Day 23 – Going to Pulau Perhentian (26/08/2015)
‘When you’re paid to do a job, do it. Plain and simple.” – Caleb’s wise words of the day
The night before we booked a trip to the Perhentian Islands. So sitting in a mini van all day was our plan for the day. We were not very happy with the deal we made but there was no other option. We paid RM 90 (which isn’t cheap) per person to get from Taman Negara to Kuala Besut. There was no bus so we had to take a mini van, which is not as comfortable. However, we got on the bus at 8:30 am and we arrived in Kuala Besut at 4:30 pm. We had the most crazy driver on this planet. He was driving like someone was after him. The roads were not well made, there were millions of bumps and it was all curvy. We were jumping up and down and back and forth on our seats, it was like an eight hour roller coaster ride.
In Kuala Besut we had to make a reservation for a room because most of the places were fully booked and we didn’t wanna risk getting there and having to take the most expensive place. We got our boat ticket (RM 70! for both ways) and we made a reservation for a bungalow at “The Rock Gardens”. We paid RM 300 (CHF 67.00) for two nights, which is absolutely insane! But we didn’t really have an option. Normally we pay RM 40 – 60 for a double room. Our most expensive ones up until now, were RM 80.
After paying a ridiculous amount of money for everything, I wasn’t in the best mood anymore. At that point I had no idea that my mood was about to get even worse. We got on the speed boat and I thought that will finally be something fun today but I was so wrong. Here came the second crazy driver. He drove like an idiot! We jumped and slammed on the water, jumped and slammed on the water, jumped and slammed on the water…and that for 1.5 long hours. It was literally the longest 1.5 hours of my life. Our backs, necks and butts hurt so much, you can’t imagine with how hard of an impact we hit the water every time.
As lucky as we were today, Caleb and I were the last two people that got dropped off and because the water was too shallow for our boat we had to change the boat in the middle of the sea (100% stupid) and that other boat charged us another RM 2 per person. We could not believe it. Since we got to Taman Negara they charge the sh** out of you for everything and people are not very friendly anymore. It’s really getting so annoying.
At first sight we were pretty disappointed about the place (we stayed at Long Beach). Honestly, compared to Pulau Tioman it wasn’t very nice. We got to “The Rock Gardens” were we checked in. They gave us the key, said nothing else, not even where we can find our bungalow. The bungalow was pretty nice, especially the balcony with sea view but the bathroom for example was awful. As I said, this was by far the most expensive accommodation we’ve had and it didn’t even include Wi-Fi, air conditioning or hot water.
When we went back down to the beach, it was dark and it honestly looked pretty cool. There wasn’t a lot of light, more candles, so it was quite romantic. The food was good and not as expensive as we expected.
Day 24 – Pulau Perhentian (Long Beach) (27/08/2015)
“Never leave your mango unattended.” – Caleb’s wise words of the day
Caleb booked a snorkeling trip last night so we had breakfast at the beach and than Caleb got picked up for the snorkeling trip. I know it was stupid of me to not go with him but I’m just too scared. I still hope that I can get over my fear before we’re done with our trip.
While Caleb was gone, I was enjoying the fan in our bungalow and did some writing and travel research. The weather wasn’t very nice so I didn’t feel bad about not really doing anything.
When Caleb came back he was pretty excited. So the following part is Caleb telling me what to write:
“I got dropped off at Coral Point, where there was, what looked to be a ten year old kid, as my boat driver. He gave me a snorkel and told me to jump in. Coral Bay was nice but it was really nothing too special. When I got back on the boat, I saw that it was filled with Malaysian and Spanish people, so I kind of felt alone. But the next stop was Shark Point, so I was excited to try to find some sharks. Though I spent the entire time looking for sharks and never found one, I saw some of the most amazing fish I’ve ever seen and a squid! After we left, the driver was looking all through the water, trying to find a turtle and this went on for about half an hour. Finally about five boats found the same turtle and everyone disembarked to go look at it. It was like a zoo, not very exciting. But the one cool thing is, I dived down to see the turtle, and when I did it gave me a funny look and we swam together briefly. That was awesome! When we left I had a sea taxi pick me up in the middle of the ocean (no idea how he knew when and where) and he took me “home”.”
It was already 2 pm when Caleb came back so we were pretty hungry and went for lunch. After lunch we bought four fresh mangos. Finally we found some again! We enjoyed them on our balcony. After that, all I wanted to do is go into the water because like always, it was hot. There was a little kind of private beach where we wanted to go to but unfortunately we couldn’t get there except with swimming and we had our cameras with us so that was not possible. We just stayed at the normal beach and went into the water. It’s amazing how clear the water is on Long Beach. When we got back to the bungalow, we had to sadly notice, that something went at my mango, probably a squirrel. So…see Caleb’s wise words of the day.
To see the sunset we had to go on the other side of the island, which is called Coral Beach. It was only about a ten minute walk. It was interesting how different Coral Beach was compared to Long Beach. It was much more relaxed on that side of the island. Less people, cheaper and smaller. We actually liked it better than Long Beach. After we saw a quite nice sunset, our goal was to eat shark somewhere. We found a BBQ place that had it, so we ordered shark and stingray. When we were looking for a table we met a French couple that was on the bus with us from Taman Negara. They offered us to sit with them. The shark was honestly not that amazing but the stingray was delicious!
The French couple already made plans to eat at Long Beach with an other couple so we said that we will find each other after dinner. And so we did. The other couple was from Italy and they were nice too. We all went to a really cool place on the beach. They had low tables in the sand and mats to sit on. There was an amazing fire show and we had drinks and a hookah. We had a great time! We were so happy that we finally met some cool people again to hang out with.
We have to admit that the night life is pretty cool on the Perhentian Islands. That part is definatly better than on Tioman Island.
To summarize it: The Perhentian Islands are nice but way too expensive for the backpacker lifestyle. The beach is full of boats, which is one of the reasons why it’s not very peaceful. The people that are working there seem to think that tourists are gold mines and idiots. They charge you so much for everything and they’re not even friendly. The night life is great and the water is amazingly clear.
We were never planning on going to the Perhentian Islands but we met so many people along our way that told us to go. We wouldn’t recommend it that much. Despite the sand fly problem and if you like it more quiet, Tioman Island is better.
The Travelling Smiths 