Boat trip in the mangroves

I would recommend doing a boat trip into the mangroves. We first visited the bat cave before sailing down the Kilim river learning about the nature in Langkawi and the importance of the mangroves. Tourism is great but comes with a high price as Langkawi has been faced with unregulated development and the results of tourism. It may loose it’s geopark status!

Getting around the island

There is no public transport so hire your own car or scooter or use the taxis available. Try to book your car hire in advance so you can drive straight to your accommodation and you aren’t harassed by the many car rental toots as you stop of the ferry. Our car rental cost us 130 RM for 3 days, which is really cheap!!

Car rental: Nafihantravel

Www.nafihantravel.wordpress.com

[email protected]

Contact Hans 013 4353 413 or Effa 013 4599 008

His website is all in malay. So use google translate and text him like we did. Very cheap and a good car. Note that manual cars are more expensive to hire than automatic cars.

Kuah

Our accommodation was in Kuah for the first few days. It’s the first town you drive through from the jetty. Not much to do here. Lots of shops offering duty free goods. Local men come to Langkawi for the cheap cigarettes whereas the local women come to shop.

We visited the Tourist Information centre here to stock up on maps and flyers.

Nearby is Eagle Square – a massive statue of the reddish brown eagle. Langkawi means reddish brown eagle.

Taman Legenda – it is supposed to be a scenic park with beautiful gardens but it was run down and neglected. The river was so low you could see the layout. The trees didn’t look healthy. This is such a shame because it would be the perfect park – there are plenty of flowers, trees and places to relax and get some shade.

Spas

We decided to treat ourselves in Langkawi and there are many spas to choose from on this little island. Luxury pampering on the beach. We opted for a package from Yuan Spa, which was relaxing and fun.

Laman Paddy (rice museum)

This was a cultural museum showcasing the history of rice cultivation in Malaysia. They also do demonstrations but there was only the two of us so we couldn’t partake in any tours.

Buffalo Park

You can see first hand some of the water buffalos that were used in the agriculture in Malaysia. We also saw some wild water buffalos on the road side.

Langkawi Skycab

You can ride up in a gondola to the top of Gunung Machinchang to see the views of Langkawi and the surrounding islands and the Amadaman sea. The views are stunning. There’s also a skybridge is  660m above sea level and a platform that you can walk along to enjoy the 360 views of Langkawi.

Night Markets (Pasar Malam)

Every night of the week there are vendors setting up stalls with a vast array of foods, snacks and drinks. This is a great place to meander and sample local cuisine at a cheap price. They open from 5:30pm till 10pm.

Sunday: Padang Matsirat – large car park near field of burnt rice

Monday: Ulu Melaka next to the mosque

Tuesday: Kedawang T Junction

Wednesday and Saturday: Kuah town river

Thursday: Pantai Cenang close to Meritus Pelangi Resort

Friday: Air Hangat Roundabout to Tanjung Rhu Hotel

Langkawi is one of the most beautiful islands of Malaysia – it is definitely a must visit.

However there is more to it – Georgetown, which is the main hub of Penang is an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. People of different backgrounds and races have lived in harmony here for many years. The historical buildings have been well preserved and are still standing – it’s a very fascinating place to explore.

Besides the cultural and historical side to this city, as an island there are a few beaches available to go and relax at.

I think we had one of the best stays in Penang, which was all thanks to Danny, the owner of the Friendly Green House we stayed at in Georgetown. He took us:

• to a private beach to see the sunset, but unfortunately the clouds had gathered and the rain had started by the time we reached it. Then we headed straight for some yummy seafood at a local restaurant.
• to eat lots of local famous cuisines around Georgetown. You can read our ‘Penang – Foodie Recommendations’ post.
• to see half of Penang lit up at night.
• lent us some bicycles so we cycled around an hour and a half to get to the Kek Lok Si, a Buddhist temple in Air Itam.

Penang is also the first place, besides Kuala Lumpur, that had a decent public transport route!! The rapid Penang buses are all fully air-conditioned and run frequently. They also have a free shuttle bus (CAT), which provides a hop on and hop off service in Georgetown. This is a great way to visit and see the attractions because you don’t have to think of other modes of transport to get you from one tourist attraction to the next, which is just a pain. The map/routes can here found here. The best thing to do is go to the bus terminal and get a map of the route it goes.

