Perhentian Paradise

Our little bit of paradise

The transfer to Perhentian was so smooth it was like the scene from Snatch, plane, taxi and boat in quick succession and then we were there. We decided to be dropped off on the quiet side of the backpacker island, Perhentian Kecil and looked for somewhere to stay. It was scorching hot and even with backpacks on and sweat streaming down our faces we were both able to stop and comment on the beauty of the water, absolutely crystal clear, with little fishes swimming amongst the coral.

Our accommodation was basic and consisted of wooden huts with a bed, fan, mosquito net and cold shower, but what we sacrificed in room quality we made up for in views.

The room, aided by our bungee ropes that have proved essential travel items

The view!

We stayed for six days and if we hadn’t booked an ongoing flight, we would have stayed longer. Other than the mosquito’s this place was paradise! A tranquil, unspoilt bay with no hotels, fresh juice, awesome sunsets and an incredible fish bbq at £3 a head including dessert, happy days! We also discovered the local arak brew called ‘monkey juice’ which worked rather well with coke and made for some long nights overlooking the sea.

Other than the food and the amazing water, our other highlight was the snorkelling trip. We’d never been huge fans of snorkelling but this trip was special. We were taken by speed boat to a range of sights where we saw and swam with over ten baby sharks and a few small, blue spotted rays, turtles and a massive bump-headed parrot fish. We also saw a very funny creature in the water named ‘the Malaysian city dweller’, largely originating from KL they can distinguished by the brightly coloured life jackets they wear in order to keep them horizontal and stop them smashing the coral bed, their behaviour pattern consists of splashing about aimlessly and screaming in a mixture of delight and fear. They were hilarious, but fair play to them for trying to snorkel in the middle of the sea if you can’t swim. Before we returned back to Kecil, we stopped for lunch on a deserted island and to our delight, our favourite chef from the bbq appeared to make our juices. The trip lasted seven hours and cost the same amount of pounds, bargain, (Thanks Jeffrey).

Monkey Juice o'clock

Every day other than that followed a similar pattern. We would wake up and have mounds of fresh fruit and juice for breakfast. Then we would go to the posh hotel at the other end of the bay and secretly use their sun-loungers whilst we read our books. Occasionally we would go for a long swim in the sea or join in with the city dwellers in a game of volley ball. It was the first time on our trip when we felt relatively superhuman in our ability to do anything physical as the city dwellers, as lovely and good humoured as they were approached sport as if they’d only received limbs that morning.

We were a little sad to be leaving the island and will probably go back someday, however the parting blow was eased by the knowledge that after a day in Kota Bharu, we would be flying to Flores for more R+R.