Goodbye Paradise, Welcome to Hell (Day 9)

By my calculations, there was no way that we could make it to the Thai border and get on a train to Bangkok from the island all in one day. We planned to make it to Khota Baru and spend the night there before continuing on to the border and ultimately Bangkok. However, while we were checking out of our bungalow, we met a guy from Australia who was also headed to Bangkok and planned to hop the next boat to shore, quickly catch a cab to the border, cross customs, get to the train station and catch the last train to Bangkok, which left at 2:20 and traveled through the night. We decided to join him as splitting the taxi would save money and we figured we would make it there faster. We said goodbye to our friends

and our view and home in paradise

and were on our way. The boat ride back took forevere because of some confusion picking up passengers from the big island and we got to shore 40 minutes later than expected. We caught a cab that drove slow, but got us to the border faster than we expected. We rushed across the border and had about 10 minutes to get to the train station. We frantically grabbed a motorcycle with a makeshift side car that looked just like this

and rode to the station. We barely fit on the plywood bench of the sidecar and were bouncing all over the place. We had no Baht for the train tickets and they would not let us pay with Ringits, so Matt (our Australian friend) offered to spot us for the tickets and we promised to pay him back in Bangkok. We had to hurry as the armed military guards were holding the train for us and looking impatient. The only seats we could get were the 1st class sleeper or the 3rd class, no aircon, seats. We went with the 3rd class seats, which were upright benches with "cushions that were supposed to seat three people each somehow.

The windows were open and a nice breeze blew in. Fortunately, we would only be riding this things for...18 hrs! Well, that's what the book told us anyway. Because the train traveled about 24 miles/hr through the night, it actually took about 24 hrs. At least the seats weren't filled...until we reached Yai, when all of the people, vendors and livestock boarded. Well, just a couple of chickens here and there, but no big deal. This made it very uncomfortable and we were literally shoulder to shoulder. My sister found some open seats in another car and we just rode and took in the views.





I sat and talked to Matt for a while and he told me about his trip so far with the two British girls and how he was finishing his trip alone, despite being only 20. We ordered some food, which was surprisingly decent for train food. I ordered the green curry chicken, which was actually spicy and very delicious

and some cashew chicken, which had very good flavors and was very refreshing.

We then just listened to music and watched the amazing scenery that is Southern Thailand.







As the sun set, we tried to find a place to sleep. The train was so crowded that most people had to sleep sitting upright. A few people were sleeping on the filthy, disgusting floor underneath the seats, but we weren't going there. I managed to find a broken seat and lay across it with my feet across the aisle at least for a little while...until I was awoken by the loud screeching sounds of Thai women selling God-knows-what at about 1 am. Oh, this was the worst sleep I have ever tried to get in my life...

A Day of Kayaking, Snorkeling, Relaxation, and Sunburn (Day 8)

The next day, we slept in hard! We were dead tired and our bodies needed to regroup after all of that trekking and what not. I got up and read on the porch while my sister did yoga inside. By about midday, we decided that we should set out on another journey before we left. So we went and rented kayaks and snorkels and figured that we would head back to the marine park we had seen the day before. My sister had the crazy idea to kayak around the whole island, but that's where I put my foot down. We got a great price on the boat and the snorkel gear and headed off from Long Beach, past the Fisherman's Village and on to the marine park.
We got there and pulled the boat up and jumped in the water. Only, my snorkel did not work because a piece was missing that blocks out the water. Luckily a nice guy at the resort on that beach lent me his and off we went. We swam around following schools of fish that seemed to get bigger and more exotic the deeper we went. They were the most amazing colors. The water was amazingly clear and there I saw it...a huge sea turtle. I came up to tell my sister and she was swimming away. "Hey, where are you going?" I asked. "Didn't you see the turtle?" "Yeah," she said, "but I also saw a shark!" I went back under at this point and, sure enough, there was about a five foot long shark swimming about 6 feet away from me. So we calmly headed back toward the shore and got as far as we could from the sea turtle and shark area.
I could feel my skin burning, so we started to head back. We got back and just relaxed for a few minutes before heading across the island to Coral Bay via the short trail to watch the sunset. We sat at one of the restaurants on the beach and I ordered a fruit plate for about $1.50.

It was the most amazingly fresh fruit I have ever tasted. The mango was the best that I've ever had. Better than the Caribbean. We then sat back and watched the sunset...

and the clouds that were forming in front of it.

This cloud reminded me of a dragon.

We decided to head back before it got dark because we did not have flashlights. We were lucky enough to catch this interesting site through the jungle as we reached the other side.

We grabbed some dinner, which was amazing chicken satays for me with peanut sauce. We then went and read and turned in early as we had decided to make the trip to Bangkok the next day.

Exploring Pulua Perhentian Kecil: The Trek Around the Island (Day 7)

The next morning, we got up early and just sat on the porch taking in the scenery.

My sister sat in a chair, while I swung back and forth in my hammock.

We just relaxed for the first part of the day and watched people enjoy the amazing beach. Around the middle of the day, we decided to set out on a journey. At first, we planned to just trek across the narrow part of the island, over to Coral Bay on the West side. We were told that this could be accomplished in about 15 or 20 minutes via this path:

The jungle got thicker and the lizards got bigger and bigger. On the other side, things were very quiet and relaxed. We stopped for a very fresh fruit smoothie and relaxed for a few minutes. At this point, my sister made up her mind that we were going to trek around the island heading south, all the way back around to Long Beach.

At first this seemed like it would be a relaxed walk along a well-beaten path. We followed this until we found this completely deserted beach:

So we stopped to swim and relax a bit before continuing on our very, very long journey back to out shanty.

When we got back on the path, things started to get a little more difficult. The jungle began to thicken up a bit and the path would disappear from time to time or jump up and down huge hills.

