perhentian islands

May 2

The stop at Perhentian Islands was an interesting one. Mr.Coca, a couchsurfer from Kansas, who was travelling around the world then, agreed to be my partner-in-crime. While I may be known to travel with random strangers; no, Mr. Coca, at that time was no longer a stranger. I’ve known him for a while; Ed hosted both Mr.Stienstra (from Holland) and Mr.Coca at the same time. Before that, our first travelling stint was in Pangkor Islands with Stienstra, and it was great fun!

Another couchsurfer from San Diego but who’s currently a student exchange in Japan, emailed me that he’ll be arriving on the day we depart. Prior to that, we had exchanged friendly emails and msn chats. Mr. Perez requested whether he could be part of the backpacking crew and it took me a quite a while before I finally agreed. Coca said yes as well. I have always been wary of travelling with people. As elaborated in the other entries, I take great care in choosing my travel partners because it can be quite a pain in the ass when you’re with someone who’s not quite right. Sometimes, even best friends and couples fall out simply because they cannot travel together. Anyway, I thought I’d meet Mr. Perez up for a cuppa before agreeing to anything.

When I picked him up from Central Market, he turned out to be a really nice, young guy. Very intuitive, intelligent, sensitive and fun-loving. He got along well with Coca as well. Having bonded over a few glasses of teh ais, we took him in and made him partner-in-crime #3.

Below is something brief about the trip.

Highlights for Long Beach, Perhentian Kecil:

1) Dancing on the jagged edge of the rocks while listening to Perez’s ipod. It was amazing how two people who just met can connect that instantly! We shared so much that, we still keep in touch till today! I’d really love to see that guy again, somewhere, someday!
2) Meeting Mr.Bristow, a hard-to-please Englishman, who’s an incredible ESL teacher who has taught around the globe. He provided me with a wealth of insights about teaching ESL in Italy, Crotia, Lithuania, China and Thailand. Squidman introduced us virtually and Bristow agreed to meet me in Perhentians as he was already in Thailand when that introduction took place. He emailed in reply, saying that any friend of Squidman’s a friend of his. I guess I owe that to Squidman. Bristow has high standards about everything in life and while he can be pretty harsh on certain things, I’m surprised he warmed up to my company. I didn’t think that a naive 24 year old could contribute anything intelligent , especially when the 37 year old is a widely-travelled and intelligent man.
3)Meeting Mr.Stienstra and Ms. Vanduffel(from Belgium) again. Stienstra gave me a very warm welcome when he saw me on the beach.
4)Philosophical discussions on the balcony of our little hut. I share that hut with Coca and Perez.
5) Brushing my teeth under the stars.
6) Exploring Perhentian Kecil with Stienstra and Bristow. With only flip flops, we trekked along the shoreline, from the forest into the rocks and then on the sand, and back to the forest. We covered at least 30 km or more, and that took us half a day. We found abandoned guesthouses, gigantic spiders, a naked Frenchman, some secluded beachspots and interesting flora and fauna. I felt like I was a character out of Famous Five, sniffing out mysteries and trying to solve them. The only problem is, the mysteries were only imaginary, but the picturesque backdrop was very, very real.
7) Over-the-top Snicker shakes that were enjoyed during our card-playing sessions.
8)A day snorkelling with Bristow. It cost us RM50 but it was worth every cent. Being a relatively amateur snorkeller, I was dazzled by the treasures hidden in the azure depths. Also, we saw sharks, turtles, a dizzying variety of fish and coral beds-as promised.
9)The friendship formed amongst: Bristow, Stienstra,Vanduffel, Perez, Coca and myself. First it was 2, and then it was 6. In this case, the more the merrier!

Thoughts:
1) The backpackers on Perhentian Kecil was a little more aloof than those on Pangkor Islands. It was so much easier to meet people and make friends in the guesthouse in Pangkor, compared to Perhentian Kecil. Everyone seem to be have a default scowl on their face, and even when you greet them, they’d reluctantly push some face muscles up to alleviate their lips, in to what they’d resemble a smile.

2) Why were there so many abandoned guesthouses They all looked hauntingly eerie; silent and steady, looking out into the sea. We found books, clothes, keys and broken furniture all over. Why did the owners leave the guesthouses in such a way? Were they in a hurry and why? We talked to some locals about the Mira and Dilangsir cliff huts and they said they were haunted. Oh well.