Paradisiacle Perhentian

After a compilation of transport including flights from Cairns to Coolangatta, Coolangatta to Kuala Lumpur, and Kuala Lumpur to Kota Bharu, followed by an hour taxi, and 30 minutes in a speed boat across the South China Sea, we find ourselves in the Perhentian Islands. There are two islands in this magical group, the “small island” (Palau Kecil) and the “big island” (Palau Besar). We chose to stay on Kecil since it is more geared to the budget traveler and is less dominated by tourists and resorts. This place really can’t be compared to anywhere else we’ve been. Upon arrival we were both awe struck and all Brandon could say was “Wow, this place is paradise”…it really is. The water is crystal clear for at least 100 meters out followed by shade upon shade of stunning turquoise. The shoreline is lined with secluded white sand beaches, scenic boulders, and tropical vegetation. This place is island living at its best. Two years ago the accommodations on offer were nothing more than Malaysian bungalows with bug netting and a fan-if you were lucky. With many new properties popping up, seeking a little more comfort, we opted to stay at a brand new place which includes hot water, TV, and AC. We don’t usually mind roughing it a bit but seeing as we are rounding the home stretch of the trip we are stepping it up and splurging for luxury here and there. This is definitely the kind of place people come for a week and stay the whole season. There is an impressive chilled out vibe, the locals here are friendly and super hospitable, and the surroundings are picture perfect. After 3 months in Australia, penny pinching and self catering, there is a striking contrast being back in Asia living like royalty on a poor man’s pocketbook. There are nightly BBQs serving a variety of fresh caught fish and seafood and for a few bucks we couldn’t ask for more.

Seeing as we are dealing with a low-tech island in Malaysia, it is almost impossible to make advance reservations for any of the accommodations in the Perhentians. Upon arrival we booked in for 4 nights as the place we were staying was full beginning the 24th. We enquired with reception of nearly every place on the island in order to secure a room for the remaining 3 days of our stay but each place told us that they didn’t know if they had availability and that we would have to check the morning of the 24th. We continued to ask here and there over our first 4 days but still having no luck we booked the water taxi back to the mainland as a backup. After a typhoon class rain storm the night of the 23rd, we were sure that some people would unexpectedly check out leaving an opening for us. We planned to go diving on the 24th, one in the morning followed by a second dive in the afternoon. We were up early and headed across the island for our dive which started at 9am. As we assumed the visibility on this dive was limited due to the run-off from the intense rain showers the previous night. The variety of life however, was plentiful and we caught a glimpse of some new and unique underwater species including giant Titan Trigger Fish, tons of Nudibranchs, as well as a Blue Spotted Sting Ray. After our dive we were on a mission to find a place to sleep for the night. We noticed tons of people arriving by boat; most only to wander the beaches in the extreme heat and then re-board a boat returning to the mainland. We ran around like mad people but after checking with each place on both sides of the island, it became clear to us that we were totally out of luck. We were pretty disappointed but our only choice was to cancel our afternoon dive and return to the mainland like the rest of them. Having a flight booked from Kota Bharu in only 3 days, we weren’t sitting on enough time to venture elsewhere so we booked into a place just beyond the Kuala Besut Jetty. This town is tiny consisting of a few booking offices, a couple local restaurants and a mosque. I think that 3 nights here must be a record stay for foreigners because even the woman at our guest house asked us why we were staying for so long. We started our time here with a positive attitude enjoying the fact that we were seeing a different side of the country over the next few days. We figured we could stand to learn a little more about the Muslim faith which dominates the region. We laid very low for our time in Kuala Besut. Our most adventurous day took us on a 12km return walk to the closest supermarket. We browsed the bric-a-brac and picked up some fresh fruit and veggies to keep us going for the 3 days. Amongst the regular local crowd, we enjoyed a couple good meals at the small seaside restaurant. Since we weren’t able to enjoy our time on the island, we found a little satisfaction in the crumby weather which filled those 3 days. The clouds didn’t break and it rained sporadically, we felt like we hadn’t missed out on too much paradise on the island.