We spent an extra night in KL so we could go out for dinner with Matt and Camelia one last time. We went to an amazing Chinese restaurant on a bustling street and then went for a couple of drinks at an Irish pub. The boys were happy because they were replaying a recent NHL game! We left the following day to head to the bus station to catch our night bus to a small fishing village (Kuala Besut), where we would catch our small boat to the Perhentian Islands, 21 km off the northeast coast of Malaysia. All went smoothly (even with the bus driver passing around corners and stopping at a sketchy rest stop at 2am) and we arrived in Kuala Besut at 5 am to the sound of roosters and the call to prayer. It was Clement’s birthday and I completely forgot until I saw our boat ticket! We had been up all night and it just didn’t click. I felt really awful, but it was only 7 am when I remembered so I’m still in the good books! We were walking through the deserted streets and had no idea what we were supposed to do or where we were supposed to go. It was very dark, but once the sun rose we were on our boat and heading to paradise! We spent four amazing days on Pulau Perhentian Kecil, which is the smaller of the two islands. There was nothing to do besides sit on the beach and relax or go snorkeling. We stayed in a small hut high in the jungle (walking up the old wobbly stairs was an experience in and of itself) and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The beach water was crystal clear and the coral was just 2 feet away from the shore. There were fish everywhere so we spent many hours floating in the water under the sun! It wasn’t only the beautiful beach that we loved about it, but there was something really neat about being on a small island 21 km away from the mainland. The island’s power is created by generators which are only turned on overnight. The food was amazing and the people were great but there was one downfall….Malaysia is a Muslim country and the Perhentians belong to a conservative state so we weren’t able to enjoy a cold beer while soaking up the rays. Some people found this too hard to handle and it seemed to ruin their time in Malaysia but when you see what you are surrounded by, the last thing you are thinking of is drinking! If any of you ever have the chance to go to Malaysia, you must not miss the Perhentians!
We left the Perhentians to head north to the Thai border because our friends from Edmonton were going to be in Thailand and we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to travel with them for a week or two. It wasn’t without some interesting experiences though…We arrived at the pier back in Kuala Besut and planned to catch a bus to a border town where there is a Thai Embassy (so we could get a Visa longer than 15 days). The taxi drivers were swarming us for business but a bus was far cheaper and went on an hourly basis. The taxi drivers kept saying “No bus come, you come with me”, “No bus here”, “Don’t go bus”. We ignored them thinking that they were just trying to get our business, but after waiting in the bus station for over an hour and half we realized the bus wasn’t going to show up. Nobody seemed to know why, but apparently it is a regular occurrence. I guess maybe we should have trusted the taxi drivers this time! So, after wandering around trying to figure out how we could get to the next town (the taxi drivers had all left because the last boat had arrived and it was “night” even though it was only 6pm), we came across a young guy that said his friend would take us. He called him and took off on his scooter. We thought it was a little bit sketchy, but there was an Italian girl with us so we stuck together and went with it. Two minutes later, this young guy is chased down the street by four or five men who were trying to fight him! We got a little scared, but nothing major happened and his friend showed up in a pimped out car (for small town Malaysia). He and his girlfriend drove us the 1.5 hours to Kota Bharu and dropped us off right at our guesthouse. He blared Indonesian love songs the whole time and sang at the top of his lungs so we had a nice quiet laugh to ourselves. It got even funnier when we told him we were from Canada and he blared (like car-shaking blared) Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”!! He knew every word and proudly sang along. It was an eventful ride as we almost rolled the car while dodging a sprinting cow and a truck full of monkeys, but we got there safely!
We spent two days in Kota Bharu, a town that doesn’t see many foreigners. All of the locals stared at us everywhere we went and would ask us our names. They were so friendly, yelling “Welcome to Malaysia” out of their car windows, but it was very obvious that they weren’t used to us white people in their town…especially me with extremely white skin and blond hair. We had heard a story about one Swedish couple who stopped there for the same reason (Thai Visa) and the local women would spit on the girl. She learned the hard way that she must dress more conservatively, so I took that as a hint and wore pants and a long scarf over by body to be sure that I covered up what I could without dying of heat. We spent a really interesting two days there and got to see the “real Malaysia”. Everyone was very welcoming and made us feel right at home (as long as we were dressed appropriately). We got our Thai Visas with no problems and were on our way over the Thai border…..
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