After much debate over where to go after KL (and in fact whether we wanted to leave it at all!), we decided to head country to the Cameron Highlands. After our bus was crashed into by 2 other cars, we arrived and found a lovely lodge that made great scones! We had probably the best sleep we have had on the road here. Why? Because it was soooooo cold!! (perfect snuggle weather (^0^)) Yes, cold does exist even in Asia! The thermometer on the wall got down to 15 at night, and due to the altitude, even hiking through the jungle during the day required long sleeves.
After a couple of cold days, we headed beach-ward, to the island of Penang. First glance was of a big city with lots of big buildings, but first impressions can be deceiving and it was one of the most architecturally beautiful cities we have both seen! In fact, while we were there the whole city was declared world heritage! We spent one day in Georgetown with super friendly Mr Low, walking around the city and eating lots and lots of amazing Indian food (its known in Malaysia as a food-lovers paradise!) Heading to the beach, we spent a couple more lazy days and nights in the fishing village of Teluk Bahang. We did some lovely hikes through the national park to secluded beaches (if you don't count the monkeys), swimming in freshwater lakes, and eating lots of fresh organic fruit. We met some lovely people here and ventured back to Georgetown with them in toe. After another 2 days wandering aimlessly around the town, and eating at every opportunity, we met some friends for drinks and dinner, then jumped on an overnight bus (read: freezer!) to the opposite side of the country and the beautiful Perhentian islands! As excited as Roh and I were to get to the Perhentians (and after months of no diving, we were pretty desperate!) we were equally sad to leave Penang and really wish we could have spent a couple more weeks there.
The Perhentians were just stunning! I would go as far as to say, almost paradise. The first day, after having maybe 10mins sleep on the freezing cold night bus, and with everything on Coral Beach fully booked, and with no intentions to stay on the party beach, Long Beach, we paid way too much for the only room we could find in a not so fantastic hotel. Determined that there had to be somewhere better, we, along with our 2 friends Chilli from Germany, and Allan the Scot, set off on a leisurely stroll around the island. An hour later we found our paradise in beautiful, secluded, rustic, perfect Mira Beach! We booked in for the next day, and set off to continue exploring the island. It was such a diverse place with dense jungle and beautiful white beaches side by side and the hiking trail barely existing! In some places we literally made our own paths and loved every second of it! Apart from the killer ants! About 1cm long and with heads that stick into your feet (or groin as Roh found out) and you have to pull them out! Ouch.. Anyway, lots of ants and about 4hours later we arrived on the other side of the island at long beach and, with none of us wearing our togs, but by this stage not caring, we risked a public beating being a strict Muslim area, and stripped down to our undies and dove straight into the turquoise water, exhausted, hot and in love with the island. The next day we took a water taxi (there are no roads on the island so all transport is by water taxi) to Mira beach and made ourselves at home, lounging in the hammocks, swimming in the shallows and snorkelling around the bay. The 4 of us decided to do a snorkelling tour which was a fantastic decision. The first place Jeffry our guide took us was called shark point on the bottom of big island. Sure enough we jumped in to find white, grey and black tip “vegetarian” reef sharks (as the locals call them). We swam with and found about 20 of the majestic but timid creatures, along with a big green turtle, then exhilarated, jumped back in the boat and headed to the channel between the islands. After a couple of minutes, we spotted turtles, so in we went again to swim with them. Roh and I duck dove down and patted a big loggerhead male who seemed to love being stroked, and we probably swam with and saw about 10 greens and loggers of different sizes. It was just amazing!! I love turtles and it was just such a magical experience! We had lunch at the local fishermans village and went to a couple of other really nice snorkel sites, and overall had an amazing time!
After snorkelling, of course Roh and I had to check out the diving so we organised to do a wreck called sugar wreck. It was a really strong current so we descended on a set line straight onto the wreck where Rohs group went one way and mine went another. For some reason my guide decided that we should check out some cargo doors about 20m away so off we go for about 10 mins! No doors and with only about 20cms vis, we saw absolutely nothing! Having no idea what we were doing, the other girl and I blindly kept following our guide who, after about 20mins of the dive, tells us he's lost and has no idea where we are or where the wreck is! He had lost an 80m long giant piece of metal! So we spent about 20 more mins trying to find it, using compasses to head back to where he thought we came from, then gave up, raised our safety sausage and surfaced – about 100m from where we went down. So much for a wreck dive, I didn't even see it! Obviously I refused to pay for the dive but it wasn't all bad. I did learn a lot about not panicking underwater, navigation, and currents. And Roh said it wasn't that good a wreck anyway! We did 2 more dives, one to the temple of the sea which was really good and we saw some bamboo sharks and a gorgeous moray eel, and one at a place called Tanjung Basi which was okay.
