Perhentian Islands... or paradise in Malaysia!

When we arrived on the smaller of the two Perhentian islands (Perhentian Kecil) we were tired, a little sore from the bumpy ride over to the island from the mainland, and -most importantly- were without reservations. We ran around Coral Bay beach looking for anywhere in our price range, and then when we were unable to find anything, looking for any room that would take us! Chels and Cam stayed in a place that could be described as a backpackers crashpad, but which was only mildly more expensive then they had hoped for. Paul and Kristen opted to go for the more luxurious option which meant that there dreams of spending some time later in the week at a more upscale resort were quickly crushed. For fifty dollars a night they did get a small room, balcony, air conditioning, breakfast and a wonderful beach in front of the hotel.

View from Long Beach, Palua Perhentian Kecil.

Our hotel room.

Beachfront BBQ... lobster, mackeral, barracuda, shrimp... etc.

Attack kitty... one of many roaming the island.

Huge monitor lizard!

Yeah, we are pretty happy!

Enjoying the beach on the `big Island`

We spent the next few days snorkeling off the beach, and with a guided boat trip, eating at beachfront bbq places, wandering around the island, making friends with cats and monitor lizards and generally lazing around enjoying the tropical island that we were on. More stories and pictures of the snorkelling to come (including encounters with sharks!).

The best thing that happened is Kristen`s leg was finally healed enough to go back in the water!!!! Torture over!

Some pictures (Courtesy of Cameron`s Camera!)

Awesome sandcastle built by Paul on Ao Nang Beach.

Sharing a bucket of booze before the infamous scooter accident rendered Paul unable to consume alcohol for some time.

Learning to dive on Koh Tao (or technically beside Koh Tao I guess).

One of the least well known ape species, this is a Gibbon. It was kept in a cage at the hotel where we were staying and made us pretty sad to see cooped up. It was however pretty remarkable.

On a long tail boat on our way to Railay beach near Krabi.

On to Malaysia...

After our time spent recuperating from our scooter crash (and exploring the Krabi region) we made our way to the island of Penang off the west coast of Malaysia. The island is one of the first areas where Europeans settled/invaded and as such has really cool colonial architecture. It is also home to some of the best food in Malaysia.


We got in to Georgetown (also called Penang City or just Penang) in the late afternoon. We booked into a hotel and decided that we would spend the next day exploring Penang before taking an overnight bus to the Perhentian Islands on the east coast of Malaysia. We spent the evening at a giant open air food court that served so many different kinds of food from little stalls. It also provided us with endless entertainment in the form of line dancing Chinese tourists and a huge projection screen showing WWE wrestling... both of which are good for a laugh.


In the morning we walked around Georgetown in the sweltering heat. We saw a few of the old colonial buildings and explored Fort Cornwallis- a mildly impressive fort that was historically significant in that is was a very important British base of power during the colonial period. We also wandered into Little India and had samosas from a stall. Later we wandered back into the Indian quarter, down streets bright with colourful saris, incense sellers and shrines. We sat down for a meal of Tandoori chicken (eaten with our fingers and naan bread) and eventually foud our way to the bus station in time for our overnight bus to the Perhentians.

Colonial architecture in Georgetown.

Enjoying the exquisite amusements available at Fort Cornwallis

Tandoori chicken dinner (note the handsanitizer and lack of cutlery... they are related)

Just before boarding the bus, Paul decided that it was time to acquire some sort of camera in order to have some photo documentation of the rest of the trip. We picked up a cheap digital (just under $100 for a Nikon with a 4 gb memory card included) and so we have our own pictures from the rest of the trip!

The bus ride took almost 7.5 hours over the central spine of Malaysia's highlands, and it dropped us off before sunrise in a little town called Kuala Besut. There we were able to catch the first boat to the Perhentian Islands.

Sleeping at the jetty waiting for the sunrise and a boat to Palau Perhentian

Some pictures from the first few days...

Cam and Kristen make it to Thailand...

Living the good life on the beach in Phuket.

Tired but happy!