Malaysia: Pulau Perhentian Kecil

I ended up going back to KL to pick up my UK passport and get my Myanmar visa. I got my passport, no problem (thanks Dad & Jo!) and then headed down to the Myanmar embassy. It was swarming. It turns out they hadn't just been closed for Friday - they'd been closed for a full 11 days for their New Year celebrations. So it was absolute carnage at the embassy! I got there at about 9am, picked up a visa form, stood in the (swelteringly hot and extremely long) line and filled it out. And waited. And waited. 3 1/2 hours later, when the visa department closed, I'd hardly moved in the queue. I left the embassy a bit disheartened, with the decision that I couldn't wait around in KL for ANOTHER day, just to waste it getting a visa. So off I went to the bus station, and booked a night bus up to the Perhentian Islands which are off the north east of the country.

I left KL at 10pm, and after a long, uncomfortable night, arrived in Kuala Besut at around 5.30am. I took the first ferry of the day over to Long Island on Pulau Perhentian Kecil (Small Perhentian Island), and went in search of accommodation. I had no idea how long I'd be staying here... or what I'd be doing. I already knew that beach holidays bored me... I would probably only be here for about 2 days...

I found the cheapest accommodation I could find (pricey, at 30 Ringetts per day, about $12NZ), which was just a wooden hut, bed, mosquito net, fan and light - both of which only worked from 7pm to 7am. It was perfect. Back to basics, and right on the beach!

My hut!

View from my bed & the local wildlife!!

I met my neighbour, a Hungarian girl named Juliette, and we hung out in the sweltering heat. Hmmm... it was hot. Way too hot for me. But the sea was absolutely CRYSTAL clear, blue, and beautifully warm. It was heavenly. So I spent most of the day in the water. Which is funny, because I don't normally like the water.

Beach next to my hut and the view from my hut

Sunrise on the first day

I knew that this was meant to be a great place for diving. I'd brought my Junior PADI Open Water Diver card with me, but not my logbook... I wondered whether I'd still be able to dive - it had been about 14 years since I last dived - half my life!! I went to ask, and was greeted with the response I had hoped for - I just had to do a refresher course, and I'd be good to go!! Woohooo!!

But having learned everything back when I was 14, I really couldn't remember a whole lot. But my instructor, Lucy, was very patient with me. Even just going under the water and breathing through the regulator took some time - I hadn't remembered having that 'panicky' feeling before! But I got over it, did my necessarily underwater skills (mask off / back on / fully cleared underwater; boyancy pivotting, retrieving a lost regulator etc.) and we went out for a dive. It was amazing! So beautiful and free down there. It's safe to say that I got hooked quickly. Before I knew it, I was booking an Advanced Open Water Diver course, so that I could go on wreck, deep and night dives. I was having such a great time!

I'd met lots of people at the dive school (Panorama Divers), and we hung out when we weren't diving. I was literally living in paradise (aside from the mosquitos, that is!). Diving every day, and just generally being happy. And yep... you've guessed it... quite a lot f drinking!!

Monkey Juice - The local liquor - good, but pretty lethal! ;o)

Agnus, my beautiful friend from Brazil

Buckets are a necessary evil in SE Asia. Filled with (usually) rum and coke, you and a friend drink it quickly through straws. Aparently you're meant to make eye contact during this. This is French Benny (divemaster) and English Macca - Macca showing that the drink really isn't that great!

Agnus, me and the bucket. I hadn't realised the 'eye-contact' rule yet here. You can see how much I enjoyed it from my expression ;o)

2 of my other good freinds were Dani and Melanie from Austria (in the fore-ground)

Fun times! :o)

I was having an active beach holiday - none of this lying around for me! Yep - I loved it... and it wasn't even that expensive. 60 - 70 ringetts per hour-long dive (about $NZ20 or 10 pounds) - Sweet! One of my new friends, Jeff, who owns a dive shop near the Sipiden Islands does lots of underwater photography. He asked me, Agnus and Benny if we'd like to underwater models for the afternoon - of course we agreed! They weren't that great, because we were in such shallow water with lots of loose sand, but he gave me some of the better ones... What an experience :o)

Jeff loved this one, so edited it all for me...

I finally left Paradise 9 days after arriving, having completed 10 dives and achieving my PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Qualification. So now that's kind of my mission... find as much amazing diving as I can!

OK! :o)

On the boat leaving paradise... Smiling happy, but actually sad :o(

These photos are taken at the location you can see in the photo above - meaning it's quite deep, and you can STILL see the bottom so clearly!!

Unfortunately, though, I seem to be having a bit of a problem with my left ankle clicking and hurting... maybe a bit of a rest would be needed first. So that's what I'm currently doing - I left Malaysia, headed for Thailand and the notorious Full Moon Party which is held on the island of Koh Phan-Gnan. Honestly - the only reason I came here was to meet up with some of my Wanaka friends, but I'm sure glad I came. More about that in my next post (when I get around to it!!).

Leaving Malaysia wasn't actually as easy as I thought it would be. I caught the ferry from the island to Kuala Besut, then a bus to Khota Baru. I met a Dutch guy, Jeroen on the bus, and we hung out for the day / evening in Khota Baru, going to night markets, seeing shadow puppet shows (great to watch, but very bizarre!), and generally eating cheap, Malaysian food and drinking extortionately priced beer. Khota Baru had a lot more to offer than I'd anticipated - it was far bigger than expected, with a pretty chilled vibe about the place.

Jeroen & a stall owner at one of the night markets

Shadow puppet show

Drinking very expensive beer...

The next morning, I headed off on the bus to the border of Malaysia / Thailand, at Rantau Penjang. I got my exit stamp from Malaysia (in my US passport, as that's what I'd arrived into Malaysia on), and walked through no-man's land to get over the river to Thailand. En-route, I saw lots of very dodgy men on motorbikes passing big containers that looked like marijuana through the bent metal bars on the Thai side of the river, before Thailand. So they'd left Malaysia without being searched, headed over the bridge, and got the drugs into Thailand before even getting to the Thai border control! I have no idea how this hasn't been stopped, but I wasn't about to give it a second glance!! Ah well... I guess they're not as hot on drug smuggling as the rest of the world is, even though said crime carries the death penalty here!?

Anyway - I eventually got to the Thai border, filled out my immigration card, and handed over my UK passport, which had my 60 day Thai visa in it. But they wouldn't accept it, as it didn't have an exit stamp in it from Malaysia. Apparently I had to go back to Malaysia and get an exit stamp in my UK passport. So off I went again, fully laden backpack and in long 'respectful' clothing in the midday heat - it was HOT!! Back in Malaysia customs, I explained my situation and asked them to stamp my UK passport. They refused. Great. So the only thing I could do was to go back to the Thai side, and enter on my US passport - which allowed me only 15 days in the country. Ah well... if that's all I could do, then that's what I'd do! So I passed through customs as an American citizen, into Sungei Golok, Thailand, with 15 days of travelling ahead of me before I had to leave.

Ah well... it's better than nothing! So off I headed, due North to begin my Thailand adventure! Wahooooooo! :o)