Penang Tropical Fruit Farm

This fruit farm was built to preserve Penang’s green heritage. They have all types of local fruits as well as fruits from around the world (around 250 species in total). This 25-acre farm is big. We took the tour, which was 40RM per person (not including 6% GST), and this included a fruit platter and juice at the end. The tour was really interesting. I didn’t know what half of the plants were and how they were grown or what they looked like in their natural state. There was nutmeg, cinnamon, pomelo, kiwi, papaya trees, dragonfruit, mango, durian, jackfruit, water apple, rambutan, longan, mangosteen, pineapple, lemongrass bush and many others we had not heard of before. The fruit platter was really yummy, we went for 2 rounds and then had a papaya with milk juice, which was refreshing.

To get here you have to get the 101 bus to Teluk Behang and then wait for the 501 bus to the fruit farm. Note the 501 bus is every 2 hours!!

Spice Gardens

After the fruit farm you have to take the 101 bus back to central Georgetown. We decided to stop of at the Spice Gardens to have a look around. I did feel a bit disappointed as there were lots of different spices and herbs but some had not grown yet so there wasn’t much to see. They have an audio tour which was great and told you about the history and how they were brought to Malaysia.

Admission is 26RM per person. Remember to make use of the citronella oil provided or the mosquitos will make a meal out of you.

3D Art Museum

Quite a good way to spend a couple of hours. This museum has life size figures that protrude from the walls and with the painted backgrounds create a 3D effect, which you can capture on your camera.

Admission is 25RM per person.

Pinang Pernankan Mansion

I think this is my favourite bit of Penang. The mansion is home to a Kapitan Cina – Cheung Keng Kwee and coming to see his house was breathtaking. These Kaptians, which can be found all our Southeast Asia had immense power, influenced and contributed to social and economic development in areas under their jurisdiction. They made their money either in opium or in tin mining, for example, and these Pernanakans (also known as Babas and Nyonyas) lead an interesting life. They adopted the Malay ways and the colonial British lifestyle, which is reflected in this house. The mansion itself is divided up into separate areas, each one so grand, so lavish – they seriously had a lot of money. Even the buttons on the children’s clothing were made out of gold. They had a headdress and jewellery on show that were made out of the feathers of the kingfisher. I would definitely recommend coming to have a look at this house.

In and around Georgetown

There are plenty of hawkers stalls and buildings to explore. We also travelled to see the clan jetties near the ferry terminal – see the old ways of life, which is still being preserved although many of the young children have now moved into the city to find work.

Penang is definitely worth visiting!

Next on our list in Langkawi, an island near to Thailand. You may think of 5 star luxury, endless pampering, pristine beaches – stayed tuned for our next post.

I think this is one the best hostels we have stayed at so far. Not only was it cheap but best of all was the owner, Danny who was really great guy and spent a lot of time with us – taking us out to have breakfast and dinner, taking us to a hilltop to see Penang at night and really wanting to get to know us. The best thing about travelling is not only going to explore the city on your own but meeting different people and understanding their way of life firsthand. Hands up to Danny, a great host who made our stay in Penang so special!!

So what is so special about Friendly Green House, Georgetown, Penang?

For a backpacker, this is heaven, the mixed dorm is 17RM per night!

(17RM is the weekday price whereas at the weekend it is 19RM per night).

Facilities:

Dorm Room – Full air con

Lounge area to socialise in

Kitchen area that is you can clean up after yourself

Free drinking water

2 bathrooms

1 separate toilet

Free lockers

Free breakfast – selections of jams, tea, coffee

Free towels

Free bike hire

Location:

It’s not in the centre of Georgetown but to walk there it is very easy. The walk to the centre is not far at all and there are shops and places to eat dotted around the hostel.

The Komtar – 10 minute walk

The free CAT bus – 5 minute walk

Food and shops – around the corner

Final thoughts:

We had a great time staying at this guesthouse. It’s our favourite so far – it’s not fancy or high class but we had so much fun with the other backpackers and Danny himself. Danny is very welcoming, friendly and he does go out his way to help you.

The hostel is also clean, which is very important for us. We were given our own towels and the bed is not too bad! We got a lot of good sleeps staying here.

To book:

I would definitely recommend booking in advance as there were a few nights that were fully booked.

