Life on a tropical paradise island seems to slow and blur all together. The days are spent lazing on the beach, swimming in the beautifully warm and crystal clear water and drinking fresh fruit juice in the shade of a palm tree. I went to the Perhentian Islands, only planning to stay for three days or so, and in the end I spent a week there! They truly are a beautiful and magical place. I even considered canning the rest of my trip and just spending the rest of my time under a palm tree. And I normally don't even like beaches...Rather than give a day by day break down of what happened, I'll just summarise a basic day on the island:
- Sleep in till the mid morning, roll over in bed and admire the beautiful view out of our beach bungalow shack.
- Put on togs and the same shirt you have been wearing the whole time and wander down the beach.
- Spend the next few hours lying down in the sand, reading your book or writing in your journal. - When it gets to hot, jump in the water and go for a swim. There isn't even a shock as you get in the water, it is so warm.
- At some stage, go to one of the few beachfront cafes, sit on a little plastic chair by a plastic table, under an umbrella right on the beach. Order some cheap and delicious local food, a big mango/papaya/banana/strawberry lassi, and wait for the very relaxed and chilled out Rasta waiter boys to bring your food.- Spend the rest of the day on the beach.
- Have dinner on the beach, served by the same relaxed Rasta guys. For dinner we normally had fresh barbequed fish. In my time there I had barracuda, kingfish and shark, all delicious.
- Go down to the 'Safety Stop', the local 'beach bar' . Little more than a bamboo shack on the beach, with a few low wooden tables scattered around the beach.
- Spend the night drinking the expensive beer or the cheap vodka (being a Muslim country, alcohol isn't cheap), and watching other people play with fire poi and fire staff.
- Meet a bunch of other interesting travellers, swap travel stories, and make good friends.- Go to bed in the early hours of the morning.
Life on the island is so relaxed and chilled out, before you know it, several days have passed. Although to prove I did more than just laze on the beach, here are few other things I did with my time:
- Went on a snorkelling tour, twice. The tour last the whole day and you visit several different places around the island. The visibility is amazing, and you spend a lot of time swimming in the corals, with more tropical fish than you can imagine. There is a phenomenal range of colours, size and behaviour amongst all the fish, and it is quite spectacular. We also found some quite large reef sharks, and swam with giant turtles. And oh, I also found Nemo.
- Pretended to be a Rescue Dog trainer called Hans from Finland. I was doing it with several other people, and the local Malaysian guys were believing us, until a Canadian came along and saw straight through our ruse.- Went swimming several times at 3am. Floating in warm water and watching the stars, while sounding very cheesy, is actually a great experience.
- Shared a vodka watermelon with a bunch of other people who I had gotten to know over the past several days.
- Walked across the island to watch the sunset on the western side. While very pretty, the sun was hidden by clouds for most of the time.
- Said goodbye to Fabian, Michael and Katerina, the germans I had been travelling with. I have promised to meet up with them when I get to Munich.
The Islands are a fantastic and relaxed place, and even though I spent a week there, I could have easily spent longer.
1 comment:
Major envy. Except the toes.
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