Malaysia 3.1

Alright!!
Let's get started, shall we??
We have a lot to cover, and I don't have much time...
...Who am I kidding, I have butt-loads (yes, it is a quantifiable amount) of time. The only thing I really have to go back to my room for, is to cuddle with whatever has shacked-up in the seams of my sleeping bag...
'Thanks a lot Kecil Perhentian! Island of white sand, crystal clear water, an abundance of marine life, and tiny beings that have latched on to my personal belongings and make my skin crawl!'
Yeah.

But, although it seems as if my favorite thing to do at the start of these blogs is to complain, that is NOT what these stories are about.
They are about FUN, and NEW things.
(it is here that I'd like to point out that I literally just found an ant on my arm)

AHEM.

I'll pick up where I left off in Tahna Rata, the small town in the Cameron Highlands...

I took a 5hour mini bus to another small town called Kuala Besut, on which I met a nice German woman named Nina who I eventually ended up sharing a room with for my 5 nights on the island. The boat ride was...amazing. Take the wildest rollercoaster you've ever been on, add 6 foot waves, the threat of certain death upon capsizing, and a Muslim woman sitting across from you praying under her breath, and you get the boat ride. My stomach was in my throat the entire 30minutes...but it was so much fun.

We were completely soaked when we arrived at our new Island home...Kecil Perhentian - the smaller of 2 Islands located just off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was picturesque...as previously mentioned, it has the clear blue water (so incredibly warm), the white ripples of sand (that has since started to make my skin itch), and the tall palm trees towering over the thatched roofs of the local shops.
This is a backpacker's island, made up of approx. a dozen hostels, half as many restaurants, and 2 bars. To be honest, it wasn't nearly as clean as I had been expecting...but I guess when it's as small as it is, it's hard to keep every tourist honest.

Nina and I shared a room, complete with it's own bath and shower, at a place called 'Mohsin'. It was the hostel at the south end of Long Beach, built up into the hill, and with a view of the ocean. For 30RM/night ($10CDN) you really can't go wrong.
We also had the pleasure of a family of geckos living in our ceiling...I didn't officially meet all of them until my last nite (i'm thinking there were at least 7 of 'em), but I heard them every single day, right above my head, scratching around in the ceiling tiles. It's a little unnerving laying in bed, and not knowing what's making those noises above you...But they eat the gross bugs, so for that I'm happy to have had them.

The first day I just spent hanging around...reading on the beach, eating, exploring. There's a trail around the south side of the island, but I only got about a third of the way around before heading back because of the damned monitor lizards. I KNOW they're way more scared of me, and they eat ants for goodness sake...but they spooked me.
Now, the SNAKE I saw crawling across the path back to my hostel should have scared me...I only saw half of it, and that was at least 5 feet. Black, with yellow stripes...wonder if it's poisonous...



The 3 Brits (Tom, Jenny, and James) I met in the Highlands came to the Island the next day, so it was fun to see them again! I bought my own guitar in Tahna Rata, so we got to jam a couple more times as well (not sure if I mentioned that that's how I met them...playing guitar and singing outside our hostel). Those guys are great...their sense of humour is so close to my own, that it was easy to get along. Tom's response to anything that upsets him, is to Punch It, so that quickly became our inside joke: 'Punch It.'

ie:
'That kitten keeps sneaking inside.
Punch It.
The waiter is taking forever to bring my food.
Punch Him.
My guitar is out of tune.
Punch It.'

Tom and Jenny are a couple, and James is their friend from home. They're traveling Asia for an entire year, and have about 10 months left to go.
It basically got to the point where everything they said, I would try to copy in my own version of their accent. Not good. Jenny would mock me by over-enunciating her R's: 'I'm going to buy some Grrocerries at the storre...'

We got to go snorkeling one day as well, which resulted in 2 jellyfish stings (Tom's knee and my arm...you should HEAR the things English people say when they're hurt), amazing encounters with some Black-Tipped Reef Sharks (one seriously about 5 feet away from me), Sea Turtles (HUGE! I could swim right beside them), and swarms of tropical fish.
The Brits were good times, and it was sad to say goodbye as they headed up to Thailand.

I'm not really sure where the time went, to be honest...I was writing in my diary one day, and asked for the date. Turns out it was like, 2 days LATER than I thought it was. Oops. There was a lot of laying around...enjoying my morning eggs and toast, complete with my BOH tea...reading a bit...swimming, wading...getting caught on the wrong side of some rocks and having to shimmy up a 7 foot crevice to get over them...

By the end of my 5 days, I'm pretty sure I knew at least a third of the people on the island. The Toronto girls showed up, and I met a few other randoms. It was nice to be able to go down for lunch and have someone to sit with...

Last night I took the late bus to Penang, an island on the west side of the Peninsula. Got in around 5am, and have been wandering around the city of Georgetown ever since.

I have one more full day until I leave for Australia...
But first...some fashion news from Malaysia....!!