Even the creatures started getting bigger and bigger. Like this giant ant that we saw.

Soon after that we ran into a monitor lizard that was easily over six feet long and a good 90 lbs. However, I did not want to chase him into the brush to get a picture, especially because I didn't want to get anywhere near his tail. However, a little further down the path we ran into this guy:

He was at least five feet long, probably more and at least a good 75 lbs. We got a good pic and kept our distance. We found this place, which looked somewhat deserted, but had naturally beautiful wildlife all around it.

Apparently, we had reached Petani Beach, which is a very secluded place to stay that likely costs a bit more than the places at Coral Bay and Long Beach.

It was a very quiet and laid back part of the island and was home to the marine park. we decided that we would have to rent some snorkel gear at some point and return to further explore. The water was beautiful and warm.

We continued on, but the path got more treacherous. It was going up and down steep hills, but someone had installed a line to hold onto, which was somewhat helpful. Eventually, we came upon the Fisherman Village.

This was the home to all of the locals that actually lived on the island and weren't just running the guesthouses and restaurants. There was a small village with many children playing, a police dept. (which apparently was never actually open), and some local eateries. We stopped and tried to get some food, but it was not very tourist friendly (e.g., no English).

Nevertheless, the people were very friendly and seemed intrigued to see us exploring their village. One young girl (maybe four or five years old) came and asked me my name in English. I then asked her name and she told me "Reta". She then asked her mother how to say "how are you?" in English and then asked. She was very excited to interact in English.

We continued on, not wanting to get stuck in the dark along the trail. While walking, the jungle canopy opened up and the trees started to look like this:

We made it back to our shanty and found that we had some new friends living on the beam that ran across the ceiling of our temporary home.

We headed out for some dinner in hopes that we might find something more appetizing. We ordered the vegetable Tom Yum soup, which was nice and hot.

They were also very spicy, so my sister ordered some rice to even it out. I thought it was just right though. I ordered the Malay fish curry:

This was very good, but had more of a tea or herbal taste to it. The broth was very light, but the flavor was all there. It was very spicy, flavorful and delicious. The fish was extremely tender and very good...just different. We then walked up and down the beach just taking in the evening. There were tons of cats on the island for some reason, but this one was special:

It looked like the crab was winning. We continued back and stopped at one of the "bars" on the beach. I wish I would've gotten a photo of these, but they only set them up after dark and there were no lights, so it was very difficult to get a good one. Basically they were very low tables in the sand with four bamboo mats around them that you could sit on. People would sit on their mats in the sand and could buy very expensive pints of vodka or beer from the bar. We just sat and listened to the Jack Johnson cd that they kept playing, which was amazingly fitting for the environment. We were pretty beat though, so we headed back to the bungalow and called it a day.

The Long Journey to Pulua Perhentian (Day 6)

So after very little sleep (thank the Lord for Ipods and MP3 cell phones) we arrived in Kota Bahru 2 and a half hours late. We bargained for a cab to Kuala Besut where the boats would leave for the Perhentians. It was about an hour ride and then a half hour speed boat ride until...

Paradise! Pulua Perhentian Kecil, the little island.

A quiet little island run on generators, and primarily home to fishermen like these.

This place is a real thing of beauty. Something right out of Jurassic Park.





This was one of the nicer little places on the island on a secluded beach.

And then, of course, the marine park.

Finally, we arrived at Long Beach and rented a little metal shanty with very large lizards running around, a hammock and a nice view of the ocean. I was a little uneasy of the bugs, spiders, lizards, etc., but we ran down to the beach and hit the water and all my worries washed away. Floating around in the bluest, warmest water I have ever seen was amazing. The South China Sea is something special and I've been to Hawaii, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, etc. And the view from up the hill can't be beat.

The amazing little shanty town that is Long Beach.

The dinner we got on the island was somewhat expensive for Malaysia and very disappointing. Although there was a Thai influence with lots of fish sauce, they were pretty much cooking for the majority Western visitors on the island. We were pretty exhausted and fell asleep to the chirping crickets, dripping waterfall out back, and got knows what other creatures were perched above us on the ceiling.

Leaving already? Goodbye KL (Day 5)

The next day we got up early and planned to head to the bus station to book an alternate route to the Pulua Perhentian for the weekend. While I waited for my sister, I talked to the lady that worked at the front desk of the hostel. She said she was from Jakarta, Indonesia, but that he husband lived in KL working as an airplane mechanic. She spends about a month twice a year there visiting, which sounded like a very difficult lifestyle to me. After we got to the bus station we found out that all of the tickets to the islands had been booked, so our only recourse was to go to the train station and book the 12 hr. ride to Khota Baru. While we were out it started pouring rain, so we stopped by this little alley covered with tarps for some tea.

It was relatively dry in here, but the tea wasn't great. It was alright though, it kept us warm and dry.

While under here, we saw a NYC sized rat that could easily have been a small cat run by and this old Chinese woman, without batting an eye, booted this thing in the ribs and sent it flying and then scurrying away...amazing!!!

I picked up some Malay food for the road from my favorite street spot near the Chinatown gate and we were off to the train station. Our train was late so I got down to business while we waited. MMMMM!!!!

Well, not really sure what this was, but it was that same spicy, coconutty, curried-ish chicken, but the girl threw in an egg this time and some delicious greens in coconut milk. I'll miss you KL. The train was crowded and we were the only non-Malays on it. I guess Kota Bahru is not a popular destination for tourists. This one clearly working class, poorer guy kept playing this horrible American 80s glam rock type ballad on his cell phone over and over again at volumes that the entire car could here. Very uncomfortable sleep as we crept through the jungle at about 30 MPH.