After that, we spent our days pretty much lying in the hammocks, snorkelling off the beach, occasionally hiking into coral bay for dinner or lunch, and just chilling out with friends. It was soooo beautiful that we all wanted to just stay forever. But, having promised to meet Kezzie in Singapore, we packed up, tore ourselves away from our beautiful, rustic, falling down, bungalow no 5 and headed up to Kota Bharu to catch the night train to Singapore. It was Rohs first night train and it was pretty luxurious! With individual beds curtained off and with super comfy mattresses! So with Roh jumping round like an excited child on the night train we left our beloved Malaysia. Robyn
After a couple of cold days, we headed beach-ward, to the island of Penang. First glance was of a big city with lots of big buildings, but first impressions can be deceiving and it was one of the most architecturally beautiful cities we have both seen! In fact, while we were there the whole city was declared world heritage! We spent one day in Georgetown with super friendly Mr Low, walking around the city and eating lots and lots of amazing Indian food (its known in Malaysia as a food-lovers paradise!) Heading to the beach, we spent a couple more lazy days and nights in the fishing village of Teluk Bahang. We did some lovely hikes through the national park to secluded beaches (if you don't count the monkeys), swimming in freshwater lakes, and eating lots of fresh organic fruit. We met some lovely people here and ventured back to Georgetown with them in toe. After another 2 days wandering aimlessly around the town, and eating at every opportunity, we met some friends for drinks and dinner, then jumped on an overnight bus (read: freezer!) to the opposite side of the country and the beautiful Perhentian islands! As excited as Roh and I were to get to the Perhentians (and after months of no diving, we were pretty desperate!) we were equally sad to leave Penang and really wish we could have spent a couple more weeks there.
The Perhentians were just stunning! I would go as far as to say, almost paradise. The first day, after having maybe 10mins sleep on the freezing cold night bus, and with everything on Coral Beach fully booked, and with no intentions to stay on the party beach, Long Beach, we paid way too much for the only room we could find in a not so fantastic hotel. Determined that there had to be somewhere better, we, along with our 2 friends Chilli from Germany, and Allan the Scot, set off on a leisurely stroll around the island. An hour later we found our paradise in beautiful, secluded, rustic, perfect Mira Beach! We booked in for the next day, and set off to continue exploring the island. It was such a diverse place with dense jungle and beautiful white beaches side by side and the hiking trail barely existing! In some places we literally made our own paths and loved every second of it! Apart from the killer ants! About 1cm long and with heads that stick into your feet (or groin as Roh found out) and you have to pull them out! Ouch.. Anyway, lots of ants and about 4hours later we arrived on the other side of the island at long beach and, with none of us wearing our togs, but by this stage not caring, we risked a public beating being a strict Muslim area, and stripped down to our undies and dove straight into the turquoise water, exhausted, hot and in love with the island. The next day we took a water taxi (there are no roads on the island so all transport is by water taxi) to Mira beach and made ourselves at home, lounging in the hammocks, swimming in the shallows and snorkelling around the bay. The 4 of us decided to do a snorkelling tour which was a fantastic decision. The first place Jeffry our guide took us was called shark point on the bottom of big island. Sure enough we jumped in to find white, grey and black tip “vegetarian” reef sharks (as the locals call them). We swam with and found about 20 of the majestic but timid creatures, along with a big green turtle, then exhilarated, jumped back in the boat and headed to the channel between the islands. After a couple of minutes, we spotted turtles, so in we went again to swim with them. Roh and I duck dove down and patted a big loggerhead male who seemed to love being stroked, and we probably swam with and saw about 10 greens and loggers of different sizes. It was just amazing!! I love turtles and it was just such a magical experience! We had lunch at the local fishermans village and went to a couple of other really nice snorkel sites, and overall had an amazing time!
After snorkelling, of course Roh and I had to check out the diving so we organised to do a wreck called sugar wreck. It was a really strong current so we descended on a set line straight onto the wreck where Rohs group went one way and mine went another. For some reason my guide decided that we should check out some cargo doors about 20m away so off we go for about 10 mins! No doors and with only about 20cms vis, we saw absolutely nothing! Having no idea what we were doing, the other girl and I blindly kept following our guide who, after about 20mins of the dive, tells us he's lost and has no idea where we are or where the wreck is! He had lost an 80m long giant piece of metal! So we spent about 20 more mins trying to find it, using compasses to head back to where he thought we came from, then gave up, raised our safety sausage and surfaced – about 100m from where we went down. So much for a wreck dive, I didn't even see it! Obviously I refused to pay for the dive but it wasn't all bad. I did learn a lot about not panicking underwater, navigation, and currents. And Roh said it wasn't that good a wreck anyway! We did 2 more dives, one to the temple of the sea which was really good and we saw some bamboo sharks and a gorgeous moray eel, and one at a place called Tanjung Basi which was okay.
After that, we spent our days pretty much lying in the hammocks, snorkelling off the beach, occasionally hiking into coral bay for dinner or lunch, and just chilling out with friends. It was soooo beautiful that we all wanted to just stay forever. But, having promised to meet Kezzie in Singapore, we packed up, tore ourselves away from our beautiful, rustic, falling down, bungalow no 5 and headed up to Kota Bharu to catch the night train to Singapore. It was Rohs first night train and it was pretty luxurious! With individual beds curtained off and with super comfy mattresses! So with Roh jumping round like an excited child on the night train we left our beloved Malaysia. Robyn