Pulau Perhentian

We just arrived in Kota Bharu this morning, after spending 7 amazing days on the Perhentian islands. We stayed on Perhentian Kecil, which is the smaller of the two islands, on Coral Bay. It was out of this world beautiful. The sand was powder white, the water was crystal clear and aqua blue . . . paradise.

When we arrived, we spent our first night in a crap room. The only fortunate part of the crap room was that we got to see two huge monitor lizards swimming through a pit of grey water under one of the bungalows. Because of said pit of grey water, we moved to the Butterfly Chalets that were up in the jungle a little, and had the most amazing views of the ocean on the whole bay. It was incredible. It was a funny place though . . . you checked yourself in and the owner only showed up for an hour twice a day (Wes rated him a 5 on the shady scale at first, but he eventually moved down to a 3 by the end of our stay) to collect payment and to turn on and off the generator. He was nice though, and it was good to have electricity from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day.

That is the main reason this island was so nice . . . secluded, no cars, no roads, just trails through the jungles, boats, and beaches.

Back to the chalet though . . . we were very entertained throughout our stay there. Between the geckos and lizards that lived with us, the giant spider that lived in the bathroom, and the squirrels that lived in the walls, there was always something going on. It's interesting though because the first day I was a little skittish about it all, and then I just got used to it and the animals left us alone and we left them alone. It was funny. I think Wes took about 100 photos of the lizards and spiders and strange bugs that we couldn't identify.

We spent most of our time swimming while we were there. We did a lot of independent snorkeling and one organized trip around the islands. I can't believe I haven't been snorkeling before! It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. We were able to see hundreds of different kinds of fish, sharks, cuttle fish, octopus, swordfish, blow-fish, sea turtles, clown fish, parrot fish . . . you name it, we probably saw it . . . INCREDIBLE! I got to swim right next to a huge napoleon rasse fish that was almost the size of me. It was truly breath-taking. During our organized snorkeling adventure we also got to jump off a light house and spend time with some great people.

I can't wait to tell you all more about our time there! :)

Unfortunately, it's time for me to get off of the internet. We're currently killing time in Kota Bharu because you can only get a 15 day visa for Thailand if you cross over by land. Which means that we'll be here for another day and night before taking a bus to the border and then a train to Bangkok. Since we stayed for 7 days in the Perhentians, we are going to skip Ko Tao . . . I don't think it could compare, and we're a little beached out (I shouldn't say that, I don't think I could ever be beached out)!

Until next time . . . Lots of Love! Happy Father's Day next week to all of the Dads!