After I left KL I went north to the Perhentian Islands by a night bus. The island I stayed on was Perhentian Kecil (also called small island). There are two main beaches on this island: One called Small Beach (or Coral Bay) and the second Long Beach.
- Food-for-Thought: Why is it when you wear jeans on a bus it’s hot as hell but when you wear shorts they have the AC on meat-locker level???
The overnight night bus was hell but at only 60RM ($17 USD) is I guess I shouldn’t complain. It was a freezing ride up there that lasted 9hrs with me trying to make a blanket out of a curtain, just when I was about to fall asleep we’d stop and just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore we made it…Thank God! From there we had to take a speedboat to the island. We were told in KL that there was no need to book accommodation before getting there as it was a small island and would get a better rate if we just showed up. On the speedboat ride to the island I lost my hat because I didn’t turn it around and made a donation to the sea. I could have kicked myself for that, as it was my favorite hat and only one. Hard for a man to replace a good hat these days and with my hippie hair now it would mean I would actually have to do some work to keep it from looking like crap all the time.
The boat captain asked where we wanted to be dropped off at and I had no clue, so just said “Small Island” as the hostel people said it was the nicer of the two. When we got there we weren’t the only ones without a place to stay. We met some Swedish guys who didn’t have a place booked either, so we decided to partner up and find a place together. We basically walked the whole Small Beach and the only thing we could find were bungalow rooms with one queen size bed for two people. Not cool for dudes sharing! I even went as far as going to the nicest place on the beach, the big daddy 5-star resort, and talking them down on their price for the penthouse room. Would have cost us each $15 USD and would of had the nicest room on the beach…but the Sweds didn’t want to go over their budget (can’t blame them).
So we were kind of stuck in a rock and a hard place until someone said something about Long Beach on the other side of the island. So I suggested we go now and see what they had after I asked about directions. A lady said it was a 20min hike through the jungle to the other side. Carrying bags, tired from an over night bus ride and needing a shower bad…I didn’t care where we had to go, I just wanted a room at this point. So off into the jungle we went and the only thing that about got us was a 4ft lizard. Scared the crap out of me as it ran right in front of us and looked like one of those Komodo Dragons you see on National Geographic. We finally got a place to stay at The Rock Garden. Everyone left it up to me to negotiate and after 20min of going back and forth I was able to score us two private bungalows with two beds and fan in each one for 30RM ($8.50 USD) each. He wanted 40RM but for some reason 30 just sounded better and I prevailed in the end. After spending 2hrs walking to every place on the island, including a jungle walk…why was i arguing over $2.75??? Ahh thats the life of a backpacker and budget traveler. The bungalow wasn’t much to brag about. The power was on only from 7pm-7am, the bathroom was as basic as one could get and it was a heck of a hike up a hill to get to them. But you know what, I can safely say we got one of the best deals on our place compared to anyone else on the island.
I only had two days on the island so I wanted to make the most of it. I went that day and booked 3 dives for the next day with Spicy Divers. For 3 dives, gear and guide it cost 320RM ($90 USD). That is super cheap diving when most dives cost about $50 each. The dive sites I went to were: Temple of the Sea, Curtain Rock and Sugar Wreck. All 3 were good dives and glad I went. Didn’t see anything to exciting on them but the ocean life was good.
Other then laying on the white sandy beaches all day, swimming in the clear water that you can walk 30m out in at waist level and diving, thats about all there is to do during the day. At night there is Monkey Juice! I didn’t know but me and Sweds quickly found out that the whole island is dry. They are not allowed to sell booze there for some reason. Kind of shocked me as the island is a tourists place full of 20-30 year-old backpackers. Everyone said that you had to wait till night to drink because thats when the “shipments” come in. As soon as the sun sets, the beach fires start and you can find pint size bottles of Monkey Juice everywhere. Other then that all you can get is Tiger Beer and some cheap vodka. Monkey Juice taste like a vanilla rum in a way and mixes great with coke. For about $7 USD per bottle it was great stuff and loved it. The last night I was there I drank probably 3 bottles myself and stayed out till 5am. It seems to me that the locals are worse drunks then the backpackers. One night I went into the little shop that was still open at 1am to get some snack food before going to bed. The guy running the shop was so drunk that he just asked me how much total I had without looking up. When I can give exact change he handed me his cup full of booze with his head still hanging down and said “I so drunk…take and drink this.” So I did! Cracked me up because I could have robbed the place and he would have never of known. I can only imagine living on an island that is only a 1/2 long with no roads and limited facilities would make one drink every night.
Over all my trip there was great! I did get a bad bug bite that swelled my arm up from the elbow down. Don’t know what it was but once I got back to BKK I went and seen a doctor about it. She gave me a shot, some pills and its fine now. I had no clue about the Perhentian Islands when I left KL but was glad the ladies at the hostel recommended them. Cheap place in paradise!
The Sweds...and yes they like to fish too!
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