Just got back from a few days in the beautiful Perhentian Islands, two islands off the north-east coast of Malaysia. There are photo's on my Flickr account which you can access following the link above. It is an amazing place, and made me remember why I decided to come to Malaysia. Don't get me wrong, I love living in KL, but sometimes in big cities it feels like you could be in any city in the world, and it was brilliant to get out and see a bit more of Malaysia. I went with a friend from work, and there was another family from work staying there at the same time. Me and my friend Amy decided not to fly; it's a short journey and you have to do your bit to help the environment! It would also involve a 1 hour taxi ride at the other end. Instead, we took the night bus, which took about 8 hours and dropped us right outside the jetty in Kuala Besut, the nearest port to the islands. From there we took a 'ferry' (not the kind you would imagine, more a boat taxi) to the small island, Perhentian Kecil (literally 'small perhentian'). We stayed in a place called Impiani on Petani Beach. The journey back was worse, it took 11 hours and meant I was 1 1/2 hours late for a party that I had already paid for! But it was worth it.
We spent a lot of time on the beach snorkelling, sunbathing (for about 30 seconds then moved to the shade) and generally relaxing. The snorkelling is amazing; some say you will see more snorkelling than diving because the visibility gets worse deeper down. The whole island has a 'no fins' rule when snorkelling as they are trying to protect the coral reefs. If you didn't know, corals take years and years to grow and can be destroyed instantly by people clumsily bashing into them. Also the rising sea temperature is bleaching and killing more corals, so it's more important than ever to take care of them. The islands are trying to be very conscientious about conservation issues. There are turtle sanctuary's all over the place and you can even volunteer to help out, which I may do for a week soon. Turtles and their eggs are hunted by the Chinese for use in their medicines and most turtle species are endangered as a result, which is awful because they are amazing, graceful creatures.
I did some scuba diving whilst there, at a place called Universal Divers on the large island, Perhentian Besar. They were fantastic, really friendly and helpful. I did 6 dives over 2 of the days we were there. I was worried about my breathing as in the past I have been known to use up my oxygen really fast, but I got a lot better here. The water is very calm and easy to dive in, there is rarely a current so you don't use much energy once down there, you just float about. Maintaining your balance is easy, which is good because again, you don't wanna bump into any corals (or worse, scorpionfish, stonefish or triggerfish which can get a bit cross if you get too close!). I saw some amazing things, the highlights being a green and a hawksbill turtle, but more than that I just loved being underwater again! Our dives were really long (longest 59 minutes) and it was absolutely fantastic. If you haven't tried scuba diving yet, you HAVE to have a go! It's amazing just swimming around in a completely different world full of the most colourful and graceful creatures.
The best thing about this place is it is literally jungle and beach. Nothing else. No roads, no cars, no giant buildings. There is one tiny fishing village and everything else is dive centres or accommodation. You can only get around by taxi boat, no one ever wears shoes; it's pointless as you are always getting in and out the water. It's just fantastic and whenever anyone comes to visit me I'm taking them there! Have a look at the photo's, enjoy and thanks for reading! Back to work tomorrow so better go and do some prep! xxxx