You can either book via the booking system below or call Danny on 011-3172 7993 to reserve your bed.

• Agoda
• Booking.com

Friendly Green House Hostel

No 16. Lorong Ceylon,

10500 Georgetown,

Penang.

Malaysia.

Tel: 04 266 5182

Thank you Danny for having us!

We didn’t know much about this city coming into it and the little we did know came from the hostel owner of where we stayed in Kuala Lumpur at the start of our adventure.

Although not developed as a tourist centre it turned out that there are many things to see and do in this ex tin-mining town – even if the tourist information centre was closed at the time of our visit.

How to get there

Situated on the main land of Malaysia and on main roads and railways it is very easy to get to from pretty much anywhere.

Coming from the Cameron Highlands we took a bus down which cost us 18RM each. The journey took about 3 hours, of which a good two-thirds was spent going around mountain roads, not too good if you get a little travel sick.

Where we stayed

We found a reasonably cheap hostel (30RM) just outside of the city, Bed & Bike Backpackers Studio.  A tidy, clean, modern and open plan room housed all the beds and the common area.  We were impressed by the owner of the hostel, Eva, who spoke very good English and gave us some very good ideas about where to go, what to see and what to eat.  All excellent recommendations, try the chicken tikka just up the road from the hostel!

The only negative thing with the hostel is that it is just a little bit too far out of the centre of Ipoh and the public transport is quite bad.  There is just one bus that gets to the hostel from the centre and the last bus is 7:30pm.  After a couple of days this became quite tedious and so we decided to move on from the hostel.

Eva has told us that she intends to relocate the hostel right into the city centre.  If she is able to do that and keep the look, feel and cost very similar to what she has now then I think she will have a great hostel!

After Eva’s place we moved to Abby by the river for a couple of nights, also costing 30RM.  This is right in the city and within walking distance of the main attractions.  The Abby lacked the character of Eva’s but it was right where we wanted to be.

Getting around in Ipoh

Public transport is something we tried and then gave up on in Ipoh.  It’s not terrible, just quite unreliable.  There’s no obvious bus stops, and in fact we saw most locals just flagging the bus down anywhere.  I guess this works if you know the route, but as we didn’t then spent a long time trying to find where to get the bus. There’s no good maps of where the buses go, where the stops are, or the time table at each place.  I know in England we say our public transport is terrible but I think Malaysia has a lot to catch up on outside of KL.

In the end we walked most of the places within the city itself and relied on locals we met in the hostel to show us around some places, we even rented a car for one day to see some of the sights further away from the centre.

What to do in Ipoh

Although not set up as a tourist town there is lots to do and see in Ipoh and the surrounding areas.  We spent 5 days there in total and this is what we did.

Ipoh’s famous murals

Created by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, these murals dot the city centre.  It’s your job to find them all!  In total there are 7 “original” murals and many copy cats.  We found all of them.

Han Chin Pet Soo

A surprise find, Serena had heard about this briefly but hadn’t mentioned it to me.  We were walking around trying to find the murals and she spotted this museum about the history of Ipoh from the point of view of the Hakka Chinese that were the predominant people here a hundred years ago.

The building itself is an old private members club for those Hakka Chinese working in the tin mining industry when it was still a big industry in Ipoh.  With the decline of the tin trade (and frankly the ageing of the members themselves) the club saw less and less use to the point where it was rented out to a private company which turned it into a museum.

I didn’t know what to expect coming into this museum but I found it fascinating.  It told the history of tin mining in Ipoh as well as how the metal is actually mined.  It also went into detail about the history of the building and how it was used during the various periods of its history, including the gambling, women and opium use that was rife at the time.

They have restored this building to an incredible level of detail and gone beyond, giving details about the history of Ipoh itself.

Very much worth a look!

Kellie’s Castle

A collection of old buildings built by a Scotsman, William Kellie Smith, that emigrated to Malaysia for his family.  Now a historical site and gardens.

Definitely interesting if you like historical sites – there’s plenty of information on the history of the buildings and how they were used.

Concubine Lane

An interesting, short street containing lots traditional shops and accommodation. At the end of the road is a bar run by an Englishman built in the style of an English Pub, “Big John’s”.

