From Bratpackers to Backpackers

Just got to Kota Bahru yesterday from Pulau Perhentian Kecil. Had a good time yesterday in Kota Bahru with Kim and Clare my new found friends. As we had been chilling on the little island far from civilization (no cars, and only a few hours of electricity) which means expensive food, we walked around kota bahru today and gorged on icecream, slushies at 7-11, and lots and lots of fruit. Had a tasty fruit that looks like a nut, but almost tastes like a strawberry today. Then we hit up the delicious night fruit market.

So Pulau Perhentian was great. Had only planned to stay there for 2 days, but ended up staying for 6 days. I really liked it. It wasn't as pretty as the Thai islands I had come from (but still very gorgeous with white sands, jungle interior, and really nice aqua water, and no cars which is always a bonus), but I liked the vibe much more. The people there I feel were much more of the true backpacker type rather than the jetsetters. Thailand does have plenty of backpackers, but they're harder to find b/c they are more in the minority. Here I met so many cool people I actually had to say no to people for dinner dates and snorkel trips. The people here were all interesting, and everyone I met was on some huge trip of at least 6 months. Clare and Kim told me they call the fake backpackers in thailand bratpackers. I found that quite funny. I stayed at an awesome place that was the cheapest on the island but had an absolutely amazing view down to the water right off of my deck and from my bed. Sure it had no fan (but there was a breeze in the afternoon), little power, bed bugs, termites, lizards and frogs everywhere in my room, no sinks, and crummy bathrooms, but it was one of my favorite places I've stayed b/c the staff was so friendly, the view so incredible, and from my bed you could hear the ocean, see the ocean, and feel its breeze.

It all started off being dropped off at kuala besut. 4 other people (2 different british couples) got dropped off around the same time. They were all really young, having just graduated from high school and travelling the world on their gap year. A woman there wanted us all to sign up right then and there (it was 5 in the morning as we had been on overnight busses) for the boats. It was very expensive, but they were all ready to sign up begrudingly. But I told them to wait. The woman was so urgent for us to sign up, that I knew there would be other options. I told them all to wait until the jetty opened at 7, and of course, we all got tickets for half the price once it opened. One couple I was particularly fond of was Ian and Rosy and we hung out that afternoon and walked over to coral bay for dinner. I was staying on long beach, but I liked coral bay for eating and hanging out b/c it was even quieter than long beach and the food was cheaper with better portions. It was easy enough to get to, just a 10-15 minute walk through the jungle to the other side of the island.

I hadn't really planned on doing any diving in the Perhentians, but walking around I found a dive shop that offered a really good deal for a five dive package, so I ended up signing up for that. The next day I did two dives. The first dive to T3 was with some other irish guy. Unfortunately the visibility had gone pretty bad due to a change in current, so it wasn't the best. The next dive I went with Kim and Clare and the visibility was a little better, but it didn't matter so much b/c we were diving a vietnamese wreck and the lower visibility just makes the wreck a bit more spooky. We also fought some current to get to an area that had sea horses, and we got lucky and found a cute little guy. That afternoon I took a walk through the jungle to get to the fisherman's village which was about 2 hours away. The hike was really nice through the jungle and along the coast. There were several little white sand beaches along the way and plenty of giant monitor lizards running everywhere. That afternoon I joined up with Ian and Rosy for dinner at coral bay.
The next day I did another two dives. The first dive was to the Sugar wreck, which was pretty cool. The 2nd dive, temple of the sea, was absolutely amazing. The visibility was great and we saw everything: bamboo sharks, lots of stingrays, nudibranchs, scorpion fish, humphead parrotfish, a hawksbill turtle, lionfish, and of course all the other kinds of fish. And the coral was very colorful as well. My plan was to dive one more dive that day to complete my package, do a snorkel trip the next day, and then leave the following day, but Kim and Clare who I really liked-- Kim is from Sweden and Clare from England and they met in New Zealand a few years ago and have been dating since then--were doing there last dive the next day, so I decided to join them. So that afternoon we just hung out and then went out to dinner and shared some whiskey that clare and kim had brought from duty free langkawi

