The Perhentian Islands

We caught the Ferry from Koh Tao to Chumphon which took 3 or so hours.

At Chumphon, we had a 40 minute wait until two little buses came.  Luggage was thrown on the roof whilst everyone piled in.

Once dropped off at the train stations, we then a 5 hr wait until our train came in, so we gathered our bags and headed off to a restaurant and got something to eat and drink and then spent another couple of hours just sat playing games on our laptop and Iphone.

After being eaten alive by mozzies, we decided to head back to the train station to confirm our booking.  As we still had another hour or so to kill, we headed across the road to another bar where a terrible Thai band playing.  We sat and had a couple of 'Tigers' (beers) and about 5 minutes before we left, we bumped into Bob one of the PADI course directors.  What a small world!  The train eventually turned up 30 minutes late and we were both eager to get to our AC sleeper cabin as we were both very tired.

The cabin as you can see was diddy, not at all like the picture we were shown but I must say the beds were very comfortable and I managed to sleep for most of the journey, Si on the other hand, didnt.

On arrival at Sungai Koklok, 787km south and 13 hours later, we clambered off the train, hopped on a motorbike taxi to take us to the Malaysian border and then once through, got a taxi to Kuala Besut (200km away).  The journey was pretty hairy, the driver seemed to get faster and faster, overtaking at any given opportunity, so we were both happy when we arrived in one piece.

After buying our boat tickets over to the Perhentians we took a stroll down to the harbour and sat at a cafe sipping our cokes and watched with amusement at all the goats running about.  Why so many goats everywhere, I just dont know.

Finally on board the boat, luggage crammed in, we sped across the thankfully flat sea to Long beach where we headed straight for 'Quiver' Dive School, where our friends were working. Unfortunately we had been misinformed... they worked at the other office at the other side of the island, so off we went trekking through the jungle with a very grumpy Simon cursing while carrying a heavy case (there are no forms of transport on the island!). Hot and sweaty, we arrived at Coral Bay 20 minutes later and met our friends, Stuart and Teresa.



Accomodation at a nice hotel sorted and showered, we headed out for food and drink. As alcohol is illegal in Malaysia, they had a very strange system. If you wanted a beer, then you had to go to this guy in the corner and buy them from him at a cost of about £2 for a small can of Tiger. The choices of beer available was Tiger or Tiger.... Want spirits? It was either Vodka, or local rum at £6 for a very small bottle.

We were on the morning boat for a 8.30 dive which was the first time Simon and I have been in the water for weeks and we weren't disappointed as the viz was 20-30 meters and the dive site was stunning. Oh how we've missed diving, so we signed up for the 3 dives a day on offer. Video of some of the Perhentians diving will be uploaded soon.

The evening scene on the island wasn't great and seemed very expensive compared to Koh Tao but just having a few beers and dinner with our friends was enough excitement for us ;-D
The second night, due to the lack of availability we had to change our accomodation, and ended up staying in a little chalet/hut which was ended up being a complete nightmare.


The floorboards had massive gaps in them which let the mozzies in and it was as hot as hell.  We were both eaten alive and it got so bad that Si spent most of the night just pacing up and down the beach getting a break from being bitten, I on the other hand coiled myself up in the covers and managed to get a couple more hours of rest  ...we said that if we had to stay there one more night, we'd have left the next day but luckily the nice (expensive!) hotel had a room the following evening.

Our journey back was eventful.  We got on the speedboat back to the mainland and just as we were climbing out of the boat, the chap asked us for our tickets which I was sure Id already given him, but after searching my pockets & bag, we ended up having to pay again.
After catching a taxi to the border, then walking into Thailand, we hopped on 2 motobike taxi's where we had a 4 hr wait for our 2.30pm train which arrived on time.

The journey itself took 17hrs instead of 12hrs due to an accident on the line.  Both of us slept pretty well which is a bonus.  We arrived in Chumphon having missed the 7am boat by 30mins  ..argh!!!!


At 1pm we caught the Lomprayah back to Koh Tao arriving at 2.30pm totalling a 30hr return trip...

I think a restful day is in order, and Si needs to attend to UK work... but roll on the diving!!  Our impression of the Perhentians? Good diving, similar to Koh Tao in lots of ways, except on Koh Tao you can barely go 5 minutes without bumping into another bunch of divers... here you pretty much had the dive site all to yourself!

Apart from the diving our impression was.... not great.. Super expensive, nothing to do, and unbelievably backwards. Food would sometimes take 2 hours to arrive if at all.. Internet was very limited, as was the food and alcohol range on offer.

We will never again complain about Koh Tao being behind the times. But, in retrospect, you have to expect this from a remote island in Malaysia. The cost of everything was astronomical, and knowing what the instructors and DMs earn, we feel its a very hard life for them to live.. Would we go again? Probably not. But it was a great adventure, and we enjoyed catching up with Stuart and Teresa... Thanks guys!