Gua tempurung

Ex-tin mining cave formation, this is a huge and impressive collection of natural formations.  Our guide pointed out interesting structures.  After a nice gentle walk through the formations our guide took us off the path and deep into the caves.  No lights, no walk way, no safety.

We made our way through flooded tunnels and tight holes.  Sliding down sheer drops to follow the course of an underground river, eventually coming out where we originally came in.  At no point did we have to put our heads underwater, for which I was grateful!

In total the trip took about 3.5 hours.  If you’re scared of tight places then I wouldn’t do this tour, but if you’re not then I would give it a go.  Very interesting.

Temples

We saw three temples in Ipoh, Sam poh tong, Kek lok tong and Perok tong.  Impressive structures but all pretty much the same as each other.

I think my favourite was Kek lok tong, it has a very impressive garden at the back with a lake.

What’s next?

Next we are going to Penang, an Island off the west coast of Malaysia.  Renowned for food and culture and a short bus trip away.  Time to tantalise our taste buds with more spectacular Malaysian food.

Oh and during our stay in Ipoh we met a guy that owns a hostel in Penang, you just can’t beat a local to show you around give you all the top tips on where to eat and what to see…

1. Cactus Valley – Perched on a hillside is this botanical show garden. It has a great collection of flowers and cacti of different shapes, sizes and colours. We easily spent an hour here meandering across the paths.
2. Big Red Strawberry Farm – this was our next stop. The weather in the Cameron Highlands is perfect for growing a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. Strawberries are popular and there are rows and rows of strawberry plants. You can pick you own strawberries but only between May/June to late October, when they are in season. They also grow lettuces, kale and other vegetables hydropinically. At the cafe, they have fresh salads using the lettuces they have grown themselves.

We then tried to catch the bus to the famous Boh tea plantation. It wasn’t far to walk (3km in total), but the topography here is hilly – lots and lots of steep hills with no walking paths, so walking wasn’t really an option. The bus didn’t turn up, nobody knew if it even went the tea plantations. It was rather frustrating.

After our visit to the Perhentian Islands we decided to do something completely different and visit a forest.  This could have been driven by the fact we both got sunburnt on the islands (“I don’t burn, anyway it’s overcast” – Serena – April, 2015). We were sore – Serena’s shoulders had been burnt and carrying the backpack was quite painful for her. My arms and legs resembled lobsters – it was time to get out of the sun and get some cover from the blistering sun.  What better forest to visit than Taman Negara (Malay for ‘National Park’).  It has wild animals, breathtaking views across a forest canopy and local indigenous tribes living in villages barely changed for hundreds of years.

Transportation to Taman Negara

Situated right in the middle of the main Malaysian peninsula it’s quite easy to get to Taman Negara from any part of Malaysia – we travelled by minivan direct from the Kuala Besut jetty.  You can also get there from other areas such as Kuala Lumpur and the Cameron Highlands.  We payed 85RM each for the privilege of a direct route there, but you can organise to do it totally by public transport, which is slightly cheaper but also much more hassle.

Time for a little rant.  If you’re not interested, skip to “Top Tips” which tells you everything you need to know.

We did find the journey quite exhausting and worrying.  The first boat from Perhentian is meant to be at 8:00am, by 8:45 we were still waiting for our boat.  As Taman Negara, like the Perhentian Islands, does not have any ATMs our plan was to visit the supermarket after getting off the boat and before getting on the bus – we also intended to get breakfast there.

After getting off the boat late we were told to stand and wait, unable to go to the supermarket. We were then moved, stood and waited again, then eventually marched through the heat to get to the bus company’s office.  Through all this the communication was terrible, we didn’t know why we were going to each place, how long we were staying there, what we were waiting for.  Eventually we were able to nip out of the bus company office and grab some unhealthy snack food from a local shop to eat on the way.  Not a nice experience to be carrying heavy backpacks though the heat, while hungry and not knowing how long we were walking for.

Top Tips: Eat breakfast before you attempt this journey! Don’t assume there will be time between getting off the boat and getting on the bus.  Taman Negara, like the Perhentian Islands, doesn’t have an ATM – ask your minivan driver to stop at an ATM on the way, ours was very nice and helped us a lot.

The journey was very long, in total it took us 7 hours with a 1 hour break for lunch.  We also swapped minivans at this point – which was great as the first mini van’s air-conditioning was broken.  You also stop off at the main tour company’s offices a couple of hours before you get to Taman Negara.  Here they give you lots of useful information, such as hostels and what there is to do – of course they also try and sell you tours, but more on that later.

