Todd, James and I were up before 6am (poor Todd, still jetlagged after 30 hours of travel to get here!) in order to travel cross-country to Kuala Besut, the mainland gateway to the Perhentian islands. Our driver was a wannabe Michael Schumacher, and we travelled on increasingly winding roads, never below about 70kph. At times it was a white-knuckle ride, but he got us there safely, half an hour ahead of schedule. He also seemed to know all the best stops for photo opportunities, so we were able to capture the morning mist rising over the forest, which was pretty spectacular.


Once at Kuala Besut, we caught a speedboat across to the Perhentian islands – Perhentian Besa and Perhentian Kecil (literally, 'Big Island' and 'Small Island'). The speedboat itself was fantastic – 45 mins cutting through waves at high speeds. Our destination was Long Beach on Kecil, but as this was the last stop we had a great mini-tour of the other beaches and the town on Kecil island. The town was the destination of a couple of engineers who had joined us on the boat with a couple of trip switches ready-mounted on plywood, some copper wire, and a lot of tools. Clearly this is the practical side of island living.

This was the first time we hadn't pre-booked accommodation, and so we joined the hordes of backpackers trudging from hostel to hostel along the beach, trying to find the best deal. In the heat of the day, still wearing our backpacks, this was not a pleasant task, and we quickly wised up to the fact that leaving one person with the bags, whilst the other two scouted for somewhere to stay, was a lot easier! Unbeknownst to us before we arrived in Malaysia, our visit coincided with the Malay school holiday, and as a result, rooms were few and far between. We had a bit of a race against two other British couples who'd arrived on the same boat as us, and whilst we managed to bag the last two air-conditioned rooms on the beach, it did mean that Todd and Zub had to cosy up in a double bed for the first night. Not that they seemed to mind too much.

We quickly found Bubu, the best place on the island for food and to watch the football – at nearly £100 a room per night it was too pricey for us to stay at, but we certainly made the most of its facilities, becoming regular customers over our 3 days there. The boys were very happy about being able to enjoy so many matches, and even I came around to it, although I did manage to fall asleep sitting upright about 10 mins into the USA-Slovenia game.

The weather was a bit hit and miss, and so we missed out on any real sunbathing on the first day. That said, there's something about tropical rainstorms that makes them fascinating to watch – at least for the first few hours. The novelty starts to wear off a bit after that. Fortunately on our second day we awoke to glorious sunshine, and baking heat even at 9am. We made the most of the weather and the crystal clear warm water – some would say a little too much, as we were all burnt by the end of the day. The boys had decided a midday swim was a great idea, and so all sported various shades of red on their backs. As a native, Zubin had eschewed any kind of suntan cream and so was more sunburnt than the rest of us put together – so much so that by the time he went back to work, people wondered what on earth had happened to him on his few days off!

James and I also put our new PADI qualifications to good use and did our first 'fun' dive, whilst Todd and Zub came snorkelling. This was a particular achievement for Todd, who had only the previous morning overcome his fear of open water and allowed Zub to teach him how to snorkel. James and I were the only two divers in our group, and had a great dive where we saw blue-spotted stingrays, more triggerfish, some parrot fish and a couple of little Nemos (technical name: anemone fish. I prefer Nemo myself). It was fantastic to just be able to enjoy the experience of diving, and it's starting to feel a lot more 'normal' being underwater now. It also gave me the chance to try out the underwater camera (thanks Jo Fitz!) which was a lot of fun, although more challenging than photography above the water, as everything seems much closer and larger than it actually is.
We also had another Gap Yah encounter, this time at 5am, when our drunken neighbour staggered home and woke up her room-mate and half the island shouting:

“Harriet? Harriet! I've lost my Blaaackberry Harriet.”
Pause.
“My Blaaaackberry, yah! On the beach! The BEACH! I lost it on the beach. I need you to help me look for it.”
Pause.
“So I'll meet you there ok? No there, ok? There! OK?” (This continued for about 5 mins).

Eventually Todd went outside to tell her to shut up, only to find her semi-naked and being pulled into clothes by a tired cabana boy. We have no idea whether she met her friend Harriet, or if she found her Blackberry, nor do we care. Kind-hearted, forgiving citizens that we are, we made sure we made as much noise as possible as we were leaving at 7.30 the next morning.