My last dive to Sea Bell with Kim and Clare was great as well. Saw lots of fish and 2 different types of stingrays. That afternoon we just hung out along with Sara and Chris who are british but work at the dive shop now as they are quite cool. Also that afternoon Kim and Clare shaved my head, so now I'm quite hairless. That night we went out to eat and then watched a movie at the dive shop. The next day Kim and Clare were supposed to be leaving for Taman Negara and the jungle. I wanted to stay one more day to do a snorkel trip before leaving the Perhentians. My plan after leaving was to go to Pulau redang, another supposedly beautiful island, but I really liked Kim and Clare so I decided to meet them in Kota Bahru on the way to taman negara. They ended up deciding to stay one day later anyways. So that last day I did the snorkel trip, which is one of the best ones I have ever done. We went to six snorkelling spots and saw all kinds of amazing things, lots of fish, and beautiful corals. I actually saw as much snorkelling as I did diving. And the guide was great, super friendly and nice, and jumped in the water with us to show us where things were. A couple spots we saw lots and lots of black tipped reef sharks up close, and another had lots of stingrays, and another we got to dive down real close to several green sea turtles. That day was one of my favorites for sure. We had lunch at the fishing village, which was much cheaper than the tourist areas. That night the dive gang at our dive shop, clare, kim, and I all went out to eat and then did another movie night.

So Kim, Clare, and I all left the perhentians for Khota Bahru yesterday. I quite like travelling with them b/c they are very nice, very fun, and are on a similar budget as me. Very, very cheap when it comes to transport, food, lodging, but they have a budget to do dives, jungle treks, etc. So they always ate at the same place as me and always would rather wait for the crappy bus than take the taxi. It was funny b/c on the boat over to pulau perhentian, the boat dropped off at several spots including coral bay (the one that is a 10 minute walk from long beach) before dropping off at long beach. After stopping off at all those places, the boat went into longbeach bay and then the captain said that we would all have to pay 3 ringitt to take a taxi boat to the beach. There was a dock nearby and I told him to go there, but he wouldn't. Now this really frustrated me b/c I'd just paid a lot for the boat ride and to just spring this fee on at the end when I could have gotten off at one of the other beaches just kind of upset me. The boat ride over cost 30 ringit. It would be like paying 300 bucks to fly from denver to boise and then having the plane stop at the runway and the pilot saying you'd have to shell out another 30 to take a taxi to the terminal even though they had the little bridge things to connect there. The rest of my boat didn't seem to care about this sudden fee and 3 ringitt isn't too much, so we all just ended up paying, but clare and kim who had come a few days earlier refused to pay and said they would either stay on the boat or get dropped off, so the captain decided to take them to the jetty and they didn't have to pay the fee. I had wished I had been on their boat. But anyways, needless to say, we all walked the day we left over to the other side of the island where you don't have to pay the taxi fee to get on the boat instead of being lazy and taking the taxi from our beach (clare and kim were staying at my same guesthouse). Here in kota bahru we're all sharing a triple room, which saves me considerably from having to pay for a single room.

Today we just kind of enjoyed being back in civilization. Doing some interneting, went to tesco's to buy some cheap food for our upcoming train ride and sit in the air con and just have eaten a lot of cheap food. They're like me, they don't like the cities too much, but they are nice to come back to for a few days to eat icecream, cheap food, go to tesco and get some more western things, and just kind of hang out and recoup. So needless to say, they are quite awesome and we really mesh great together as travellers. Unfortunately I won't be able to travel with them much longer b/c both of their parents are coming down to meet them in indonesia for a bit, but we might get to meet up later down the line b/c they have a similar schedule as me of borneo, indonesia, cambodia, laos, vietnam, etc (only difference is they are throwing in the philippines somewhere in there). They have been travelling for 5 months now and came down from sweeden through russia and china on the trans-siberia railroad (the trip I've been hoping will be my next) and then through thailand of course. THey also both worked and travelled in Australia and NZ for over a year, so they have some good experiences and good ideas for travelling cheap such as moving cars for people and couch surfing. Had my sandals break today, but got them fixed at some guy on the street, so hopefully that will last a bit longer b/c the tesco didn't have my size sandal of course.
Tonight we're going to some cultural show here and also to watch the shadow puppet plays, which is something I had wanted to do. Tomorrow, we are off early in the AM to catch the jungle train through the jungle for 12 hours to a town near taman negara national park. From there we will travel to the park and we are hoping to do a fairly long trek into the jungle as taman negara is one of the most pristine and oldest rainforests in SE asia. The town at the park border may have some internet connection, but we definitely won't have any on the trek, so it is hard to know when the next time I will be online.