Arriving at Taman Negara, or rather Arriving at Kuala Tahan

Most modes of transport to Taman Negara will drop you off at the little town, Kuala Tahan, just outside of the park.   This town seems to be there purely to service the tourists that visit the park with little in the way of housing for local people, however there is what seems to be a school.

The town has one main street with small shops, restaurants and lots of tour companies.

Just outside the town, 2 minute’s walk away, is a river that separates the town from Taman Negara itself.  Along the river are floating restaurants and yet more tour companies offering the same guided tours.

That’s really all there is to this little tourist town.

Accommodation

Our minivan driver give the other passenger directions to where his accommodation was, but as we hadn’t pre-booked anything I walked around Kuala Tahan asking for prices and looking at rooms.

Typically you can look at paying 40RM for a private room with a fan, or 70-80RM for a private room with air conditioning.  If you’re wanting to go to a dorm/hostel then it’s around 15-20RM for a bed in a fan room or 20RM for a bed in an air-conditioned room.

We chose an air-conditioned bed in Mahseer Chalet Dorm, we were lucky and the first night there was no other guests and so it was as good as a private room at half the price.

The dorm was reasonably clean and the air conditioning good.  The bathroom was inside the dorm itself and had a shower and flushing toilet (something of a luxury in Malayisa).

They also had on site laundry with same day return, very useful.  There was only one usable power socket in the dorms but that was enough for two people, I wonder how usable it would be with a full dorm of 6 people.

In all it was very basic but at that price you can’t complain.

What to do and see

Although you’re in a town outside Taman Negara you can easily get to the national park yourself.  It’s on the other side of the river with boatmen charging 1RM per person each way.

You’re free to walk around an explore the park yourself and there are many trails, from a few km long to dozens of km.

The many tour companies all seem to offer the same tours at the same prices, with any difference being around 5RM at a maximum.  There’s also combined (“combo”) tours with group two or more trips together with a small discount, possibly 10-15RM.

Some of the tours on offer were:

• Tour to the Canopy Walk, a rope bridge through the trees, and up Bukit Teresek, a local hill with good views over the top of the canopy
• A visit to the local indigenous people’s (Orang Asli) village.
• A night safari on a 4×4 vehicle through the Palm Oil plantations to try and spot the wildlife.
• A ride up and down some rapids on a boat, prepare to get wet.
• A night walk through the forest.

There was one place who offered an overnight fishing trip, which we really wanted to do but unfortunately, through some miscommunication, it was a lot more expensive than we had budgeted. The trip included a local guide and the hire of the whole boat. You started from 6pm till the early morning learning and fishing and staying on the boat overnight. Maybe next time!

Canopy Walk and Bukit Teresek, or “Please tell me how I can get hot, sweaty and tired as quickly as possible?”

On the first day we decided to go to the Canopy Walk and up Bukit Teresek ourselves rather than doing the tour, the guide cost 35RM per person and doesn’t cover the fees for entering the park, crossing the river or doing the Canopy Walk itself.  The guides are only really there to show you where to go but everything is so well signposted we didn’t really see the need.

The fee to enter the park and take photograph was 6RM per person, if you don’t want to take photographs it only costs 1RM.  Including the 1RM river crossing and 5RM to do the actual Canopy Walk it cost 13RM per person to go do it ourselves.

As we didn’t have a guide we could take it at our own pace, for which I was very grateful.  The total round trip was was over 5km (3 miles) and had over 1200 steps upwards.  The heat, combined with the humidity in the forest, made this a very long, tiring and frankly sweaty walk.  But in the end we got some brilliant views through and over the canopy as well as seeing and hearing lots of wild animals which might have been scared away by a large tour group.

Orang Asli Village

Just up the river from Kuala Tahan is a village of around 70-100 local indigenous people called Orang Asli (Malay for “original people”).  This village is one of many throughout the Taman Negara area.  There are around 4,000 Orang Asli in the forest and surroundings.  This is rapidly growing, mainly due to the lack of family planning leading to each family having 7-10 children.

We went on this trip with a guide, combined with the rapids boat ride it cost 60RM per person, by itself it cost RM40.

