitely see sea turtles and sharks. Sea turtles I thought were supposed to be rare and spend most of their time deep into the sea so I asked about the chances of seeing them. 'Yes you will see sea turtles and sharks, but don't worry, the sharks are vegetarian.' I didn't think sharks were vegetarian apart from maybe a whale shark which is technically a whale. I didn't think much of it anyway, maybe they were just small.
The next day we picked out our snorkelling gear and boarded a small boat with our driver and a Dutch couple. The first stop was the turtles. The water was so clear that the boat driver would locate a turtle before we would get into the water. It didn't take him long and I was amazed. A metre or two below me was a magnificent large sea turtle just having a little rest on the sea floor. It was great to see him glide through the water and up to the surface with ease until two boats full of Chinese tourists tracked him down and were screaming in delight so he soon whizzed off into the blue. Still, I never thought I'd swim with a rare general of the sea like that. Whilst we were in the water our boat driver had managed to fish out two tiny baby turtles into a little tub to show us. They were so cute. For their size then the adult we saw must have been really old.
Our second stop was called 'fish garden' and there were a lot of fish around. Next we landed in a cove. The driver cut the engine and said 'Ok, this is shark point. I'm coming in the water with you. You follow me and stick close. Look around all the time. If you see a shark don't panic and splash about.' Was this supposed to be calming?! I was fine before until his speech and then the fact he armed himself with a few dead fish. So much for the vegetarian sharks. Into the water we went, sticking close as instructed. Maybe a little too close as he ripped pieces of fish off to leave in the water which just kept coming towards me. I could picture a shark swooping in to grab some fish and biting a chunk out of me instead so I shifted out of the fish path. My immediate dislike was the number of jellyfish about as well. Not massive ones but I didn't want to be stung, potentially in pain and trying to stay still when there's a shark about. I couldn't think it over too long anyway. Looking all around me as instructed, it was deep water with big, strong waves. Typical Jaws scenery when you catch sight of that blue forming into a shark shape coming out of the gloom. And there he was. A little far away but along the bottom of the sea, weaving around in that typical shark way. Mesmerising and magnificent. I couldn't believe it. Was I mad doing this or was this just an incredible opportunity? Jaws didn't hang around for long, he was off into the depths of the ocean, obviously not keen on company today. Back we headed to the boat and to shallower water where we saw another shark, much closer and much nearer and he did stick around. Our boat man still had fish left and the shark was circling us-I didn't think that was a good sign! And before we knew it there was another who joined him. In opposite directions they circled us and came as close to us as 2m. They were stunning. They're the black tip reef sharks that you see in the aquariums, around 1-2m long. What an experience, possibly the best I've had on our trip.
I thought the next stop would be rubbish as it wouldn't be as exciting as 'Shark Point', but after lunch we headed to 'Coral garden'. It was beautiful coral and after only 5 minutes I was shocked to see another shark, though smaller than 1m and he was gone within a few seconds. It was quite funny as Ben was looking a different way and missed a shark swimming so close by underneath him. As he came up for air next, I gave the cliche 'Shaaaaaaaaark' call as if we were in a movie. But it was too late, he was long gone. We did see a Napoleon fish though. Google him. What a beast, he was huge and you could eat him for a week! Ben was again looking in the other direction so I spun him round and heard his cry of surprise even though we were both underwater and he had a snorkel in his mouth. What a great snorkelling day. Our final stop was a typical perfect beach with stupidly clear water and a fresh water pool that we washed in which felt lovely, whilst shrimps climbed onto our feet. It was an amazing day and I couldn't get over the shark experience, I just wanted to tell everyone about it!
We got pretty burnt whilst snorkelling, I'm sure it's down to these tablets as we've been on them for so long now and they make you sensitive to the sun. So our last day was spent boringly on our little porch reading. I finished Gary Neville's autobiography in those 4 days which was a great read. That night we thought we'd treat ourselves to a couple of beers. We'd been good as the cheapest were £1.50 for a small can, ridiculous! We didn't plan to go mad but we got talking to 3 locals who were policemen and began to ply Ben with rum and then a couple of Polish girls joined us. We drank and had a dance and I had to put Ben to bed as it all got a little bit too much for him at his age!
Today, apart from having a Ben with a bad head, we took the boat back to the mainland, took a minibus to Kota Bharu and then the bus to the train station for the 7pm train to Kuala Lumpur. It was full. Plan ruined and we need to be in KL tomorrow. So back to Kota Bharu we went and have had to stay here. We now have to take a 9 hour bus to KL tomorrow so we don't arrive until late so we've lost a day there. Oh well. The only other thing to mention is that I had the fittest tea. It was spaghetti with pesto and pan fried dorry fish with a garlic, pepper and chilli sauce. Unbelievable.
- comments
Mum Absolutely wonderful! x
Dad Sounds amazing!x
Arshad hope your trip in KL was worthwhile . Gonna miss you guys