Friday, June 29, 2012

Surprised by Malaysia

Perhentians!

After a long long bus ride from Ao Nang I arrived in Penang, with a really good first impression. I loved the Malaysian people right from the start, they are SO friendly!
In Penang I arranged my 2 months visa for Thailand. I rented a motorbike with an English boy I met on the bus and we drove around the island. It was a lot of fun to be on a motorbike again in the chaotic Asian traffic.  
The next morning at 5am I got a bus to Kuala Besut with some amazing views on the way.
From there I took the boat to the smallest islands of the Perhentians, Kecil, where my friends Guillem and Jose were waiting for me. The boat ride to the Perhentians was beautiful. We seemed to be floating over the turquoise water.
Arriving at Long beach, one of the two white sand beaches of this very small island, the water seemed to be like the water of a swimming pool. So clear! I have never seen clearer water in my life. Arriving on the beach, not sure where to go because nobody seemed to know the place Jose told me to go, I luckily saw Guillem walking towards me. Perfect timing. So together we went to the bungalow to wake up Jose, who was still sleeping/recovering from the night before.
Within no time we created a group of friends, all staying in bungalows in Rock Garden.
Rock Garden is the nicest guesthouse on the island, it’s on the left side of the beach and you have a beautiful view over the whole beach.

With Jana, Luca, Ibrahim, Qasim, Jose, Guillem and me we had 10 days of relaxing on the beach.
Swimming in crystal clear water, having dinner in one of the few restaurants on the beach and party at night in the beach hut and the Black Tip, the only two bars on the beach. In the Beach Hut we were always welcomed with a shot of Monkey Juice (illegal sweet liquor) by Natalia, a Spanish girl that travelled with Jose and Guillem. She is working on the Perhentians for a few months.

Besides from the days of party and relaxing I did a lot of beautiful dives! I went to three different places: Temple, a place with millions of fish. You swim thru schools of fish and they all surround you. Another dive place is T3, there is less fish but beautiful rock formations, it seems like you’re in the mountains under water. And the 3rd was a wreck dive. For my advanced dive course I had to study a bit and do 5 dives: a night dive, a deep dive (30 meters), navigation, fish ID and Peak Performance Buoyancy. It helped me a lot to feel more in control under water. Especially the buoyancy dive, where you learn to move your body in the way you want and keep balance, so you can stay still at a place to look at something and to not disturb your surroundings by moving a lot.

After 10 days it was time to move on. I was supposed to go back to Thailand to start my volunteerjob but I was too curious about the rest of Malaysia. My first impression was so good. I was surprised about the beauty of the country and the Malaysian people. So I decided to stay and continue traveling with Jose and Guillem. 

It was great to have stayed in one place for a little while and feel at home. And what we used to say every day: You only live once!

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