When we arrived at the village our Malay guide talked to us about the history of the people, how they survive in the forest and what tools and natural materials they used.  After that a tribal member demonstrated some of their survival skills – how they made fire, created blow darts and the glue used to bind them and how they used the blow darts to shot animals in the trees, such as monkeys and birds.

After that we walked around the village, we were able to look everywhere except inside the huts themselves. It was quiet, our guide said many of the tribe members were out hunting, but we did see the huts and how they grew bananas to eat.

Night Safari, or “How many people can sit on the roof of a 4×4 vehicle with no seatbelt without falling off?”

A pretty basic concept – pack as many people onto the back and roof of a pickup truck as possible and drive around a Palm Oil plantation until you spot some unsuspecting wild animal at which point you point torches at them and take photos until they run away.

That was a slightly stupid description, sorry, it was actually quite fun.  Although cramped it wasn’t painful and the vehicle drove slowly enough that we didn’t feel in danger of falling off at any point.

The tour lasted a couple of hours, most of which was spent in anticipation of the next creature spot, watching the search light move around the plantation hoping to catch a glimpse of something moving or a pair of eyes shining back at you through the darkness.

The few animals we did spot mostly stared back at us, or move away as quickly as possible.  We saw a couple of lemurs, plenty of birds and a couple of wild cats.  A little disappointing you might say, but still worth the trip and the 40RM per person we spent.

Boat Rapids

We did a combo tour with the Orang Asli village and the boat rapids, together costing 60RM although this tour would have cost 40RM if we had done it separately.

The boat picked us up at one of the floating restaurants that doubled, as most of them did, as a tour company.  From there we were taken up the river a few miles, through some light rapids from which we got wet, a little.  It was interesting but in my opinion I wouldn’t say it’s worth the 40RM if you do it separately.

Night Walk Through Taman Negara

We didn’t do this tour, but it is a couple of hour walk through the forest from 8:30pm.  You hope to spot wild animals that only tend to come out at night, such as lemurs, wild boars, etc.  It costs 40RM from most tour companies.  We mainly didn’t do this because of the short time we had in Taman Negara, but I also think that we could have done it ourselves.  The forest is so well signposted that would be difficult to get lost in the forest unless you strayed from the man made walk ways.

Leaving Taman Negara

Our next stop after Taman Negara is the Cameron Highlands. There is a minivan service direct from Taman Negara (with the usual 1 hour stop at the tour company’s offices so they can sell you lunch), however we decide to do something slightly different.

After having a 7 hour bus journey a couple of days before we wanted to break it up a little.  We took a boat from Kuala Tahan to Jerantut and then a minivan to the Cameron Highlands, a cost of 80RM per person.  It was a nice little ride down the river and on the way we spotted a wild boar and some water buffalo, unfortunately we went by too quickly to snap any photos.

If you’re looking to go to Kuala Lumpur from Taman Negara there are minivan services too, for around 70-80RM.

If you’re looking to do it all yourself there’s a bus to Jerantut which has a bus station where you can take public buses to lots of locations.

Last Thoughts

We both enjoyed our time in Taman Negara – it was a welcome change from the beaches and cities.  We stayed two nights, but it could possibly have even been one night if we had known what we were doing going into it and organised better.

If you enjoy jungle trekking I’m sure you could spend longer, but if you just want to see all the highlights then you could get an early bus, do it all in one day and then leave the morning after.

Where Next?

It’s time to move on from Teman Negara.  We are trying to work our way from the Perhentian Islands, on the east cost, over to Penang which is on the west coast.  From there we can explore the city and go to the beaches on the island of Langkawi before our flight to Thailand.

Looking at a map our next stop is the Cameron Highlands, a series of towns 1500m high in the hills.  An escape from the heat and humidity of the rest of Malaysia for the English in the past, and hopefully for us…

This is our guide to this tropical paradise – The Perhentian Islands

Clear skies and warm crystal blue waters. Diving is a must here!

The Perhentian Islands (Pulau Perhentian) are situated on the North East coast of Malaysia. Two inhabited islands make it up – Besar, which is the big island and caters more for families and Kecil, which is the smaller island, slightly cheaper than Besar.

We decided to go to Coral Bay on Perhentian Kecil. We stayed there for 5 nights in total, which gave Andrew time to complete his PADI Open Water Scuba qualification.

How did we get to the Perhentian Islands?

I had pre-booked an Airasia flight from KL to Kuala Terengganu back in December when they had a promotion. Flights for me and Andrew amounted to £15.50 per person, which also included 20kg of luggage. The flight was not stressful at all and the whole journey lasted 35 minutes (we arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule). They often do special offers at Airasia so go and have a look.

Terengganu is the nearest town and gateway to the Perhentians. From there we took a taxi (120RM) to the Kuala Besut jetty (it was our only option!!)  There are no buses that go directly to Kuala Besut. If you can gather a few people to travel to the jetty at the same time you can divide the 120RM up but unfortunately there were not any other backpackers at that time!

The cost of the jetty is 70RM per person return and takes roughly 45 minutes to reach the Perhentians.

Top tip: Before you leave the jetty, ask for directions for the supermarket. If you want to get some food for the journey you can do this here. The walk is roughly 10-15 minutes. You can also use the ATM at the front to withdraw money as there are no ATM’s or money exchangers on the island. Most dive centers and the bigger restaurants will accept credit/debit cards but they may apply a 6% charge (to cover GST) on top.

What is accommodation like?

This is the first time neither me nor Andrew had pre-booked accommodation. The reason being most of the places did not accept bookings on Coral Bay (Perhentian Kecil), only the very higher end accommodation and chalets took bookings. We just decided to rock up with our backpacks and hope for the best. It was lucky we arrived during the weekday because after asking a few chalets on the beach, they were fully booked. If you arrive at the weekends, you will also be fighting for accommodation with the locals, who come to the island for a weekend break.

There’s a variety of hostels and hotels on Coral Bay all dotted along the beach. We just went into each and asked for the price. Rooms started from 50RM, the larger resorts and chalets were more expensive with prices starting from 100RM for a fan room and 150 for a room with air-con. We decided to stay with Aur Bay Chalets because it was the only accommodation available for 4 days straight. The room was basic with a double bed and attached bathroom. You have to take it with a pinch of salt and whilst I am not very fussy the toilet didn’t flush and the fan was next to useless. There we no electricity points to charge our gear but you can charge at the reception. The room was close to the beach front and dive centre and that’s what we were mainly after.

Top tip: When you ask for the price of the room, ask if you can have a look at the room so you can fully understand what you are paying for. They are used to this so don’t be shy.

What are the main attractions?

• Diving

Beginners → This is a great place for divers including those that want to learn. The waters are crystal clear, warm and teaming with life. For beginners you don’t have to dive that deep to see the life under the sea. Andrew completed his PADI Open Water Dive qualification at Quiver Dive Centre, you can read about it here. It was 950RM for the course, which is roughly £173!

Divers → There are plenty of dive sites here. Pinnacles (Temple – Tolong Laut), wrecks (Police wreck, Vietnamese wreck). They are all boat dives and take approximately 10-15 minutes to get to. Most dives are around 70RM to 90RM depending how far out the dive site is.

On my first dive at Temple (a pinnacle) I saw almost everything – pufferfish, triggerfish, stingrays, bamboo sharks, boxfish and a turtle. The other dives after that were overshadowed by such an awesome dive.

• Snorkelling

If you haven’t planned to go diving you could go and have a snorkel. There are snorkelling trips that you can go on as a group and they take you to the different points on the islands – Turtle point, where you may get a glimpse of a turtle, D’Lagoon, Rawa Island, Shark Point etc.

• Water Sports

You can rent banana boats, donut boats and kayak/canoe around the island. Take your time to enjoy the view and relax.

• Sunbathing

On Long Beach, the other side to Coral Bay on Kecil, you can sunbathe to your heart’s content. The parasols were 10RM to rent and the whole stretch is covered with sunbathers.

• Fishing Trips

If you fancy doing some sea fishing then the locals can take you out. The trip that we saw was 350RM for half a day but they required 4 people to make it worthwhile.

• Visit the other islands

We did go to Perhentian Island Resort and then walked to Turtle Point. We then got a water taxi to the Fishing Village. It was great to see the how the locals lived and we had some amazing chicken lemongrass here.

How do I get around?

To get around you need to use the the water taxis. Don’t worry there are plenty of people who will come up to you and offer you a ride. Check the prices before but the are mostly the same. However we did find some prices were cheaper depending on which side of the island you were, for example we saved 30 ringits between us by just walking 10 minutes to side of the island closest to where we wanted to go.

Food

Food is great and there are restaurants serving local and western food. Prices vary but you can check the menus out beforehand. Please note there aren’t many places serving alcohol on either islands.

The only place we found that accepted credit card was Ombak, which also happened to be the most expensive place to eat.

Of course, with it being an island there is plenty of sea food to choose from, one of our favourite dishes was a claypot cooked soup with seafood or chicken – lots of local flavours.

Overall

We came to the Perhentian Islands so Andrew could get his diver certification. He has now got it and so we can go scuba diving together in the future!!

The island is a definitely a good place to relax, soak up the sun and have some fun in the water. Even with all our diving  included (5 dives) we were still within budget (okay, Andrew’s course was my Christmas present to him – so that was not included).

Our next stop is Taman Negara  a rainforest that is 130 million years old in Malaysia.

PADI Open Water Course in Perhentian Islands, Malaysia.

During our time in the Perhentian Islands I have been doing my PADI Open Water Scuba Diving course.  We decided to do this at the start of the course so that we can enjoy the dive sites together later during our trip.  Serena has already done a lot diving a few years earlier so she took a quick refresher course as well.

I did the course at the Quiver Dive Team centre on Pulau Kecil Perhentian with an instructor called Karim, a very friendly Egyptian.  He greeted us when we stepped onto the island and talked to me about the course, what it entailed and there was availability to start the next day, which was a total winner. There were other dive centres at Coral Bay Beach where we stayed, however we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere at Quiver Dive Centre.

I’ll talk about the actual experience in a few minutes but some hard facts first.

Facts

What: PADI Open Water Scuba Dive Course

Where: Quiver Dive Team centre on Pulau Kecil Perhentian

How much: 950 ringgits – at time of writing £177/$262

Boring stuff: 5 modules of theory and 6 exams (one for each module and 1 final exam)

Exciting stuff: 2 confined water dives and 2 open water dives

Course Structure and Instructor

The on land training was quite simple: watch a few videos and answer some questions.  There’s a small amount of science and maths involved but they’re not too challenging.  If you remember your GCSE physics about pressure and are comfortable reading spreadsheets then you’re ready to rock, if you’re not then don’t worry as they teach it quite basically.

I think in total that took almost a full day, the videos were about 4 hours long in total and the exams took another couple of hours.

On water training was a total of 4 dives.  The first two were in confined water, although because this is an island with no fresh water that involved a roped off part of the sea, so there was still plenty to see and experience.  The last two were boat dives in the middle of the sea: taking the boat out, plopping off the boat and enjoying the scenery/wildlife.

I managed to do all of this in two and a half days, even squeezing in a fun dive on the afternoon of the third day,

Then you’re done!  A certified PADI diver, able to dive up to 18 metres.

Experience

It’s hard to describe the experience in one word, so I’ll try a few.

Scary, exhilarating, liberating.

The scary part I’m sure I don’t have to describe too much.  You’re under water, under a lot of water.  So much you can’t see the sun anymore.  Your life depends on some metal strapped to your back and your own control over it.

It’s not actually that difficult to get in the water and suck air from a cylinder, there’s just a lot going on you have to think about.  Don’t sink too quickly, don’t rise to quickly, blow air into your mask, squeeze your nose and blow to keep your ears from hurting, keep breathing constantly.  That lasts one’s rather important, if you don’t keep breathing your lungs could burst … no joke.  Feeling scared yet?

But once you get past all of that and actually start to enjoy what’s going on around you you can see why so many people enjoy this – I can start to appreciate why Serena has been on over 60 dives and progressed so far in her training.

I didn’t see as much as Serena did in one of her fun dives, but I saw some stingrays, triggerfish, clownfish (Nemo, found him!) and lots and lots of coral of all shapes and sizes.  Serena managed to see a turtle… so jealous.

I think the worst part was sat waiting for the other divers to surface after I used up all my air quicker than them.  Rocking from side to side … I feel ill just thinking about it.

It’s all an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world, even if I do feel ill and absolutely exhausted after it all.

Right now I’m set up to go on all the dive sites we encounter going forward in our travels: Langkawi, Bali, Borneo, Philippines here we come!